Don't say it's a party game just because it has the possibility to play with 4 players. I'm playing Smash Bros. / Melee / Brawl for years now, and I can find much more depth and intelligent design in it than in Tekken or Street Fighter. Also, most of the characters are well-balanced. In SF4, just look at Seth and you know something went terribly wrong in the design process.
When I play SF4 online, I see a lot of people that fight like some kind of algorithm. They do the same moves over and over again. If they're done, they start form the beginning. the funny thing is, that they can win with this crap, because they time their moves so good, that there is no way out once you are in their scheme. They get over 2000 points that way. In Smash Bros. Brawl, there sometimes come situations whre you are trapped in your enemies rythm, but you always have the possibility to just stop it and counter it.
I also fought people in SF4, that wait until the enemy attacks. If he doesn't, they just stand there and spam you with whatever projectile weapon they have. If I try to teleport behind them with Bison, I certainly do NOT get the first strike, because - of course - they are faster event hough they were in midst of an attack

In Brawl you have to seriously consider what attack you do to not let your enemy profit of your recover-time.