The Case Against Bayonetta and Why It's Urgent

When it comes to the topic of banning characters in competitive games, there are generally three schools of thought, which I'll call the Theorist, Pragmatist, and Purist viewpoints.

The Theorist school holds the belief that a character must be unambiguously dominant in the meta, such that the character (or possibly a direct counterpick to that character) is the only truly viable option. The Pragmatist says that a character should be banned if doing so would improve the health of the game and retain players and viewers who may have otherwise lost interest. The Purist believes that no character should ever be banned under any circumstance.

It is difficult to make the case to a Theorist (or, obviously, a Purist) that Bayonetta should be banned in Smash 4. Although matchup charts and general consensus point to Bayo having few or no losing matchups, tournament results do not paint the picture of a dominant character. The most you can do is point to the ascendancy and relative dominance of Bayo mains at the local level, which a Theorist is not necessarily concerned about.

The argument for banning Bayonetta at this time, then, is based mostly on Pragmatic concerns. Reading Twitter during Genesis 5 showed a stark contrast in the predominant mood of the fanbases for Smash 4 and Melee. Melee fans were incredibly hyped about Plup's run to 1st over Armada and Hungrybox. Meanwhile in Smash 4, a lower ranked player making a historic run through losers to 2nd place was met not with hype, but with pessimism and concern, with many rooting for Leo over Mistake in Grand Finals. Mistake was definitely the underdog through all of Top 6, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the reaction to his wins. I'm not saying this is entirely due to Bayo, but if you asked most viewers, she's probably what they would point to.

Smash 4 has a problem. There is an extreme level of negativity throughout the scene as a whole, and it threatens to cause a mass exodus of players and viewers. Sponsors are pulling out of the scene, top players are quitting, and opinions of the game at all levels are not conducive to growth. Smash 4 players have become some of the worst salespeople in the world: we don't take pride in our game, we apologize for it. Why would anyone want to invest their time or money in that?

Is this all Bayo's fault? Absolutely not. But you'd have to be blind to miss where the vast majority of this festering pessimism is rooted. Unlike other "jank" characters like Cloud, Ryu, Meta Knight, and Zero Suit Samus, Bayonetta can initiate her unconscionably early kills simply by predicting that the opponent will press a button. There is a strong feeling among players that Bayonetta is immune to pressure and essentially has no disadvantage state whatsoever, because Witch Time and Witch Twist can kill you off of almost any of your options, from anywhere on the stage. Couple that with the fact that to escape her combos requires extremely particular SDI (and there's a TON of conflicting information on what that particular SDI is) and even the best SDI can still lead to fatal 50/50s in some instances, and you get a sense of hopelessness coming from even the most experienced top-level players, much less the local low-level players. This hopelessness turns into anger, resulting in Bayo players receiving (unwarranted) hatred and insults--which in turn fosters a general atmosphere of negativity in many local scenes, leading players to quit.

Banning a character is not a decision that can be made lightly. Banning Meta Knight in Brawl was an extremely controversial decision that some will argue irrevocably tarnished the game's reputation. However, others will say that Brawl's reputation was tarnished not by banning MK, but by leaving him unbanned for years while players fled the scene in droves. This is why I am making this argument now, when the warning signs are present but the consequences are not yet at catastrophic levels. Players that adopt a "wait-and-see" approach to these concerns risk the scene's death by inaction.

There's another factor in the exigency of the Bayonetta issue: Dragon Ball FighterZ.

DBFZ is an uber-hyped FG competitor with mass appeal and a major draw for the anime-loving Smash community. Unlike most fighting games, there is a high potential for DBFZ to be able to support local scenes on the level of Smash. If the game is reasonably well-balanced and "jank" free (and compared to Smash, most FGs are), we can expect a large migration of the Smash 4 player base to DBFZ. Banning Bayonetta does not guarantee that this won't happen, but it might improve the image the game has at the moment, which could help retain players who would now have other options.

I understand that this argument is controversial and may not be popular. The Pragmatist arguments for character bans are rarely brought up in these types of discussions, as most players tend to hold Theorist beliefs by default. I actually did too, up until recently. I realized that if I had to travel 2 hours for 8-man locals and our University's Smash Club died out and I lost contact with my Smash friends because half of them quit, it wouldn't matter if I was theoretically justified in my positions. I want to make the scene the best it can be, and I now believe that this is how we can do it. Let me know on Twitter if you agree or want to continue the discussion.

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