The New Smash Bros. Might Need A Change of Direction - Sakurai

Smash Bros director Masahiro Sakurai had an interview with Nintendo Power and he had some interesting things to say.

?It isn?t a matter of ?if the next game has 50 characters, that?ll be enough.? There is a certain charm to games that have huge casts of playable characters, but they tend to have issues with game balance and it becomes very difficult to fine-tune each character and have them all feel distinctive?. In terms of quantity, we?ve probably already reached the limit of what?s feasible. I think a change of direction may be what?s needed.?Masahiro Sakurai

I'm going to have to agree with him - If they just made another Melee/Brawl, that's not enough. The series needs some new direction, it's also why I'm glad they're going with Namco Bandai, they can probably add some new perspective on the series and add some new characters to boot.

Source.

I think, with the touchscreens from the Wii U pad, they could add a whole new customization feature. Maybe have people create animations and new costumes and share them online. That would be cool.

Im fine with them keeping the game the same but adding new game modes and more content. I enjoyed the campaign they had in Brawl. The one thing I didnt like is how you unlocked all the chracters through that though. I like all the crazy ways you unlock characters in melee.

in coming butt hurt Smash Bros. fansNengo_Flow

As long as they don't make some fundamental change to the gameplay mechanics I'm all right with this.

[QUOTE="Nengo_Flow"]in coming butt hurt Smash Bros. fansHaziqonfire

All series need some degree of evolution, but they should also retain the core of what made them great to begin with.

I think that's why most gamers b1tch, or worry about a series changing. Nobody wants stagnation, but at the same time very few developers understand how to evolve an idea without taking what made it great and tossing it in the dumpster.

I dont even play Smash Bros., just a general observation.

Luckily Nintendo does understand how to retain core fundamentals, so I don't think people should worry too much.

Isn't Namco working on it? 3D confirmed.

I don't know what this means anyway.

The core gameplay in the more 3D Mario Kart games have not changed, only naturally progressed. If they are talking about the equivalent of MK7's gliders then it's ok I guess. A new hook, but what could that mean for a fighter ?

Isn't Namco working on it? 3D confirmed.

ActionRemix

Ehm no all the big decisions are made by Nintendo / Sora, those 3rd party companies are just development slaves. Nintendo is low on staff in general, that's why you are seeing a ton of collaborations lately, they are still 100% Nintendo games.

Doesn't matter what they do when you have a fighting series that almost matches a gory series and various anime franchises, primarily this, in terms of FGC approval or respect (the past two games have at least ONE game to have such positive reception in otherwise widely disliked franchises among the community). Even if they work with a fighting game developer (that had sour fan reception since Tekken 6), it's not good enough.

Me personally, I still would like to see what change of direction Sakamoto is looking for as I personally like the SSB franchise.

If this means overall roster balance comparable or even better than SSB64 then im all for it.

Maybe they are doing some kind of level up system like CoD. It fits with Nintendo's new mantra of making a game that people will keep returning to for years.

Maybe perks, like starting with an item or -20% health or something. Also unlocking new costumes, music, etc. through leveling. You get a certain amount of exp depending on your performance.

Hopefully the first thing he does is stop dumbing down the franchise.

It's true. It needs to be balanced.

As long as its better balanced than brawl, has no stupid machanics like random tripping, and maintains the core of smash than by all means, go in a different direction.

Would be nice to have more hitstun too.

I agree, brawl was so poorly balanced it was embarassing.

I'm welcome to any change. Not that big of a fan of Smash Bros anyway. All I'm really interested in is to see how the art director from Soul Calibur is gonna design this. :P

The change of direction it needs is just make what you made with brawl, except have a good online, and make it an actually good fighter with good balanced mechanics.

Something that will make a big splash in the fighting game scene like all of capcoms recent fighters have. No one cared about Tournaments for brawl because the game wasn't fun on a competitive level to play or even to watch.

THat is one thing, this game needs again. There needs to be things that you can do that make it interesting to watch, stuff that not just anyone can do easily.

Make a singleplayer mode where you can select your own character,

Brawl was a very flawed game, but it brought a lot of good ideas to the table. Just execute them properly this time.

