Sakurai's Interview on How Characters Are Chosen

[Swedish_Otaku]

Like I said before many times:

Doesn't matter. Sakurai could have just put him in if he wanted.

 

[Frostwraith]

People here talk as if game development is a simple when in reality, it's far from it.

 

[RamOne]

People here talk as if game development is a simple when in reality, it's far from it.

Sakurai's statement 'Have you ever made a game?' holds more water than many people think.

 

[Naoshi]

As someone who's doing a serious attempt at developing a game on his own, I can safely say anyone that thinks making games is simple are full of it and has never attempted one. lol

 

[StaffofSmashing]

A series... without a future?
Fantastic. We can all see who dies from that quote.

 

[Smash_Veteran_Amtoj]

Lucas being cut I understand, but dang it, Miyamoto. Should have told Sakurai about Star Fox coming back sooner!

Anyway, I don't see how he's making anything up. He did everything he said.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

As someone who's doing a serious attempt at developing a game on his own, I can safely say anyone that thinks making games is simple are full of it and has never attempted one. lol

Oh, god, this. I've been working on a hack of Pokemon for Quest 64 and am still working on gathering the spreadsheets for all the key information. I've been doing it for years. Hell, my Zelda Classic game is taking forever because I barely understand some of the aspects of how the editor works. And then there's getting every sprite correct.

Seriously, I can understand some criticism, but at least be reasonable here towards Sakurai. Yes, I question some choices. Like Dark Pit over another clone. Doesn't mean he isn't trying extremely hard. He couldn't have easily added Mewtwo back. He might not have been allowed to work on him outside of DLC. The other companies do have some control. This could be why he was low priority in Brawl. People need to keep in mind it's not black and white. And I don't mean the Pokemon games.

 

[TimeSmash]

And then there's getting every sprite correct.
.

Holy crap, this much? I totally agree with you, sprite or model making is hard enough alone, especially when trying to make movements look natural and fluid. I only have minimal experience with spriting, but Frakensteining something is a hell of a lot easier than making whole new models and movesets. I'll admit something as similar as Dark Pit or Dr. Mario simply could have been an alt in the style of Alph or the Koopalings, but someone like Lucina is more deserving of her own slot from an aesthetic point of view. I've always viewed clones for the most part as "Wow, great moveset, but at least they're playable"

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Holy crap, this much? I totally agree with you, sprite or model making is hard enough alone, especially when trying to make movements look natural and fluid. I only have minimal experience with spriting, but Frakensteining something is a hell of a lot easier than making whole new models and movesets. I'll admit something as similar as Dark Pit or Dr. Mario simply could have been an alt in the style of Alph or the Koopalings, but someone like Lucina is more deserving of her own slot from an aesthetic point of view. I've always viewed clones for the most part as "Wow, great moveset, but at least they're playable"

Dr. Mario is the only one who can't. You have to remodel his Megavitamins, and then his Final Smash, and then redo his Down B to be different from the Tornado. Or he can quickly clone him and remake Luigi's Down B which is far easier than remodeling the FLUDD. The other two were way easier overall.

Alph was the only other real choice, and the only two he could've replaced realistically is Dark Pit or Lucina. Dr. Mario has zero chance of being an alt due to the fact he doesn't have Fireballs alone. Sakurai even told us that's the main reason he's his own character some time back. He just doesn't like it. I don't blame him. Dr. Mario is very different from Mario even in gameplay outside of the Smash series. He makes zero sense as an alt from a gameplay or logical perspective.

 

[Smash_Veteran_Amtoj]

Alright, here's my opinion on the interview.

I don't think popularity matters all that much in Smash, except in some cases like third parties. I believe the developers create a roster as development begins, then they look at popularity polls to determine priority in development. Basically, they plan a ton of characters, and use popularity to determine which one from their list gets in.

