Sakurai comments on customization

[Stratocaster]

I haven't seen anyone talking about this. Gamespot had an interview with Sakurai, and here's a tidbit from it:

"However, exactly what you can customize remains a mystery. I inferred a sort of Pokemon Stadium situation, where you level up your characters in the handheld version before transferring them to the console version to battle. When presented with this idea, Sakurai considered it for a moment before stating, "Perhaps the best way to think of it is: it's no the strength of the attacks that change--their power-- but the directionality of those attacks will change with customization.""

All we're really given is a word, directionality, and so the question is what this means. To me this sounds like you can change the direction an attack sends your opponent, which would give a whole new element to the combo game, but seems like it could be odd and unnatural. He probably means something else, so I present this to your collective minds to see what interpretations you have on this.

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/features/smashing-the-definition-of-smash-bros-6410475/

 

[Curmudgeon]

I think you're taking his words too literally

 

[TheTuninator]

Sorry dude, but this is old news. Consensus is that we pretty much have no idea what the hell Sakurai is talking about, as usual regarding customization. We'll have to wait for more info. I hope he spills soon, because the prospect of customization which actually affects gameplay is the only thing which worries me about SSB4.

 

[Hyruleslink]

Hmm. Interesting but cryptic... as usual. I am sure that is the way Sakurai wants it. We'll know when he wants us to know. That interview screams : "You're not ready yet!"

 

[smashbrolink]

Directionality......
Like, maybe choosing between the speed of an attack vs the power of it?
Affecting how fast a strike lands would decrease the power and vice-versa?

 

[Hyruleslink]

I envision the customization will be more geared towards appearance than actual fighting/attack style. I am thinking different costumes and color schemes. Some will be available day one and that will open the road for some DLC down the road. Example, Mario could have a Dr Mario costume that changes his appearance and the fireballs are changed to pills (with Dr Mario sound effects). Same character and moveset, just a different skin.

 

[SirGalvan]

im still hoping that there are costume customizations available

 

[[Corn]]

Sorry dude, but this is old news. Consensus is that we pretty much have no idea what the hell Sakurai is talking about, as usual regarding customization. We'll have to wait for more info. I hope he spills soon, because the prospect of customization which actually affects gameplay is the only thing which worries me about SSB4.

This

If you understand how translations work, you can clearly see the errors as well.

 

[Stratocaster]

Sorry dude, but this is old news. Consensus is that we pretty much have no idea what the hell Sakurai is talking about, as usual regarding customization. We'll have to wait for more info. I hope he spills soon, because the prospect of customization which actually affects gameplay is the only thing which worries me about SSB4.

I did not say it was new, but I couldn't find any conversation on it. I thought someone might have some more incite, or at least good speculation. It's disappointing to find that the consensus is pretty much what I thought it'd be (we have no idea).

 

[Morbi]

I did not say it was new, but I couldn't find any conversation on it. I thought someone might have some more incite, or at least good speculation. It's disappointing to find that the consensus is pretty much what I thought it'd be (we have no idea).

I think it is secretly Miis. I have a bad feeling about it.

 

[TheTuninator]

I did not say it was new, but I couldn't find any conversation on it. I thought someone might have some more incite, or at least good speculation. It's disappointing to find that the consensus is pretty much what I thought it'd be (we have no idea).

There was a heck of a lot of discussion on it a while back, but it may have gotten buried. Unfortunately, between the inevitable translation errors and Sakurai's reticence to give details regarding his plans, we really have nothing to go on.

People are definitely reading this quote too literally, though.

 

[210stuna]

No more DI?

OH GOD

 

[smashbrolink]

No more DI?

OH GOD

I doubt that'll be a thing.
There's no way they'll remove that...

 

[SmashCentralOfficial]

I think it is secretly Miis. I have a bad feeling about it.

That's what it sounds like. Sakurai also said you could customize a character on the 3DS and transfer it over to the Wii: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCGwn5pk-F0

 

[J1NG]

I envision the customization will be more geared towards appearance than actual fighting/attack style. I am thinking different costumes and color schemes. Some will be available day one and that will open the road for some DLC down the road. Example, Mario could have a Dr Mario costume that changes his appearance and the fireballs are changed to pills (with Dr Mario sound effects). Same character and moveset, just a different skin.

