Sakurai's Full Famitsu DLC Article Translated

[PushDustIn]

Thanks to @Aeris for providing this translation! Here's the whole column, for future context and for your reading pleasure.

 

[Raijinken]

The font-color background-color combination and italics were a pain to read through, but it's a good article.

 

[PushDustIn]

The font-color background-color combination and italics were a pain to read through, but it's a good article.

It should be fixed now.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

Sweetening. Apparently they realized some fatal flaws (like actually planning to keep Mewtwo Club Nintendo-exclusive, ugh), and decided against it in the long run. I do hope Sakurai and his team gets whatever they're planning done soon. It seems like we're really getting stuff that'll enhance Sm4sh's experience even further (and also, apparently the chars aren't really cut characters, debunking a final bit from Gematsu-leak regarding Ness VS Lucas-bit)

 

[Godzillionaire]

I'm looking forward to seeing where Sakurai is taking this installment. If it really is his final smash (heh) then I'm sure he must be planning something big for DLc

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

DLC hype! I WANT EVERYTHING AS DLC! I'm so glad it's genuine DLC.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

So the 5 characters under mewtwo thing was real as well.

So definatly 4 more characters are coming.

And i give kudos to sakurai

He was smart to know that only 1 3ds + family with wii u = unfair

So decided to mak it free for certain people.


From this im looking at 8 between 10 more characters.

 

[FalKoopa]

The mood around the site is as if he announced 20 characters for DLC, lol.

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

70 characters? I'd dig it.

 

[Crilixz]

Hooray for DLC

 

[Reila]

70 characters? I'd dig it.

Well, the more characters, the harder it is to balance the game, but it is not like Smash 4 is a balanced game to begin with, so might as well fill it with 100+ characters.

The sad part is that even if something as bizarre as 20 DLC characters were to happen, I think we would still not get a new DK character among the likely 10 new Fire Emblem ones, though.

 

[BluePikmin11]

20 characters sounds more of a plausible idea now.

 

[DraginHikari]

I think it's more interesting to continue to see Sakurai team and Nintendo to a degree are not taking the immediate easy route that DLC provides in regards to exploiting people into buying DLC by cutting out chucks of the game to resell back to people.

DLC has developed a bad taste for a lot of people due to the sheer level the concept has been abused, I always have to give kudos to teams that don't resort to DLC that makes me feel like I'm being cheated or exploited.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

I think 8 or 10 is the magic number of dlc characters


And as for stage dlc i don't think we have to build n64 stages anymore by what i think some stages are going to be dlc.

Very very slim chance like less than 2% chance of this happeing but, maybe a couple of 3ds stages for dlc on wii u, and maybe a couple of wii u stages for 3ds dlc.

Oh and as for the ballot he mentioned he talked about that hes taking ideas from fans till october 3rd so we may get ballot characters along the way of 2015.

 

[OmniGuardian]

Am I the only one who noticed additional modes? Surely that's more than just the tournament option!

 

[Deleted member]

 

[MasterOfKnees]

I don't really see anything in the interview indicating that there'll be more DLC characters than initially expected, I'm still banking on 3-4 in addition to Mewtwo and Lucas. If two of those are Ryu and Roy then that leaves few possibilities left.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

I don't really see anything in the interview indicating that there'll be more DLC characters than initially expected, I'm still banking on 3-4 in addition to Mewtwo and Lucas. If two of those are Ryu and Roy then that leaves few possibilities left.

He said in the interview he wants to make as many characters as possible its near th end

But he also said on the twitter eariler hes not going to go overkill with dlc characters

So 8 or 10 dlc is a safe bet.


Oh incase you guys don't see it he said they are working on that miiverse stage and tourny mode (clearly going to be free dlc since these are going to be in a patch.)

 

[Marakatu]

I try to hate Sakurai, I swear I do, but he's just too awesome.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

He said in the interview he wants to make as many characters as possible its near th end

But he also said on the twitter eariler hes not going to go overkill with dlc characters

So 8 or 10 dlc is a safe bet.


Oh incase you guys don't see it he said they are working on that miiverse stage and tourny mode (clearly going to be free dlc since these are going to be in a patch.)

