• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Sakurai talks Smash Bros 3DS/Wii U

This whole post makes me laugh. Like normal fighting games are any less "silly"

Yeah, me too. They have a boy dressing like a teenage nun with a giant handcuff around the waist. Oh, and a yo-yo as a weapon. Claiming any fighting game isn't silly is a waisted cause.
 
Smash Bros. (particularly Melee) was one of those things that NOBODY WANTED HEADED IN A "NEW" DIRECTION, or drastically changed or anything like that. People just wanted new characters and stages and that's it; the gameplay was already there and perfect (ok it could have used a little bit of improvements like balancing, but it certainly didn't get them with Brawl). It was like Pokemon; nobody wants Pokemon's core gameplay or structure to change...they just want new features, locations and Pokemon to play with.

True, and don't you find it funny how a game that's mainly targeted towards children (Pokemon) has more competitive adjustments than Smash? Now, Melee wasn't perfect but that can be fixed in 5 easy steps;

- Slow down the game by 10%.

- Slow down fall speeds by 10%.

- Cut every aerial landing time in half (auto L-cancel).

- Remove wavedashing or replace it with an official dashing move.

- No more helpless state after an air dodge.

Done. Everyone's happy and you're free to go HAM on the wacky party stuff.
 
Brawl+ game speed/weightyness felt good to me

Auto l-cancel? Sure, unless there's a reason to occasionally not do it.

I'd say remove wavedashing and give each character more personalized movement. Maybe some characters should "wavedash" instead of roll (or have it as separate command), or maybe some of them could have unique different roll distances.
 
Is there ever a situation where you wouldn't want to l-cancel? If not, it may as well be automatic.

No because the possibility of failure creates situations that wouldn't exist otherwise i.e. I want to take advantage of when my opponents fuck up just like how I can punish them for dropping a combo in any other game.
 
No because the possibility of failure creates situations that wouldn't exist otherwise i.e. I want to take advantage of when my opponents fuck up just like how I can punish them for dropping a combo in any other game.

You'd have a point in 64 but Melee DI already adds enough unpredictability to combos IMO. L-canceling is simply too big of a requirement to become good at the game.
 
If we get Sonic again, I really want Bonk. I demand an era mascot series of battles.

The reveals were so hype.

While the disappointment of nothing new to discover when the game came out was hilarious.

Oh, and a yo-yo as a weapon.

I'll agree with the other statements, but the yo-yo is a damn good weapon that can really hurt someone. The thing gets no love thanks to marketing.
 
Do whatever you want but if you are going to make big changes just insert a "Classic Mode" or a "Melee mode".

Going back to Melee-esque gameplay after that letdown of brawl would be fantastic.
 
True, and don't you find it funny how a game that's mainly targeted towards children (Pokemon) has more competitive adjustments than Smash? Now, Melee wasn't perfect but that can be fixed in 5 easy steps;

- Slow down the game by 10%.

- Slow down fall speeds by 10%.

- Cut every aerial landing time in half (auto L-cancel).

- Remove wavedashing or replace it with an official dashing move.

- No more helpless state after an air dodge.

Done. Everyone's happy and you're free to go HAM on the wacky party stuff.

I like how none of those help slow characters from getting completely speed blitzed by the faster ones. When you hit someone and they can recover AND attack before you can recover from the move yourself, that's a problem
 
If they could get Snake again, why wouldnt they want him in? Cause Konami didnt kiss them and shower them with MGS games cause they let a character into a fighting game? Nintendo gained more than Konami from Snake's inclusion. It probably attracted a bunch of people that might not have paid attention to the game otherwise.
Yeah right lol. Brawl didn't even sell that much more than Melee. It was a really cool announcement and Konami didn't make anything out of it with Metal Gear. Dump Snake and replace him with Megaman or WESKER.
 
God fucking damnit Sakurai, why change what isn't broken?
 
I'm vaguely expecting the new Smash Bros. game to allow for character expansion DLC, with Nintendo offering new characters throughout the life of the system, possibly pulled from new games as they are released.

This could be extended towards third parties...
 
Yeah right lol. Brawl didn't even sell that much more than Melee. It was a really cool announcement and Konami didn't make anything out of it with Metal Gear. Dump Snake and replace him with Megaman or WESKER.

Are you crazy?

(⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■)
 
I feel sort of sorry for Sakurai. I want to know he's working on this series because he wants to do it. That Iwata Asks for Brawl made it sound like he was sorta forced into its development :/

It's like when I read an interview a while ago (no idea where) with Michiru Yamane around the time she left Konami. She said she had been doing Castlevania music for so long she wasn't sure what "Michiru Yamane music" sounded like. That's depressing. (I'm glad she gave us so many great soundtracks, but still... depressing.)

I'm vaguely expecting the new Smash Bros. game to allow for character expansion DLC, with Nintendo offering new characters throughout the life of the system, possibly pulled from new games as they are released.

This could be extended towards third parties...

1) That sounds like a balancing nightmare.

2) I am 100% for it. It could be a huge game-seller if they timed the DLC releases right.

3) I am 100% for DLC. What is wrong with me :(
 
Tourney people want a faster version of the same character at the expense of attack power (or vice versa in the case of Wolf and Ganondorf), so they make a clone to appease those players instead of over-tweaking the original design.

Calling Wolf a clone is incredibly shortsighted and silly, kinda like calling Samus a clone of Link, because both have a spin attack for an UpB, a bomb for DownB, and projectiles for the other specials. Not to mention they both have a tether grab!
 
So, Sonic and Snake happened in Brawl.

Any other third-party guesses?

With the recent love in from Tekken WiiU, I'd imagine something from the Namco side of things like either Pac-Man or idealy Wonder Momo (for the Japanese audience). I would love me to see Bomberman or Master Higgins if Konami wants to give an Olive branch for the Hudson diehard. Loto/Edrick from DragonQuest would be badass.
 
Didn't IGN have some similar article about Aounuma on the future of the Zelda series, teasing a full posting of the interview that never went up?
 
Yeah right lol. Brawl didn't even sell that much more than Melee. It was a really cool announcement and Konami didn't make anything out of it with Metal Gear. Dump Snake and replace him with Megaman or WESKER.

Brawl sold around 3-4 million more copies than Melee. So only like the lifetime sales of Marvel 3.
 
Are you crazy?

(⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■) (⌐■_■)

You will not survive.
 
The entire concept of Smash as a game means it doesn't get to decide anything by itself. It takes from other games. That's why people wanted Subspace to be levels from other games and not something unique to Smash: Smash doesn't have enough of an identity to go that far.

Sakurai knows what's up but he did miss a couple of notes with Brawl, so I hope he gets what he needs to do.

That said, adding stuff that are in line with the "mish mash" concept, besides characters and stages, is awesome.
 
Jesus christ no, Smash's mechanics would be terrible to have with some kind of super meter attached not to mention that there would be almost no room for it with 4 players fighting at once. What would you do if you fill it up? The Final Smash? No that's boring. Smash isn't just another fighting game where you have to memorize stupid rotations for the stick to do a move. You just press a button and that shit does it. A parry system I can maybe see working but I don't want anything like some super meter or whatever.

Also Sakurai keeps saying he wants the 3DS and the WiiU versions to be different. Well the perfect idea was already said then, make the WiiU version the fighting game with a bunch of characters, awesome online, items, BALANCE, options, but no campaign. The most there would be is arcade mode or classic or whatever no SSE crap.

While the 3DS version, just make it the Smash RPG where you use all sorts of Nintendo characters and traverse worlds and locations from games from all of Nintendo history. You'd level up characters choose abilities from a skill tree or something. But the point of it would be to venture through Nintendo's history as a gaming company and hell for shits and giggles even before when they made Hanafuda cards and ran a love hotel. It'd be amazing seeing the history of the company through a game that is more about the journey than immediate fun with friends. And as for cross play I don't know how it'd work if the two games were basically two different genres maybe you could exchange stickers or maybe exchange exclusive content with each game say Nintendo exclusive portable entries only appear on the 3DS version while on the WiiU you would get things from console exclusives or their console counterparts. Then with crossplay you could open up new areas to explore in the 3DS version and new stages to fight in in the WiiU game.
Perhaps, that's what I said in the latter part of my post, I'd just be interested in how meter management could affect the flow of combat. Like I said, for such an aerial game, additions like parry-like system or some other form of air-to-air combat mechanic would be most suitable, and Sakurai probably isn't looking toward traditional mechanics anyways for changes.

