How would be Smash Bros.' future without Sakurai (at least as Director) ?

[the8thark]

Would Aonuma be a good replacement for Sakurai?

 

[Neanderthal]

I believe Smash will either rise or flop without Sakurai. Of course, that means there will be no middle ground.

I suspect they would play it safe and not make many changes the first time. So I think it will most likely be "middle ground".

 

[C3CC]

I would LOVE Smash Bros to get a new director. I thank him for the great games he's given us in the past, but I truly hate his narcissistic attitude and his huge ego. I also don't enjoy him being such a ****ing troll. I'd like someone that respects the fans and doesn't make them dream about a character potentially returning only to ultimately bring them down.

 

[LancerStaff]

Umm, no it doesn't..Donkey Kong Country 2 and A Link to the Past were pretty darn hard, and they didn't have animals with picket signs offering to beat levels for you. Nintendo took the casual and easy approach once the Wii became successful, and it's plagued their games ever since, I think.

And, what Kaye said is essentially how I feel. I'll leave it at that. The guy takes himself too seriously.

ALttP? Hard? Moldorm was "hard" I guess, as was the last dungeon. That's about it. Death ment about squat since you kept your progress and the tough enemies are all in side paths. Don't even get me started on the fairies.

Also & were o so very hardcore, and weren't total casual bait.

So what? Did Melee's high speed, hitstun, and other things go as far to ruin the game for everybody? Not at all, it was still critically acclaimed and was the best-selling Gamecube of all time, especially for a fighting game. Hardly anyone noticed how fast the game was and still played it via party smash rules with items, which would bring a luck factor and give people a better chance of winning regardless of skill difference. Aside from a few critics who reviewed the game and Nintendo's Clark Nielson (who are still greatly outnumbered by the sheer amount of competitive players), I don't know very many people who were bothered the game's speed and difficulty. Melee was enjoyed by both competitive and casual players even when they were not playing together, where Brawl could only appeal to the latter, and shies away the former audience. People mostly like Brawl better because it has more content, game modes, and characters. If it had kept the same mechanics loved about Melee without removing any new content, most new players would not even notice it, and would be great for those who want it.

Being that difficult doesn't matter much when people are barely even aware of it, something I think Sakurai oughta rrealize one day. Even though he found Melee too difficult and faster than it should be, few casuals noticed it until the competitive guys pointed it out, which is what caused wars between the two audiences in the first place.

Not necessarily, it could of been better for the majority. People weren't bothered because they didn't even imagine it could be better for them. Once they got it they didn't want to go back. Like I said, Brawl overly fixed things. SSB4 dialed it back a touch.

 

[the8thark]

Umm, no it doesn't..Donkey Kong Country 2 and A Link to the Past were pretty darn hard, and they didn't have animals with picket signs offering to beat levels for you. Nintendo took the casual and easy approach once the Wii became successful, and it's plagued their games ever since, I think.

And, what Kaye said is essentially how I feel. I'll leave it at that. The guy takes himself too seriously.

DKC2 and Zelda 3 were not hard SNES games back in the day. There was much harder. Super Ghouls and Ghosts is well known as one of the hardest SNES games ever. Hard and totally unfair if you know the game at all. Also overall DKC3 was much harder than DKC2. DKC2 is probably the easiest of the 3 games but also the best by far in my opinion.

Actually many people do complain that Zelda 3 is too easy. And I happen to agree.

 

[Syrek]

A Smash Bros. without Sakurai at the helm wouldn't feel like Smash Bros. anymore in my opinion. Sakurai's essence and very being goes into the game and it clearly shows. I'm not saying Nintendo can't make a Smash Bros. game without Sakurai but he exudes all his time and effort into every project he directs, especially Smash Bros. I think the charm, the care and the high production values, not to mention the quirkiness, might get lost without Sakurai being an integral part of a Smash Bros. game. Honestly, people give Sakurai so much unnecessary hate and flack for various reasons and while I'm not saying he's perfect, he deserves better given the dedication, hard work and time he spends on each and every game he creates. I really wish people would stop saying wishing for Sakurai not to direct the next Smash Bros. games. For all you know, it could make the next game worse without Sakurai's leadership and constant care. If Sakurai doesn't direct the Smash Bros. game, I fear for the quality of the series and how different it will be for better or worse. Be careful for what you wish for because sometimes it will come true and then you might regret it when all isn't what it seems to be.

