So, not sure how many times I've repeated myself here on several boards, but here I go again.



Customs were never intended for "balance". Sakurai outright stated that these were not all balanced (This statement is a little fuzzy). Their true purpose is that they change our perception of that character's abilities to be viable, whether to play as for fun or in a competitive environment.



Let me ask, how many people did you see using Donkey Kong and placing high at Apex and pre-Apex? Probably very very few, to the point where only character specialists like DKWill were using him. Now, when we consider moves like Kong Cyclone, suddenly people want to try him out. One simple move changed our perception of him, but DK himself hasn't changed much. None of his aerials changed, none of his neutrals changed, none of his grabs changed. But when we see one improvement to a character's moveset, suddenly we see a new potential in that character as a whole.



Sometimes customs can help improve an already strong ability of a character. Rosalina's Shooting Star Bit and Luma Teleport helps to make her already-strong spacing game even stronger. Paralayzing Needles gives Sheik an even stronger shield-pressure game. But an even bigger and noticeable difference is that customs can help overcome what used to be a weakeness. Charizard's Dragon Rush gives him a powerful horizontal attack that doesn't end up as a kamikaze attack if missed or shielded. Lightweight practically removes endmove lag on a lot of Palutena's attacks and gives her a powerful rushdown game.



But the biggest most important thing is that it can help tailor a character to a player's needs and give him more options to play as. And having options is how you keep competitive games alive. What people are proposing is to literally take away options of character choice and matchup. Not only that, you are limiting the use of a character and are gimping that character's potential in tournament play. And that is Smash 4's biggest advantage. Smash 4 has the largest roster of characters in the series. When these characters are given options that help to increase their perception of being good, you're gonna see variety in that tournament.



That doesn't mean automatically that you'll see Little Mac or Villager take the gold at EVO. When it boils down to it, the better player will always win. Sometimes you'll see a result where a person places higher than normal, but that's one tournament out of hundreds. Customs only change 4 moves out of a character's entire moveset. What that character is able to do with those custom moves AND their already existing moveset is all on the player. Just because a player is able to spam Kong Cyclone doesn't mean that he's good at Smash 4. A strong player will understand each move's properties and learn how to counter them, whether it be changing how you play or even switching moves that better deal with the issue.



Stagnation is the worst thing that can happen in a competitive meta. Already we have an issue where players just default to playing on Smashville because they feel "comfortable" or feel "salty" on losing on a "neutral" stage, while ignoring the other 12+ potential stages that could actually help you win just as fairly. Are we really going to ban moves because we're afraid of what COULD happen? Tell me how you can possibly tell how the meta will move on in the future. It's not healthy that we are poised to banned things just because we think they are potentially "harmful" to the game. If it's harmful, then prove it. Show me that it will break the meta. Only then we can firmly decide how to advance this game.



Anyways, thanks for reading this spiel on customs. Smash 4 is the first game I'm getting competitively involved in. I'm inspired by the spirit of this game and this series, so this means a lot to me.