By buggy mess are you referring to wavedashing? Two of the ‘viable’ characters (Jigglypuff and Peach) don’t need it. There are a lot of other elements that distinguish it from the other games which were all intentional design decisions. I can’t think of any other bugs the game relies on, outside of some questionable hitboxes and priority which is present in virtually all fighting games.
Some non-bug mechanics that the current Smash game lacks:
L-cancelling (unique, though a similar mechanic existed in SSB)
Overall speed is the fastest of the whole series
‘Weight’ differences are the most closed-in
Soft shields and power shields (unique)
Ledge recovery is ‘realistic’ as opposed to ‘magnetic’ (SSB, Melee, Brawl only)
Meteor canceling (Melee and Brawl only, though Brawl’s is gimped)
Edge guarding (SSB, Melee, Brawl?)
Unique DI (every game has its own DI rules except Smash 4 and Ultimate which are the same)
True combos (SSB and Melee only)
Moonwalking (Unique, bug?)
Jump-cancel grabs (Unique)
I probably missed some but this is what I could remember. Also keep in mind, while wavedashing is a bug, it was discovered before release and intentionally left in.
Now, you might say ‘Well why does any of that matter it’s just a game bro?’ and I would say that even if it doesn’t matter, why berate me for playing and learning about a game that I already own? The new games cost money, and if I genuinely feel like the old game plays just as well or better and choose to keep playing the old one, is that so bad?
Saying ‘I’m not autistic enough to see the difference,’ doesn’t mean there is no difference. IMO, just playing Ultimate and Melee side-by-side is enough to see a difference, even by the most casual observer.
This isn’t something unique to gaming anyway. SMB3 and SMW are generally considered to be the best of the 2D Marios, despite being from 1988 and 1990 respectively. OMG it’s 2021, why don’t these Mario-spergs UPDOOOT!
So let’s get back to making fun of Melee-spergs for
caring more about controller temperature than just practicing and getting better at the game, instead of autistically screeching ‘OMG MELEE IS OLD UPDOOOT ALREADY’ anytime it comes up.