 

[PCHU]

It could be a good thing, but really, you won't know until it happens.

That being said, it'd be nice to have someone who's more open to the surrounding crowd of influence.
I like that this iteration is faster, but I feel even more safe in shield than I did in Brawl, and that leaves an awful taste in my mouth.
While I understand Nintendo's want for everyone to feel like they have a chance, it's just tedious and scary playing this iteration because I don't really have a good way of approaching unless I pick a "good" character; the hitboxes aren't nearly as forgiving as they were in Brawl and it takes forever to KO people because their recoveries are (usually) amazing.
The roll spammers and shieldgrabbers of Brawl got a huge boost in effectiveness (even if rolls are still punishable), and I can't help but feel that's Sakurai's attempt at leveling the playing field between casual players and competitive players even further.

Don't get me wrong, the dude's a genius, but I'd like to see someone else step up to the plate, preferably someone who doesn't want to erase Wario Land from the face of the earth.
I want to like this game because I just love Smash in general, but I've lost so many trades that make absolutely no sense and I've spent so much time sending people flying away but not dying (and not even due to vectoring) that I'm just tired and can't help but feel that Sakurai is, too.

But, on the down side, we could have someone who just murders the series.
I like to be optimistic, and I hope that at least some of these issues will be addressed; I've won most of my online matches, but I haven't really had fun doing it.

 

[TheDMonroeShow]

I would like to see some new blood take on smash. I appreciate the good things Sakurai has done for the series but I tend to disagree with most of his design decisions, it's gotten to the point where i don't even read many of his interviews anymore since i typically always get frustrated with them.

My biggest problem with him is that he seems to outright dislike smash fans, I think someone whos handling a project should care about its fans and help deliver what they want considering their paying for the experience. That's the kind of man(or woman) I would like for the job but really who knows, I would just like to see someone else take the helm and see what they bring to the table.

 

[InfiniteTripping]

You're kidding yourself if you think it has any future without Sakurai at the helm. I remember reading something about, if Sakurai refused to start production on what later became Brawl, that Nintendo's plan was to re-release Melee, only make it online. Smash Bros without Sakurai would be like 2001: A Space Odyssey without Kubrick, or Psycho without Hitchcock, or to put it in video game terms, MGS without Kojima. It's really hard to even envision the game without its auteur directing the game.

 

[Admiral Pit]

I understand Sakurai a lot. All the complaining fans for starters, his hand injury or w/e you call it, and the overall stress. I respect him and his decisions. While I fear on what will become of Smash when someone else is in charge as I feel it won't be the same without him, we can all agree that we should thank Sakurai for creating the Smash and Kirby franchises, and KI:U. His creativity and what he's done for the gaming world will forever be remembered in our hearts.

 

[TheDMonroeShow]

You're kidding yourself if you think it has any future without Sakurai at the helm. .

You're kidding yourself if you think Nintendo would drop this gold mine just because the old director doesn't want to do the next game.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

You're kidding yourself if you think Nintendo would drop this gold mine just because the old director doesn't want to do the next game.

Never mind that they are perfectly willing to make their own games, they just consider Sakurai a great director at it.

Sakurai doesn't own the series. I think a lot tend to forget that. He just directs it because Nintendo allows him to do so. They can very well hand it over to anyone else, and he can't do jack about it.

That said, Melee online would not be bad, especially if they made an attempt to balance the characters a bit more.

And yeah, the Wii is the first system to really push the less hardcore games. The SNES has tons of difficult ones. I would definitely call ALTTP difficult. Not mind-numbingly so, but it is definitely not an "easy" game. Twilight Princess GameCube(which also came out for the Wii about the same time) is really freaking easy to beat, save a few mini-games which can be annoying.

 

[Chez G.]

There are a LOT of things Sakurai does that I don't agree with, such as tripping in Brawl and somewhat despising the competitive community, but even I just can't fathom Smash Bros without him. He has this charm he possesses I don't see in anyone else. Remember the trailer with Mega Man? No one expected him to be in SSB4 and many people were hyped because of it.

