At this rate, it may just happen. The Wiimote is a revolutionary control scheme. Unfortunately, revolutionary does not necessarily mean good. For every fanboy out there that loves the damn thing, there's someone who just can't get used to it. Beyond that, the type of motion control offered by Nintendo doesn't necessarily lend itself to all styles of gameplay. For instance, it's essentially useless in that Mario text adventure game. You know, Super Paper Mario?
For some time, we've known that the next Smash Bros. sequel would be released on the Wii in 2007. What we didn't know was how the game would be controlled. Early reports had it that a GameCube controller would be necessary to play the game. Of course, that doesn't really help the big N in the argument against the Wii being nothing but two GameCubes duct taped together. So, through whatever engineering wizardry they could muster, we now have confirmation that the game can be played through no less than 4 - yes, four - control schemes.
In a post on the official Smash Bros. website, Nintendo is stating that the game will be playable (1) with the Wii controller and nunchuk, (2) with the Wii controller turned on its side, (3) with the Classic Controller, and (4) with the GameCube controller. Interesting stuff, but let's be clear here - options 2, 3, and 4 are essentially the same, with option 2 suffering from a slight button deficit. My thinking here is that the game is probably best played with the standard style control system, but may be passable with the Wiimote/nunchuk combo. Of course, there's no confirmation that the combo will even use the motion sensing functionality of the controller, so that may have been implemented for just the analog stick and extra buttons.
We won't know which controller works best until the game is released, but since it was designed from day 1 with the GC controller in mind, I'm guessing that'll be the pad of choice. Too bad, cause I hate that controller - I've just never been able to get used to the button layout. Of course, I'm not too fond of the Wiimote either. Here's hoping the Classic Controller is passable.
At the end of the day, choice is a good thing, and it's good to see that Nintendo isn't requiring that customers purchase a last gen controller to use a next gen game. Still, if these control schemes are just half-assed attempts at using the Wiimote, that may be worse than not having them at all. The controls are arguably the most important aspect of a game. Without those, you're just watching bad TV.
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