Yes, I had an idea like that. Believe it or not, I feel like if the character roster came to dire straits, Luigi could be a costume as well...though I don't think that would go over very well.
It would also be interesting if you could mix and match, and I have mentioned this before. For example, you're playing as Mario but you customize him so that he has Luigi's Up-B or something.

 

[INs4niTY-]

It could even be the the graphical effects they've added onto attacks now. The cutting through the air effect, Fox seems to have a different colour in one of the pics so it may be that? :o

 

[Zzuxon]

I think the directionality thing is just a translation error. It probably means style or something.

 

[smashbro29]

It better just be style or whatever. I don't wanna go online and run into these level 99 idiots who kill me in 2 hits because they wasted more time in a single player mode.

 

[kisamefishfries]

Well my take on it is probably effects. As you level up, you get points to allow, things like fire/dark attribute stuff, maybe in worst of cases some minimal stunning or base knock back increasing... btw, he basically confirmed leveling profiles by confirming that you do increase your character in some way and sort of going along with it.... so.... I shall become a level 99 villager.

 

[The World Warrior]

I really hope its only a cosmetic thing. I'm not digging the idea of messing with character stats and screwing around with the way they play.

 

[Dark Phazon]

This could make or break the game....

 

[BluePikmin11]

So I can use the Super Jump Punch as a Meteor Smash D-Spec?
Use F.L.U.D.D. as a recovery U-Spec?
Changing the cape to a recovery move like in Super Mario World?
That could be interesting..

 

[RomanceDawn]

I figured it was the special effects from attacks as well. Examples include:

1 Donkey Kong slaps the bananas out of someone.
2 Mario hits a character or gets hit himself and coins fly out. Like the trailer, I mean really what was that about?
3 maybe when characters get hit, special noises happen.
4 Change a characters stage entrance, or win/lose animation.
5 anything silly that won't mean squat.

 

[The World Warrior]

After thinking about it for a while I'm thinking that maybe, maybe, it could be OK if it was strictly special move/B attack customization. You know multiple B moves for each character.

Examples:
Link's Side B Gale Boomerang for his original Smash 64/Melee boomerang and vice-versa.
Mario's Fludd for his Tornado. (I realize that Tornado is now his Dair so that's where things could get muddy)
Samus's Super/Smash Missile for an Ice Missile/Ice Beam shot.
Falco's Reflector Toss for his Melee Reflector (This one might be redundant)
Pit's Upperdash Arm for whatever move was dropped. (This is assuming it is a B move)

Anyway those are just some little examples. I still hope that this customization is something purely cosmetic but if I HAD to have something that affected gameplay in any way, this would be it.

 

[HylianHero]

After thinking about it for a while I'm thinking that maybe, maybe, it could be OK if it was strictly special move/B attack customization. You know multiple B moves for each character.

Examples:
Link's Side B Gale Boomerang for his original Smash 64/Melee boomerang and vice-versa.
Mario's Fludd for his Tornado. (I realize that Tornado is now his Dair so that's where things could get muddy)
Samus's Super/Smash Missile for an Ice Missile/Ice Beam shot.
Falco's Reflector Toss for his Melee Reflector (This one might be redundant)
Pit's Upperdash Arm for whatever move was dropped. (This is assuming it is a B move)

Anyway those are just some little examples. I still hope that this customization is something purely cosmetic but if I HAD to have something that affected gameplay in any way, this would be it.

That would be really cool and I've hear a lot of people talking about this, like estimating that this is what it could be. The only thing that makes me doubt that they'll do this is that it would require them to have two or three alternate moves for every single character in the entire game, or risk people flipping out if like say mario had 3 alternate moves and Captain Falcon had like two, or God forbid one, and normally that wouldn't really be a concern since they have such a huge team this time around and time before the release, but Sakurai said they had to scale back the roster because of the 3DS' limited capabilities, so I don't really see them having like 2 or 3 alternate moves for every character in the game

that said, I really really hope I'm wrong, because that would be sweet.

 

[DakotaBonez]

What the f@# does directionality mean?

I'd imagine being able to change the motion effects, like how fox's smash attacks leave a rainbow trail and Mario's leave a white trail. This was one of the ways you could customize characters in Tekken Tag 2.

 

[mimgrim]

Well my take on it is probably effects. As you level up, you get points to allow, things like fire/dark attribute stuff, maybe in worst of cases some minimal stunning or base knock back increasing... btw, he basically confirmed leveling profiles by confirming that you do increase your character in some way and sort of going along with it.... so.... I shall become a level 99 villager.