Some characters probably can't join due to the wishes of other companies. Mewtwo might not be coming back due to Game Freak. I'm pretty sure they have a hand in deciding the Pokémon roster. They probably thought Mewtwo isn't relevant anymore. Hopefully they change their minds in the future. Snake also kind of fits in with this. Konami and Nintendo haven't really done anything together recently. As much as Kojima and Sakurai may have wanted him, business probably got in the way.

Ridley, while popular, might have been planned to be a boss early on. The developers probably just went ahead with it. Maybe they see him fitting that role better. Although, there are a lot of rumours surrounding Wii U exclusive characters that include our beloved killer space pirate, so maybe he's not out yet.

As for cuts... Lucas fits in with the dead series bit. His game didn't even get localized. Wolf doesn't make sense unless Sakurai was too far into development when he got word of a new Star Fox. Pokémon Trainer, Ivysaur, and Squirtle being cut is possibly due to transformation technicalities. Ice Climbers have already been confirmed as cut due to limitations.

Now, as for new characters...

A lot of the newcomers bring something new to Smash. Rosalina and Luma bring in puppeteering. Little Mac brings in totally ground-based gameplay. Shulk brings in stat modifiers. Palutena is THE custom move set fighter. Robin brings in the breaking items mechanic from Fire Emblem. Duck Hunt brings in lots of projectile traps.

They all made Smash Bros. fresh and shaked things up.

When it comes to clones....

They're last minute additions that didn't take anyone's spot. Lucina likely got in due to popularity and for another female fighter. While Roy is popular with Smash fans, not too many Fire Emblem fans seem to remember him. Also, Intelligent Systems, like Game Freak, probably wanted someone newer. Dark Pit probably got in due to popularity as well. That, and maybe Sakurai likes his character. No harm done. Probably didn't take too much time to develop, and I liked him in Uprising. On to Dr. Mario. I think he's the result of Sakurai going through Melee's files to see what cut character he can bring back. Besides Mewtwo and Roy, there's Pichu and Young Link. I know these two have their fans, but Dr. Mario probably made the most sense. Besides, we have Mario's old move set back now.

I don't think I missed anything. These are just my thoughts on how rosters are possibly made.

 

[Dr. James Rustles]

Shoutout to all the fanbois on Facebook that genuinely thought their comment likes mattered.

 

[J04KlM]

Dr. Mario is the only one who can't. You have to remodel his Megavitamins, and then his Final Smash, and then redo his Down B to be different from the Tornado. Or he can quickly clone him and remake Luigi's Down B which is far easier than remodeling the FLUDD. The other two were way easier overall.

Alph was the only other real choice, and the only two he could've replaced realistically is Dark Pit or Lucina. Dr. Mario has zero chance of being an alt due to the fact he doesn't have Fireballs alone. Sakurai even told us that's the main reason he's his own character some time back. He just doesn't like it. I don't blame him. Dr. Mario is very different from Mario even in gameplay outside of the Smash series. He makes zero sense as an alt from a gameplay or logical perspective.

LOL

 

[TimeSmash]

Dr. Mario is the only one who can't. You have to remodel his Megavitamins, and then his Final Smash, and then redo his Down B to be different from the Tornado. Or he can quickly clone him and remake Luigi's Down B which is far easier than remodeling the FLUDD. The other two were way easier overall.

Alph was the only other real choice, and the only two he could've replaced realistically is Dark Pit or Lucina. Dr. Mario has zero chance of being an alt due to the fact he doesn't have Fireballs alone. Sakurai even told us that's the main reason he's his own character some time back. He just doesn't like it. I don't blame him. Dr. Mario is very different from Mario even in gameplay outside of the Smash series. He makes zero sense as an alt from a gameplay or logical perspective.

Oh whoops, I was only thinking from a model perspective with Dr. Mario hehe. I didn't even think about Megavitamins!! I do agree with you that their respective games are quite different, but if I weren't considering movesets I would have lumped them together (something ala Project M, where they could replace fireball textures, but again, that kind of works against me because pills and Dr. Mario are like cake and frosting). I view Dr. Mario and Mario as the same person, but I definitely get what you're saying.

