On July 31, 2019, Nintendo made a revolutionary update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The update added a new character, Hero from the video game series Dragon Quest. However, as soon as Hero was made playable, people were already considering removing him from competitive Smash Bros. tournaments. The debate has been raging and has raised the question, “Should Hero be banned because he’s unfair, or are people not used to his moveset yet?” Both sides have convincing arguments.
People are trying to ban Hero because he has three random mechanics that can make him unpredictable:
1) Random Critical Hits
This mechanic allows the player a random chance to deal double damage. This means that the Hero can sometimes deal 60% with a fully charged attack.
2) Spell Selection
This mechanic allows the player to open a menu with four random spell attacks. Some of these spells can instantly kill your opponent or even turn your opponent into a metal statue for ten seconds. This adds a level of unpredictability to Hero and makes it hard for an opponent to counter or predict what will happen next.
3) Hocus Pocus
One of the spell moves, Hocus Pocus, is a spell that has completely random results. The results can range from all of the spells listed above and in addition to: invisibility, growth, shrinking, and others.
Others believe that Hero shouldn’t be banned because of the nature of the competition itself.
1) Low Hocus Pocus Probability
Some say that, because Hocus Pocus has a small chance of happening and can still hurt the player, Hero shouldn’t be banned because his high risk of self-inflicted damage.
2) Hero Isn’t Anything Special
Some believe that Hero shouldn’t be banned because he isn’t even a great character to begin with, he’s slow, and generally pretty weak. As ZeRo, a prominent competitive player, says, “Why would we ban a character that is not the best in the game?”
3) No Defined Rules
This argument says that, because current competition rules have no clear guidelines on why something should be banned, Hero should stay. This argument also makes the claim that, because there are other characters, like Peach and Daisy, that have random mechanics, why are we banning Hero, and not them as well?
The Hero controversy has affected people on an international and local level. Our Timpview Smash Bros. ESports team told us what they thought about Hero and the controversy surrounding him.
Senior Victor Arcos said, “When I die to other characters I feel like I screwed up and the other player was better. When I die to Hero I don’t know what to feel”
We asked Super Smash Bros. team manager, Junior Kodiak lewis, if he thought Hero would affect local tournaments, to which Lewis replied, “I think he will make many players salty, but I think he won’t have much of an impact on local tournaments.”
Whether Hero is broken, or players are just mad, Hero has had a massive impact on both the local and international level, and will force players to rethink the fairness of the game.
Hero From Dragon Quest VIII • Nov 20, 2019 at 11:21 AM
You ban me you all ban my hamster. And we all know you dont want to do that.
Parker Knotts • Nov 20, 2019 at 9:32 AM
hero has an intresting mechanic and it is very fun to both play and play against. it realy teaches you to roll with it
Trump Official • Nov 15, 2019 at 10:25 AM
Wait, this isn’t twitter
logan • Nov 13, 2019 at 1:51 PM
If someone plays hero and wins there just lucky thats all hero is luck and spam mixed into one character.
Tupac • Nov 13, 2019 at 10:08 AM
Hey guys, it’s me Tupac. Someone has decided that it would be funny to impersonate me, and spread false information, like hero is fun and not annoying. Please refrain from identity theft so I can continue my money match with John Cena from BBC News
Hero From Dragon Quest 4 • Nov 12, 2019 at 2:48 PM
Dont ban me i have funny fish headband
The Man In The Sky • Nov 12, 2019 at 12:55 PM
Hero has been condemned to heck for all eternity for having critical hits. Therefore he has been removed from the game in the next patch.
Tupac Official • Nov 12, 2019 at 10:38 AM
Hey guys its me, Tupac for real. Hero is cool we play Mario Kart together it’s chill.
Hero • Nov 12, 2019 at 9:58 AM
I’m not overpowered, just skilled. Also, I’m not bad, just good.
Thomas Jefferson • Nov 12, 2019 at 9:27 AM
h
Thomas Jefferson • Nov 12, 2019 at 9:26 AM
I have a few concerns
1. HEro cannot turn other people into metal statues. He himself can though.
2. Hero is a character that’s a little unfair like a lot of the other characters recently added. Terry has move that can kill and are only available to people that take the time to learn some hidden combo, Banjo kinda sucks but has a move that can go through every other move except terry’s. Joker can counter like a thousand times without punishment and has the most over powered down b move.
3. Hero may have some good moves that can trigger other players but you should have to learn to deal with it. I personally hate playing against palutena and joker and piranha plant, but i deal with them cause they are in the game. And Nintendo put them in for a reason. YOu shouldn’t be able to ban these characters from competitive play just cause you don’t like their moves.
4. It shouldn’t be a situation where all the sweaty spaghetti gamers say : “If you can’t beat them, BAN them.”
ANyways that’s just how I feel.
Christian Hall • Nov 11, 2019 at 1:41 PM
Hero can’t turn the opponent to metal, only himself.
Victor Arcos • Nov 11, 2019 at 12:27 PM
I used to hate Hero with all my heart, saying that the death of Smash Ultimate would be because of him, just like how Bayonetta killed Smash 4. Because of this I, like many others was an advocate for banning him before he even came out. I quit Smash competitively for a solid 3 weeks because I was frustrated with the communities reluctance to ban Hero just like how they didn’t ban Bayonetta and quote “Didn’t learn a thing”. For those 3 weeks I just played casually at home, occasionally playing out the incredibly silly Hero ditto. Those moments were when I realized that Hero’s gimmick, his randomness were a very unique, fun, and honestly well thought out mechanic. The fact that people wanted to ban him before he even came out, or after only a week or 2 of learning the matchup was just like ZeRo said, an incredibly knee jerk reaction on both my, and 50% of the Smash communities part. After this reconciliation with both Hero and the other 50% of the Smash community I began to recognize the counterplay that came with fighting against Hero, like the fact that he is in general, really slow, and very inconsistent, which despite some stupidly powerful and silly moves, balances him out relative to the rest of the cast. Characters are the lifeblood of the Super Smash Bros. franchise and their unique characteristics are the reason people keep on coming back to the series (and also why Sakurai decided to put every character ever into Ultimate). What I (and hopefully the rest of the Smash community) learned from this whole situation is that before taking these very drastic steps of downright banning a character (shoutouts to South Australia) we have to consider what exactly the character brings to the table, and how we can work with it and work against it.
TL;DR I have stockholm syndrome thanks to Hero.
Hugh Clark • Nov 11, 2019 at 12:15 PM
Travis Touchdown for smash
Hugh Clark • Nov 11, 2019 at 12:15 PM
Travis Touchdown for smash dlc
Tupac • Nov 11, 2019 at 11:58 AM
Hey guys it’s me, Tupac. I am joined here today with John cena, and we are going to do a $100 money match, best of 13. He can’t do rars, or edge guard, or ledge trap, or attack cancel, so this will be pretty easy.
John Cena • Nov 8, 2019 at 1:57 PM
Aight Tupac bet
Tupac • Nov 8, 2019 at 12:30 PM
Hey it’s me Tupac, the best smash player in the U.S. Ban hero, he’s dumb and stupid