The Big House tournament series has decided to ban wobbling at The Big House 9. The “Wobble” or “Wobbling” is a term for Ice Climbers infinite grab combo. It is a very simple thing to perform.
I have a friend who was not very good at video games, but would come with me to the local Smash Brothers Melee tournaments. I decided to teach her how to wobble. Within one week she was going toe to toe with some of the average players in the scene.
Many tournament organizers have gone back and forth in regards to this specific aspect. There are some who say that due to the nature of the game the wobble is fine. Just do things that won’t get you grabbed. Others claim that the option itself is far too powerful in tournaments.
Robin “Juggleguy” Harn a tournament organizer for The Big House recently said this in a statement regarding this ruling, “Wobbling disproportionately rewards the grabbing player for winning a single neutral game interaction, while invalidating defensive options for the grabbed player with no opportunity to escape while using traditional Melee defensive mechanics such as stage positioning and DI.”
Years ago wobbling had been banned. Later unbanned. So why is it now being banned?
Juggleguy said, “As a TO, it’s best to balance what I think is healthiest for the game and what the attendees prefer, and in recent months the pendulum has swung back towards a preference by attendees for wobbling to be banned.” He also said, “… I believe the overall sentiment was skewed for a long time by Evo’s wobbling legal stance – after all, it’s hard for TOs to go against the ruleset of the biggest event of the year.”
With the wobble ban from The Big House we can expect other tournaments to also ban wobbling. The Melee community thrives on unity.
So what happens to Ice Climbers with wobbling banned? Ice Climbers is a very unique character in that they can desync, or make each Ice Climber act separate from each other. In some ways this means they turn the one versus one into a one versus two.
Due to the nature of Ice Climbers they can do very technical things. A pro player named Robert “Wobbles” Wright is known for his awe inspiring Ice Climber combos. As funny as it is he doesn’t use the wobble. You can find him comboing his opponents back and forth on the stage.
Using one Ice Climber to hit his victim into the other Ice Climber’s fair spiking them into the blast zone. He truly has pushed this character very far. He is also one of the highest placing Ice Climbers players in the world. Getting 2nd place at EVO 2013. Losing only to Joseph “Mang0” Marquez.
It seems that with wobbling banned the only option for these players is adapt. To become unique with their character. There is so much to be understood about Ice Climbers. Most importantly they don’t have to rely on the wobble to win.