But as many characters as possible still doesn't guarantee many, we know that making a character is a huge undertaking in itself. What he said on Twitter wasn't that they wouldn't go overkill, which implies that they can make tons of character but intentionally won't, he said that they won't be able to make too many as a way to lower people's expectations.

8 to 10 characters sounds like way too much to pull off before the Wii U is closing in on its last days, and even then I can't really think of 8 or 10 characters that are worth putting an individual price tag on at this stage.

 

[MOI-ARI]

5 more FE characters plz.

NOT Kappa.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

But as many characters as possible still doesn't guarantee many, we know that making a character is a huge undertaking in itself. What he said on Twitter wasn't that they wouldn't go overkill, which implies that they can make tons of character but intentionally won't, he said that they won't be able to make too many as a way to lower people's expectations.

8 to 10 characters sounds like way too much to pull off before the Wii U is closing in on its last days, and even then I can't really think of 8 or 10 characters that are worth putting an individual price tag on at this stage.

Ok first of all my 8 to 10 prediction is based off the 5 placeholders found under mewtwo in the 3ds version i guess 2 or 4 more from that.


Second of all you do remember smash 4 and mario kart 8 saved the wii u right?

 

[WwwWario]

Sakurai has understood it. He admits that DLC is mostly for money, and he explains it very well. He also explains that he does it ALSO to make players happy, and he explains why the price is totally worth it.

I'm so glad Sakurai wrote that he has fun doing this. He also said that he is looking forward to some rest, which he totally deserves.

#SakuraiForLife

 

[LunarWingCloud]

I could see maybe 2-4 more characters coming, but I'm just happy to see they are aware their original plans were not very in sync with the broader concept of the best way to support Smash 4.

 

[LordCQ]

As long as they are first-party characters, I'm okay with DLC.

 

[Mysteltainn]

I just wish that one of those slots gets rightfully filled by a Donkey Kong representative in the future. Admittedly, I was always be salty that there wasn't a new DK rep in the first place (there just really isn't much of an excuse for it IMO), but if we at least get one through DLC, it can be partially forgiven.

I'm not sure what to think of the Roy / Ryu rumour, but after reading that article, I no longer would be surprised if we got another 3-4 characters or so. Any more than that though, I'm not sure. As Sakurai stated, fighters take a respectable amount of time, and I certainly don't expect to see him pumping out new ones years down the road, as he does need some form of a break.

 

[ChikoLad]

Very smart of him to mention that "the best time to distribute DLC is soon after a game's release, as that's when you can make the most money". While most will interpret greed from that, the fact of the matter is he needs to start making DLC early in order to gain funding for future DLC. If he didn't start early, he wouldn't be able to make as much in the long run.

He continues to show me why he's an inspiring figure to me - he's sensitive and logical at the same time, and isn't to any sort of extreme in either case.

 

[DaRkJaWs]

We need: King K Rool, then either Lanky Kong or Chunky Kong. Imagine someone even heavier than Bowser :D, because Chunky was much bigger than DK in DK 64. But Lanky would be funny, with his neutral a being his outstretched arms, and imagine one of his specials being some variation of him walking on his arms

 

[praline]

I'd be down with 10 dlc characters(Mewtwo and Lucas included)

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

"Listen, I know DLC is a bit of a scam... but... hey, I'm doing it anyway... So here's a whole guilt trip about how hard I work on removing gameplay mechanics from the smash series .... so... Pay me DLC money anyway"

Only sakurai can make video game design sound tougher than building the ancient pyramids of Egypt.

He does have a way with words though, he would be one hell of a salesman.

 

[Quillion]

I'm just soooooooooooooooo happy that Sakurai knows the true potential of DLC, and he is completely aware of the negative stigma that DLC has accrued due to abuse by EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Capcom, etc...

But Sakurai did not let that stop him from doing it anyway even if he was reluctant at first. And they're never going to put out another Smash until the Ninth Generation, so might as well keep at it until then.

(I still want a Ganondorf w/ Sword for DLC, though. He HAS to know that so many people want that)

 

[Sarki Soliloquy]

Eh, the way Sakurai approaches DLC is quite ethical and I can invest my trust in him not to gyp us. But on the same hand, I no longer feel that I'll have access to the complete roster after Lucas.

