The Smash community is a phenomenon. Nintendo released 4 different titles, all of which have local communities across the world. We even brought together brilliant minds to make our own games. But there is always a hurdle to jump or a challenge to face, and in the last few months before EVO 2015 the Smash 4 community has one word buzzing across social media.

Customs.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term in Smash 4, customs are short for custom specials (B moves). Every up special, left-right special, neutral special, and down special have 3 different versions for each command. The default versions are listed by number for each type, 1 being for the default special, 2 being for the first variation, and 3 standing for the second variation. Once chosen, a custom set will look something like this example: 1123. This  gives players the options to replace their character’s worst specials for something much better in some cases. For others, custom moves have little to no effect on a character’s dynamic. But what’s definite is that it brings change to Smash 4’s fairly young meta game, and the change has sparked a worldwide debate on whether this change is going to push this title forward or into the dirt. Let’s break down the argument into the commonly stated positives and negatives.

The Good

The biggest positives buzzing around in the social media universe are focused on expanding character viability. In a time where Smash 4 is being criticized for the play seen in the top 8 at APEX 2015, many community members are worried that a custom-less EVO 2015 will hurt the game’s future. Viewership has proven to be a large part of a game’s value when it comes to EVO, and to a game lifespan in general.  There’s also benefit to custom game play. Customs give lower tier characters a chance to replace their bad moves with better ones, giving them a way to cover their weaknesses with new found strength. Do you need more damage? More kill power? Speed? An approach move? Customs has you covered. A lot of players are excited to see their characters pushed into the realm of tournament viability, and custom specials give them that possibility. On the other side of the character roster, good characters either get a bit better or aren’t really effected. Rosalina has some solid star bit play, Sheik gets some new needles, but for the most part the characters don’t get drastic changes. But there are some that do.

The Bad

On the side of negatives, the first big one is definitely the complaint of “broken” custom moves. These moves are said to be too strong because their strength usually greatly outweighs their weakness. Fox has a custom up special that kills in the early percents. Villager has a sapling that he/she can plant to make opponents trip and balloons that explode when touched, making ledge camping a very viable technique. Players across the nation have been experiencing all sorts of new and powerful moves to deal with, and they either don’t know how to deal with them or they don’t think that the moves should be legal in tournament play. But there’s also the problem of unlocking and preparing the custom moves for tournament. There’s no quick way to unlock all of the custom moves, and a lot of players are unfamiliar with customs because of it. Many players do not want to take the time to unlock every custom, especially if those players don’t want customs to be legal in the first place. Because of these “broken” moves, the time that it takes to unlock them, and the fact that some players just want to play the default version, the community is caught in a debate on what to do about this situation.

The Gray

Custom moves are somewhat difficult to obtain and manage. Thanks to a group of dedicated players on Smashboards, organizing and transferring preset custom layouts has become not only the easiest way to manage customs in a tournament setting, but is the way that EVO 2015 will be dealing with the issue. I can also understand that a lot of players just want to play the default version of the game, since customs are an unnecessary addition to the way the game is played now. But why do things have to be cut down into black and white when the reality of the situation is really gray?

Smash 4 hasn’t even been out for one year. Although we’re smart enough to make quick distinctions on what is definitely good and what definitely is not in the context of a smash title, we still don’t know all that much about this smash title. There’s room for growth in the youth of this game’s release, so why stint it’s growth by limiting such a creative option? And trust me, I understand that some moves just seem downright laughable. But we don’t have to ban every single custom move in the game when very few of them are presenting problems. When competitive Melee started with items on it was ridiculous by today’s standards, but the time that was spent using them didn’t kill the game’s lifespan. I know that in the present there are higher stakes. We have sponsors and businesses keeping their eyes out on us to see if there’s a chance for them to invest in us, so a mistake could sway some opinions away from us. But who are we? We’re the people who have fought both inside and outside our own communities to prove that we will never stop doing what we love. We can try something new without fear of losing the opportunity to be great. Because that opportunity is really about us and how we handle things.

So in the end I think that it comes down to a fear of change, and that’s okay. If something is truly broken then we can deal with that. If customs truly are bad for the game, then we can deal with that too. But I’m not here to change your mind, only to express what resides in my own. In the end, we have a situation before us that will give both sides insight on the truth of the matter, EVO. Either way with customs on or off, I’m going to keep playing the game with my friends and homies because in my opinion, customs don’t make up for skill.