Namco is working on the new Super Smash Brothers? FLOP comfirmed 4.5 score incoming, I rather have Namco not to anywhere NEAR the game and let Nintendo do its magic. They should leave it to its current formula instead of changing into something that may turn out crap.

As long as that change of direction has nothing to do with some system warriors' "NO ITEMS, FOX ONLY, FINAL DESTINATION" idiotic view, it's going to be just fine.

Every smash fanboy just wants them to remake melee. Everyone else just wants a better game.

Personally, to me it sounds like he wants to make a game with less characters, but have them more detailed and balanced. I would be fine with only 8-12 characters if they put a ton of effort into them.

I can already see an immediate gameplay addition: player-controlled MasterHand. By that I mean the player with the WiiPad gets to control the level, power-ups, add-ons, etc. that get introduced during a match (say I wanted to summon forth the tornadoes on the Hyrule Castle level, using the touchpad the MasterHand player would get to choose when, where, and how large). Letting one player control the level while his buddies duke it out would make for some awesome "douchebaggery," mind my french.

Please god tell me they are not going to do the same thing Nintendo did to Mario Party! Why Nintendo! Why did you casualize and game that was already casual!?!??!captainqwark20

It didn't work.

Add Mario Party, Pokemon and Zelda to the mix.

Namco is working on the new Super Smash Brothers? FLOP comfirmed 4.5 score incoming, I rather have Namco not to anywhere NEAR the game and let Nintendo do its magic. They should leave it to its current formula instead of changing into something that may turn out crap.

Click_Clock

[QUOTE="captainqwark20"]Please god tell me they are not going to do the same thing Nintendo did to Mario Party! Why Nintendo! Why did you casualize and game that was already casual!?!??!TopTierHustler

It didn't work.

[QUOTE="Click_Clock"]

Namco is working on the new Super Smash Brothers? FLOP comfirmed 4.5 score incoming, I rather have Namco not to anywhere NEAR the game and let Nintendo do its magic. They should leave it to its current formula instead of changing into something that may turn out crap.

Haziqonfire

[QUOTE="TopTierHustler"]

[QUOTE="captainqwark20"]Please god tell me they are not going to do the same thing Nintendo did to Mario Party! Why Nintendo! Why did you casualize and game that was already casual!?!??!captainqwark20

It didn't work.

It didn't even have hitstun, and they removed L cancelling.

Your opinion is an idiot.

[QUOTE="captainqwark20"][QUOTE="TopTierHustler"]They already did it with brawl.

It didn't work.

TopTierHustler

It didn't even have hitstun, and they removed L cancelling.

Your opinion is an idiot.

[QUOTE="TopTierHustler"]

[QUOTE="captainqwark20"] Brawl was better than melee in every category but character balance. As long as they don't pull a Mario Party 9 where you have no control, everything is random, and you can just press one button and the computer chooses the attacks. Wait, Namco is making this? R.I.P. Smashbros.captainqwark20

It didn't even have hitstun, and they removed L cancelling.

Your opinion is an idiot.

...who doesn't :(

I like Smash Bros style, don't change that. Just add some new additions to it, take the 3-special system they are doing in All Stars and use that instead of just one special token, it would create more strategy. Just keep the percentage though, don't lose that.

Also get the online to work right.

I wonder if it will be more hardcore like Melee

I look forward to the changes they might make to the series. I think it's a good time to try something new. I just hope Olimar isn't cut from the roster.

I wonder if it will be more hardcore like Melee

EPaul

If they can stick to these three ideas, they can do whatever else they want to try

• Frantic and often ridiculous fighting that is well suited for local multiplayer, sticking with the smash mechanic over traditional health bars
• Plenty of Nintendo charm, fan service and polish
• Huge amount of content with plenty of customization options and unlockable content

[QUOTE="EPaul"]

I wonder if it will be more hardcore like Melee

captainqwark20

pretty sure this was stated months ago. Also, not sure if want. I love the smash bros formula. But it MAY need a new direction seeing as they have pretty much used everything they can from nintys franchises.campzor

Also think its funny that a lot of people on these boards bash Namco, you know, the same Namco that kept the fighting game community alive longer than Capcom, but I can see how thats hard for other people to see...

I'm really not sure how much you can change Super Smash Bros. without fundamentally altering what it is. :?