This debate has likely happened dozens of times in this thread, but since as far as I can tell this is the "Smash Bros thread", and since I think one of the posts on the thread that got posted and locked today was worth responding to...
It kind of annoys me in general when people complain about troll arguments to justify their preferences because it tends to implicitly paint opponents with the same brush. It just compels people to keep trying to set the record straight, even if it's all been said before, because if we don't then the shit-slinging might just get more and more one-sided.
The wavedash argument is more about movement options than having a specific "advanced technique". Rolls and spot dodges are situational and primarily defensive. A universal approaching technique is important because lots of characters are stuck with poor approaching options otherwise. This gets into
Of course, the general idea is that you're awarded for successfully approaching and attacking. Defensive play can be great, but if you're not even being rewarded for approaching then it's hard to see the point until you're patient enough to understand the game within the game. Complaining about combos in Melee is a lot like saying, "In Pokemon you can just pick the super effective move, therefore it's trash." It's not mindless mashing at all. This then gets into
Muh fast-paced
Muh "more competitive"
I think that it's misleading to call Melee fast-paced. Melee matches run the gamut from fast to slow. I like that variety, and I actually kind of dislike it when people complain about a Melee match being "too slow" or being "like Brawl". From a casual standpoint, though, I'm sorry but air time is soooooo long in Brawl and it gets kind of stupid after a while. I feel that Brawl needs items to keep things "happening" without getting into really high-level play. But it's not like Smash will ever implement items in a way that's sensible for competitive play.
A similar complaint that I find misleading is that Fox and Falco are supposedly the best characters by some insurmountable margin. That's not true at all (and hypocritical coming from a defense of a game containing Meta Knight), and while people often theorize that Fox and Falco may leave the other characters in the dust in the future with more technically sound play, that's just a hypothesis. The fact remains, half the cast is considered tournament-viable.
People need to drop this silly claim that Melee players just want another Melee because that's a pretty stupid thing to want imo. In the grand scheme of things, Melee leaves a lot to be desired. I think that the general formula of Smash has a lot more potential than its developers are ever going to think of giving it. Ironically, despite being a significant break from the typical fighting game formula, Smash has itself fallen into a formula and I doubt that it's ever going to fix some of the stupid stuff that persists in every game. For example, I think Smash should just reduce aerial landing lag in general, or remove it altogether. I generally agree with people who say that pressing L to reduce landing lag is kind of dumb.