Plus, it really wouldn't be that hard to do. The UI is minimalistic as is as a tiny little bar wouldn't change anything as drastically as you say. UI is not a concern. And who said super moves had to be input through stick rotation? Could just be regular moves + a modifier button. I don't think these assumptions are warranted. Just because something has a super bar doesn't mean all of a sudden the base control scheme has to be changed.
 
You'd have a point in 64 but Melee DI already adds enough unpredictability to combos IMO. L-canceling is simply too big of a requirement to become good at the game.

Define "too big". I don't think they're just-frame inputs, in any case.

This Sirlin-inspired bullshit about prioritizing strategy over execution for the sake of "the real game" needs to die. It's nothing but a half-assed defense against accusations of having reached a certain level only as a result of spending time playing, as if that was a bad thing. Being good at a fighting game means being the better player in every aspect, whether that's knowledge of the game, strategy, ability to read an opponent or execution.


Plus, it really wouldn't be that hard to do. The UI is minimalistic as is as a tiny little bar wouldn't change anything as drastically as you say. UI is not a concern. And who said super moves had to be input through stick rotation? Could just be regular moves + a modifier button. I don't think these assumptions are warranted. Just because something has a super bar doesn't mean all of a sudden the base control scheme has to be changed.

Project M got that right with Lucario's A+B. There's still room for more inputs without making the game too complicated.
 
Super bars that use percentages just like the health bars. The higher the percentage, the stronger the attack. The longer you can hold off using it the better the payoff. And you can activate it at 10% just as much as you can at 200%.
 
Smash Bros. is a series I really don't want to be overhauled. More characters, stages, etc. & better visuals, but I'd rather see the gameplay remain mostly intact (save for some minor tweaks).

If you are going to have to innovate, focus it on the single-player campaign.
 
Awful lotta tourney fighters in here...

I'd be fairly happy if they ported Melee to 3DS, so any improvements are good. Sakurai's work on Kid Icarus Uprising makes me confident SSB3D will be amazing. He's got a good grasp of how the hardware works.
 
"The key to that's going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U."

Not liking the sound of that. Makes me think that both platforms will have different characters, stages, modes, or something to force people to buy both versions.

I guess I wouldn't mind too much though as long as I can transfer the 3DS stuff over to the Wii U. Handhelds are the last place I'd want to play a fighting game as it would severly limit my local multiplayer options.
 
I am really interested in the possibility of playing SSB on an arcade stick. With the current control options, that'd be a bit problematic, what with the importance of the analog stick. But with an option to change controls a bit, it might work with a control scheme like this:

One button for jabs.
One button for tilts.
One button for smash attacks.

Make dashes into double taps, and cancel into another dash simply by pressing forward/backward again during the dash (by holding forward while running, pressing a direction again could sort of overlap the input into another dash and a new one would start would start).

To be able to quickly cancel a dash and do a tilt, for example, you could be able to press down, which would cancel the dash.

To prevent the problem of dropping through floors (sorry, not sure what the term is), as there is no analog, you could, instead of quickly tapping down, double tap down. That way, you would be able to cancel dashes without having to worry about dropping through floors.

I think sonething like this could work. Though I'm not even sure if I'd like to play this way, but instead of making it mandatory, perhaps making it optional?

Also, when it comes to online. I REALLY hope that they don't think that matchmaking is the only thing that needs work. They must know just how important it is to have little delay in fighters.
 
I am really interested in the possibility of playing SSB on an arcade stick. With the current control options, that'd be a bit problematic, what with the importance of the analog stick. But with an option to change controls a bit, it might work with a control scheme like this:

One button for jabs.
One button for tilts.
One button for smash attacks.

Make dashes into double taps, and cancel into another dash simply by pressing forward/backward again during the dash (by holding forward while running, pressing a direction again could sort of overlap the input into another dash and a new one would start would start).

To be able to quickly cancel a dash and do a tilt, for example, you could be able to press down, which would cancel the dash.

To prevent the problem of dropping through floors (sorry, not sure what the term is), as there is no analog, you could, instead of quickly tapping down, double tap down. That way, you would be able to cancel dashes without having to worry about dropping through floors.

I think sonething like this could work. Though I'm not even sure if I'd like to play this way, but instead of making it mandatory, perhaps making it optional?