That also reminds me that Lucina has different sword properties, which doesn't make her SUPER different or anything but provides a slight differentiation from Marth. A lot of people are really happy she got in, and I'm always happy to see more females come into Smash.

 

[Marakatu]

Why are you saying that making games is not easy? Everybody knows that.
Coming up with a better roster than SSB4 is easy though.

 

[Smash_Veteran_Amtoj]

LOL

While the Project M team probably thought he was better off as an alt, the Smash dev team kept him a clone due to his differences.

Why change him to be exactly like a character you already have when you can keep him the way he is? Does having your own slot even matter that much? What if Alph and all the Koopalings had their own slots?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Oh whoops, I was only thinking from a model perspective with Dr. Mario hehe. I didn't even think about Megavitamins!! I do agree with you that their respective games are quite different, but if I weren't considering movesets I would have lumped them together (something ala Project M, where they could replace fireball textures, but again, that kind of works against me because pills and Dr. Mario are like cake and frosting). I view Dr. Mario and Mario as the same person, but I definitely get what you're saying.

That also reminds me that Lucina has different sword properties, which doesn't make her SUPER different or anything but provides a slight differentiation from Marth. A lot of people are really happy she got in, and I'm always happy to see more females come into Smash.

Well, Project M is 100% irrelevant since Mario retains his FLUDD. That alone makes a difference. He clearly replaced some textures for animations, but wants FLUDD, so the chances of being a costume are zip.

 

[J04KlM]

While the Project M team probably thought he was better off as an alt, the Smash dev team kept him a clone due to his differences.

Why change him to be exactly like a character you already have when you can keep him the way he is? Does having your own slot even matter that much? What if Alph and all the Koopalings had their own slots?

Because Sakurai should've put more effort to the custom movesets, cyclone should have been a custom Down Special for Mario. Seriously, the majority dislikes Fludd. Even mains of regular Mario would prefer to have cyclone back. Pills are Custom Neutral Specials and the Doc Jump as well. That way, you can have both current Mario and Dr. Mario within the same character slot, to your own liking. It's a lot more organized that way and the roster doesn't become a mess with unecessary filler character slots. Alph would've worked as a seperate character better than the likes of Dark Pit because of unique elements from Pikmin 3, namely the Rock Pikmin. And you can't be serious about the Koopalings part.

 

[Smash_Veteran_Amtoj]

Because Sakurai should've put more effort to the custom movesets, cyclone should have been a custom Down Special for Mario. Seriously, the majority dislikes Fludd. Even mains of regular Mario would prefer to have cyclone back. Pills are Custom Neutral Specials and the Doc Jump as well. That way, you can have both current Mario and Dr. Mario within the same character slot, to your own liking. It's a lot more organized that way and the roster doesn't become a mess with unecessary filler character slots. Alph would've worked as a seperate character better than the likes of Dark Pit because of unique elements from Pikmin 3, namely the Rock Pikmin. And you can't be serious about the Koopalings part.

Custom move sets are mostly here to alter the properties of moves with Palutena's and the Mii's moves being exceptions. Besides, even if the Tornado was a custom move, you wouldn't be able to use it online and in certain modes. So much for that.

Besides, Doc was a fighter before, nothing wrong with him being a fighter now.

As for tha Alph and Koopalings part, I didn't mean that they would have their own move sets. I meant that if they were given slots with the exact same moves and properties they have now, everyone would be complaining. Since they share a spot with someone, nobody complains. This is pretty stupid if you ask me. There's no reason to hate on the other clones on the roster if you're fine with the alts.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

"Characters from a series that has no future are rarely chosen."
Welp, Issac fans won't be happy to hear this.
People have applied this to Kid Icarus, but that's a recent series with an undecided future, not a dead one. Other then that, Sakurai hasn't cut C. Falcon and the like because of his aversion to cuts. Just don't expect Black Shadow any time soon...

Even ignoring the fact that the latest game in the GS series was only two years before Uprising, the franchise never had a direct confirmation of no sequel being planned, which is more than can be said for KI. And I'm pretty sure this is definite.

