Sakurai: "If we Direct Smash ONLY at The Competitive Players, It Will Have No Future."

[Rags]

Let me say this: This is this man's dream- HIS ideas come to fruition. The game was never INTENDED to be competitive like melee has been. For people to get mad and insult him ove rhow they feel HIS ideas should be and the direction they should be is silly. Be glad he didn't just ignore you guys altogether when he made smash 4. I respect him for sticking to his guns.

 

[Oniric Spriter]

Gotta work on that eyesight game, bro.

That requires too much skill, who do you think I am, M2K?
I'll get dem smashball next time bro, #GetRekt

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

I never called him an idiot. Just dumb. Your post seems extremely oversaturated with salt about my post

yeah mine has salt but yours is the whole Salt deposit.

 

[Nooph]

sakur-why

 

[Stryker]

*Insert obligatory semi-troll comment about Smash 4 having no future as a competitive game here.*

Seconded.

 

[PlateProp]

yeah mine has salt but yours is the whole Salt deposit.

Lol I literally have no salt. You're the only salty one here

 

[smashbroskilla]

I get that your angry, but suggesting to fire a man because his opinion for a competitive game differs from yours couldn't be more childish and egocentric.
And regardless of that, he still succeeded in making Smash 4 a middle ground for casuals and competitives. Either way, he said before that he is probably not (read: probably) making the next Smash so I don't why you get worked up over that one.

I don't understand how you got egocentric and childish from my post. Fire him from the smash franchise and give someone else the oppurtunity. He makes a mockery of anyone that ever got this game into Esports, commentators, people who practice this game and try to make it competetive, people who post on these forums. Him completely dismissing a major part of the smash community is childish.

 

[Mr. Cuddles]

Let me say this: This is this man's dream- HIS ideas come to fruition. The game was never INTENDED to be competitive like melee has been. For people to get mad and insult him ove rhow they feel HIS ideas should be and the direction they should be is silly. Be glad he didn't just ignore you guys altogether when he made smash 4. I respect him for sticking to his guns.

I personally dont care what he did to smash 4 , because i would play PM anyway, but smash 4 is a fun AND competitive game. to say competitive smash has no future when it literally already exists and has existed for the past 13 years, is silly, Smash is a fighting game and fighting games are going to be competitive.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

Lol I literally have no salt. You're the only salty one here

hmmmm "Maybe people will finally realize how dumb Sakurai is and stop worshipping him now."
idk that tastes pretty salty to me but I'll just leave it XD

I don't understand how you got egocentric and childish from my post. Fire him from the smash franchise and give someone else the oppurtunity. He makes a mockery of anyone that ever got this game into Esports, commentators, people who practice this game and try to make it competetive, people who post on these forums. Him completely dismissing a major part of the smash community is childish.

"I don't understand how you got egocentric and childish from my post. Fire him from the smash franchise and give someone else the oppurtunity. He makes a mockery of anyone that ever got this game into Esports, commentators, people who practice this game and try to make it competetive, people who post on these forums. Him completely dismissing a major part of the smash community is childish."
Hmm I see, not childish.

 

[Yoshi Kirishima]

How do you guys feel about this? Do you really feel that data gathered from online battles is an accurate enough testament of what characters need a buff/nerf? Even the 'worse' characters can win in the hands of a smart player vs a random/casual.

Plus wifi...

Of course he isn't making judgements purely based on those games, but just using them to help them make a decision. For example if he notices that a character is killing the opponent at 200% on average when everyone's killing at 100% on average, and the said character is having such difficult times killing despite having a few really hard hitting moves, then maybe the speed/power of those moves needs to be adjusted because it's not working as intended.

 

[SphericalCrusher]

I agree. It can be played competitively, but ultimately there are more suitable games for competitives, which is what Sakurai said.

