New sakurai interview

[Dr. James Rustles]

I encourage readers to avoid blog-style news articles and read the source material where available, which in this case is Kotaku's article or the original Famitsu (if you can). I am looking at you, PadWarrior.

Old news.

Old news I seem that already

There is news. "Sakurai has focused on having video sequences that would instead potentially benefit by being spread around," taken from the Kotaku article. Addtionally, "Sakurai expressed a desire to make similar videos for all subsequent new characters," a confirmation that we can expect more introduction videos in the future.

 

[JediKnightTemplar]

I'm more worried about the concept of character customization. While it sounds good on the surface, in reality it has the potential for a lot of imbalance (not to mention redundancy, given I'd imagine there'd only be one customization layout (maybe two in rare cases) that would actually be worth using) unless they're very careful. Also I don't understand the need for a portable Smash Bros. Personally I think it'll be like playing Brawl with a Wiimote and will only end up bringing down the Wii U version (particularly given that he already said they'd have the same characters on each game). Sakurai already said they had issues with multi-member characters like the Ice Climbers on the 3DS. Granted Olimar's been announced and I'd assume he'd have fit the bill for that issue, but I still don't like that the Wii U version has to cater down to Gamecube level technology in its amount of content.

 

[Curmudgeon]

There is news. "Sakurai has focused on having video sequences that would instead potentially benefit by being spread around," taken from the Kotaku article. Addtionally, "Sakurai expressed a desire to make similar videos for all subsequent new characters," a confirmation that we can expect more introduction videos in the future.

No, there isn't. This interview was posted about a month ago.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=603986

PN: There was a big focus on Story with Brawl, notably with SSE, the very first "story mode" of the series.Is there anything similar with the new SSB.

S:Actually we are not planning to include a similar story mode this time around. As you already know SSB has a great number of different characters who all had their own cutscenes in Story mode. These were supposed to be rewards for players finishing this mode with every characters.

I think this is fun for players but at the same time all these cutscenes ended up on the internet.Players watched them online, which didn't correspond to our intent when we made them in the first place.That's why we won't do the same this time.

Nevertheless we will still present the new characters with intro cutscenes, as we already did with the Villager, Megaman and Wii Fit Trainer.We have several collaboration to make these cutscenes at the moment.

 

[Dr. James Rustles]

No, there isn't. This interview was posted about a month ago.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=603986

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(continent)

You neglected to include the part of the article where he said, "I like revealing characters with cutscenes before the game is released. But they have a cost so I can't promise." This news came with a disclaimer. It has been a month now, so he is apparently still looking forward to doing them.

 

[SmashBro99]

What a shame, while SSE wasn't perfect I enjoyed it, and I really loved the cut scenes. I was hoping they could do more with it, especially with the Tales staff working on it.

His reasoning is really stupid lol. No matter what unlockables there are they will be uploaded for the world to see, get with the times bra.

 

[number90901]

As someone who rarely if ever is able to have a multiplayer experience, I loved SSE for what it was and was hoping we'd get a real story mode, because it's a hell of a lot of fun to play as a ton of Nintendo characters in a singular game. I'd certainly pay for a Super Smash Bros Story game.

 

[number90901]

Damn double post.

 

[Ulevo]

Something that hope returns that is kind of superficial but is fun none the less were those little score achievements you got at the end of every 1 player match.

 

[Curmudgeon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(continent)

Really?

You neglected to include the part of the article where he said, "I like revealing characters with cutscenes before the game is released. But they have a cost so I can't promise." This news came with a disclaimer. It has been a month now, so he is apparently still looking forward to doing them.

That tiny bit of info didn't deserve its own topic

 

[Dr. James Rustles]

Really?

Aye.

That tiny bit of info didn't deserve its own topic

No one is even suggesting...[/quote]

Something that hope returns that is kind of superficial but is fun none the less were those little score achievements you got at the end of every 1 player match.

Do you mean the scores you get for performing certain feats? I do miss those.

 

[Ulevo]

Yeah, those ones.

 

[TweetyPurd]

Do you think when he refers to character customization, that perhaps the option will be a sliding scale, where as you move a bar, it increases your speed, but decreases your attack %/knockback? just an idea

 

[soviet prince]

I am hoping there is a way you can play without allowing customization online

 

[ScubaF_ingSteve]

For customization: Stop jumping to conclusions that this will alter competitive play. They're probably just going to stick it into a game mode and even if it isn't just 1 game mode, it's obviously going to be banned competitively. As for online, if anything it will be divided into it's own section. Panties in a bunch the lot of you.

