Yeah, that's it. And don't get me wrong; I know why it was done. Sakurai knew his core audience consisted of fairly young kids. He thought that he would enforce a level playing field to keep everyone equal, and prevent this audience from getting frustrated with the game, particularly since (for the first time) there was an online component. That line of thinking seems to make sense, but in my mind at least, it's very short-sighted. Melee was such a successful game in large part because of its appeal to those outside its target demographic. Every kid with a gamecube bought it, but a lot of older people did too, because of its potential as a seriously competitive game. Too, it was these older people who kept the game popular, and drove continuing sales after initial release. It was they who were responsible for Melee being picked up by Major League Gaming, and they're the reason a used copy of Melee STILL retails in the 30 dollar range. It's still a popular game eons after its release. Will Brawl have a similarly long lifetime? Will it continue to sell copies five, ten years in the future? Maybe. . .but I doubt it.

Now, y'know. . .maybe Sakurai was right. He has experience in the industry and access to data that I'll never see. I just can't help but think, though, that vastly increasing a games audience is better than appealing just a little bit more to the target audience. Look at Harry Potter, for example. It was written as a kid's series, but quickly added more adult elements. It became a cultural phenomenon not because kids loved it, but because both adults AND kids loved it. Undoubtedly, the darker elements of some of the books alienated a few kids, but I don't think you can even start to make the argument that it wasn't worth it.

In summary, Sakurai did everything he could to appeal to his target audience of young kids, and he absolutely nailed it. In so doing, however, he completely exiled all competitive players, and sheared off a segment of players responsible for most of the ongoing positive press of the former game. Above and beyond being upset as a gamer, I'm convinced that this was a bad move. Melee (and to a lesser extent, original smash) provided the model for an approachable yet competitive game, and all Sakurai had to do was follow it.

'course, he didn't. So screw him. I won't be buying Smash 4.