That's what I like about Sakurai. He brings hype. I have a feeling he is planning something right now for Smash Wii U. Just when everybody thinks Smash Bros. Wii U is a goner, he announces:

"The Smash Team and I have worked on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS night and day in order to make the best Smash Bros. game for our fans. To show our appreciation, we would like to share something special."

A trailer is cued, and then next thing you know, Mewtwo and Ice Climbers are back. Heck, even Ridley joins the fray. Show off some new stages and modes, and everything's crystal. Yes, it's wishful thinking, but it can happen.

However, given the circumstances with Sakurai's bad arm, stress, and other factors, he might have to rest for a while and pass the torch to someone else.

 

[InfiniteTripping]

You're kidding yourself if you think Nintendo would drop this gold mine just because the old director doesn't want to do the next game.

They dropped DK more or less, for years after Rare was sold off. It only got back on its feet very recently. So it's not unprecedented. Despite the sales and acclaim, Smash has never been a high priority with Nintendo and it does cause a lot of issues for them (the big ones now being its Melee competitive community and Project M). The last two games were ad hoc productions. The only constant of the series, from the very beginning, has been Sakurai and his wife. There's a value that he brings to the project as someone who knows its roots and can manage the demands of several different Nintendo IPs that would be very hard to replace.

A lot of people blame Sakurai for the anti-competitive elements but I think it'd be even worse if Nintendo took full control over the project.

 

[LancerStaff]

What I find stupid is that people actually think they'll put somebody competitive-minded in charge. We're lucky Sakurai leaves in "difficult" things like shield shifting and teching, and we're even luckier to have locks fixed and to have actual, working ledge mechanics. Sakurai always has been trying to find a balance of difficultly and general gameplay mechanics, and quite obviously it's hard. Melee, to me, just doesn't work. It's incredibly lopsided, a death sentence to a game focused on having a wide variety of characters, which themselves are very unique. Just look at PM: Just about every character is spacey-fied to some extent. It's dull and boring. To most, the mechanics are behind the characters in importance, but having the character isn't any good if he plays like the others or just isn't any good. SSB can't be focused on one type of move, either. What's the point of the slow ones when everybody has to use the fast ones? Gameplay, mechanics, characters, difficultly, moves, content... It's alot to balance, and I don't see anybody else ever doing as good a job as Sakurai.

 

[Chez G.]

They dropped DK more or less, for years after Rare was sold off. It only got back on its feet very recently. So it's not unprecedented. Despite the sales and acclaim, Smash has never been a high priority with Nintendo and it does cause a lot of issues for them (the big ones now being its Melee competitive community and Project M). The last two games were ad hoc productions. The only constant of the series, from the very beginning, has been Sakurai and his wife. There's a value that he brings to the project as someone who knows its roots and can manage the demands of several different Nintendo IPs that would be very hard to replace.

A lot of people blame Sakurai for the anti-competitive elements but I think it'd be even worse if Nintendo took full control over the project.

I'm now picturing a whole bunch of Mario newcomers in a Nintendo-developed Smash 5, including Pink Gold Peach lol! Yeah, Sakurai would at least just oversee Smash development should he leave as the director.

 

[the8thark]

And yeah, the Wii is the first system to really push the less hardcore games. The SNES has tons of difficult ones. I would definitely call ALTTP difficult. Not mind-numbingly so, but it is definitely not an "easy" game. Twilight Princess GameCube(which also came out for the Wii about the same time) is really freaking easy to beat, save a few mini-games which can be annoying.

I agree with you that the Wii did push easier games. But many SNES games like Zelda 3 were pretty easy. I actually think Zelda 3 was easier than it should have been. The NES had a ton of overly hard games. The SNES games for the most part tried to put fun over unfairly hard games. And for the most part it succeeded. You do have games like Super Ghouls and Ghosts that bucked this trend by being the wrong type of hard. But overall the SNES games are easier than the NES games.Zelda 3 is probably one of the easiest good SNES games out there. Certainly much easier than Twilight Princess. TP to be honest was only hard in parts.
I will say if you're not used to the 2D gaming world (ie NES and SNES) it can take a while to get good at those games. But it's no different then people like me (and others) who had to get used to the 3D world in 1997 and beyond. I remember Super Mario 64 being so very hard when it came out. And that's not cause it's a hard game, just cause we had little 3D game experience. Took us a while to get good at 3D games. And now I do not find SM64 anywhere near as hard as when it first came out.