For story mode: Who cares? Really for those saying it's a stupid reason, you've obviously never played the SSE, sure it was cool for the first week of the game, but it was so repetitive and boring that the only reward was the cutscenes which were super quirky and fun, I'd rather watch them online. Same for ssb4, just make an intro cutscene for the character and leave it as such, this isn't a story based game. In a story based game the cutscenes further the plot, in smash bros its simply just a fun bonus.

 

[King Orfut]

It is really good that Sakurai seems to be going with my opnion.

Gameplay & Balance > Everything Else

I agree. Wasting time on pointless cutscenes/story mode takes time away from the things that matter; which are the characters and gameplay, as well as balancing. This is why melee was so GREAT. This is great news !

Just have the story mode similar to Melee and call it a day .

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Every character gets a cutscene after we beat their classic mode!
...is what I'm hoping for

Ummm it didn't say that where did you see that or are you joking

Anyway glad to hear characters are getting trailers but if this is true why diden't olimar get a trailer

 

[MudkipUniverse]

One Thing: Isn't It Kinda The VIEWER's Fault For Watching The Cutscenes Online?

 

[DakotaBonez]

One Thing: Isn't It Kinda The VIEWER's Fault For Watching The Cutscenes Online?

Seriously,
he's just making excuses as to why there won't be another subspace. I mean these cutscenes are still gonna be uploaded onto the internet, except Sakurai himself will be publishing them to the internet. I guess he just wanted to reveal them on his own terms.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Ummm it didn't say that where did you see that or are you joking

...

...is what I'm hoping for

 

[Dr. James Rustles]

Anyway glad to hear characters are getting trailers but if this is true why diden't olimar get a trailer

He said he wanted new characters to get trailers. Olimar is not a new character.

 

[FlamingForce]

The SSBB cutscene introducing C.Falcon to Olimar was honestly one of the funniest things I had ever seen.

I'm not terribly bothered by the lack of a story mode though I find Sakurai's bizarre reasoning to reach that decision a tad disturbing.

 

[MopedOfJustice]

Old news. He never says there won't be story mode, it's just a random guess made by the article's author. The first comment even explains it!

"Bad reporting from this site like usual. He never said no story, he said no subspace emissary. He said it will include a story"

He said it will include a story? Did you mean to say "Story Mode" or are you actually referring to a narrative arc of some kind?

 

[Kirks21]

I've heard arguments on both sides. Some people wanted cut-scenes, some don't care. I personally, don't care if the game has them or not. I just want to play Smash Bros.

Mario Kart doesn't need a story to be amazingly fun, and neither does Smash. Give us a lot of different game modes, more variety with rules and more characters and stages and we have a great game on our hands. In Sakurai I trust.

 

[Ixbran]

I'll be honest when I say that 90% of my hype for this game is now completely gone. The story mode for Brawl is the only thing that makes it replayable for me.

I might get this game still, though i was planning on getting both the 3DS and WiiU version, I see no point in getting the WiiU version if there is no grand story to play through. if its going to be just another mindless fighter, then all I need is my 3DS.

"OH NO PEOPLE UPLOADED VIDEOS OF THE STORY ON THE INTERNET, I SUDDENLY DONT WANT TO MAKE A STORY MODE CUZ OF YOUTUBE!"

The man is an idiot if hes not going to do a story, just to prevent it from being posted online. That is an extremely selfish and bigoted reason to not make a story.

**** you Sakurai

He said it will include a story? Did you mean to say "Story Mode" or are you actually referring to a narrative arc of some kind?

In an interview with Nintendo News he said there would be a story mode, just that it would be different from Brawls. That's one of the reasons this makes me so angry, the man went around and changed his mind after publicly announcing the game would have a story. That or hes just a ball faced liar and this was his plan from the beginning.

All I know is that I should have known better than to become excited by a game from Nintendo of all companies.

 

[Spire]

The Subspace Emissary took up a great deal of Brawl's disc space. Without anything like it, they will be able to make as large a roster as possible. Considering Sakurai said that ideally they wouldn't have to cut anyone, this could bode well for the core game. If this were a Wii U exclusive, I bet they'd keep the cutscenes. It's the 3DS that's holding it back, but it might be holding it back for good measure. Use as much space as possible for the roster, the stages, and the gameplay. Everything else is extra. Cut trophies, half the soundtrack, Masterpieces, stage builder, adventure mode, and just about everything in favor of the core multiplayer experience if necessary, please. If there's leftover room for these (or new) extra features, go ahead. This is Super Smash Bros., not Super Fluff Bros.

