The article seems to make wavedashing out to be the be-all-end-all of Melee. As someone else said, it can be important, but it's not a game breaker. I used to routinely get beaten by a friend of mine who didn't wavedash. It's just one of about a dozen "advanced" (read: takes time to get down) techniques that are a necessity for tourney-level play.
Personally, I like playing Smash as a fighter-type game, like Tekken, Street Fighter, etc. I prefer playing on tourney-sanctioned maps, using no items and five-stock. I've played against Skypal, the best smash crew in the Northwest US (and lost horribly. We played for three or four hours and I won once). Smash is an incredibly deep fighting game, even though there are only two attack buttons. (If you're not convinced of its depth or complexity, go to smashboards.com).
But at the same time, it's a fantastic party game. And when you're playing 4v4 FFA, all the advanced techniques pretty much go right out the window. There's just too much chaos going on, and anyone can win. And that's what makes it popular: The low bar of entry. And I'll be honest, I don't particularly enjoy FFA anywhere near as much as 1v1 5-stock. But it's also a fun time because of the human interaction and because of the chaos.
There's always going to be people playing a game purely to be the best that they can be. Those are the people who dissect the game five ways from Sunday, analyzing hitboxes, counting frames, and spending hours on Final Destination just learning how to wavedash and trying to SH fair (short hop into forward air) with Fox (Garr! So difficult!). Their intent is not to break the game, to cheat or to have unfair advantage over other people; in fact, many tourney-level gamers have some of the strictest ethics codes that you'll run across in gameland. They are driven to refine their craft and hone it to a razor-sharp edge. They are more akin to the roaming martial arts master, looking for fights so he can learn techniques and better himself.
@Necrohydra: I'm not positive why wavedashing is not in Brawl, but since it was an effect of the physics system in Melee, the recreation of the physics system for Brawl may have rendered it unavailable. There may have been no focused intent to remove it; its removal may have just "come with the territory" of the new system.
Wavedashing, like edgehogging and SHFFLing, is no more "cheap" than air dodging or grabbing while shielded. They are simply techniques that some people aren't aware of. I played against someone who challenged me to a game because he thought he had some secret skill (shield throwing, as it turns out) that I didn't know about. Then he almost literally threw a tantrum when I wavedashed and edgehogged, "secret skills" that he didn't know about. He was all fine and dandy with him having the upper hand, but once the tables were turned and there was something he didn't know about, he called foul. I offered to show him how to do it, but he wouldn't have any of it.
People who are serious about bettering themselves not only do not mind showing people how to up their game, but they can't wait to do so. It makes the other player more competent and enables them to do things that the more experienced person might not have thought to do.
Ok, I'm done. Bottom line is that I feel that there's a place for both serious competition and party game time under the single roof of Smash Brothers.
On that note, if there's anyone in the Seattle area who wants to play, shoot me an email.