Super Smash Bros With 5-7 Players

When my friends and I played Super Smash Bros Melee between 2001 and 2006 or so, we frequently had to figure out the best way to deal with sharing controllers since you can only have four people playing at any given time. WIth four or fewer, the solution is obvious— let everyone play, and when you have eight or more the tournament mode proved a fine solution, but having five, six, or seven people around was not uncommon. Over time, we came up with various ways to handle those situations.

N-4 Out (5-7 players)

There is one obvious solution: N-4 out, which basically means that you look at the ranking at the end of the match and give up enough controllers to allow everyone who didn’t play the last round to have a controller, which is equal to the total number of players you have minus four. In the case of seven people, this means that everyone except the winner is out. In the case of a tie, you can pick another determining factor like the amount of damage done. This system is pretty common and something similar has probably been used by everyone who played the game at some point. It rewards people for doing well and ensures that no one spends more than one round waiting to play again at any point in time.

Static Teams (6 players)

Smash Bros Melee has a great team mode, and when we had six people to play the game, Static Teams was a frequent request. Basically, this means that everyone pairs off so you have three groups, then you play 2 vs 2 team mode, swapping out the losing team with the team that just sat out a round. Having another person to team up with can be a lot of fun, especially if you work together to form a strategy based on your character choices and play style. If one team is winning consistently then the teams that are swapping in and out can watch carefully to formula new strategies based on what they see during their round off.

Dynamic Teams (7 players)

Okay, this one gets a little bit trickier. You play 2 vs 2 again, but when a team loses, you also take a look at the performance of each person in that team. Whoever had the lower score in that team has to sit out for two rounds, whereas whoever wins only sits out for one. This means that a team that consistently wins gets to stay together as a pair and can spend that time building team strategies, whereas the pairs they go up against change around, presenting them with different challenges and play styles each time.

Sudden Death

In case of a tie, what to do depended on the mood of the people playing. Formally, we required a 1 on 1 sudden death match with a short time limit and high damage multiplier to declare a winner between two people and decide who got to keep playing and who had to sit out. However, on many occasions people would be interested in taking a break to check the internet, take a phone call, get a drink, or something like that, and that person would graciously bow out and let the other person stay in.

I’m not trying to claim ownership of any of these ideas, as they’re all fairly elementary. This is just the system that was established over time between my friends and I wanted to record it. These are the rules by which we lived for many years.

(I think the most telling part about this post is the fact that I spent all this time recalling and typing up these specifics when really they’re just second nature to me when I’m actually using them.)