 

[Starbound]

The series is going to have to go on without Sakurai some day. There's no way Nintendo is going to let this cash cow die.

I really don't see how the Smash Bros. magic is something that can only be gotten with Sakurai as we have no idea how magical the other opportunities are. It's not like they'll find some random joe on the street and ask him "Hey, wanna make Smash Bros. 6?". Yes, Nintendo can make the occasional screwup when putting someone new in charge of a series (where's my kremlings Retro Studios?), but most of the time it's pretty solid and it's because Nintendo is super careful about this kinda stuff.

The inevitable new person does have some big, albeit egotistical, shoes to fill, but I'm pretty sure they'll know what they're walking into. You have no idea what opportunities are out there unless you actually go see what is out there.

Also am I the only one who really doesn't care at all about collectibles like trophies, stickers and equipment and would actually be thrilled if they took an axe to all of it to save development time?

 

[the8thark]

Also am I the only one who really doesn't care at all about collectibles like trophies, stickers and equipment and would actually be thrilled if they took an axe to all of it to save development time?

I would assume so yes. I really like the trophies. But after collecting them all, I look at them once every month at most. I certainly don't get value for time spent earning the trophies. But cutting them all won't make the rest of the game better. It'll just result in the same game with one less feature for us all. And one less thing to spend our time earning.

 

[InfiniteTripping]

Nintendo let DK die without its creators at Rare. People think Sakurai is pushing himself into the project or something when really, the reason why Sakurai continues to do this series is because no one else at Nintendo really wants to do it. I don't get this confidence that Nintendo would never let Smash die. They let the DK series die and DK 64 was a blockbuster game.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I agree with you that the Wii did push easier games. But many SNES games like Zelda 3 were pretty easy. I actually think Zelda 3 was easier than it should have been. The NES had a ton of overly hard games. The SNES games for the most part tried to put fun over unfairly hard games. And for the most part it succeeded. You do have games like Super Ghouls and Ghosts that bucked this trend by being the wrong type of hard. But overall the SNES games are easier than the NES games.Zelda 3 is probably one of the easiest good SNES games out there. Certainly much easier than Twilight Princess. TP to be honest was only hard in parts.
I will say if you're not used to the 2D gaming world (ie NES and SNES) it can take a while to get good at those games. But it's no different then people like me (and others) who had to get used to the 3D world in 1997 and beyond. I remember Super Mario 64 being so very hard when it came out. And that's not cause it's a hard game, just cause we had little 3D game experience. Took us a while to get good at 3D games. And now I do not find SM64 anywhere near as hard as when it first came out.

I found Zelda III to be not very easy at all. Never came off that way. Zelda II was clearly harder. I found Zelda I to be fairly easy, save the lack of a slash attack, which severely makes it easier when implemented. I've been able to beat it. I never beat Zelda III outside of codes. I cannot beat Ganon in it.

To say the least, this is highly subjective on who finds what easier.

Not going to get into this Melee VS Brawl crap. I don't want the topic to get locked.

 

[Kenith]

Would Aonuma be a good replacement for Sakurai?

No.
The reason: Aonuma won't bring back Midna.

Spoiler

Actually, I think Smash Bros. is the exact opposite of the game Aonuma would want to make. So no, he would not.

 

[InfiniteTripping]

Zelda 3 is an easy game. I don't really get why the Ocarina haters always say that 3 was an example of a Zelda game done right. There really wasn't a lot of puzzles in the game, which is a Zelda hallmark (the puzzles are sometimes harder than the action) and of the puzzles there were, they weren't hard. When I was a kid I had some difficulty with it but getting older, I breezed through the game.

Zelda I is the hardest without any guides or manuals. With them, it's not too difficult.

Zelda II isn't hard so much as it throws a ridiculous difficulty spike in the middle of the game. I remember the third or fourth dungeon, the one with Death Mountain, being the hardest dungeon in the entire game.

