My mother always told me that if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all.
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A more complete reply:
As a friend of several members of the ex-PMDT, I can say that it was most certainly not made by dicks. It was made by people who love Smash, and love competing with their friends. People who wanted the game to align to a vision that Masahiro Sakurai did not share. It's a cultural thing, really. Americans love fighting games, and Nintendo as a whole does not understand why. It's the thrill of being the best, or improving yourself. Develpoing friendly rivalries. Practicing even when it's not immediately fun so that you can have more fun later. Accepting that some techniques are difficult and that it's worth sticking to it. Being part of a community.
Project M was - and is, at it's core - about a level playing field. Letting competition-minded Kirby fans experience their character in a way they never could in Melee. Letting Ganondorf fans like me play a character that is no longer a purple Captain Falcon. Allowing anyone with the skill to be the best to BE the best. Every character has its own strengths and techniques that every player can utilize differently to express themselves in a way that no fighting game has ever done before. It is a game made by fans to be the game that they want to play. A Smash game where five characters don't dominate the metagame.
I'm not sure you're aware, but the M no longer stands for Melee, and hasn't for years. Project M was never meant to be the game to replace Melee, it is meant to be a game that people want to play. Separate and unique.
Please, don't pretend that you understand what Project M means to me and the rest of its fans. Nintendo has been hounding us for years. They've bullied Twitch into never streaming it. They won't sponsor any tournament that runs it. But Hitbox welcomes us with open arms. Northwest Majors turned down some huge sponsorships so that they could run the game on the main stage. We are here to stay, and Nintendo cannot crush our dreams.
EDIT: I didn't realize that double posting was a zero-tolerance sort of rule, with how often I see it on these forums. These were two very distinct thoughts. MegaSaturn liked the former part before these posts were merged, and it seems strange to ascribe that to my later opinions.