Sakurai suggests next Smash Bros game will be made without him

[the8thark]

Sakurai suggests next Smash Bros game will be made without him

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...-unlikely-to-make-another-game-in-the-series/

What do you all think of this? I think it's both a blessing and a curse.

 

[Pazzo.]

Well, Sakurai's always said that the current Smash game is planned to be the last one... but after all the work he's had to do, I can't blame him for not being enthusiastic about doing it all over again.

Personally, and perhaps selfishly, I want him to stay. Will the Smash Bros. series really be the same without the perfectionist? Some are going to look at this and rejoice (RIDLEY FOR SSB5) but after I read that article, I only feel anticipation for the future. Smash Bros.' charm, masterful approach to gameplay, and lasting appeal is mainly due to the successes and failure of Sakurai.

I'll have to think about this some more latter. But if this is the last Smash game, Sakurai has ended on a success.

 

[Naoshi]

I think he will at the very least be involved in 5 in some way, even if he isn't the Director. I can see him being more of a supervisor I guess? If that makes sense.

Even though I have some disappointments with 4 myself (despite finding it a very fun game), I feel he did mostly a great job even though the game felt lacking in some areas (namely some of the Wii U features and the stage roster in both versions). But doing so much content across 2 different games in a span of 2 and a half years is quite a feat.


I feel it won't be the same without him, but it would be interesting to see a hypothetical Smash Bros directed by someone else, for curiosity's sakes.

 

[Mr. KoopaTurtle]

I don't know how I feel...

I do know that Smash 4 has let me down in many ways. Who knows, it may be good to see a change in director.

 

[Vash_VisionZ]

I'm not worried, because even if he isn't director, he will more than likely be supervising the project.

As far as it changing and not letting some people down, there will always be complainers. Smash and Sonic are the two fanbases that can NEVER be entirely please, because somewhere, somebody's obscure demand or preference will be ignored, casing them to not like the game.

 

[Mrkaoz]

Smash 4 is the best one so far for me. I don't know if I'm happy about this news. :\

 

[RodNutTakin]

This worries me. I have a bad feeling that whoever works on the next game could cut characters for foolish reasons and prevent already cut characters from coming back for those same reasons.

 

[Naoshi]

I'm not worried, because even if he isn't director, he will more than likely be supervising the project.

As far as it changing and not letting some people down, there will always be complainers. Smash and Sonic are the two fanbases that can NEVER be entirely please, because somewhere, somebody's obscure demand or preference will be ignored, casing them to not like the game.

Er, to be fair, Sonic's quality has actually dropped several times. People had plenty of good reasons to dislike the majority of the recent titles. Colors/Generations has been the only ones that got generally praised.

Although I'm going off topic but that's my two cents. I just feel Sonic isn't a great example.

 

[fogbadge]

guys itll probably be five years before the next smash game lets not worry about it now

 

[Storm Eagle]

I am in favour of this. Let somebody else try it.

 

[Deleted member]

I don't know how I feel...

I do know that Smash 4 has let me down in many ways. Who knows, it may be good to see a change in director.

so does that mean you don't like smash 4?

 

[Vash_VisionZ]

Er, to be fair, Sonic's quality has actually dropped several times. People had plenty of good reasons to dislike the majority of the recent titles. Colors/Generations has been the only ones that got generally praised.

Although I'm going off topic but that's my two cents. I just feel Sonic isn't a great example.

I can agree Sonic isn't the most ideal example, and some game actually deserve the hate (looking at you Sonic Boom), but the Sonic fanbase as a whole has a massive rift in the middle similar to Smash bros one. You have some that think he should only be in 2D, some that want the adventure style, and some that want the sonic generations style. Each of those hate the other two style for one reason or another, and there is no way it can be all 3 at once. Didn't mean to stray too far off topic, but basically...

tl;dr: The Sonic and Smash fanbases have a similar level of pickiness when it come the direction of the games.

 

[Captain Norris]

Was that Thank You Sakuai Project ever completed? If so, now is the time.

 

[Deleted member]

Don't worry guy's this is sakurai we are talking about as munch as I love and respect him he is never a man of his words expect him to work on the next super smash bros title.

 

[Kikkipoptart12]

It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about Sakurai not directing another smash game . The new director will have to really impress me for me to think that he right for smash, but I know he never will. I stop playing Kirby games because Sakurai stop working on them, they are good but not as great anymore.

 

[warionumbah2]

 

[Kevandre]

It might be good for a little change in vision.

That said, I'd be worried if the next director disagrees with some of the character choices and do some cuts arbitrarily.

And btw, there's no way that Smash 4 is the last Smash. Nintendo won't let that happen.

 

[Khao]

I feel like Sakurai will literally die if he works in another Smash.

Either way, I think another director would be the right thing to do at this point. I have no doubts that Sakurai would be more than capable of making a fantastic game if he directed the next Smash, but at this point, somebody new might be able to bring more things into the series than Sakurai himself. After four games, he probably already did everything he wanted to do with this franchise, so there might not be much things he might be able to add or improve at this point beyond new, interesting characters.

