Steve Character Banned from Competitions Due to Overpowered Glitch
The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character, Steve, was added to the game in October of 2020, and since then, sentiment around the character has gotten worse and worse due to accusations that the character is broken and overpowered.
Steve was contentious from the start, with players raising issues with his combo potential and large swath of ranged attacks. It makes him a frustrating character to fight against, and not many characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s expansive roster act as a hard counter to him.
Because of this, calls to have the character banned have been ongoing since he launched. It looks like some of those people are getting their wish now that a new glitch has been discovered that pushes the character from overpowered to unfair.
Strategy Ban or Character Ban?
Despite this, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is no longer receiving balance updates from Nintendo, so competitive organizers are left with two options: do you ban the strategy, or do you ban the character? The logistics of banning the strategy are complicated.
If you choose to let players continue using Steve in competitive tournaments but don’t allow players to willfully use this tech, moderating matches where the character is used becomes a massive time commitment.
Barnard’s Loop, a data organizer for the Smash community, has compiled data about the current stance most states have taken on Steve. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of consensus just yet about how hard organizers are coming down on the character.
The Coinbox Bans Steve
Several tournament organizers have made the call to just ban Steve entirely, rather than devoting valuable time and resources into micromanaging a specific character. Juan Manuel DeBiedma, a prolific Super Smash Bros. player that has won tournaments such as EVO throughout his career and organizer of online tournament The Coinbox better known by his handle Hungrybox, released a video about the situation on his YouTube channel. In the video, DeBiedma runs through several tournament organizers around the US announcing their decision to ban Steve across their events. Ultimately, after some consideration, he follows suit, saying Steve would not be allowed in The Coinbox “until further notice.”
Overall, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate isn’t beholden to unified rules, especially without Nintendo’s direct involvement in the competitive scene, so tournament organizers are free to do what they want.
Current trends indicate that Steve has been banned in some tournaments for being overpowered due to a glitch. However, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on organizers’ stance on the character just yet.