sakurai partial to japan

[soviet prince]

Am I the only one who get's the feeling does not care much about the west as he does his home country? It makes me wonder if the popularity of characters like ridley over here does not matter if he does not got the popularity in Japan hence why he was not included on any game roster to date despite him being hugely requested and metroid needing more reps.

 

[mygamecube]

I think all of Nintendo of Japan have that terrible mindset. Just look at the Wii U and what was revealed at the VGX's. smh

But anyways, on topic, I actually think Sakurai isn't quite the same. I think he looks at all regions while developing games. He may stay in Japan, but he's quite curious about what us Westerns, those in the UK, and those in Australia think as well.

 

[Vann Accessible]

He gave us Pit in Brawl. Pit was mainly requested in the west.

I suspect he'll give us Little Mac too.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

He gave us Pit in Brawl. Pit was mainly requested in the west.

I suspect he'll give us Little Mac too.

Thats my thought also include ridley to that. I mean sakurai was messing with us with all of the pyrosphere pictures all because he said on the first one which is "an old enemy of samus can appear any second"

 

[Morbi]

If I was a Western developer, I would honestly disregard the East. So it is understandable.

 

[Frostwraith]

Masahiro Sakurai = Japanese video game designer
Nintendo, HAL Laboratory, Sora Ltd., Namco Bandai = Japanese video game companies

Need I to explain more?

 

[Morbi]

Masahiro Sakurai = Japanese video game designer
Nintendo, HAL Laboratory, Sora Ltd., Namco Bandai = Japanese video game companies

Need I to explain more?

This is the first source that came up in Google, so I wouldn't necessarily claim that its validity is staggering; however, I imagine the results are fairly close.
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/6962/super-smash-bros-brawl/

This source indicates that America is 51.3% of the revenue in regards to the game. The West also includes some of Europe which is 19.5% of the player-base (according to sales). Essentially the European audience is as big as the Japanese audience (21.3%). So the real question is, why is Sakurai catering to the minority.

As you mentioned, he is Japanese and all related affiliates are also Japanese. However, the numbers speak for themselves really. The greater percentage of players are located in the West. Does this mean that he needs to cater the game to the West? Of course not, obviously it would be deemed wise to consider the demands of over half of your consumers though. If I was making an international game in Zimbabwe, I would always consider the Zimbabwe demands quite important, but I would also acknowledge that the West is the primary demographic.

 

[BridgesWithTurtles]

Pit and Sonic were more popular in the West at the time of Brawl's release. Actually, Sonic really isn't that big in Japan to begin with. You can see that Sega has attempted to shift the franchise's appeal to the Western market by replacing the anime-styled art direction, plot, and characterization of the Genesis and Adventure games and replacing it with a more Pixar-like aesthetic and writing style. I have my doubts that Sonic would have been in Brawl had his massive Western fanbase not been taken into account. Sakurai himself made note of his decision to include Sonic having been influenced by Western requests.

R.O.B., while not exactly popular, is much more significant in his/its role in the Western market, so that should be considered as well.

I think that for the most part, Sakurai has been very fair thus far. He's catered to the West (Sonic, Pit, ROB, Diddy to an extent) as well as the East (Ness, Lucas, Jigglypuff). In fact, he's probably been more generous to us Westerners. I do think that there is still no way to tell whether Sakurai will continue with his precedent or instead focus on one region more than others this time, however. A lot of the most popular newcomer candidates, like Ridley, Little Mac, Isaac, and possibly King K. Rool, are largely more popular in the West, almost exclusively so. I'm not so sure that Sakurai will cater to us so willingly. I'm sure he wants to please the Japanese fanbase at large as well, so I'm hesitant to believe we'll be seeing all or even any of those characters.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Pit and Sonic were more popular in the West at the time of Brawl's release. Actually, Sonic really isn't that big in Japan to begin with. You can see that Sega has attempted to shift the franchise's appeal to the Western market by replacing the anime-styled art direction, plot, and characterization of the Genesis and Adventure games and replacing it with a more Pixar-like aesthetic and writing style. I have my doubts that Sonic would have been in Brawl had his massive Western fanbase not been taken into account. Sakurai himself made note of his decision to include Sonic having been influenced by Western requests.

R.O.B., while not exactly popular, is much more significant in his/its role in the Western market, so that should be considered as well.

I think that for the most part, Sakurai has been very fair thus far. He's catered to the West (Sonic, Pit, ROB, Diddy to an extent) as well as the East (Ness, Lucas, Jigglypuff). In fact, he's probably been more generous to us Westerners. I do think that there is still no way to tell whether Sakurai will continue with his precedent or instead focus on one region more than others this time, however. A lot of the most popular newcomer candidates, like Ridley, Little Mac, Isaac, and possibly King K. Rool, are largely more popular in the West, almost exclusively so. I'm not so sure that Sakurai will cater to us so willingly. I'm sure he wants to please the Japanese fanbase at large as well, so I'm hesitant to believe we'll be seeing all or even any of those characters.

I agree with that oh by the way Eastern loves ROB more than the west (Lots of japan people love ROB)

 

[NintendoKnight]

I agree with that oh by the way Eastern loves ROB more than the west (Lots of japan people love ROB)

They love ROB because they never got him.

 

[Frostwraith]

They love ROB because they never got him.

Actually, they got R.O.B. too. It was known there as the Famicom Robot or just Robot. In fact, R.O.B.'s default color is based on the Japanese R.O.B., having the NES R.O.B. as one of his six color choices.