I suppose, but honestly, that's not a good comparison. Comparing competitive Smash to Street Fighter is night and day difference. Smash offers more options as a fighting game (as well as damage counts up instead of a health bar) and you have more ways to defeat people than standard fighting games. It's hard to tell someone to go "play something else" that they might not like... just because they want to be competitive, you know? It's all about playing something you enjoy, and when you enjoy it a lot... that's where the competitiveness comes into play. Most competitive fighting games are similar, Smash is different. And there's a lot of non fighting games to be competitive over also, so it's just apples and oranges. At least for me. My two cents! =)

 

[Tobi_Whatever]

So balance patches are still possible? Ok this is the plan, everybody picks diddy and blows everything that moves into oblivion with uAir.
We just keep on doing that with every character we see a problem in and force Sakurai to balance the game how we like it to be.

 

[Darklink401]

I see his point. His vision was to create a game for the entire family, one that they could all enjoy, and that wouldn't be hard for new players to get into. Sure, it turned out differently, and he could be a bit more supportive, but in the end, the competitive smash scene kind of goes against what he believes in.

However, as he said, people are free to play Smash however they want, and that's the cool thing about the game, whether it be 1v1 no items omega or free for alls with all items on in palutena's temple.

It's all about what kind of player you are, and Sakurai himself is just a person, he wouldn't prohibit you from playing the game the way you like.

It just isn't his preferred playstyle, the guy's just being honest.

But if he didn't care, then there'd be no For Glory mode.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

You can't really say he has dissed the competitive side,as has been said.He dosen't like it very much but he has undeniably catered to it somewhat.If the man wanted,For Fun could be the only online mode.

 

[Space Stranger]

I see his point. His vision was to create a game for the entire family, one that they could all enjoy, and that wouldn't be hard for new players to get into. Sure, it turned out differently, and he could be a bit more supportive, but in the end, the competitive smash scene kind of goes against what he believes in.

However, as he said, people are free to play Smash however they want, and that's the cool thing about the game, whether it be 1v1 no items omega or free for alls with all items on in palutena's temple.

It's all about what kind of player you are, and Sakurai himself is just a person, he wouldn't prohibit you from playing the game the way you like.

It just isn't his preferred playstyle, the guy's just being honest.

But if he didn't care, then there'd be no For Glory mode.

This guys gets it.

 

[BridgesWithTurtles]

At this point, I just don't really care about Sakurai's views on the matter. Whether or not he believes competitive Smash 4 has no future, that shouldn't stop those who are interested from trying. If we really want Smash 4 to thrive as a tournament game, then instead of throwing down our controllers and accepting the fate Sakurai has portended, let's try to prove him wrong.

And if he's right, we can play Melee until 20XX. Win-Win.

 

[Scarlet Bean]

**** yea melee

 

[Oniric Spriter]

So balance patches are still possible? Ok this is the plan, everybody picks diddy and blows everything that moves into oblivion with uAir.
We just keep on doing that with every character we see a problem in and force Sakurai to balance the game how we like it to be.

I believe the "this is the last patch we make" article was a mistranslation. It's not a bad idea nonetheless.
If he truly didn't care like most people think he wouldn't be talking about character balance anymore.

 

[GameWatching]

Smash is not even a game anyone could pick up and play (your parents or people who never played games seriously). Mario Kart or other party games are more suited for that.

Give Smash back to HAL ffs

 

[TheAnvil]

I suppose, but honestly, that's not a good comparison. Comparing competitive Smash to Street Fighter is night and day difference. Smash offers more options as a fighting game (as well as damage counts up instead of a health bar) and you have more ways to defeat people than standard fighting games. It's hard to tell someone to go "play something else" that they might not like... just because they want to be competitive, you know? It's all about playing something you enjoy, and when you enjoy it a lot... that's where the competitiveness comes into play. Most competitive fighting games are similar, Smash is different. And there's a lot of non fighting games to be competitive over also, so it's just apples and oranges. At least for me. My two cents! =)

I see where you're coming from. However I think Sakurai had the "I only play 1v1, FD, no items" crowd. IMO, that crowd is comprised of the kind of fans that just love fighting games.

What I love about Smash is how versitile it can be. I like doing zany matches, and I like doing basic matches on Omega stages iwth no items too.

 

[iLLuMinati_EYE]

2001 Sakurai > 2008-2014 sakurai

 

[Waluigi is too big]

On this week's episode of misinterpreted sakurai quotes.

