Keyboard

It has been suggested that this article should be moved to Keyboard. The reason given for the move is: This name is a better fit for the article than Keyboard Play, as it goes more in depth with the history and functions of a keyboard than how it is used in gameplay. It also fits the naming convention of other articles about controllers. (Discuss)

Players using keyboards on a Smash 64 setup at Apex 2015.

Keyboard play is the act of playing a Super Smash Bros. game with a computer keyboard as the controller. Keyboard play is mostly used alongside emulators run on personal computers, such as in Project64 and Dolphin, thus allowing for keyboard play in Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, and Project M; furthermore, Citra and CEMU, emulators for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U respectively, allows for keyboard play to occur in Smash 4. The Nintendo Switch unofficially supports most USB keyboards, and wired keyboards can be used through an adapter. Also, the Yuzu emulator was created with keyboards in mind, offering native support by default. Keyboard play is especially prominent in the Smash 64 community, due to the reliance of emulators for play though this has died down in recent years with the majority of events switching to offline play.

Overview

Keyboards are typically characterized by their many buttons, or "keys", that each correspond with a different action. Sometimes a keyboard is paired with a mouse that streamlines some processes that can be considered cumbersome with a keyboard alone. Any keyboard can be used for all games in the Smash series if they can connect to — and are compatible with — the system being used. Several controllers like the Smash Box are even inspired by the layout of keyboards and function in similar ways.

Advantages of using keyboard

The most obvious advantage to a keyboard compared to other controllers is that certain techniques are made far easier. Button mashing, for instance, is more efficient on a keyboard than a controller, allowing for improved operation of attacks such as Mario Tornado, as well as allowing for players to more easily escape from throws in Melee and Brawl. In addition to this, SDI is easier to perform, due to keyboards only having the ability to "tap" when a key is pressed; this is particularly useful in the original game, as Smash DI is the only DI present in the game. With easier pivoting, a lot of top SSB64 keyboard players mained Kirby due to pivot up tilt.

The ability to map actions to any key has two specific advantages. The first advantage is for comfort; a player can map buttons ergonomically where their hands naturally rest, which can relieve stress and prevent potential injuries. The second advantage is to get around some limitations that are impossible to remove from other controllers; in Project64, for instance, the C buttons are mapped to the Home, Delete, End and Page Down keys, all of which are found above the arrow keys on many keyboards, allowing for players to more easily SHFFL. It is also easier to dash dance as well as this can be mashed.

Keyboards with a numeric keypad also have the unique benefit of being able to bind 8-way directional inputs to a different key. This is similar to how early freeware fighting games in the 1990s bound the arcade controller stick inputs to these keys, with 5 being the neutral position and all other numbers being their corresponding direction. This is why many fighting games today use numbers as shorthands for specific directions. This technique makes command inputs much easier and more consistent, with Kazuya especially benefiting due to having diagonal inputs for certain attacks.

Disadvantages of using keyboard

Keyboard play is considered by most players to be more difficult than standard controller play with a fairly steep learning curve. In addition to most users already being used to the standard controllers for the games, the setup of the keys on a keyboard can be considered counter-conductive to gameplay; on the standard GameCube controller, for instance, shielding merely consists of pushing the L or R buttons with one's index finger, whereas on a keyboard, this can require movement of a player's fingers in order to reach around other keys. Additionally, keyboards require the player to use of either standard arrow keys or related keys on the device which, which loses access to the subtle and precise movement potential found on official controllers with a control stick. As the keys can only be pressed or not pressed, players can only move at one speed without mapping a button for each movement speed. Also, short hop up air requires buffering prior and characters with multiple angles such as Fox or Pikachu are limited in their recoveries without mapping a button to each angle, over-complicating what is otherwise a simple and intuitive process.

Keyboards also contain elements that skirt the line of legality in a few ways. One way is them having many more buttons than an official controller lets them "break the game" in certain ways, such as being able to perform multiple actions simultaneously that would otherwise be impossible and the fact that the same action can be mapped to multiple buttons grants borderline unfair levels of consistency and can alter the way characters are played. Because of this, button macros are not allowed in tournaments and keyboard players typically have to show to a Tournament director before entering that have mapped their controls in a way where these tehniques are impossible.

In competitive play

The keyboard is a fairly niche type of controller in competitive Smash, with a small yet dedicated playerbase. The reasons for this lack of representation is the hassle involved with using a keyboard in a tournament. Most Nintendo consoles were not made compatible with standard keyboards and thus were never designed to use them. While there are a few exceptions like the ASCII Keyboard Controller for GameCube and the Nintendo Switch being compatible with USB keyboards for internet browsing, no game in the Smash series has been designed with keyboards in mind. There have been efforts to circumvent this hurdle, such as Smash 64 player Herbert Von Karajan developing an adapter for the Nintendo 64 that allows for players to use USB keyboards on the console. This adapter is a popular choice to this day and has been used by multiple top level Smash 64 players such as Killer, Star King, and KoRoBeNiKi for several years. On a side note, This adapter has also paved the way for the use of other USB devices to control Smash 64 with notably the top Fox main LD using the Xbox 360 controller for instance though he more recently created his own similar adapter based partially on this model as well as similar adapters for other controllers by Raphnet among other companies.

The Smash 64 scene is where keyboards are used the most. This is due to the general distaste in the official Nintendo 64 controller and preferable alternatives like the Hori Mini Pad being expensive and hard to find making players more open to other options. A high profile example is the Canadian smasher and former top SSB64 player SuPeRbOoMfAn notoriously fought against American smasher Sensei with a keyboard in the grand finals of Zenith 2013's Smash 64 bracket. SuPeRbOoMfAn lost by a small margin, and he elected to switch to a regular controller towards the end of the set. That being said, keyboards are still an uncommon sight at offline events due to the aforementioned hurdles and some of its drawbacks, such as the lack of angles for certain character recoveries/DI mixups, being seen as not worth the investment by many top players, with some even switching back to more conventional controllers. However, several well known players like Killer, SKG, baby caweb, Samsun, SuPeRbOoMfAn, the latter often going by the alias "KeyboardKing", primarily use keyboards to this day.

Where keyboards are seen the most often is online through emulators. Due to most PC systems coming with a keyboard, those that want to play older Smash games online but do not have the necessary equipment to use official controls make due with what they have. The chances of a player on Dolphin, Project64, or other popular emulation hubs like Fightcade using a keyboard to play is relatively high.

This popularity has only accelerated in recent years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of most offline tournaments, online tournaments have skyrocketed in popularity. For older games that don't have native online play like Melee, emulators like Dolphin are mandatory. This caused many competitive players to experiment with different controller options, including keyboards. This includes Leffen, who uploaded a video to YouTube explaining the pros and cons of the control setup. While there have not been significant results with keyboard players in this realm, the progress made here may lay the foundation for innovation in the future.