Does Sakurai choose the characters?

[wizardto1]

This might more sense in The Character discussion so you can move it if you want to mods.

Whenever I lurk in the character threads, I see comments like " X chose Y character", "X denies Y character", and more, X is actually Sakurai.
While the interviews implied the former, is Sakurai the only person that chooses the characters or the team decides on the characters?

 

[RedFly]

He is the director of the game, Sure Namco could have "bribed" him for Pacman or Iwata would request for certain characters to be portrayed in a way... But Sakurai isn't forced to add any characters.

 

[Enigma14]

I keep reading this one interview that Game Freak gets to pick their pokemon and how they are represented/animated/etc.

I believe its the same one that is mentioned whenever technical issues with the Ice Climbers are brought up.

 

[wizardto1]

I keep reading in past interviews that Game Freak gets to pick their pokemon and how they are represented/animated/etc.

Excluding Pokemon and to an extent Fire Emblem of course. Slipped out of my mind.

 

[Wanderer from Roseyard]

I feel like The Pokémon Company actually trumps Sakurai regarding playable Pokémon, since they're a multi-billion-dollar juggernaut.

Edit: Greninja'd, as it were.

 

[wizardto1]

Ok. let me word this way : do you think Sakurai chooses the majority of the newcomers or his team does?

 

[Enigma14]

Why is Fire Emblem exempt?

 

[Foosedogg]

I'm pretty sure Sakurai makes most of the roster himself. Some cases like Kojima begging for Snake or him going to Game Freak for the Pokemon reps are exceptions, but I think Sakurai decides it for the most part.

 

[Malkior7]

only fighter I know Sakurai didn't choose was Snake for Brawl

 

[Enigma14]

Sakurai choosing the characters fits with his "Only I can make Smash" mentality [I recall articles on eventhubs mentioning this.]

It also depends on what position he holds in a game. Check the credits to see if there are co-producers, maybe they get to have a say on the matter.

 

[wizardto1]

Why is Fire Emblem exempt?

Cause I heard that Intelligent Systems chooses the Fire Emblem characters like Marth and Ike. The only reason I said extent because it seems like Sakurai picked Robin.

 

[Joeyd123]

He definitely is a big part of the choices, but there is no way he does them entirely himself

 

[Enigma14]

From GameFaqs, for those curious, some info about how IS picks characters.

 

[Hayzie]

When you break down the franchises, most characters seem like a given to be in the roster, Sakurai or not. What's done with them from there, the cosmetics and gameplay choices, are up to the director and there's no better than Sakurai.

 

[Enigma14]

It just occurred to me that GF and IS gets to call the shots on their lesser known properties like Drill Dozer and Advance Wars and how they are shown.

Edit: With my above post, I've also realized that Sakurai CAN bring Mewtwo back, but that depends on if it deserves priority. I don't like Lucario, but it was a nice change from all the Gen 1 mons back in Brawl.

So GF made Mewtwo slow in Melee. Damn. Tons of revelations today.

 

[StupendousMike]

In a sense. I'm sure he pulls suggestions from everywhere... The higher ups at Nintendo, fan surveys and forums, his team, his own imagination, etc. But he has the final say regarding which characters actually make the roster.

 

[Evello]

The roster is probably like any part of the game: a large group of developers is involved in sharing and evaluating ideas, but Sakurai as the director has the final say in most of the decisions. There is probably a lot of brainstorming amongst designers about possible movesets for characters, and which characters would thus be the most feasible and interesting. Said designs would be passed around and streamlined and Sakurai would sign off on and budget time for whatever ideas he and the team like best. Making a game is a team effort, so Sakurai is probably not running around blatantly disregarding the desires of his team, but at the same time he does have pretty absolute authority over the game's design, as I understand it. So yes, he probably chooses the characters, but no he's not alone in a dark room with a red pen deciding the fates of all the prospective characters by himself.

Of course, if there are any executives above Sakurai, they might stop in from time to time and make broader changes to the game (Miyamoto is known to upend a lot of tea tables, though I've yet to hear about him doing it to a SSB game), but I doubt they would get into nitty gritty roster details. Various studios like Intelligent Systems and Game Freak have been known to supply the SSB team with ideas and designs from games they are working on, like with Roy from FE6 and Greninja from X/Y. Still, the way Sakurai has described it sounds more like they are offering suggestions for possible characters, not that they ever require him to include certain characters.

 

[Enigma14]

Does anyone have an idea as to how third parties work? Sonic and Megaman were added due to popularity. Snake due to Kojima asking. What about Pacman?

 

[Raijinken]

Cause I heard that Intelligent Systems chooses the Fire Emblem characters like Marth and Ike. The only reason I said extent because it seems like Sakurai picked Robin.

