By Ozzie Mejia

Competitive Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (a.k.a. Smash 4) is about to look a little different, according to a recommended set of rule changes proposed by a panel of tournament organizers last Friday.

The changes address several issues, including coaching rules, setting checks (an issue brought to light by the controversy that unfolded at Genesis 4), and a new stage list.

The stage list has raised some eyebrows in the Smash 4 community. The starter list of stages will consist of Final Destination, Battlefield, and Smashville. The counter pick stages will be Town & City, Dream Land, and a select list of Omega Stages. That means Lylat Cruise and Duck Hunt, two longtime staples of the competitive game, are now banned from rotation.

Scott “Tantalus” Robertson cited the potential for bugs and obstacles in a Reddit post among the reasons for their removal. Along with the updated stage list, the proposed rules would also amend bans, treating Dream Land/Battlefield and Final Destination/Omega Stages as a single stage.

Smash 4 players have had mixed feelings in regards to the proposed rule changes. Yahoo Esports reached out to some of the game’s top players to gauge their reactions.





Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios

“No ruleset is perfect. It is through trial and error that we perfect one to find what works best. It takes time. Now, based on that, the new changes are aimed towards making the ruleset more simple to outsiders, thus making the competitive format more accessible and easier to understand, which was done by reducing the amount of stages and modifying the wording of the previous ruleset to avoid confusion or exploits.



“Lylat is a stage that simply has far too many glitches that can decide the outcome of a match outside of player control, such as players simply falling through the map to their deaths. While it was a convenient counterpick stage for many characters, it is being removed for its unpredictable glitchy nature. And for Duck Hunt, it is a stage that is used to slow the game down, thanks to its big size and high platforms. It’s a favorite of characters and players who tend to prefer a slower-paced game. However, the nature of the platforms promoted too much defensiveness in the game, and even nullified characters who couldn’t reach the high platforms. These things reflected negatively on our scene to new spectators, while also being a disliked stage to our player base, [which] is what lead to its removal. Overall the changes are aimed towards increasing the pace of competitive matches, thus making it a better experience for viewers and players.



“While I have my personal disagreements with the stage list, I do think this is better for the game and our community and so I’m all for the new changes. I think it’s for the best.”

Jestise “MVD” Negron

“I don’t like the change. I think having such a small amount of stages causes problems.

“Attaching Dream Land and Battlefield to the same bans doesn’t fix the issue I have with the new rules. I agree with Duck Hunt being banned, but without Lylat we don’t have a true counterpick. Seeing as we had Town & City as a starter previously, it’s not like we have a real counterpick anymore. Lylat, I feel, was a necessary evil to balance out stages. Without [Dave’s Stupid Rule] we also will have sets with winners being able to freely go back to the stage they won on, which I feel will make the game and meta stale.”

Griffin “Fatality” Miller

“I find the ruleset deviation to be quite interesting, and it cleans up most of the issues players have had with previous rulesets, myself included.

“My primary concern on the fairness of the list is that combining Battlefield and Dream Land, while removing Lylat, leaves characters who like platforms out to dry. Characters who enjoy flatter stages will never be denied a stage they enjoy, especially since Town & City lacks platforms literally 50 percent of the time. Characters such as Diddy may become even more powerful in the wake of this becoming standard. Smash has also never once had a ruleset where platform-oriented stages were not at the forefront, and so changing that up will likely have profound consequences on, to some extent, changing the nature of Smash. Whether or not that would be a good thing, time can only tell.



“I would personally prefer more platforms, but I also can’t understate enough the value of finally having a universal league build all the rules for once. Smash 4 may finally have a completely universal ruleset, which is exciting! I’m not yet convinced that this stage list in particular will be the best, but it’s too interesting to not at least try.”

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