 

[ImaClubYou]

Naw.. about the cutscenes.

I think it's a dumb reason, too. "Oh, people upload my cutscenes. NO MO FO YO." Meanwhile, every other developer don't care.

This somehow reminds me of Nintendo's war against our good ole' LPers.

Some of you should realize that hey, we can safely assume there won't be a million cutscenes like in Brawl, is having 1 cutscene for each character so hard?

 

[Ixbran]

I suddenly give no ****s who gets into this game if the characters wont be interacting outside of fights, whats the point? If there is no story there's no interaction, if there's no interaction then there's no point in making a cross over.

Smash.64 and Melee were fine since the concept of a story hadnt been included yet. But after Brawl I just cant stand the idea of a pointless fighter with out a story. Why would they take such a big step forward when it comes to entertainment, then take 5 steps back? The man is obviously becoming an idiot in his old age, here's hoping he retires soon.

 

[ImaClubYou]

I wonder who'll inherit the Smash franchis, lol.

But, aye. Don't even mess. Sakurai is irreplaceable.

 

[Ixbran]

I wonder who'll inherit the Smash franchis, lol.

But, aye. Don't even mess. Sakurai is irreplaceable.

that doesn't make him any less of an idiot.

 

[FlamingForce]

I suddenly give no ****s who gets into this game if the characters wont be interacting outside of fights, whats the point? If there is no story there's no interaction, if there's no interaction then there's no point in making a cross over.

Smash.64 and Melee were fine since the concept of a story hadnt been included yet. But after Brawl I just cant stand the idea of a pointless fighter with out a story. Why would they take such a big step forward when it comes to entertainment, then take 5 steps back? The man is obviously becoming an idiot in his old age, here's hoping he retires soon.

So the first 2 games were fine because the story was not yet introduced but because the 3rd one had a story the 4th one is automatically not fine because it doesn't have a story.
Also the mastermind behind this immensely successful game series is now an idiot.

Usually one could argue the whole "Opinion" thing, you're entirely entitled to not only disliking the idea of there being no storyline and feeling like the game is already ruined for you before it's out.
Sakurai, however, is all but an idiot. Just because he's not doing what you want him to do doesn't make him one. You're just running around with an incredibly self-absorbed mentality if you really believe what you just said.

 

[shinhed-echi]

Let's look at it this way...

There won't be a story, per se, but characters WILL interact.

We're basically getting SSE-like cutscenes... in the forms of TRAILERS for new characters, before the game comes out.
And it comes guilt-free!

 

[Starbound]

that doesn't make him any less of an idiot.

>someone doesn't do what i want them to do
>i call them an idiot

chill out bro. you're really overreacting.

yeah his reasoning is a little sketchy but you need to realize how much space this clears up for other features (around 3.5 GB, or half of Brawl) like characters and game balance.

most people buy smash because of the characters, not the 150 cutscenes or the story mode.

 

[Ixbran]

So the first 2 games were fine because the story was not yet introduced but because the 3rd one had a story the 4th one is automatically not fine because it doesn't have a story.
Also the mastermind behind this immensely successful game series is now an idiot.

Usually one could argue the whole "Opinion" thing, you're entirely entitled to not only disliking the idea of there being no storyline and feeling like the game is already ruined for you before it's out.
Sakurai, however, is all but an idiot. Just because he's not doing what you want him to do doesn't make him one. You're just running around with an incredibly self-absorbed mentality if you really believe what you just said.

I'm just really angry right now, alright? I am, for the most part, saying this to blow off steam.

But seriously, how can you introduce the concept of a story mode in a franchise, then go around and not do one in the rest? Also his excuse to not include is just stupid; "Oh were not gonna do a story mode because I dont want cut scenes from it posted online, like with Brawl." How is that a viable excuse? It's not, the man is acting like a child. and he goes and ruins the experience for those who prefer games with a story over ones without one. What happened to Nintendo trying to appeal to larger multiple gamer types? Not just hard core fighters play this series, I'd like to think he knows that.

And yes ill be honest when i say Smash.64 and Melee did not keep my attention as long as Brawl has. I have no friends to play the multiplayer with, what fun is there only ever playing with just my self and 3 CPU's? So all I ever did was play the single player modes, which were only mildly entertaining at best. Brawls story was such a refreshing thing to have. Finally an engaging mode for those of us who have no one to play multiplayer with.

