Sakurai On Mii Fighters, Dr. Mario, and Duck Hunt

[LiteralGrill]

From the previously mentioned interview with Sakurai in Nintendo Dream where he discussed how Bowser Jr. was almost cut from Smash, Sakurai also took the time to talk about some of the characters that did make the cut, specifically Mii Fighters, Dr. Mario, and Duck Hunt.

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Mii-Fighter

Sakurai: This time customization was a factor, I thought that we had to take a step towards being able to create something to your own liking during development. Although, we were thinking a lot about whether people would be happy to see the Mii Fighter as their opponent. For example if "My mommy" would come up as an opponent, would that really become a heated battle...? As we thought about that, if the character were to look and come out nonchalantly like in Mii Plaza, this would have been a definite failure. In the end by having the head of the Mii and changing up the body as well as giving them proper moves we managed to bring it into existence.

Dr. Mario

Sakurai: Actually all "Model-change"-characters that we have now were originally just supposed to be color-configurations. Just like the Little Mac-wireframe or how Olimar and Alph are included, we planned to just make the look and maybe the voice a possible configuration. But, when talking about Dr. Mario, including his abilities he had a lot of individuality in Melee compared to Mario. Also there were fans that said things like "I'm a doctor!", or "A back-alley doctor!" when they chose the black color-config. When you have such fans and you just change the character-model and leave it at that and it becomes "The same as Mario", we thought people might get angry (laughs). That's why we forced ourselves and changed that. But, unlike we did in the past when we separately added abilities and monitored the results, this time we used the customization-system and entered the adjustment-process by starting with a "Mario that's a bit heavier, with added attack-power". Although even then it still took a lot of work. During the regular adjustment-process we have each fighter battle all others and try to grasp the "strong" and "weak" problem areas, but in this case we had Dr. Mario go against Mario and tried to adjust it so it would most likely result in a tie. We did the same for Marth and Lucina, as well as Pit and Black Pit.

Duck Hunt

Sakurai: You think Duck Hunt is a rather minor character, right?

Nintendo Dream: We...think so. (laughs)

Everybody: (laughs)

Sakurai: Please try to have a look at the sales-numbers. It might be the most-sold shooting-game in the world. It might be because it came bundled with the NES outside of Japan, if you look at worldwide numbers you come up with a huge number. I thought to create a character based on that would be appropriate, so we included that character from the very beginning of the project.

Nintendo Dream: So it was a candidate all along for the whole Smash Bros.-franchise?

Sakurai: No, that would be exaggerating...in past titles we had our hands full with the characters we included back then. Even if we had tried even harder back then we couldn't have included it. But this time it was fun to do "Duck Hunt" and its shooting-like presentation. Like having a third person intervening the action, being able to say "It's actually a trio" was fun. That's how we finalized it during development of the concept, saying "That's how we can make it work!".

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It's always interesting to see the thought process of Sakurai and this is a cool incite as to why certain characters were chosen to be a part of Smash as well as how they went about making them so unique.

SmashCapps loves all of the characters in Smash and is glad they were all included. Maybe you can tell him your favorite character after following him on twitter.

Source: Neogaf

 

[cpulord]

so are we supposed to call clones model change characters now or smthing

 

[Space Stranger]

It's kind of surprising that , out of all characters from Melee, ended up returning to the cast. I wonder if the other clones were brought up at some point?

 

[Dissent]

This makes sense and should help people understand his decisions of clone characters better. People wouldn't say they main Dr. Mario, they'd say they main Mario. Doc had his fans and to simply make him a costume would be nothing more than Mario with pills, which true Doc mains wouldn't want.

 

[thadd_fin]

I hate Duck Hunt Dog

 

[Strofirko]

It's kind of surprising that , out of all characters from Melee, ended up returning to the cast. I wonder if the other clones were brought up at some point?

What melee clones,the dead one,the cancer one,or the replaced one.

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

So basically the clones were made for the sake of the fans?
Thats cool I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Mega Bidoof]

Sakurai: No, that would be exaggerating...in past titles we had our hands full with the characters we included back then. Even if we had tried even harder back then we couldn't have included it. But this time it was fun to do "Duck Hunt" and its shooting-like presentation. Like having a third person intervening the action, being able to say "It's actually a trio" was fun. That's how we finalized it during development of the concept, saying "That's how we can make it work!".

@ TheAnvil , Sakurai said it's a trio.

Just sayin'.

 

[pants name guy]

What melee clones,the dead one,the cancer one,or the replaced one.

Which one was replaced, Young Link or Roy?

 

[MarioMeteor]

I love the Doctor. He's a clone, without quite being a clone. Now what's his thought process on Wolf?

 

[TheDarkKnightNoivern]

It's kind of surprising that , out of all characters from Melee, ended up returning to the cast. I wonder if the other clones were brought up at some point?