 

[the8thark]

I found Zelda III to be not very easy at all. Never came off that way. Zelda II was clearly harder. I found Zelda I to be fairly easy, save the lack of a slash attack, which severely makes it easier when implemented. I've been able to beat it. I never beat Zelda III outside of codes. I cannot beat Ganon in it.

To say the least, this is highly subjective on who finds what easier.

Not going to get into this Melee VS Brawl crap. I don't want the topic to get locked.

We can each have our games we think is hard. I will agree on that. Not against you for that.
I will say Zelda 1 Second Quest was pretty hard. And Zelda 2 does have a little learning curve, but once you've past that you can whoop Zelda 2 easily.

Here is a video of me doing a death mountain run in Zelda 2 without the candle. Sure I had to grind a little XP first but it's very doable.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPDkeZ4MDBY&list=UUKhahWDDuLHv_JJQ4zksyAA

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

We can each have our games we think is hard. I will agree on that. Not against you for that.
I will say Zelda 1 Second Quest was pretty hard. And Zelda 2 does have a little learning curve, but once you've past that you can whoop Zelda 2 easily.

Here is a video of me doing a death mountain run in Zelda 2 without the candle. Sure I had to grind a little XP first but it's very doable.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPDkeZ4MDBY&list=UUKhahWDDuLHv_JJQ4zksyAA

Oh, indeed. The Second Quest was ridiculous.

Zelda II I had similar issues. Never beat it without codes myself. I'm not that good at games, but I also am better at Zelda II than some others. I know someone who beat without losing a life. He had to practice hard to get that good, and he can barely do it.

Anyway, I feel this is off topic for this thread. The overall point is Nintendo didn't really attempt to go casual till the Wii. Most of their games are still pretty hardcore and are difficult. ALTTP is not a relatively easy game by any means. It's very challenging, but not full of fake difficulty. I think its biggest problem is that refreshing your magic is next to impossible at times without a potion. Even Zelda II made that easier by having quite a lot of Darknuts around.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

It all depends on who takes over, really.

And even if Sakurai continues to direct the next few Smash games (should some ever come to be) ss long as Smash Bros. continues to grow with more entries in the future, in a similar manner to many of the IPs included within the Smash games themselves, Smash will one day have to go on without Sakurai. I'm sure it will at least be end up in relatively good hands when/if that time does come, but we won't have an exactly good idea of how the game(s) will turn out under the control of a new director until that actually happens.

While I'm not going to totally vouch for a new director to take control of the franchise yet, I'm certainly not against the idea either. This again is dependent on who takes over and how they handle it.

 

[the8thark]

Oh, indeed. The Second Quest was ridiculous.

Zelda II I had similar issues. Never beat it without codes myself. I'm not that good at games, but I also am better at Zelda II than some others. I know someone who beat without losing a life. He had to practice hard to get that good, and he can barely do it.

Anyway, I feel this is off topic for this thread. The overall point is Nintendo didn't really attempt to go casual till the Wii. Most of their games are still pretty hardcore and are difficult. ALTTP is not a relatively easy game by any means. It's very challenging, but not full of fake difficulty. I think its biggest problem is that refreshing your magic is next to impossible at times without a potion. Even Zelda II made that easier by having quite a lot of Darknuts around.

Firstly, they are called Iron Knuckles in Zelda 2, not Darknuts. Also there was a lot of potions in statue heads and other things in Zelda to replenish your magic which helped a lot. Also using the extra lives (more are found through one up dolls and getting 9k experience in a field, you don't get 9 in the field, you just get an extra life instead) for a magic replenish.

I hardly ever used magic in Zelda 3. The only time I did was vs 4 different bosses. Flying Moth, Frozen Ice thing, Turtle Rock Turtle and Gannon to light the candles. But I agree if you used magic a lot it was hard to replenish.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Firstly, they are called Iron Knuckles in Zelda 2, not Darknuts. Also there was a lot of potions in statue heads and other things in Zelda to replenish your magic which helped a lot. Also using the extra lives (more are found through one up dolls and getting 9k experience in a field, you don't get 9 in the field, you just get an extra life instead) for a magic replenish.