That was the whole reason I was excited for Smash.4, seeing what they would do with the games story. I'll be honest this bit of news wouldn't have upset me as much as it has, if it weren't for the fact they already said there would be a story mode. First they tell us were going to have a story mode, just one thats not on par with SSE, and I was okay with that. But now they are flat out saying: "Nope, we changed our minds, no more story mode cuz reasons", and ****ty reasons at that.

That is the main reason why I'm so upset. Sakurai either Lied too us at first regarding the story, or changed his mind during development for stupid reasons. The man may not be an idiot, but this sure as hell isn't a smart move for him to do.

you need to realize how much space this clears up for other features (around 3.5 GB, or half of Brawl) like characters and game balance.

most people buy smash because of the characters, not the 150 cutscenes or the story mode.

Brawls disk was done with DVD Format, so of course it had limited room. The Wii U uses BlueRay, from what i understand, just like the PS3. I'm pretty sure disk space isn't that big of an issue over there.

 

[FlamingForce]

I'm just really angry right now, alright? I am, for the most part, saying this to blow off steam.

But seriously, how can you introduce the concept of a story mode in a franchise, then go around and not do one in the rest? Also his excuse to not include is just stupid; "Oh were not gonna do a story mode because I dont want cut scenes from it posted online, like with Brawl." How is that a viable excuse? It's not, the man is acting like a child. and he goes and ruins the experience for those who prefer games with a story over ones without one. What happened to Nintendo trying to appeal to larger multiple gamer types? Not just hard core fighters play this series, I'd like to think he knows that.

And yes ill be honest when i say Smash.64 and Melee did not keep my attention as long as Brawl has. I have no friends to play the multiplayer with, what fun is there only ever playing with just my self and 3 CPU's? So all I ever did was play the single player modes, which were only mildly entertaining at best. Brawls story was such a refreshing thing to have. Finally an engaging mode for those of us who have no one to play multiplayer with.

That was the whole reason I was excited for Smash.4, seeing what they would do with the games story. I'll be honest this bit of news wouldn't have upset me as much as it has, if it weren't for the fact they already said there would be a story mode. First they tell us were going to have a story mode, just one thats not on par with SSE, and I was okay with that. But now they are flat out saying: "Nope, we changed our minds, no more story mode cuz reasons", and ****ty reasons at that.

That is the main reason why I'm so upset. Sakurai either Lied too us at first regarding the story, or changed his mind during development for stupid reasons. The man may not be an idiot, but this sure as hell isn't a smart move for him to do.

I fully agree with his reasoning being very strange and childish.
Having nobody to play with will put a good dent in the replayability, I agree, though I personally believe that Smash will always be a party game meant to be played with others first of all, and by yourself second to that, when the SSE was announced I personally considered it a neat little add-on rather then the first thing that comes to mind when you mention SSBB.

I guess these are just 2 very different situations and experiences leading to very different preferences and opinions.

 

[DarrylTrainer]

I love story mode and cutscenes... Sigh... That's a very dumb reason not to have cut scenes. Everything is going to be uploaded to YouTube from every game, movie, tv show, etc. and as for the story mode, once you unlock everything, the game will get kinda boring w/o a story mode. Especially since none of my friends like SSB... this news upsets me

 

[Kamikazek]

I feel like people are assuming Sakurai saw that the videos were online and went "WAAAAAH, people are watching them online! But I don't want them to! This time I won't make videos at all so people can't steal them! That'll show them! HA!"

I see it more as Sakurai thinking "Well, the cinematics didn't really have the intended effect I think, and we really put more work and resources into it than we should have, subspace in general wasn't that popular...perhaps we should consider doing things differently this time". Less of a "I'm mad beacause things didn't go the way I wanted!" and more of a "hmmm maybe that was a mistake". I really don't think he's just mad that things are showing up online. After all he made those anime shorts for Kid Icarus well after Brawl so he must have known they'd end up on the internet(plus they were free if you had a 3DS anyway), but that didn't stop him. Hell the reveal trailers for this game are all going to be on youtube and he's recognized that. I think it's more that the videos in Brawl didn't have the effect he expected so he's changing his stratagem a bit.

I don't necessarily agree with his reasoning but I feel like people are immediately jumping to the conclusion that paints Sakurai in the most negative light possible, as people tend to do on the internet.