Someone new might more easily bring new things into the table and keep things fresh.

But honestly? I think he will end up doing at least something in another Smash game. There's no way there won't be another Smash Bros game, as it's one of Nintendo's most popular franchises out there (Seriously, there's even a lot of people that generally dislike Nintendo's series, but love Smash Bros as a game). They will make another one sometime next gen, and I bet Iwata will end up begging him to work in the next game or something like that.

 

[Deleted member]

you guys do knew that he said the same thing with melee being his last game right?

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Sakurai is getting older, so sooner or later, he will be heading towards retirement. He may have done some very questionable things, but you still have to credit him for all of his very hard work.

 

[Naoshi]

I can agree Sonic isn't the most ideal example, and some game actually deserve the hate (looking at you Sonic Boom), but the Sonic fanbase as a whole has a massive rift in the middle similar to Smash bros one. You have some that think he should only be in 2D, some that want the adventure style, and some that want the sonic generations style. Each of those hate the other two style for one reason or another, and there is no way it can be all 3 at once. Didn't mean to stray too far off topic, but basically...

tl;dr: The Sonic and Smash fanbases have a similar level of pickiness when it come the direction of the games.

To be fair, people do have different tastes, so one style may not suit another's, it happens when you have a franchise that constantly tries to reinvent itself too many times.

Fortunately, I haven't run into too many Sonic fans that hates a particular popular style. The ones that hates anything that is not from their favorite era are usually the vocal minority. I know many wants more Generation style gameplay, but that's usually from those that wants Sega to stick with the gold they've just struck. It was also a concept that deserved more follow ups. (I like those 3 styles, but only as long as they're done right. Sonic 4 was not a very well designed game IMO, it tried to be Classic but it was riddled with bad game design left and right)

EDIT: Although we should probably take the rest of the conversation to PMs, so we don't stray too off topic.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

I'll be ok with it IF they manage to choose someone that actually has the experience because a franchise of this caliber deserves someone as good as Sakurai. If not handled correctly, the sixth game might as well be considered inferior to Sakurai's previously developers titles and we ALL wouldn't want something as unfortunate as this happen.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Nintendo does a good job at passing its franchises to other directors so I wouldn't be bothered about this.As much as I love Smash Bros, I don't think it would hurt to get some new blood in. Also, with how collabrative Smash Bros games are, I think it would be a much easier transition than most games.

 

[Wyverian]

I don't blame him at all. This could also be abit of a good thing. With a new director and Nintendo's sudden interest in "Tournaments" smash 5 could be more competitive friendly. Or not.

 

[Deleted member]

does that gift means you are happy that he is not making another smash game or angry he's not making another smash game?

 

[Farorae]

I don't mecessarily know if the future ones would be as good without him so it kind of worries me, I'd still like him to be involved in many ways even if he wasn't the director. Although I'm sure him/nintendo would choose a successor with a similar amount of talent and dedication as himself. I mean I'm pretty sure Zelda has different directors and been alright (I mean maybe one or two meh games) but overall the quality is still extremely high.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Well if it does happen im ok with it

Im sure whoever it is that runs smash 5 will not be stupid with cutting characters

But this is extremely good news for ridley fans they may be able to request ridley for smash 5 after all

 

[RobinOnDrugs]

I've heard he's said this after completing Melee and Brawl, but it's still crazy to think of the next Smash game not being helmed by Mashed Potatoes Soccer Eye himself. I have a feeling this could be really good or really bad depending on who gets put in charge of development.

 

[Raider 88]

If/when another smash game is made without Sakurai, I just can't see people being happy with it. Some rejoice now, but considering how angry so many people were about a few cut characters, I feel like with a new director the attachment to the characters would be gone and more drastic cuts would be made.

For me, smash bros is very special and has something that no other fighting game has. I guess it can be called a quirky charm. I feel like with Sakurai out of the picture, we'd lose what makes smash bros....well, smash bros.

Just my opinion.

 

[---]

This is both good and bad news. However, objectively I would wish Sakurai luck and would hope his illness (forgot the name) heals.

I wonder if he's going to continue the retro revivals he hinted at after finishing Uprising? Would love to see another Murasame Castle game.


Also please keep things civil, this is going to be a thread under heavy staff watch for obvious reasons. If someone has a different opinion please just ignore them rather than getting into an argument.

 

[LIQUID12A]

I don't think Smash would be Smash without Sakurai, regardless of what you think about him. He makes the series what it is and I genuinely fear it would take a turn for the worse without him, especially with how good 3DS/U turned out.

I would wish Sakurai luck and would hope his illness (forgot the name) heals...

Calcific tendinitis, yw.

 

[Raijinken]

It was bound to happen eventually.

It won't be the same, but hopefully it'll be similar enough. I mean, how hard can it be to mess Smash's basic formula up?

 

[Strofirko]

It was bound to happen eventually.

It won't be the same, but hopefully it'll be similar enough. I mean, how hard can it be to mess Smash's basic formula up?

Getting monthly DLC packs like every modern fighting game ever.

