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Super Smash Bros Ultimate DLC character Hero has been banned from some tournaments due to his random attacks and mechanics, as reported by VG247.
The abilities of Dragon Quest’s Hero draw on the role-playing elements from his series of games. One of his special attacks is Command Selection, and deploys one of four random attacks from a bank that increases in number each time the ability is used. Also, he has a critical hit mechanic that enables an attack to randomly become much more significant and powerful.
These random aspects to the fighter devalue player skill, as argued by the South Australia Smash Central community. In a TwitLonger post, the organisation announced that from August 14, Hero will not be a viable choice at competitive events. ‘Hero is so dependent on randomness that it cannot be “played around” or accounted for in competitive play. The argument is similar to the reason why items are banned in competitive play,’ the SASC stated.
‘We want to emphasise that this ban is not because Hero is too strong, but because he is anti-competitive. We believe that tournaments are meant to provide an opportunity for players to demonstrate their skill and that, as a general rule, the player who plays more skilfully should emerge victorious. Hero's design has a very strong potential to de-emphasise player skill which isn’t fair for those who work hard to improve their abilities for competition,’ it explained further.
Its decision was met with mixed reception on Twitter. Some are happy that the ban is in place, and others said it was far too early to tell if Hero is viable in competitive play; the character was only released two weeks ago. The SASC justified that it is ‘fairer to do this now, before anyone's put serious time into the character, than upset players who might have put months of work in.’
The next DLC character coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate will be Banjo and Kazooie, as announced at E3 this year. Fingers crossed they aren’t as divisive as good ol’ Hero here.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available on Nintendo Switch.