“If by ‘lasting universe’ you mean to ask if there’s a sequel, the answer is no.” Sakurai went on to explain that the reason is “because we pushed a lot into the game in order to let people have this short yet deep experience, but the novelty of that would likely grow thin in the next game. For now, my thought is that perhaps we’ll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years.”

And yet people act as if GS is the franchise without a definite future when there is far less justification. Did people forget that the time between Lost Age and DD was far more than 4 years? And to counter an argument with a question- the question isn't if I can prove that there is a definite sequel in works as we are speaking, the question is if one can prove there is no chance of a sequel being hypothetically worked on because all it takes is a single announcement of a new game in order to invalidate the "no future" argument. And unlike KI, there is a possibility of a sequel that could be worked on-one that hasn't been ruled out explicitly.

In other words, why the heck is GS considered a "deader" franchise than one in which no future sequels are planned. KI has more in common with the Mother series than a series like Xenoblade Chronicles.

 

[mario123007]

I see Megaman, G&W, Duck Hunt Dog etc etc. All series that are either in limbo or totally dead. So that makes no sense.

So either only the hardcore few want Ridley or Ridley is more popular than we think and Sakurai ignored the poll results and found another reason to not have him in the game.

I see nothing unique about Dark Pit, some of the pokemon and Fire Emblem choices. But they are in the game. So making every character in the game feel unique is not a reason to have a character included.

My thoughts are that Sakurai looks into lots of characters and who he wants is totally up to him. He can try to justify his choices with our input like surveys as much as he wants but in the end it's his choice and what we think or feel as fans has nothing to do with it. Overall he did a good job but he certainly didn't listen to the fans on the roster. If he did, then Ridley, Mewtwo, Roy, Snake and others would be in Smash 4.

At whole I think the starter characters are great, but I think Sakurai is really trolling withus with the secret characters, this makes no one is 100% satisfied with the entire roster. Nobody wants Dr.Mario to return from Melee as a individual character, is Mewtwo too old and unpopular to Sakurai? Probably, but he has to know how the Pokemon company try to get Mewtwo back alive. Ridley, even though it was extremely popular as the new smash fighter even before the annouce of this new game. Looks like Sakurai really can't make up a un OP, ledgit moveset for him.
So, we actually all barely knew how the characters are chosen by Sakurai.
Relevant, popularity, is the series alive etc.
What Sakurai didn't actually take it as a thought, fan request. But to some circumstances this is not really the case, he did add Megaman, Little Mac, and Bowser Jr. , these characters have plenty of requests already. We are also glad that Sakurai give us surprises like Rosalina, Greninja, Pacman, and the Wii fit Trainer. Too bad the secret characters aren't that surprise though.
So will Sakuai continue this method of choosing characters in the future? We have to look what kind of genre will Smash Bros evolve to, but for us, roughly, the more characters, the better.

 

[egaddmario]

Guys, we all know Sakurai's planning a new Kid Icarus. He clearly got misty-eyed working with all the content he created and is going to start on a new game right after SSB Wii U comes out

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Guys, we all know Sakurai's planning a new Kid Icarus. He clearly got misty-eyed working with all the content he created and is going to start on a new game right after SSB Wii U comes out

So basically, he was lying?

 

[SS-bros14]

Yet we have Dr. Mario and Dark Pit and no Ridley and Mewtwo.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

At whole I think the starter characters are great, but I think Sakurai is really trolling withus with the secret characters, this makes no one is 100% satisfied with the entire roster. Nobody wants Dr.Mario to return from Melee as a individual character, is Mewtwo too old and unpopular to Sakurai? Probably, but he has to know how the Pokemon company try to get Mewtwo back alive. Ridley, even though it was extremely popular as the new smash fighter even before the annouce of this new game. Looks like Sakurai really can't make up a un OP, ledgit moveset for him.
So, we actually all barely knew how the characters are chosen by Sakurai.
Relevant, popularity, is the series alive etc.
What Sakurai didn't actually take it as a thought, fan request. But to some circumstances this is not really the case, he did add Megaman, Little Mac, and Bowser Jr. , these characters have plenty of requests already. We are also glad that Sakurai give us surprises like Rosalina, Greninja, Pacman, and the Wii fit Trainer. Too bad the secret characters aren't that surprise though.
So will Sakuai continue this method of choosing characters in the future? We have to look what kind of genre will Smash Bros evolve to, but for us, roughly, the more characters, the better.