 

[tyleony]

I feel like people are assuming Sakurai saw that the videos were online and went "WAAAAAH, people are watching them online! But I don't want them to! This time I won't make videos at all so people can't steal them! That'll show them! HA!"

I see it more as Sakurai thinking "Well, the cinematics didn't really have the intended effect I think, and we really put more work and resources into it than we should have, subspace in general wasn't that popular...perhaps we should consider doing things differently this time". Less of a "I'm mad beacause things didn't go the way I wanted!" and more of a "hmmm maybe that was a mistake". I really don't think he's just mad that things are showing up online. After all he made those anime shorts for Kid Icarus well after Brawl so he must have known they'd end up on the internet(plus they were free if you had a 3DS anyway), but that didn't stop him. Hell the reveal trailers for this game are all going to be on youtube and he's recognized that. I think it's more that the videos in Brawl didn't have the effect he expected so he's changing his stratagem a bit.

I don't necessarily agree with his reasoning but I feel like people are immediately jumping to the conclusion that paints Sakurai in the most negative light possible, as people tend to do on the internet.

This.

Smash Bros. doesn't need a story to be fun. To be honest, the SSE had less replayability for me than any other part of the game. As far as single-player goes, the Classic, Break The Targets, Boss Battles, Events, Home Run Contest, Multi Man Melee/Brawl, and Adventure modes kept me entertained for a long time in both Melee and Brawl. I could go back now and still be entertained by those modes.I'm glad the ressources that could be spent on the SSE are being spent on other parts of the game. Maybe we'll have character-specific Break The Targets stages again.

Also, I didn't see any quotes from Sakurai in the article that directly said that there would be no story mode. As far as I remember, the original translated interview that was posted a month ago said that there would be no SSE-esque story mode. It's also likely that the reasoning behind the removal of the cutscenes didn't translate to English very well.

 

[Fenrir VII]

It's been kind of fun to watch GameFaqs flip its **** about this. Anyways, here's my response to a fairly similar thread (one of like 500) posted over there...

I think that sakurai doesn't speak very clearly, and has once again been misinterpreted.

What I got from the article is that they spent a heck of a lot of time on the cutscenes, trying to give each player a reward. Those cutscenes were spoiled on the Internet within a week of the game being out, so he figured why do it the same way again? It sounds like he hasn't decided NOT to have cutscenes, but rather to have intro movies for a lot of characters (likely as their "challenger approaching" movies, IMO), so that every player can see them whenever.

Then as for no "story mode"... If he doesn't want to have in-story cutscenes, then there really won't be a story to piece together, since most characters really didnt talk in Brawl (making an assumption that this will be the same in smash 4). THIS SAYS NOTHING ABOUT THE LENGTH/GAMEPLAY OF THE 1P GAME. IMO this probably means an adventure mode more akin to Melee, but I don't think they'll scrap bosses, etc. Just the story elements.

Now that said, Smash has never been about the story.. I like the 1P modes and think they are a good addition (event matches in particular), but a lackluster story isn't really required here, and it isn't the reason most people will buy or not buy the game, so why would anybody want them to devote time to piecing a story together, instead of creating more gameplay, or even pushing the release forward of what it would be?

tl;dr version:
-What he said only applies to the "story" in SSE.. Not necessarily the gameplay.
-1P modes have been great in Melee and Brawl, and there's no reason to not expect a continuation of that.
-Nobody should be buying Smash Bros for the story..
-please Nintendo, make a "super smash bros RPG" a la kingdom hearts. Give it to Camelot.

 

[Mind Ranger]

Well doesn't go to much in detail, and a lot we know....
But he did add comments about the customization a bit which is good (and the no cut scenes which he had already hinted about)

 

[BlitznBurst]

This is such a ****ing ******** reason to not include a story mode. I'm amazed he can actually think that nobody will care about these cutscenes because they're on the internet somewhere, as though there's nobody in existence that can possibly appreciate the story mode, or want to play the story mode for themselves. Especially on launch. day. How preposterous,

And to those saying "oh this gives them more time to work on the game" or "oh now they don't have to work on those CG cutscenes and can finish the game faster" - you do realise there are most likely different teams dedicated to handling different things, right? The lack of super sexy CG cutscnes changes absolutely nothing apart from the fact that now there aren't any more super sexy CG cutscenes.

So I guess the tl;dr is that Smash Bros. is back to having absolutely no incentive to play the game's single player again. Wonderful. Just wonderful.