looks at poll O.o

amazed *.*

I don't really consider SSB a fighting game, more like a brawler in the same respect as powerstone or Ninja Turtles. I dont expect it to sell amazingly on the 3DS, but on the Wii, yes.....thats where its home. A handheld will not suffice. WWE Smackdown is not a fighting game its sport entertainment. UFC is actual fighting but its still fighting for sport. 

SSB, Powerstone, God of War Ascension, PASBR- Brawler genre

WWE Smackdown, WWF No Mercy- Sports Entertainment 

UFC, Fifa, Madden, NBA2k- licensed Sports

Fighter- Tekken, MK, Street Fighter, KOF, Blaz Blue, Soul Calibur...etc

Tekken dropped after PS1, but since then it stabilized at ~4M (Tekken 6 sold over 3.7M (PS3+360)). It's Tekken Tag 2 the one which bombed (it seems that it's undertracked here, though).

I was shocked when I saw how much tekken sold back in the day compared to now. I never knew it was so popular. I guess the fighter genre is actually falling like a dead bird...

Thats because SSB is not a fighter, its a party brawler. FIghting games are niche these days and their controls have too high a ceiling for novices compared to a brawler. Problem is with fighters, the more the evolve the harder it is to create openings for newcomers. Look at Tekken now, either people use the cheap characters or they get destroyed. The technical characters take time to learn. When the fighting fanatics get the game the master their top characters in various styles and prey upon the novices who just want to have fun. If this was SSB, everyone would just have fun regardless of who was good or not. Sure SSB is super competitive, but its not built like an actual fighting game. I believe the director himself doesn't see it as a fighting game.

Try to get a novice to play UFC for real without just hitting punch and kick. They'll get confused as the games control scheme is highly complex and demands at least an hour learning curve to master to most. The average learning curve for an entry sports title in the 90's was like 15 minutes wasn't it? Today its like thirty minutes to an hour for the average person who isnt a game.

Tekken used to run the arcades with Street Fighter, MK and Killer Instinct. It nearly put Virtua Fighter out of the fight for good. Sega survived by the skin of their teeth when it came to fighters because of Namco. Sony and Namco gave them hell. Street Fighter alone put most of SNK's games on the back burner. True fighting fans can go through a plethora of SNK games. I remember being a child playing in the movie theatre arcades against scores of kids and us watching as someone got their asses handed to them.

Fighting games are niche this days because for decades devs decided to hide from players the stuff needed to know to become competent, so not only those who weren't interested in becoming good left, those who were actually interested in learning the game but didn't know how to do so gave up as well, tired of hitting their head against a brick wall.

Even today you still have to buy the game guide to get a proper movelist (which becomes obsolete after the first balance patch, btw).

Move data needs to come with the game so it can be updated when needed, and anybody who wants to get better at the game have the tools to do so (I think DOA does it... the irony). A few tutorials explaining basic concepts wouldn't hurt, either.

Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat have both sold over 3.5 million.

No, the stuff that you need to know is there, its just that the ceiling is higher and the devs had to create rage meter to tone the game down for novices who get their collected hides handed to them so they can have somewhat of a chance. If you want to know those things you need to spend the time on the game to become more than a novice. For instance in Tekken Tag 2 they teach you how to start launchers, capitalizing off of bounces and juggles yet none of the novices use them because they just want to kick your ass without realizing this isnt a brawler. They dont think in a technical manner. They try to use the technical characters like the 

DOA is the crappiest fighting game money can buy. Its so easy to play and master. Its not on the list of technical fighters the characters are uninteresting and the control scheme was made for the novice. 

Show me a 3D fighter from the PS2 days that comes with frame data.

Bounces and juggles aren't basic stuff, they're things to maximize damage. Safety, punishing and how to play when you have the advantage are (some of) the basic concepts needed to know to be able to fight decently.  I've never seen a game that explains them. All it needs to be done to defeat a player that doesn't know them is to wait for a mistake, because he'll make plenty. Explaining the former first is like putting the cart before the horse.

Heck, unless they've done it in their later iterations, Soul Calibur, Tekken or Virtua Fighter don't explain how throws work (and there is a big difference between throws in Virtua Fighter and the other two).

Yes, DoA is bad. Ironically it comes with frame data, which makes me think Team Ninja has no shame.