Now hold on for a moment; Nobody wanted Dr. Mario to return? I've seen quite a few people who think otherwise.

Now, I cannot say his choices are odd. I'll give you that. Also, it's very possible his Pokemon choices are controlled by Gamefreak. That means he can't actually do Mewtwo unless he can convince them to allow him to be top priority. If he could've transferred the melee data successfully, they might've been fine with it. But they likely consider Jigglypuff higher priority over him. This is quite possible why she's in Brawl over him despite Mewtwo clearly being worked on. If he even worked on him at all during 4. He never said he did, after all. He said he'd think about it. Maybe he asked, and got denied. I know it sucks to think about, but it is possible.

He doesn't actually have control of every character. Just some.

 

[Moon Monkey]

In the end, as director, Sakurai has the final say on any character ideas that come across his desk.

This is honestly all that needed to be said.
Certain characters, like , made the cut over other characters, because Sakurai is the director.

If someone else of equal caliber, was heading the game I'm sure he too will have his beliefs about what characters should and should not make it in.

 

[Frostwraith]

The problem with crossover titles like Smash is that everyone has their own idea of a good roster. Developers aren't immune to that either.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I'm just glad we finally got some sort of official say on how this works.

Though I eventually became convinced that popularity had very little effect on the roster this time around, and I'm continuing to remain so. The only character of whom I think we can be certain that popularity played a huge role in getting in was Mega Man (that's not to say gameplay potential didn't matter in his case as much or at all, but popularity, I'd like to think, had proved to be a huge factor for him as well, being a 3rd party character).

 

[mario123007]

Now hold on for a moment; Nobody wanted Dr. Mario to return? I've seen quite a few people who think otherwise.

Now, I cannot say his choices are odd. I'll give you that. Also, it's very possible his Pokemon choices are controlled by Gamefreak. That means he can't actually do Mewtwo unless he can convince them to allow him to be top priority. If he could've transferred the melee data successfully, they might've been fine with it. But they likely consider Jigglypuff higher priority over him. This is quite possible why she's in Brawl over him despite Mewtwo clearly being worked on. If he even worked on him at all during 4. He never said he did, after all. He said he'd think about it. Maybe he asked, and got denied. I know it sucks to think about, but it is possible.

He doesn't actually have control of every character. Just some.

Well, even not everyone, I have to say getting Dr.Mario is still not a good choice. He was the main reason why I didn't believed the leak at first.
I'm not a Mewtwo Jigglypuff fan, so you are probably right, but you see many retro and new popular Pokemon coming out in Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphirre, who knows which Pokemon will be in the next Smash Bros?

 

[Saltwater Gem]

I'm not buying this load of garbage for a second. Does Duck Hunt really have a future? Does Dark Pit not spit in the face of all of these criteria? Poll? What poll? There was a poll that no one knows about and no one saw the results of? At least try and pretend like you respect me.

And people need to get off the 'have you ever made a game?' high horse. I haven't made a game. I haven't made a movie either. But I don't need to be a certified cinematographer to know that the Phantom Menace is a pile of garbage and that this roster could have been better.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Well, even not everyone, I have to say getting Dr.Mario is still not a good choice. He was the main reason why I didn't believed the leak at first.
I'm not a Mewtwo Jigglypuff fan, so you are probably right, but you see many retro and new popular Pokemon coming out in Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphirre, who knows which Pokemon will be in the next Smash Bros?

After Lucina and FLUDD, Dr. Mario sounded way more believable than some.

