As announced in an interview today, Masahiro Sakurai of Sora Ltd., is planning to add a few western characters into the next Super Smash Bros game, as he revealed in an announcement from an interview from today.
The director of the Smash Bros. series has developed interest in adding such a character for a while now. While we do have Banjo and Kazooie from Microsoft and Rare, and Steve from Minecraft, Sakurai is pushing the boundary this time and wants to add characters with more western appeal, but less Japanese appeal.
"I think it would be interesting to see how this goes..." Masahiro Sakurai said in the interview. "I knew we have added western characters before, but the likes of Banjo and Kazooie were characters owned by Rare, who worked with Nintendo before, and even Minecraft, which the character, Steve is from, has a big following in Japan. I want to add some characters not from Japan this time around to shake things up a bit."
Masahiro Sakurai does know the risk of such characters not appealing to those living in Japan. "I know some people will be unfamiliar with such characters, and I know some may not be happy..." The Smash Bros. director said. "But I do have a feeling those from Japan might get used to those characters well if their moveset is fun.".
Right now, Mr. Sakurai has his eyes on a few more characters from Microsoft,most likely Master Chief and the Doom Marine from Doom. He also thinks the character, Rayman from Ubisoft would make such a great character, as well as some characters from independent game studios like Shovel Knight from Yacth Club games and Shantae from Wayforward.
"I also want to reach out to the people from the west more." Sakurai continued. "I do know how big Smash Bros. as a series is, even outside of Japan, so I am excited to try and make more contact with non-Japanese fans in the world."
That said, Masahiro Sakurai also said he plans to bring characters from Japan itself to the next Smash Bros. game, namely, but not limited to those who were Assist Trophies. Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle and Sukapon from Joy Mecha Fight come to mind. He wants to add more Japanese characters too in order to balance out the western characters he wishes to add.
Previously, Masahiro Sakurai was not too keen on adding characters from Japan only as playable characters in a Smash Bros. game. He did not feel they would not be familiar with, or appeal that much to western people. However, he was not wholly against it, given how Roy and Marth, who were from Fire Emblem and elusive to Japan, came to appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where they were well received and even popular.
With the next Nintendo console being said to be announced later this year, the next Smash Bros. is probably not too far off, so it makes sense why the director of the famous Smash Bros. game would say something like this right about now. We'll keep you updated on future updates on this as time goes by.