Young link and Roy were replaced with better characters, pichu is irrelevant and Mewtwo has an original moveset so he would have taken longer to make

 

[Strofirko]

Which one was replaced, Young Link or Roy?

That's up to the reader.

 

[TheAnvil]

@ TheAnvil , Sakurai said it's a trio.

Just sayin'.

Sakurai also said that the 3DS version wouldn't effect the Wii U version.

Mechanically speaking, they're a Duo.

 

[Pazzo.]

This is incredibly interesting.

I'd love to hear him talk about Robin, or even Palutena.

 

[Spak]

Sakurai also said that the 3DS version wouldn't effect the Wii U version.

Hence the reason that he cut out Ice Climbers out of the Wii U version because they wouldn't run on the 3DS...

Basically, he lied.

 

[Demie Duken]

Duck Hunt is one of the gimmicky but fun characters to play [like Pac-Man], so his inclusion is still pretty shocking to me to this day. If this iteration of Smash had a story mode, it'd be interesting to see where he'd fit in the plot [if at all].

As far as model change characters go, I remember a time when Uprising was released and people were speculating that Dark Pit would be a great character in Smash Bros. Now we got him and it's just meh to most people, though like the Doctor, it's less about their moves and more a matter of taste or preference on which to play as. Almost like playing Light VS Dark all over again.

 

[Mega Bidoof]

What melee clones, the unplayable one, or the two replace ones?

Fix'd.

Sakurai also said that the 3DS version wouldn't effect the Wii U version.

Mechanically speaking, they're a Duo.

Yeah, because Sakurai would lie about a gimmick in a game that already came out. Sure.

 

[Streetwize]

I know we're supposed to consider other matchups when balancing characters, but I had a feeling Sakurai tried to balance clones between each other. Not exactly the best way to go, though it's easy to do and understandable. As people always say clones don't really take too much time out of development (and shouldn't). I did that myself when balancing characters ironically. It would be a good idea to actually look into how clones fare against the rest of the cast should they decide to balance characters again.

 

[proxibomb]

I wonder if including Roy too would have been smart, instead of Lucina. I'd much rather have Lucina, but it would've been cool to add Roy, especially if they would consider a new moveset for him.

 

[SmashBros50]

Nice to hear about two of my mains stories on how they got in.

 

[PokÉmblem]

I'm surprised that ice climbers made it in before duck hunt I mean duck hunt was packaged with super mario bros. and ice climber was a barely known first party title. I also love the clones and I wouldn't mind reamagined clones as dlc like Roy, Wolf or lucas.

 

[JRC LSS]

The irony is that when PM added a doctor mario costume for mario, everyone loved it, but when sakurai adds him in as his own character, everyone complained him being a clone.

 

[the101]

Fix'd.


Yeah, because Sakurai would lie about a gimmick in a game that already came out. Sure.

I believe Sakurai claimed that the Nintendo 3DS version would not affect the Wii U version early in developement, not after their release. However, I wouldn't say he lied. I believe that he just didn't forsee the complications that would occur, or decided upon what he wanted to change before heavy developement even began.

 

[jonftl]

Which one was replaced, Young Link or Roy?

replaced Roy

 

[Alex Night]

Young link and Roy were replaced with better characters, pichu is irrelevant and Mewtwo has an original moveset so he would have taken longer to make

Excuse you, have you not seen how Roy is on par with Marth and Ike in Project M? That's not a valid excuse when he is capable of being designed better. Young Link I can agree with though.

 

[U-Throw]

It's kind of surprising that , out of all characters from Melee, ended up returning to the cast. I wonder if the other clones were brought up at some point?

