(this thread only refers to competitive SSBB gameplay, as balance is not essential in casual gaming)

Okay, we all know that it is pretty much impossible to have so many unique characters, stages and items while maintaining balance. We saw in SSBM that certain characters became favorites among heavy competators (Marth, Fox, Falco, Sheik...) We also saw heavy use of certain stages more then others...

My question then is; What characters and other aspects of SSBB will prove to be dominent among heavy competators?

(of course we can only speculate at this time)

Happy posting!

Ooo very nice topic, I'm guessing sonic/metaknight/samus/shiek/ike They really seam to have it on pressure on what'd be fair or not later on- But as it looks everyones good with some character, and theres always people who are better than the other, Its like a cycle that keeps on continuing, Nobody is absolutely master of this game so really anything is possible :3

I sense Ike having a spot at the bottom of the tier list.
Since the game is floaty like SSB64 though, I think anyone with exceptional speed will be able to get in the combos.
Also, Melee characters, having been improved upon and worked on over the years, I think might have an edge over the newcomers. We've already seen huge improvements with characters like Peach, and even drastic overhauls like with Bowser.

Good call guys, I would also say fast will be popular for competetive play, and agree with your choices Vedelkin10. All I can say right now is, I think the "unique" ones will be bad/too hard to master (Pickmin&Cpt. Olimar, Pokemon Trainer, Wario).

Side note: Prez, if you are referring to Pickering Ontario, We should brawl, cause I live in North Bay, and Barrie in the summer. (good connection speeds)

Definitely, sounds good. Always up for a game of Melee too.

Sonic and MK definitely will be overused, and Snake and Diddy might, but not sure about it. As for the veterans, it shouldn't be too different, although Yoshi, Samus and Bowser might see more fights.

Ike is an interesting question. I see him sharing fates with Roy, being occasionally used, but it seems like he'll get better treatment. Pit also seems like a double-edged character, being cool to use but complicated to master.

As for stages, I think they're including too many movable ones...the Battlefield, Yoshi's Island (the new one), Lylat Cruise, Smashville, Mario Circuit, Eldin Bridge and New Pork City seem like favorites already due to the simple, stable arena (NPC seems cool due to size).

I especially like Pits neutural B move. He just seems like a cool character, him and PT will be used alot, but not over used.

ya man i'm in on that. i live in pickering. north of 401
but back to the forum topic. i think deedede'll be low tier for sure. he seems awkward and slow. i'm thinking he's going to get combo'd easily. and i'm not so sure the melee characters'll be THAT great. do you remember what happened to kirby in the transition from 64-melee? he lost all his usefulness...in my opinion at least

i agree completely man. i can see a whole bunch of stages getting tourney banned

I think that the people who are able to master the difficult characters will be able to easily defeat the overpowered metaknight players.....Its all about using your whole moveset. You will be able to beat a quick player if you can attack from any angle.

Clearly the biggest balance issue will be the fact that I'll be playing on-line which will naturally cause everyone playing me to lose, which will lead to calls of imbalance, because I'm just too good.


Wahahah.... yeah so,
I'm gonna have to say that Link and Mario will be two of the strongest characters still this time around. I never thought Mario was that great in Melee, until I realized that he actually can dominate completely, now none of my friends can beat me as Mario, so I'd definitely say that there are many hidden levels of kick-assness in many of the characters which can take some time to figure out.

Also, Nintendo is likely to give surprise strength advanrages to characters that you might not expect it from. For example, I'd say look for some surprise domination from beefed up characters like possibly YOSHI, PIKACHU, and possibly Pokemon Trainer. Certainly, the characters which are notoriously kinda lame (like Peach) will be retooled a bit so they're not seen as the "weak" characters yet AGAIN. So my bet is that the usual "underdogs" or less-popular characters will suddenly be real contenders.

Of course, like I said, I will provide serious imbalance by destroying you all, and it will be done with Link. Beware!

About Link...am I the only one who thinks he's too powerful? In Melee he had a major advantage over other characters, and in this one he's been remodeled and improved in almost everyway. A gut feeling tells me they're giving Link too much.

Every character had their advantages and disadvantages. They all had good match ups and bad. A few of Links moves have actually been nerfed, too. So, I don't think he's going to be too powerful.

he was actually considered mid-low tier in melee. super slow grab+huge vulnerability afterward and he was a slow character. plus the other sword wielding characters (excluding young link) our ranged him with thieir hit boxes. his brawl version reminds me a bit more of Marth from brawl. he seems to have alot more reach. what other ways have you seen him being improved upon? i havent seen any other videos so please send me a link or something

I actually can sorta see link being used more now that his boomerang's been beefed up and you can charge his spin attack(he was actually my best character in melee, I was nearly unbeatable)

I've got no videos, but he has the gale boomerang to bring opponents closer, the automatic tether recovery from the grappling hook, the chargeable up B move (which was deadly in Melee), and the bombs are different...look at the video in the Dojo website to see the new bombs.
I considered him a higher tier...my cousin uses him and he easily blocked combos and had that balanced moveset that works in most cases.

As for the comment of all characters having disadvantages and advantages, I disagree...characters like Mewtwo and Pichu have(or had) a natural disadvantage, while those like Fox and Sheik were just naturally good. Hopefully Sakurai balances the playfield a lot more.