I hardly ever used magic in Zelda 3. The only time I did was vs 4 different bosses. Flying Moth, Frozen Ice thing, Turtle Rock Turtle and Gannon to light the candles. But I agree if you used magic a lot it was hard to replenish.

To be fair, Zelda Classic has Darknuts drop potions as items for magic. Easy to forget when you constantly watch Zelda Classic playthroughs. I forgot, that's all. And I forgot about the easy magic refill via leveling up. More useful than Zelda II's ways.

 

[the8thark]

To be fair, Zelda Classic has Darknuts drop potions as items for magic. Easy to forget when you constantly watch Zelda Classic playthroughs. I forgot, that's all. And I forgot about the easy magic refill via leveling up. More useful than Zelda II's ways.

Zelda Classic didn't have a magic meter. But I think you mean Zelda 3 SNES and yes you are correct there.
Zelda 2 had magic bottles you found, levelling up in magic, dying with lives remaining and seeing the magic lady in towns.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Zelda Classic didn't have a magic meter. But I think you mean Zelda 3 SNES and yes you are correct there.
Zelda 2 had magic bottles you found, levelling up in magic, dying with lives remaining and seeing the magic lady in towns.

Past tense. It does now have that as an option.

I like that later games let you restore Magic via a the Great Fairy now. If it has one, anyway.

 

[dimensionsword64]

The roster is definitely going to be more based on popularity and not having any cuts, not enough fanservice with non-character content will happen, Sakurai has been a Nintendo gamer for quite a long time, with the sheer amount of knowledge he has within the Nintendo company, I don't think anyone else besides top Nintendo guys like Iwata and Miyamoto (The closest you can get as the Smash Bros. director) can bring as much love to Nintendo as Sakurai.

Blue, you're acting like the Nintendo bigwigs are the only people who know a ton about Nintendo, and that is most certainly not true. I would bet a hundred bucks that there are Nintendo fans who have even more knowledge of Nintendo than them.

If someone else directs the thing and has little to no knowledge of Smash Bros and Nintendo, I can surely guarantee you Smash Bros. won't feel the same ever again, and there won't be as much DK, Metroid, or Starfox fan service the people want for more representation, because the director will just focus on the new characters and gameplay and not care about non-character content in general.

That's a "what if" scenario, and one that will never happen.

The people in here in Smashboards asking for a new director aren't going to get their fulfilled wishes, they're asking for less fanservice. And nobody really wants that to happen at all.

Please, do explain how getting a new director who is less stubborn and biased than Sakurai will get us less fan-service.


NOTE: I am not saying that I'm in favor of Sakurai leaving.

 

[josh bones]

We'd probably only have mario characters if sakurai stepped down

 

[Wintropy]

Please, do explain how getting a new director who is less stubborn and biased than Sakurai will get us less fan-service.

I interpret it as suggesting that, although Sakurai is arguaby stubborn and biased in his own peculiar ways, he has a lot of in-depth knowedge of the Nintendo canon and displays a great sense of passion in his work. It's fallacious to say that a new director would necessartily result in "less fanservice", I will agree with you on that, though it's just as nebulous to say that a new director would guarantee the opposite.

It's really a case of "we don't know because we have no experience of it either way". It isn't a priori to say that Sakurai is a greater or poorer director than anybody else, but it is justifiably a posteriori to say that Sakurai does give the fans what they want as well as giving the fand what he wants and / or believes they want.

 

[no1butmenotu]

To me, Smash without Sakurai would be like The Boondocks' latest season without Aaron Mcrudger. Possibly subpar due to the fact that Sakurai had his own standard of doing things since he was the heart of production. Don't get me wrong, he has made some questionable choices (Even though Brawl was a good game, as many times as it was delayed, it could have been much better than what it was).

 

[Moon Monkey]

I wouldn't mind if the Namco team that helped to make smash bros. helped lead the charge for the next Smash bros. for the next Nintendo system. given the experience they have had making these two games, I'm sure they will have a lot of knowledge about what goes into a smash game. As long the core concept remains (easy input fighting game with Nintendo all-stars and affiliates) then i think anyone can make a decent smash game.

honestly it really boils down to the game's speed and characters for most people.

 

[the8thark]

People will ***** about the roster till the end of time. Can't please everyone on the roster. All you can do is put in the main characters, a few newcomers and that's it. As much as SSB4's roster is not perfect, any SSB roster will never be perfect. It'll just be pretty good.