As much as I'd like to say so, I doubt it. Young Link was replaced by Toon Link, and it would appear that it's going to stay like that due to Toon Link's visual individuality. He adds more variety to the cast with his cel-shaded appearance. Roy, despite being completely different from Ike, was replaced with him in a way. They share "similar," and I use that term loosely, Neutral B's. Ike would also be considered more fit to return, time restraints aside, due to his uniqueness from Marth. Both have basically been replaced, leaving Dr. Mario as the only one unreplaced, though I consider his absence unmissed, as he is a direct clone of Mario.
Now, also consider that Roy would require a completely a completely new model and fairly largely modified hitboxes due to his differences from Marth. The same goes for Young Link. Dr. Mario simply requires redressing Mario as a Doctor. He needs minimal model edits and no hitbox changes. In addition, Dr. Mario is also very different from Mario in his Down B: Dr. Tornado. This wouldn't even have to be created totally new, as some data can be ported from Luigi's Luigi Cyclone. Heck, you can even reuse voice clips, a property no other clone can claim. After all that's done, its a matter of replacing textures and other minor properties, and you've basically got Dr. Mario. Much easier that Young Link or Roy. Finally, I think Sakurai kind of knew no one liked FLUDD, so he may have selected Dr. Mario because he can be Pre-Brawl Mario.
I actually prefer Doc because of Dr. Tornado and several other small things, plus the fact that Dr. Mario is cooler than Mario by a runway.
You may have noticed that I left out Pichu. This is because I think he's a special case. Pichu, well, no one really liked Pichu, period. End of story. Yes, he has a very vocal fanbase (which I am proud to be part of), but I admit we are a minority. Pichu would have required smaller model edits than Roy and Young Link, similar to Marth is to Lucina, another "model swap." His hitbox changes would have very large, similar to what Roy would have required, but not to the extent of Link and Young Link. All that's left after that is porting Pikachu's moveset and recording new voice clips. His changes are arguably more drastic than the ones Dr. Mario required. And then, no one liked him. He was a joke character. That is probably the most massive reason as to why he failed to return. Had he been done differently in Melee, he might be in Smash 4, either alongside Doc or replacing him. I don't know. Honestly, I like Pichu a lot, but I'd much rather have Doc. He's Pre-Brawl Mario, and I used to play Mario until he got FLUDD, and the community, as a whole, would much rather have Dr. Mario.

 

[TheDarkKnightNoivern]

Excuse you, have you not seen how Roy is on par with Marth and Ike in Project M? That's not a valid excuse when he is capable of being designed better. Young Link I can agree with though.

When I say better, I mean not clone

 

[TheAnvil]

Hence the reason that he cut out Ice Climbers out of the Wii U version because they wouldn't run on the 3DS...

Basically, he lied.

That's kinda my point.

 

[Alex Night]

When I say better, I mean not clone

And yet we got Lucina. Uh huh, sure. All love to Lucina though, but I'm calling it like I see it.

 

[TheFadedWarrior]

we thought people might get angry (laughs).

people might get angry (laughs).

angry (laughs).

Sakurai confirmed laughing at people who don't get their characters in. He laughs in the face of every Lucas, Ice Climbers, Wolf, and Snake fan.

 

[WispBae]

woof woof woof

 

[Smashbro596]

It's kind of surprising that , out of all characters from Melee, ended up returning to the cast. I wonder if the other clones were brought up at some point?

honestly pichu can rot in hell for all i care. its the single worst character in melee. a character who all attacks end up hurting it? NO THANKS. the only people who played pichu just wanted challenge. the rest of us used pichu as a punching bag. i wouldnt mind if roy (fire emblem roy) were to return, and if you have seen me on the forums you know how eccstatic about mewtwos return (not a clone, but still. )

 

[Tino]

This is incredibly interesting.

I'd love to hear him talk about Robin, or even Palutena.

Didn't he already talked about Robin before?

 

[HanAmes]

And yet we got Lucina. Uh huh, sure. All love to Lucina though, but I'm calling it like I see it.

Agreed. Even Roy in Melee had more differences than Marth did. Lucina and Marth are roughly the same, without the tipper, of course, but at least Roy had fire.

 

[ミスティック Speed]

It's good to have Doc back. But I do miss the other Melee clones every now and then.
...yes, I am the a part of the small Pichu minority. <3

 

[AppleCracker]

Look mom! I'm a back alley doctor!

 

[OdangoKnight]

I thought sales had nothing to do with roster choices? Anyway, the explanation for Dr Mario was that he is actually a veteran, which makes somewhat sense, but then he applies that to DP and Lucina despite them being newcomers. Oh well.

 

[Alex Night]

Agreed. Even Roy in Melee had more differences than Marth did. Lucina and Marth are roughly the same, without the tipper, of course, but at least Roy had fire.

People ask me why I choose to play Roy over Marth. I tell them... "Sometimes, I just want to watch the world burn..." lol I will admit that I think Roy takes a great amount of skill and spacing to be great with. I mean, look at Sethlon. I don't know what it is about me, but I love characters that burn things i.e. Charizard, Roy, Mario, Bowser...

 

[Cloudfox]

Sakurai also said that the 3DS version wouldn't effect the Wii U version.

Mechanically speaking, they're a Duo.

Where did he say that...? I remember him specifically saying that 3DS limitations would hold back the roster to some degree. http://www.gonintendo.com/s/205198-...racters-roster-limits-due-to-3ds-restrictions

 

[Opossum]

I thought sales had nothing to do with roster choices? Anyway, the explanation for Dr Mario was that he is actually a veteran, which makes somewhat sense, but then he applies that to DP and Lucina despite them being newcomers. Oh well.

In this case, I think it was mainly to point out that Duck Hunt was considered a classic, or an icon, by showing just how many people were familiar with it.

Though yes, this would be the first time, IIRC, that sales were brought up in regards to character selection.