Did Sakurai change his mind on the number of cuts in this game?

[cybersai]

Sakurai said around a year ago he wanted to make as little cuts as possible, saying it was "stressful to the point of death," and that he didn't want to cut characters because if people lost their favorite character, "their feelings would be hurt." These are Sakurai's exact words.

So why would Sakurai go from that to cutting 6 characters from Brawl? While I can understand Squirtle/Ivysaur not being able to stand on their own and Snake having potentially licensing issues, I don't understand why Wolf, Lucas and the Ice Climbers would go.

We're already getting 3 cuts (Squirtle, Ivysaur and Snake), so why needlessly cut more beyond that? Even Lucario and Ike are returning when they could have been replaced by new characters and aren't series mascots. Why cut Wolf, Lucas and Ice Climbers? I also don't buy the development trouble with the IC's, since it doesn't make sense.

 

[TheUltraDeino]

Sakurai said around a year ago he wanted to make as little cuts as possible, saying it was "stressful to the point of death," and that he didn't want to cut characters because if people lost their favorite character, "their feelings would be hurt." These are Sakurai's exact words.

So why would Sakurai go from that to cutting 6 characters from Brawl? While I can understand Squirtle/Ivysaur not being able to stand on their own and Snake having potentially licensing issues, I don't understand why Wolf, Lucas and the Ice Climbers would go.

We're already getting 3 cuts (Squirtle, Ivysaur and Snake), so why needlessly cut more beyond that? Even Lucario and Ike are returning when they could have been replaced by new characters and aren't series mascots. Why cut Wolf, Lucas and Ice Climbers? I also don't buy the development trouble with the IC's, since it doesn't make sense.

He stated he had problems with the IC's on the 3ds.
There's still a chance that the leaked roster isn't the final one, and if that's so, we could add in wolf and lucas from there

 

[Solar Crimson]

It astounds me how people say that Lucario should have been cut for Mewtwo/another Pokemon. If they paid attention to the Pokemon fandom, they'd know that Lucario is the most popular and marketed Pokemon of the never generations. It makes no sense to cut him, no matter what.

As for the cuts, the Ice Climbers were said to have issues with the 3DS version. Though I do hope that they're still in. Wolf as well, especially with Sakurai wanting to include him as early as Melee. Lucas, sad to say, I think we can do without, due to how lowkey his own game was, even considering the series it's from.

 

[Speculator]

DIscounting Snake as not returning for third-party reasons, Lucas and the Ice Climbers are top priority. They absolutely should not be cut.

 

[spd12]

We're not Sakurai, so I can't say I'd know the exact thought processes as to who he put as priority over others or why. I'm sure he had his reasons.

I only mourn the loss of Lucas - if he is to be lost, as it is - because Rope Snake is my favorite character in the series. (Yes, really.)

 

[Curious Villager]

I don't think he deliberately wants to cut any characters for the new games. Even between Melee and Brawl he planned to bring everyone back except Young Link and Pichu.

We don't really know the full roster yet assuming there are still a few characters missing so some of them could still be coming back. But assuming they don't, then it could possibly have been due to time constraints, technical difficulties or legal issues. That's just my opinion though.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

He probably didn't have a choice in regards to Ice Climbers and Snake, they just couldn't happen.

Ivysaur, Squirtle, Lucas and Wolf are probably results of them being of lower priority than the rest of the veterans, the former two because they can't stand on their own while the latter two didn't turn out to be very popular characters. I think Lucas and Wolf are the only two where you could question Sakurai, I'd personally have prefered Wolf got priority over Toon Link for example, but for the most part I can understand why they were put of lower priority, the next in line to be cut would be Ike or Lucario I imagine, and those are quite a bit more unique and popular than Lucas and Wolf.

 

[Wintropy]

Speaking as an artistic creator myself, I understand that, sometimes, what you want to do in the best-case scenario is not what occurs as the actual best thing to do in the end.

I'm not going to re-iterate what's already been said, I'm just going to point out that being in charge of a huge game like this with a lot of history behind it means taking the initiative and making the tough choices. His empathy, I believe, is wholly genuine - as is his resolute determination to just bite the bullet and just do what thinks is in the series' best interests.

 

[Arcadenik]

When Sakurai said their feelings would be hurt if he cut characters, he meant to say their butts would be hurt.

 

[MagnesD3]

Sakurai said around a year ago he wanted to make as little cuts as possible, saying it was "stressful to the point of death," and that he didn't want to cut characters because if people lost their favorite character, "their feelings would be hurt." These are Sakurai's exact words.

So why would Sakurai go from that to cutting 6 characters from Brawl? While I can understand Squirtle/Ivysaur not being able to stand on their own and Snake having potentially licensing issues, I don't understand why Wolf, Lucas and the Ice Climbers would go.

We're already getting 3 cuts (Squirtle, Ivysaur and Snake), so why needlessly cut more beyond that? Even Lucario and Ike are returning when they could have been replaced by new characters and aren't series mascots. Why cut Wolf, Lucas and Ice Climbers? I also don't buy the development trouble with the IC's, since it doesn't make sense.

I agree Wolf is definitely stroking this chord with me right now, the fact that an important character to a high selling franchise that fits the villain role is being cut is down right awful. Same with Mewtwo and same with Ice Climbers a two time vet.

 

[HeavyLobster]

We've got around 50 playable characters as is. It shouldn't be surprising that he can't finish all the characters he wants to. There are real, legitimate obstacles to him bringing back every single past playable character. You can argue that he should've prioritized one character over another, but I don't think that the cuts that were made were done so because he doesn't care about Wolf/IC/Lucas fans. Hopefully he can add some of the cut characters as DLC.

 

[Wii Twerk Trainer]

Only cuts I'm sad for is Wolf and Pokemon Trainer.

Pokemon Trainer- He represents everything about Pokemon. The evolutions stages, the switching during battle, the trainer commanding his/her trusty Pokemon. It's sad to see the character that represents Pokemon the best to be cut but Sakurai did say he wanted transformation characters gone so he can focus on each characters moveset. I do wish that Pokemon Trainer could be in the background for Charizard but that aignt happening sadly.

Wolf- A villain from a pretty popular series. Interesting design as well and is only a semi-clone of Fox. He was one of my favorites to use in Brawl. Sadly he's getting the boot for some odd reason. I mean Syarfox is successful and big enough to maintain 3 reps. I'm not sure why he's removing him.