I'm either expecting this or the Mii.

I'm honestly not to worried about the whole customazation thing, if it ends up being to OP you just don't let it be used in competitive play. But still it could get super fun by playing with totally OP characters you could custommize.

 

[Dark Phazon]

Little Birdie elevated to lvl 16!
What! Little Birdie is evolving!
Little Birdie evolved into Mysterious Creature !
Mysterious Creature learned Bite

Some time later...

Mysterious Creature elevated to lvl 36!
What? Mysterious creature is evolving!
Mysterious Creature evolved into Ridley!
Ridley wants to learn Dragon Dance...

 

[Sasser]

You know, I was always hoping the customization option would be like Sonic Battle (this game was beautiful) where you unlocked access to cards to all the individual moves of all the characters and slap em on your custom character. For smash it would be like taking Falco's Blaster, Fox's shine and Peach's downsmash on the same character.

It wasn't OP for two reasons: Each card had a different 'cost' ranging from 5-35 and you were only allowed 450 points or so to create an entire skillset (they would give you very weak versions of the attacks you didnt customize), so the devs would make the obvious best move cost more than a move that wasn't so good. Second, there were so many hilariously strong combinations that there wasn't just one skillset you could claim was the best.

 

[Dark Phazon]

im really eagar to hear more news on what sorta customizatiom.

 

[smashbro29]

Customization could be cool if it was severely limited. Like unlocking "Old Smash Mario" with a tornado and drill kick dair.

Anything more could really mess with the game being fair competition.

 

[Noler_Mass]

I whole-heartedly believe that the customization will be the Miis. The only reason I didn't want their inclusion is because I felt that getting half of the newcomers revealed on the first day would be a mistake. But now I'm fine with it, hell I'm looking forward to kicking butt with my Miis. I actually almost hope they are incorporated in some way, if not playable than as an assist trophy or stage prop. Having them in a stage would be cool kind of like coconut mall from Mario kart. Maybe the stage will be coconut mall haha.

For the competetive side of smash I doubt he'd make the customization too ground breaking though, but even if he did all it would do is change the competitive scene. Which I do realize would piss off current competitive fans to no end.

 

[Dark Phazon]

Customization could be cool if it was severely limited. Like unlocking "Old Smash Mario" with a tornado and drill kick dair.

Anything more could really mess with the game being fair competition.

Thats why asthetics are perfect....

 

[Sasser]

It wouldnt change competition at all. In fact, no matter how Sakurai twists customization I 100% believe custom characters will be banned in tournament play.

 

[Sasser]

It wouldnt change competition at all. In fact, no matter how Sakurai twists customization I 100% believe custom characters will be banned in tournament play.

 

[josh bones]

It wouldnt change competition at all. In fact, no matter how Sakurai twists customization I 100% believe custom characters will be banned in tournament play.

Depends on what is customizable. Size and weight? No. Moves? Yes

 

[BADGRAPHICS]

I'd like think he's talking about a method of swapping specials. Seems odd that Mario still has FLUDD; Sunshine isn't relevant any more. But if there were options within that, it makes a bit more sense. Probably awkward to implement, though it would help with balance (approved movesets for tournaments, etc.).

 

[Noler_Mass]

It really depends on how they want to incorporate the customization. Think of it this way (please note I am not a CoD fan, but I feel this is something that everyone in existence can relate too, especially if you are a gamer), in call of duty you can have different guns and different perks on each gun to make it personalizedto your strengths as a player. Now I don't follow the cod competitive scene whatsoever, but I assume they let you customize your weapons. It could be something similar to that, you can customize some of your abilities to complement your skill set. Sure it's not very fair to new players, but chances are if you plan to play competitively you are gonna have unlocked enough to have personalized your characters as much as you desire. I'm not saying that customization won't be banned at tournaments, anyone who doesn't like new things will go like THIS SUX and play Melee. But it could still work.

Personally I think that it is going to only apply to Miis and Miis will be banned at tournaments, solving the worlds problems. Simple as that.

 

[kisamefishfries]

I'm either expecting this or the Mii.

I'm honestly not to worried about the whole customazation thing, if it ends up being to OP you just don't let it be used in competitive play. But still it could get super fun by playing with totally OP characters you could custommize.

Just like how I built my DBZ characters, I will never die and deal mediocre damage!

 

[kisamefishfries]

Sorry... Lag and stuff.