PB & Jason: Issue 59: Meta-Banned

PB & Jason Issue 59: Meta-Banned

This week's PB & Jason talks up a major issue for a minority of people: Meta Knight's Brawl ban.

Before it does that, Jason hits on some other recent news. Steve Jobs has passed away, and so the first few minutes of PB & Jason are devoted to some of the accomplishments he and Apple have made over the years, as well as his influence on the gaming industry. After a few minutes, the conversation shifts from Jobs to Apple's new iPhone 4S and what gamers should expect with it. Following all this, there's naturally some Club Nintendo criticism, and even the mention of the currently potential Republican presidential candidate and his relationship to Pokemon! Finally, after all this, Jason describes his perceptions of the competitive Brawl community and their impending ban of Meta Knight. PB & Jason 59 wraps up with the illumination of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2's story mode.

As always, send listener mail to JasonR@pixlbitDOTcom. Enjoy the podcast!

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Jason Ross Senior Editor

10/05/2011 at 11:58 PM

I should say right out that I meant to talk about the new Xbox video service thingamajig, but it slipped my mind. Next week, I'll hit on it, and by then, let's hope more information is available on what's included in a Gold subscription and what needs more than that.

Nate Hascup Staff Alumnus

10/06/2011 at 06:08 PM

Pah. They shouldn't have had to ban him. If Nintendo had included patching support and balanced the characters over time there wouldn't be a problem now.

I personally dislike removing aspects of a game to 'make it fair'. In martial arts there is a huge difference between knowing how to do a joint lock on a training partner versus a live combatant. I feel that true skill is when someone comes out victorious despite what outside influences are thrown at them. Take the chaos and use it to your advantage. Start demanding aspects of the stock game be barred from use and it is a handicap.

10/06/2011 at 06:23 PM

That's not what the issue is, Nate. The problem is a stale game. In Melee, the "best" character would grow and change over time. Skill and talent developed a good portion of the characters. In one example, the Ice Climbers were thought to be sub-par characters, but a player came up with some interesting and unique strategies to use with them, and they rose up very high in the tier lists as a result.

Now, in Brawl, because Meta Knight is such an over-centralized character, these shifts aren't happening. People are using Meta Knight and winning, and using Meta Knight and winning. It isn't a matter of "fairness." It's a matter of entertainment, a matter of public interest, and a matter of enthusiasm. I can tell you that I'm much more interested in seeing what happens to Brawl now that he's to be banned in January. Why? Because he's a boring character to watch, and nearly every high-skilled match has at least someone playing Meta Knight.

There's dozens of reasons for him to be banned, but he wasn't banned because of a lack of "fairness" for other characters. More, he was banned to keep the game from stagnating, or from moving in just one direction. He was banned to give a lot more potential to Brawl's game, and in other fighting games, less broken characters have been banned when they were used by far fewer people, so I'd say this isn't even something to be considered drastic at all.

PixlBit