Also, when it comes to online. I REALLY hope that they don't think that matchmaking is the only thing that needs work. They must know just how important it is to have little delay in fighters.
A lot of advanced techniques in Melee/Brawl require the C-stick, and if they're still present in Smash U then a C-stick will be a necessity if you want to be competitive.
 
Sakurai is a true innovator.

He just admitted that he could simply create a new smash game with new characters and coast off it's success but decided against it.
This guy clearly plays to win.
 
A lot of advanced techniques in Melee/Brawl require the C-stick, and if they're still present in Smash U then a C-stick will be a necessity if you want to be competitive.
Hrm, like what, for example? It might be able to be fixed in some way?

Though, changing falling arc whilst attacking could become a bit more problematic, for example.
 
A lot of advanced techniques in Melee/Brawl require the C-stick, and if they're still present in Smash U then a C-stick will be a necessity if you want to be competitive.

How weak. I beat the UK champion (ex champion now ha ha ha) with just a Wiimote. While he was busy faffing about I just unplugged his controller and stuck blu tack in the port. Now that's an advanced technique. Best part was he couldn't unplug mine!
 
A lot of advanced techniques in Melee/Brawl require the C-stick, and if they're still present in Smash U then a C-stick will be a necessity if you want to be competitive.

C-sticks to my knowledge were only used for reversing aerials (which were sparingly used) and some zap jumping gimmicks with Lucas. I can't think of a situation where the C-stick would be absolutely necessary for Brawl; hell M2K played a tournament with a broken C-stick.

I can't say the same for melee since I don't have much experience with that game competitively.
 
Sakurai is a true innovator.

He just admitted that he could simply create a new smash game with new characters and coast off it's success but decided against it.
This guy cearly plays to win.

All he does is win.




And yes, western devs could learn a thing or two from Sakurai
 
I'm hoping for a stripped down to the fundamentals fighting game, with mechanics as simple as possible. I want there to be joy in finding out the complex way simple systems interact. I want it to be a moment to learn, a life time to master. I want a TON of characters. I want a ton of stages. I want characters to be wildly out of balance, and have the game system somehow allow the fights themselves to be balanced. All items should be intuitive. Netcode should be flawless. I want the final bosses to be the most powerful big bads in the Nintendo U, the final boss you fight to depend on the difficulty level, and to unlock the boss after beating him.



And replace Pokemon with Djinns.
 
Well I guess Pociask will be the first to tell us how disappointed he is with SmashU when it finally comes out.
 
Please tell me where I can buy a copy of Melee with Snake and Sonic.
It's called Project M and it is free. Your wii doesn't even need to be hacked. Just need a 2gb SD card.

Everyone looking for melee with brawl's roster should download the latest version ASAP. It's super easy to do.
 
Well I guess Pociask will be the first to tell us how disappointed he is with SmashU when it finally comes out.

Nah. It took me a few good months to work up to disappointment about Brawl. I'm sure I'll get at least a good week or two out of SmashU.
 
On Final Smash and adopting more fighter concepts:

I still think the best way to go about Final Smashes is to make them higher damage EX moves that you'd get pressing say A+B together. You can opt to use them when your damage is low but they won't do impressive amounts of damage or knock back, but as you go higher and higher with your damage percentage, the effects and damage of said move might increase. Funny that I suggested something like this (without the meter idea) and Project M kinda took it and rolled with it for their interpretation of Lucario.

There's also the Paper Mario:TTYD crowd mechanic I keep championing where getting cheered on leads to a super mode or access to your big moves thus rewarding clutch play all while introducing a meta game involving fighting for the audience's attention.

Beyond that though, the Smash series already has a ton of little mechanics heavily based off of or improvised from fighters already (for example, power shielding, is literally Just Frame Defending with a Smash Bros. touch) while having some that still have yet to be used within them. If any inspirations are going to be taken from fighters, we'll probably never know it at first glance thanks to the liberties taken to integrate it into the game.
 
God fucking damnit Sakurai, why change what isn't broken?

Been there, done that

super-smash-bros-brawl.jpg
 
Been there, done that

super-smash-bros-brawl.jpg
lol


Hrm, like what, for example? It might be able to be fixed in some way?

Though, changing falling arc whilst attacking could become a bit more problematic, for example.
I'm not very good at Smash Bros but I know you need a C-stick to DACUS (Dash attack cancel up smash) which is very useful for some characters, and I've read about some other techniques that require the C-stick.
 
Top Bottom