 

[Raijinken]

Getting monthly DLC packs like every modern fighting game ever.

That doesn't break the basic formula, that (potentially) breaks content depth at release. I wouldn't mind that on top of a game as content-packed as the four we've gotten. But all that said, I also don't currently expect Nintendo to go that route, but we've probably got 5-7 years before it matters anyway.

 

[SmashBro99]

If he's able to, I hope he sticks around. He's done some things I don't like (Ganondorf still a clone, Dark Pit.) but he really gives us amazing content and I doubt someone else could do it better.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

I have a lot of disagreements with the decisions made in Smash 4 that goes beyond character inclusions and cuts, more so than I've had with any past installment, which seems very odd to me as I've usually never had any major disagreements with my otherwise favorite video game developer. It's still the best installment in the franchise, but not because of the new things, but because of how it builded on past things. Because of this I've come to question Sakurai's future with Smash, so despite how much I love him as a director, with both Kirby and Smash in my top 3 video game franchises (only behind Metroid), I think that at this point the franchise will need a new fresh outlook if it wants to move in the right direction. On top of that I also think it's about time for Sakurai to move on, the job as a video game director is stressful enough on its own, but Sakurai has always stepped it up a notch, he's always hands-on and decides every little thing, and to do that 3 times (taking into consideration that 64 was developed much more casually) with a franchise that's so packed with content is going to leave scars and could end up forcing him into retirement much earlier than he otherwise should, which would quite frankly be nothing short of horrible. I honestly think it was probably too much for him already to take on developing these two games with his injury, I think he's being a bit too careless on the consequences it can have. I'd like for Sakurai to take a long break, let it be 5, 7 or even 10 years if that's required, and once he's ready to come back to developing I'd honestly rather see him begin innovating again rather than go through the same old process with Smash. Sakurai has a very unique way of thinking and it leads to very unique games, but since Brawl the only thing he has developed has been Kid Icarus: Uprising, Smash seems to always take top priority, so I'd be very interested in seeing just how much creativity he could chunk out without having the huge weight of Smash on his shoulders all the time.

As for the next installment itself, I foresee that it will feel a lot more like a copy/paste than even this game did from Brawl, with or without Sakurai. The workload and expectations increase drastically with each installment, come next installment people will expect a character roster of probably close to 60 characters, at some point they'll need to either cut a lot of characters or simply just copy over the veterans with minimal to no changes at all. One thing's for certain, the next director, whoever it may be, will have one hell of a job to fulfill. I personally wouldn't want to be the one to take over that job, jumping into a franchise like this and having to take it to the next level immediately sounds impossible to me, but at the same time it'll have to happen eventually.

 

[maxpower1227]

"Our intention [with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U] was to provide extra merits to the game which go far beyond the sale price," he said. "In terms of scope, and in terms of sheer number of characters, we went beyond our limits long ago.

"And yet, if we cut the number of fighters or modes in a future game, I'm sure there would be complaints."

While Sakuri said he's unlikely to make another Smash Bros, he hasn't ruled out the possibility of someone else taking charge of the series. However, he warned that it wouldn't be easy for a potential successor to make a game that offers more than the Wii U version.

"You could say that all the effort in the past to stretch out, keep pushing myself, and provide all these extra merits wound up tightening the noose around my neck in the future.

I'm reading between the lines here, but it sounds like he's aware of all of the ******** over [character] being cut, or about there being no SSE or Adventure Mode or Break the Targets, and feels like the fans are basically acting unreasonable in their criticisms, given the completely absurd amount of content being crammed into these games.

Honestly, if that's what he's getting at, I would have to say I agree. For the price, this is one of the most jam-packed games I've played, and it is a true masterpiece. Sakurai should be placed second only to Miyamoto in the pantheon of video game gods.

 

[KoM]

I am in the minority that doesn't believe Sakurai is a magic wizard who can do no wrong. I do believe he's a great person who works extremely hard for his vision, however.

I will miss him, but a new director is something I actively want from the series as the man is very out of touch with his fanbase and I want to see what a fresh pair of eyes can do for this series.

If he is worse than Sakurai, that's that. I do not believe that he will never be able to live up to Sakurai though... I just don't think a giant crossover game should be left in the complete creative control of a single person.

 

[Deleted member]

I don't care who directs it as long as it's of no objective detriment to the series.

Sakurai did a good job, but if he doesn't want to work on it, then he sure as heck shouldn't have to.

Either way, nothing they do will heal the most problematic aspect of the franchise, which is the fanboyism attached to each installment.

 

[Deleted member]

@ --- : It was calcific tendonitis. Sakurai mentioned he started to struggle with it sometimes during Kid Icarus: Uprising development (I think it was after the game went gold) and that he still had issues with it at E3 2013. Whenever or not it's gone I am not sure on, but if it is, I'm concerned for his health.

I strongly believe that this is it for Sakurai when it comes to being a developer. Unlike last time, he seems really exhausted from all that work and he has had concerning health issues come up. I will miss him on the seat of Smash Bros. despite my disagreements with him on some roster choices. Definitely a director that I respect.