Sakurai says all Smash Bros. Ultimate characters have roughly the same win-rate
Tier lists be damned!
Smash Bros. Ultimate players have long since wondered who the “best” character is on the roster. There have been countless breakdowns by fans that look at the entire roster to try and figure out which is the best option based on all sorts of qualifiers. Now we have some insight from Smash Bros.’s creator that’ll no doubt cause quite a kerfuffle in the competitive scene.
In his latest game development video, Sakurai dives into the win-rates for characters in Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sakurai has access to the data for wins and losses in online battles, and he’s taken a peek at how things play out on the worldwide stage. While specifics on characters aren’t given, you might be surprised at what was discovered.
According to Sakurai, the highest win-rate in the game sits at 51.43%, while the lowest comes in at 47.18%. That means roughly 5% separates the top character from the bottom. Sakurai follows up that stat by saying that it shows pretty much any character has a really decent shot at winning a match.
What about all the complaints from fans that certain characters are too weak, too strong, or broken? Sakurai had something to say about those gripes as well.
“The internet can tend to be an echo chamber of sorts, so if people start saying something is strong or weak, that assessment will gain momentum and make people think it’s truer than it is.”
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styster
1M agoI love this. Years of shouting at my friends that every character is viable, despite them trying to only play "good" characters... I can tell them I was right now, right?
What Sakurai doesn't realize though if the meta is too far out of whack with a sole best setup or a few best setups, that too makes games boring if everybody uses the same top things if perfectly balanced games aren't doable.
I know Call of Duty is currently hounded by everyone using a few S-tier level weapons in Modern Warfare III. The idea about a balanced game isn't about not having any spice. It's about having a fair chance to win without having to need to use something meta to compete.
I'm really not a fan of multiplayer games that leave you out of the loop because you don't have the meta setups. It's like why play online multiplayer if you're going to automatically lose until you get the meta setups unlocked.
tendonin
1M agoThe reason this is possible is because match types outside of 1-on-1 competitive exist and that variety is closer to what the game is actually balanced around. Having different characters better suited to different scenarios is natural with a cast that large. The idea that one playstyle should be privileged and catered to above the rest is the real echo chamber.
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