Competitive player of 7 years here. I've been playing competitively since I was 14.
The point of competitive gaming isn't to ruin the fun. The point is to TAKE SOMETHING fun and see how far you can push it.
If we didn't have a blast playing this game, why would we pour so much time, effort, sweat, tears, and travel expenses into it ? Would you ever say that a competitive soccer player takes the fun out of soccer? We still play with items, free for alls, wonky stages, etc for fun when we want to, but honestly, to me, the competitive side of it is SOOOOO MUCH MORE FUN and SOOOOOO MUCH MORE REWARDING.
Personally, I have never had a video game experience that is half as fun as competitive Smash. It's almost a bad thing, because most games just don't do it for me anymore. Single player games that I used to love (and still do enjoy) feel a little empty because they just don't feel as deep, exciting, dynamic, and interactive. No other game makes me feel like I have this much control.
Really my point is the competitive is cancer for taking away the fun. If you can't enjoy SSB unless it's "competitive" then you're playing the wrong game. Go play Street Fighter.
I *CAN* enjoy SSB, competitive AND casual style.
Also, competitive SSB is way more fun than competitive Street Fighter. I honestly think the Smash engine is innately superior (in terms of fun and control)to traditional fighting game engines.
I have a friend who thinks like that. Refuses to get new smash because she'll need to either buy a wii u or play on "a crappy little screen with garbage controls". We took her to a smash turney once, and afterwards she told us she didnt have any fun because she just rekt everyone. THAT's what I believe people mean. She cant have any fun unless she plays with people on her level.
Your friend is NOTHING like any competitive Smashers I know. We're all looking forward to the 3DS version. Won't be completely serious about it, but definitely buying 3DSes just for that purchase.
As is the case with every game, but if you take hours to learn wavedashing and stupid glitches and exploits to make a game "competitive" then you're kinda taking the fun out of it.
How....? We're just learning more options. We're ADDING to what we can do in the game, which, to us, makes the game more enjoyable. Whenever we practice wavedashing and other techs, we're learning more about the game, figuring out what we can do with it and how far we can go with things.
If YOU loved a game, wouldn't you spend a lot of time trying to explore it?
Competitive players want to subtract from the game until there's nothing left but "competition". Can't use stages other than Final Destination or maybe Battlefield because they're "too large" or "too random". Can't use items because they're "too luck based". Can't use most of the characters because they're either "too broken" or "too shit".
Noncompetitive players want to add. New stages because they're fun. New items because they're fun. New characters because they're fun.
We only take away items/other stages in competitive settings because.... they detract from what we're trying to test and display. There's nothing wrong with playing with them on, but we believe that this is the best way to achieve a balanced setting FOR COMPETITIVE PLAY. We aren't trying to set a standard for play univerally, but only when the goal is to test "skill"
ALSO, the thing about "cant use most characters" is absolutely false. There are literally ZERO banned characters. Meta Knight was banned for a short stint in Brawl, but that was for a very short time, and it's viewed as a mistake.
The only point of the tier list is to rank the characters. Some characters are going to be better than others, so why not make a list? Nobody forces you to play a certain character. People just prefer to play better characters. And it's not just a matter of selling out, but the truth is, better characters are a LOT MORE FUN. They can do more things, have more options, and are usually just more fun to use. Lower tier characters are less fun because there are many situations where they are just screwed because they lack sufficient tools to deal with certain things.
We still enjoy items and new stages when pride and money aren't on the line. Like everyone else, we know how to play free for alls with items on over some drinks
By making Smash competitive you take away what's unique about it and try to make it like a fighting game which it's not designed to be. It's a party game.
We really couldn't care less about the designer's intent. However, when you make Smash competitive, you're not TAKING AWAY from the party game aspect, you are only ADDING to it. Competitive Smashers can enjoy it as a party game AND a fighting game, because, tbh, it's one of the very best fighting games in existence, despite its party game roots.