 

[NintendoKnight]

Actually, they got R.O.B. too. It was known there as the Famicom Robot or just Robot. In fact, R.O.B.'s default color is based on the Japanese R.O.B., having the NES R.O.B. as one of his six color choices.

Really?

I did not know that.

Was their version of ROB superior, just like how the Famicom was better than the NES?

 

[Frostwraith]

Really?

I did not know that.

Was their version of ROB superior, just like how the Famicom was better than the NES?

It was the same thing, just with a different color scheme to mimic the Famicom.

And I think the Famicom was the exact same thing as a NES. You're probably referring to the Famicom Disk System, which had lesser limitations than the usual Famicom/NES.

Besides, R.O.B. was actually required to play two games: Stack-Up and Gyromite.

 

[MAtgSy]

Not related to SSB but it did bug me that the GB KI (which was never released in Japan until VC) wasn't given even the slightest acknowledgement in Uprising. Nor was there a reference to the "good ending" of the 1st KI (added to the NA version I hear). 1 would think Palutena kissing Pit would be something to address but nooooo.

However with SSB, There was Parasite Queen, Meta-Ridley & Diddy Kong in Brawl so western influences have not been completely ignored.

 

[I_hate_usernames]

Japanese developers have always felt more partial to the Japanese demographic, there is a sort of consensus among them that the Western audience are a bunch of dumb brutes who prefer ultra violence and have the attention span and intelligence levels of a goldfish. (Sotra like how many of us persevere Japanese gamers to be a sex deprived prevented userbase, which treats women like dirt and borders along pedohpilia.). So alot of them don't take us seriously, that being said, I believe Sakurai does listen to his western market, and has gone further to listen to us than most Japanese developers would.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Let us conclude this... It can be confirmed if Isaac from Golden Sun is not a playable ~

 

[YoshiandToad]

Let us conclude this... It can be confirmed if Isaac from Golden Sun is not a playable ~

Or Ridley. Again.

 

[soviet prince]

yes if ridley is not in then I think there some biased because I dont think anyone here would agree that he is the most demanded character here in the west.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Or King K. Rool ~

 

[YoshiandToad]

Or King K. Rool ~

But K. Rool is also popular in Japan.

I guess if Roy returns, Ridley/Isaac(...err...who else is popular mostly in the west?) are left out we'll get more of an inkling. Okay, Roy's relatively popular in the west too, but his main fanbase is in Japan.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Isn't Ridley slightly popular in Japan as well by now?

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

yes if ridley is not in then I think there some biased because I dont think anyone here would agree that he is the most demanded character here in the west.

Don't you mean "because I think everyone here would agree that he is the most demanded character in the west".

And of course Sakurai is biased. He is a Japanese video game developer. Not to mention many Japanese are proud of their country, heritage, and their products so it's natural for someone to identify more with their home country then another demographic. However, throughout the years, Sakurai has shown he has progressively recognized the Western market and has made great strives towards including and appealing to the Western market when concerning the Smash franchise.

Bearing that in mind, I do not think Ridley's lack of inclusion is due to bias viewpoints held by Sakurai. It might be a factor in why he has yet to appear but a very small, isolated factor I think. Ridley has increased in popularity with Japanese audiences and various websites have stated, in Japanese, that Ridley is highly requested in the West. Also, all this teasing that Sakurai did after Pyrosphere was released goes to show how much of a deal breaker Ridley is more many Western gamers.

I think Sakurai is moving away from his Japan centric view that was around prior and post SSBM and is starting to look towards the West.

 

[Vintage Creep]

He surely has Japan as a priority.

 

[DraginHikari]

Been awhile since I've been able to post here due to e-mail issues but I digress.

Of course there is probably some bias involved, I would be more surprised if there was no bias at all. The fact is people in generally tend to shape themselves based on their understanding of the world and their location. We tend to draw conclusions and prespective based on those things whether they are actually accurate or not eastern or western. I suppose it's more of a question of how much does that bias effect decisions in the game itself. Honsety, I've seen worse bias in these kind of situations and sort of just view it as having a leaning bias towards certain elements but he's certainly not ignoring the western factor.

 

[soviet prince]

Don't you mean "because I think everyone here would agree that he is the most demanded character in the west".

And of course Sakurai is biased. He is a Japanese video game developer. Not to mention many Japanese are proud of their country, heritage, and their products so it's natural for someone to identify more with their home country then another demographic. However, throughout the years, Sakurai has shown he has progressively recognized the Western market and has made great strives towards including and appealing to the Western market when concerning the Smash franchise.

Bearing that in mind, I do not think Ridley's lack of inclusion is due to bias viewpoints held by Sakurai. It might be a factor in why he has yet to appear but a very small, isolated factor I think. Ridley has increased in popularity with Japanese audiences and various websites have stated, in Japanese, that Ridley is highly requested in the West. Also, all this teasing that Sakurai did after Pyrosphere was released goes to show how much of a deal breaker Ridley is more many Western gamers.

I think Sakurai is moving away from his Japan centric view that was around prior and post SSBM and is starting to look towards the West.

well if he cares enough to know how demanded ridley is, the pyro comment was kind of a **** move if he is not in

 

[Frostwraith]

Well, if Ridley doesn't make the cut, people will just have to suck it up and accept that fact.

Mind that I wish Ridley is playable in SSB4, but I'll accept it if he doesn't make it in. After all, what use is there in whining about something you can't control?

 

[DefenseTech]

Sakurai...Is Japanese...