I'd love some Sceptile DLC. XD

 

[Croph]

I'm curious on this international "character popularity" poll. I'd like to know if the poll, and the Smash 4 Japanese one, were ever made public, like the Japanese Melee and Brawl (sorta) polls. I'd love to know what characters are on it and the results. Hopefully he ain't lying about that.

Interesting read nonetheless, though I have some mixed feelings.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

In the case of the Duck Hunt duo I think they were among those considered as "Retro" characters (much like the Ice Climbers, R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch) so I'd like to think the exact same criteria wouldn't fully apply there. Theo only thing I'm confused about in that regard is why something like that wasn't mentioned in the Interview.

 

[Captain Norris]

According to Sakurai's views, Ridley should basically be playable.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

According to Sakurai's views, Ridley should basically be playable.

Maybe. Just maybe he will be.

You know, if he isn't, maybe there's something we're missing. Maybe he was told something we don't know.

 

[Captain Norris]

Maybe. Just maybe he will be.

You know, if he isn't, maybe there's something we're missing. Maybe he was told something we don't know.

possibly. But I mean, he is extremely popular, he has a workable move set, making him unique, and his size wouldn't matter, as sakurai says so. So I am still praying thinking wii u transfer.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

possibly. But I mean, he is extremely popular, he has a workable move set, making him unique, and his size wouldn't matter, as sakurai says so. So I am still praying thinking wii u transfer.

If he looked too big beforehand? You can change the size of anyone in the Debug Menu. Which means it quite literally is a terrible argument.

 

[BluePikmin11]

I just realized, though Palutena doesn't really fall into the "relevance" factor, I think the effort and merits Sakurai has put into making KI:U (a great game) was the reason she was added to the roster. In all honest, I don't really see as bias like you guys think immediately of now.

 

[Smash_Veteran_Amtoj]

I just realized, though Palutena doesn't really fall into the "relevance" factor, I think the effort and merits Sakurai has put into making KI:U (a great game) was the reason she was added to the roster. In all honest, I don't really see as bias like you guys think immediately of now.

I remember in an interview Sakurai mentioned he had Smash on his mind when developing Uprising. The game even had a few references to Smash here and there.

Really I just see it as him not wanting good ideas to go to waste.

 

[roymustang1990-]

Last minute clones don't count towards his "uniqueness" factor. He had time to make a few more, and quickly went with it. He didn't chose them over anyone else except perhaps another clone.

Ridley isn't that popular in Japan, notably. He also may not have an idea on how to make him playable at all. All Pokemon are relevant due to the series is popular. Ice Climbers were cut for technical issues, Snake had to have had another reason, and any "single character" series were kept otherwise because losing an entire series is different from losing one character in a series. Ness is more important than Lucas. He's part of the Original 12. Duck Hunt Dog falls under uniqueness.

He's saying that if he's going to cut a character, they need to have their game series be dead, and another reason is required. Wolf felt redundant to him for some reason. Lucas' series was dead. Ivysaur and Squirtle were tied to Pokemon Trainer. Isaac is from a somewhat dead and not very popular(anymore) series since Dark Dawn killed it badly. It got low sales.

I'd say all of this is pretty logical overall. Not logic I agree with, but it makes sense. I wish Snake was explained, though. Everybody else? No biggie.

Hmm.Im not sure why ivysaur and squirtle deserved to be cut just because they're were tied to Pokemon trainer.In that case,charizard should have been axed too.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Hmm.Im not sure why ivysaur and squirtle deserved to be cut just because they're were tied to Pokemon trainer.In that case,charizard should have been axed too.

Nope. Charizard is the most popular and highly promoted as of X/Y. He was the perfect one to come back. He had to axe the actual Transformation mechanic. He already had multiple Pokemon returning to consider. Charizard, Lucario, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff. They all take time. It seems like he doesn't want to spend enough time to make more than 6 unique characters at best from any given franchise. Dr. Mario was a last minute quick clone, so he doesn't count towards what I mean. He had to cut someone. 2/3 of PT along with PT since he creates the transformation mechanic. He made a reasonable move. I think they have a decent chance at DLC.