Why Nintendo REALLY Hates Smash Bros

Nintendo has a history of shutting down Smash tournaments causing turmoil in the community, and the last couple months have been no exception. But 𝘸𝘩𝘺 do they do this? Especially when they put on *their own* tournaments for other games. What's going on here? This video should shed some light on Nintendo's seemingly odd behavior.

📃 Research Links
The Smash Brothers: Full Documentary
Melee clips
Why Brawl isn't good
The dark ages of Smash
penguinz0 on Nintendo
Sakurai on creating Smash Bros.
Nintendo's refusal to let MLG livestream Brawl events
Sakurai looks back on Melee
Ludwig addresses Smash drama
Hungrybox addresses Smash drama

[GoingIndie]

What is your favorite memory playing Smash?

[seagullman]

My theory is that in the early days of Melee, Nintendo was open to the idea, but quickly changed their mind after a rep went to a regional smash tournament and almost suffocated from the smell.

[hitrecord]

I don’t think the smash community understands how unappealing they are to both Nintendo and sponsors needed to run tournaments.
Outside Looking in it seems like their top players do awful things and say awful stuff (the several allegations) don’t take the tournaments seriously when it comes to safety and security (Double Down both Hbox showing up with Covid and the ban nairo sign) and they smell (seriously ban people who don’t wash themselves)

They blame Nintendo for this but they dug their own grave by not taking themselves seriously

[Jitterzz]

I’d be interested to see an update to this video with all of the extra details on how Smash World Tour botched their licensing talks and cancelled of their own accord, while the community destroyed Panda Cup of their own free will. But I’ve noticed a lot of the “blame Nintendo” crowd haven’t really made follow-ups to these events when more details came out.

[ChronicNewb]

I think the beauty of Smash is that you can just pick it up and play it at a party by smashing all the buttons, but you can also get super deep into the mechanics if you want to.

[fogblades]

Its a battle of Developer Vision vs Player Vision. Nintendo, as extreme as their methods are to make sure their games are loved by everyone, still want to preserve their games from anyone who wish to tarnish the artist's vision. That said, vilifying players for creating something new out of their IPs is not only extreme, but just flat out the wrong people to point the finger at.

Capcom never really envisioned Street Fighter to be this super competitive game as it is now. Yet, Capcom fully endorses the player competition. EVO, Combo Breaker, hell, even they made their own tournament called Capcom Cup.

Nintendo's problem is a cultural one, and that's too big to fix within the span of 5-10 years.

[Hemestal]

They don't hate smash, the community around is whats bothersome to them.

[GregorySnipe]

If you've ever met someone serious about Smash Bros, you know why Nintendo is afraid.

[Ultimate]

This was a well made video coming a small channel. As a Competitive Smash player I was hopeful that the Panda Cup was the turning point where Nintendo finally stops attacking the scene. Unfortunately, some dreams just dont come true. Either way, between this and the previous video, I can see this becoming one of my favorite channels

[benmalsky]

I play Smash Bros Ultimate together with my cousins from time to time, and it’s such a special experience playing the game so casually that’s hard to replicate when you’re playing to be better at it than everyone else.

[demi-femme]

Compare this to competitive Pokémon, where there's been an official competitive format since the late 2000's that's still going strong today alongside an unofficial competitive format that runs on a simulator of thr game's battles. The fact that Pokémon Showdown hasn't been burned to the ground is astonishing.

[sebastiangutierrez]

I love how many topics you cover and how good your actual points are. Video essays have been sort of wack as of late and it nice to see a channel with some exaggerated swagger

[ZenithsLumina]

monkeys paw:
nintendo fully supports the smash community and even puts up massive prize pools for the players
BUT
deodorant becomes mandatory.

[Kodeb]

Not only does Nintendo hold official Splatoon tournaments, they also hold official Pokemon tournaments.

[DWgic]

Putting actions of Smash players as "Minor oopsies" is a drastic and dangerous understatement. As someone who played smash competitive smash in that time period it was a serious matter you continued to understate throughout the video

[jaketardy]

This is a perfect video and im really glad i clicked on it. props on the depth of research, on the way you presented the video, on your voice and the way you articulated it. Youre awesome man

[Bone-Owner]

Great vid man, and JEEZ 10k after only 2 vids is INSANE.

[peterd]

Great video! I'm 31 and just got back home from hanging out with my 7 and 9 year old nephews who love smash bros on the Nintendo switch. I played a few rounds, but wasn't having fun. I told my sister (their mom) that it feels too complex and I don't really have the want to learn how to play smash bros since I don't have a Nintendo. It's like being in school in order to get the hang of it. I was ready to bring out some Tekken to show some combos 😆

[jaytrox]

Cool video.
small point of critique in regards to cuts, i had to go back and pause at 8:22 to read what happened with Panda Cup. Just leave it longer for people to read or vocally sum up what happened before moving on.

Otherwise, keep up the great work!

[victorhale]

That last clip was one of my fave moments from the smash doc. Thanks for using that.