Marth is the Pikachu of Fire Emblem, Ike is very popular and the main character of the most recent console entry, and Robin is popular and the main character of the most recent handheld entry. No different from picking Lucas over Duster or Flint from Mother 3, or picking Megaman over X or Zero.

Does anyone have an idea as to how third parties work? Sonic and Megaman were added due to popularity. Snake due to Kojima asking. What about Pacman?

Pac Man rivals Mario for global popularity, I'm pretty sure that's fair enough reason for his inclusion, disregarding all help from Nandai with the game's development.

 

[Enigma14]

I'll agree with you about notoriety and recognition.

Its also hilarious that the RPG like franchises give Sakurai some denial in regards to how a character is shown.

 

[Flaxr XIII]

Does anyone have an idea as to how third parties work? Sonic and Megaman were added due to popularity. Snake due to Kojima asking. What about Pacman?

I believe Pacman was a request from Miyamoto. Aside from being an insanely popular 3rd Party request from the fans, apparently Pacman is Miyamoto's favorite video game character/series. I forget what it is exactly but I get the feeling Miyamoto had something to do with it.

 

[Enigma14]

I believe Pacman was a request from Miyamoto.

Thanks.

I'm curious about the other characters now.

 

[MBakhsh]

I think pressure from Nintendo to include characters that would sell (other) games may have influenced Sakurai's choices.

 

[Enigma14]

I think pressure from Nintendo to include characters that would sell (other) games may have influenced Sakurai's choices.

I am unsure about this statement.

He added Shulk despite his games being sold years ago but at the same time added Greyninja despite it being a gamble. I'd use Ike as an example but we all know the news of his inclusion from the above posts.

 

[Moldy Clay]

Its also hilarious that the RPG like franchises give Sakurai some denial in regards to how a character is shown.

It makes sense.

Think of it this way: Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, Samus, etc, they are all starring characters in their franchise. They appear in every game that is part of their series in some way. They have major supporting casts that appear in most, if not all of their games as well.

The RPG series are -very- different.

It's similar to like, if you had to choose a single character, or even as many as 3, to represent the entirety of Final Fantasy.

Who do you choose? You have tons of games to choose from and you need to reach a wide audience. You want to pick characters that resonate with players.

Do you pick the most popular? The most current? A mix of the two? Do you insert your own bias? You have to think about various things when considering a character selection when there are TONS to represent a series and to do it justice.

It's not like Zelda where you don't even have to think about it and can just say Link, Zelda & Ganondorf. You don't even have to play the games and you know those are the obvious choices. You can't just throw in obscure Pokemon and FE characters. They have to mean or represent something. It literally can't just be anyone.

Fire Emblem, Pokemon & MOTHER have no "main character" across their entire series. The only obvious choices are the most well-known, prominent or current characters.

Marth's the original, and in 5 games.
Ike's the only other Lord to star in multiple games (aside from Awakening).
Lucina is only in because she was originally a costume.
Robin is the 'current' character, and was in favor of the more obvious Chrom.

Pikachu is the mascot.
Charizard's the most popular starter.
Lucario is super popular & prominent.
Jigglypuff's along for the ride (was prominent/popular, now just 'lol Fairy/original 12')
Greninja was chosen because he was cool, and turned out he was the most popular new starter anyway. Worked out.

Ness is the only MOTHER character that everyone knows. And he's popular.

There's a little method to the madness outside of "these guys said to use these characters". Even if they didn't choose any of them, or that was a fancy myth or something, these characters would've likely been chosen anyway.

 

[BBG|Scott-Spain]

While I'm sure the answer ultimately is yes, I do feel that some subordinates did have some influence on roster decisions.

 

[Niala]

As the director of the game, I suspect he does make all the final decisions for the characters, although I'm not entirely sure. He probably has a lot of people give him suggestions of what to do, but he can probably accept or deny them as he pleases.

 

[Aunt Jemima]

While I'm sure he decides a majority of the characters to be included in the game, I'm sure persuasive action is taken to get some characters in the game. Back in Brawl's development, Miyamoto actually asked Sakurai to include Pac-Man in the game, but he declined, saying that his pizza-like shape wouldn't work in Smash Bros, or something of that extent.

 

[ErenJager]

I think there's different push and pull factors for characters depending on the franchise and different people/ relationships within the company.

Sakurai more or less determines the roster, but he considers the input and factors surrounding him heavily.

Heavily, to the point where he feels obligated.

 

[Fathom778]

Sakurai gets the final call, but many factors go into choosing characters like fan request, staff requests, would they be a fun characters ect.