Sakurai hates all competitive players and thinks they should be killed with pitch forks.

 

[Zink Imp]

Depends what you find fun. personally I don't really find getting screwed over by random bull**** fun, and I love the more rewarding experience that competitive smash offers. But hey that's just my dumb opinion. I still get where your coming from though, if we sacrificed the more casual side of the game then barley anyone would play it and smash would die.

Of course. The majority of the market were "casuals" anyways.
I'm also a big fighting game fan. And I would be more than happy to see a true fighting game like Smash. I don't think fighting games have to be limited to the tropes Street Fighter established. The percent damage and falling KOs are really unique. The fighting genre needs to evolve and I'm glad Smash can provide variety into it. I can't deny the scene Smash has made, but I'm happy to see that more resources were put into the 4 (and now 8 player) games.
To me, it's a little sad to see that a games that offers 30+ stages to play on, only a select few are selected. And that's probably why Sakurai makes these comments. He spends so much energy into making the games and the most "dedicated" fans barely make the most of the games.

 

[Anuran]

I mean water is wet...We know sakurai doesn't like competitive gaming? We have the pmdv which is more than enough. And I mean sm4sh is pretty competitive and technical end lag on moves isn't that bad (sorry marth). There only 2 things I wish was different about sm4sh are 1 that gimping was a more real component and 2 that there were more competitively viable stages.

 

[neohopeSTF]

tbh this doesn't really mean much, its just his opinion. The game is already out and if you want to play it competitively there is nothing stopping you.

 

[Prawn]

I see where you're coming from. However I think Sakurai had the "I only play 1v1, FD, no items" crowd. IMO, that crowd is comprised of the kind of fans that just love fighting games.

What I love about Smash is how versitile it can be. I like doing zany matches, and I like doing basic matches on Omega stages iwth no items too.

"Most competitive fighting games are similiar" is a silly statement

 

[SuaveChaser]

I don't see for glory as some mode for competieve players i always thought it was quick match type thing he just made all the stages the same type to avoid problems.

 

[MeatOfJustice]

People need to realize that Nintendo is a family-friendly focused company, and as a company they want to get the more people as possible to play and enjoy their games. Sakurai is not dumb or anything for thinking that way, even though I would prefer *MYSELF* a more competitive focused game, I can understand his point of view.

And also remember that Melee wasn't also intended to be the way it is right now.

The community that enjoy playing the game competitively is the one that has driven this scene where it is right now, and we will continue to do so with or without developer support.

Miyamoto wants to attract more hardcore players to Nintendo.

 

[Captain Zack]

sakurai has no future as a game designer

 

[mythbust4000]

I think you can make smash complex if you have the same controls let casuals have items and add 1 or 2 crazy stages then it can have like 100 techs and casuals would still love the game.Every casual player I know likes melee and pm and don't care about wave dashing l cancelling etc.because they play 4 guys crazy stages items on.
You will never see a casual be like I don't like melee becouse people have 2 choses on how to play hardcore or casual the reason hardcore players want sacuri to make a competive game is because they want their choice of play back
Its really hard to lose the casual market in smash because you need items and the controles of all smash games to get them in your game

 

[Darklink401]

sakurai has no future as a game designer

Cuz Smash has taken over a decade and a half of his life, and he's worked more than any sane person should on them, the poor guy.

I respect this man beyond words.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

sakurai has no future as a game designer

Smash fanbase, ladies and gentlemen

 

[ryanator008]

Didn't we already know that he didn't want to make Smash Bros. a hardcore fighting game?

 

[Clavaat]

I see where you're coming from. However I think Sakurai had the "I only play 1v1, FD, no items" crowd. IMO, that crowd is comprised of the kind of fans that just love fighting games.

What I love about Smash is how versitile it can be. I like doing zany matches, and I like doing basic matches on Omega stages iwth no items too.