 

[TheDMonroeShow]

They dropped DK more or less, for years after Rare was sold off. It only got back on its feet very recently. So it's not unprecedented. Despite the sales and acclaim, Smash has never been a high priority with Nintendo and it does cause a lot of issues for them (the big ones now being its Melee competitive community and Project M). The last two games were ad hoc productions. The only constant of the series, from the very beginning, has been Sakurai and his wife. There's a value that he brings to the project as someone who knows its roots and can manage the demands of several different Nintendo IPs that would be very hard to replace.

A lot of people blame Sakurai for the anti-competitive elements but I think it'd be even worse if Nintendo took full control over the project.

Dk Still had games coming out it just wasn't part of the dkc series, and I wouldn't call pm an issue as it still needs brawl to work and it's primary the reason they don't shut it down also they supported melee and evo last year(they also had strictly pm players at the e3 tourney). So maybe it was a burden originally when they wanted to go casual but now they're pretty supportive I mean they even have scar on their channel a lot as well as well as d1 hosting some Nintendo tournaments.

Miyamoto recently said in an interview Nintendo as a hole is trying to cater toward hardcore players now as they realized they messed up when trying to alienate them. I think that's actually the primary reason smash 4 ended up being more competitive based not because of Sakurai himself as he still seems pretty against the whole idea of it being a competitive game in interviews.

Also smash not being high priority? Reggie stated the game was being made before Sakurai even got to work on it. I'm sure if he said no they would of got someone else i can't imagine finding a new director would be hard at all despite what you say. Sometimes new blood can be good for a series.

 

[wingo]

way better. we don't need that arrogant casual holding the game down.

 

[BobVance_]

We can each have our games we think is hard. I will agree on that. Not against you for that.
I will say Zelda 1 Second Quest was pretty hard. And Zelda 2 does have a little learning curve, but once you've past that you can whoop Zelda 2 easily.

Here is a video of me doing a death mountain run in Zelda 2 without the candle. Sure I had to grind a little XP first but it's very doable.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPDkeZ4MDBY&list=UUKhahWDDuLHv_JJQ4zksyAA

Lol just because you yourself are very dedicated and have beaten those games to death doesn't mean anything. Zelda II/III/DKC2 are considered very difficult. Obviously if you've beaten them a zillion times your view on the subject will be skewed. You're thinking about yourself a little too much and projecting it. No one thought those games were easy when they came out. In fact when DKC2 was ported again that's all reviews and everyone griped about. I can't tell you how many people complained about how difficult ALttP was when they tried to play it after beating A Link Between Worlds. Give those games to a "New" generation today and they're unbeatable, ie, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze greatly upped the difficulty and you saw the same reaction. Your logic of "well I've beaten it a lot and done it doing this this or that" doesn't apply to everyone, just you. I mean, I can beat the original Ninja Gaiden fairly easily because I've played it so many times. Do you think someone who never played that game but plays games today would find it easy if you just handed it to him? Probably not. Your average gamer can't beat Zelda II very easily either.

Back to the topic at hand, that other guy a page back made a good point that no one noticed anything wrong with Melee's gameplay when it was released. It was critically acclaimed and everyone loved it. Then Brawl comes out, craps on the gameplay, and Nintendo apologists tried to take the stance of "oh well brawl is better cuz now everyone can play it and its not to fast" which made absolutely no sense. I mean, who were these arbitrary people they were trying to appeal too? Certainly not the Wii Fit crowd. And I'm not sure if Sakurai's talking point of "o we need to maek gaemz for da casualz" is really his own or just upper corporate telling him what to say and which direction to take his games in for sales purposes. Either way, I'd like someone else at the helm. It's not like I know the guy or have personal affiliation with him so I have no bias, he's just another developer to me and there's plenty more out there more than capable of doing the job, I'm sure.

 

[smashingDoug]

at first i thought there is no smash without sakurai, but then i started to think about the whole SSE cutscenes got ''leaked',' and now there is no story mode for 4. we can't be negative about smash. or he will say we are being little kids, i'm starting, to see him becoming the Phil Fish of Japan,