You're entitled to that. But honestly, if that's all the game was, if it had no competitive scene, I wouldn't be involved with it at all. I'd stop playing entirely. It exists for a reason: There are people who enjoy this style of play greatly. To completely disregard that is silly and alienating. He has already catered to both sides pretty heavily in Smash 4, so why say these kinds of things now?

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

Sakurai: If people want to play seriously 1v1, they should do that, and if people simply want to enjoy the game, they should do so. There might even be people who only like to play with their amiibo. I think it's good that there are so many different ways to enjoy this game.

He never said he hates it as people playing it as a competitive game.

Then people poke at this,

"Mmm. Personally, I feel that if you want to play a fighting game seriously, there are other competitive fighting games that are more suited to that, and people like that could have fun playing those. If you play Smash Brothers seriously as a competitive game, the game itself has no future."

But then ignore,

If I wanted to, I'm sure I could make a more hardcore Smash Brothers game. I could make the game speed much faster, increase the number of inputs...but then, beginners would no longer be able to play the game. When the game becomes more like a sport, a tool that more strictly rewards the player with more skill, the game tapers off more, like a mountain. Just like how a mountain tapers off into its peak, that area becomes more and more narrow.

~

TL;DR, He never said he hates competitive games, he doesn't want to make it a hardcore competitive only game which a lot of smasher here treat smash brothers right.

This is the third new article that has something out of context to get views and people have been jumping the gun in the comments with stuff out of context and then as a result with multiple posts that need to be dealt with and I can't since I am not part of the news group.

 

[AuraMaudeGone]

Look on the bright side, we're getting Pokken Tournament soon! Eh? Eehh?

 

[Jaedrik]

Well, friends, the case is closed. Sakurai is wrong. There might be nothing we can do to change this. I wish we could have an open dialogue.

 

[SojyuRyu]

Nope. I speak Japanese and read through the translated part. This is accurate.

Teach me Japanese oh great one!!

 

[Meru.]

I think "downgraded" is not the correct translation.

Sakurai uses the word 落とし込む. My Japanese dictionary gives me three definitions for the word. The first one is putting something in somewhere.The second one is deceiving someone into doing a crime. Both of these do no seem applicable to this context, so we are probably looking for the third definition. In Japanese, this is:

抽象的な事柄を、具体的な形や行動に反映させる。例:「アイデアをデザインに落とし込む」。Rougly translated: Having something abstract influence a concrete form or behavior.

This is quite a neutral verb, it does not carry any negative (or positive) meaning. Downgrading, on the other, carries quite a negative connotation.

So personally I would prefer to translate it as something like "if we would make it a game that focuses on spectating, it would be a bad thing" or something like that.

Other than that the translation seems perfectly fine.

EDIT: No wait, there's something else I find off. Sakurai doesn't state that "if you play Smash as a competitive game, this game has no future".

He says "if we only have Smash focus on the competitive part, the game will have no future." or something along those lines. What's important to realize here, is that he means that if they create a game that is only targeted towards the competitive audience, it will have no future because it loses accessibility for new players etc. He doesn't mention anything about the competitive scene having no future, or competitive Smash having no future.

 

[NintyTheRagekid]

No need for the big red text. It won't make your statement sound any more legitimate than Sakurai's.

Sakurai isn't "doubting his own product". He is doubting it as a competitive game.
Smash isn't a competitive game. That's not opinion. That is fact.
Sakurai created it as a fun party game to play with your friends, similar to Mario Party.
Sure, you can play it as a competitive game, and go to tournaments and such, but you simply can not complain when it isn't as fast-paced as you want it to be, because it isn't supposed to be a hardcore fighting game.

Complaining about the lack of a competitive aspect, and saying the game is awful and you hope it dies because of that, is just an utterly stupid statement.

And mods, don't give me a flaming infraction for this. I'm simply engaging in a discussion about Sakurai's quote.

Isn't the idea of something being competitive or not an OPINION?
Sure, the games were made for casual play but, we made it our own thing.
I don't want Smash 4 to die as a game, I just don't feel like it's as competitive as other games and it could die AS A COMPETITIVE GAME for that reason.

But this is all opinionated anyways.

inb4 arguments about what is competitive or not
(and I don't want that to happen)