I never really was fond of selling individual characters as DLC.I only really did that with 3 of 4 characters in BlazBlue Continuum Shift and Jill & Shuma Gorath in MvC3. All of them left a really bad taste in my mouth, as in I'll be locked off to accessing the entire cast via a paywall.

"Oh, but Hotcakes, all you have to do to overcome this is pay for them!" And they should've been bundled or in the full game. The commitment to contribute $7-9 bucks every few months or so for a single character is affordable, yes. But it sucks into my already limited pool of entertainment funds, especially since I'm unemployed. And even if I had more important expenses to pay about, allotting even this amount of money into a certain period of time puts pressure on me to fulfill all content in the game.

"Oh, but Hotcakes, you don't have to pay for the characters you don't want!" That's right. In fact, I'm not going to pay for Lucas until Wolf's confirmed. But that doesn't go over the fact that even if one of the characters we get is a real stinker I wouldn't throw a penny at, they will exist in the fandom forever. They'll appear online and at tournaments. You'll see them attached to creative works. People will clamor about them on forums & social media. And because of the circumstances of their inclusion, I'll have to miss out on the definitive Smash experience.

I'm a man of my word. So for now it seems that I'll not have my full Super Smash Bros. 4 experience anymore. Good for those who want it. Good for the developers for providing more of one of my favorite games. Good for me so I can give & take so i can sleep at night.

 

[aethermaster]

These days, the “DLC scam” has become quite the epidemic, charging customers extra money to complete what was essentially an unfinished product. I completely understand how aggravated players must feel. After all, a game should be 100% at the time of release, and I would be livid if it were split up and sold in pieces.

I really like that both Sakurai and Nintendo seem to understand that DLC for these major games shouldn't take away from the completed project. Both Smash and Mario Kart 8 are full complete games without the DLC and just having the additional content makes it that much better and its not like they're releasing it day 1 either, so kudos to them for having a more ethical approach to it. After buying Assassin's Creed 3 DLC and it ending up being a 5 minute level in a forest with a sword at the end that I didn't even need, I said no thank you to DLC (and to Ubisoft).

Maybe they can slap some sense into these companies.

 

[PF9]

Characters and stages are nice, but what I really want as DLC...is a story mode. Not putting one in the initial release was a huge mistake, what they put in instead - Smash Tour - leaves much to be desired (I only used the mode to get Pac-Land, and I do not plan on using it again).

Also, the ability to purchase custom moves and CDs using gold earned in-game could be a premium addition to Smash 4 - for those who want an alternative to Crazy Orders. This DLC would be purchasable, so that only people who REALLY, REALLY want it would get it. But then again, I don't listen to the in-game music so I haven't touched Crazy Orders once despite a backlog of passes accumulating over time. I find listening to classic rock/metal to be much more enjoyable if I get around to it (I'm not just saying this because I live near the birthplace of Rock and Roll, or the city where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located. I've actually been there a couple times, it's pretty nice).

 

[Quillion]

Eh, the way Sakurai approaches DLC is quite ethical and I can invest my trust in him not to gyp us. But on the same hand, I no longer feel that I'll have access to the complete roster after Lucas.

I never really was fond of selling individual characters as DLC.I only really did that with 3 of 4 characters in BlazBlue Continuum Shift and Jill & Shuma Gorath in MvC3. All of them left a really bad taste in my mouth, as in I'll be locked off to accessing the entire cast via a paywall.

"Oh, but Hotcakes, all you have to do to overcome this is pay for them!" And they should've been bundled or in the full game. The commitment to contribute $7-9 bucks every few months or so for a single character is affordable, yes. But it sucks into my already limited pool of entertainment funds, especially since I'm unemployed. And even if I had more important expenses to pay about, allotting even this amount of money into a certain period of time puts pressure on me to fulfill all content in the game.

"Oh, but Hotcakes, you don't have to pay for the characters you don't want!" That's right. In fact, I'm not going to pay for Lucas until Wolf's confirmed. But that doesn't go over the fact that even if one of the characters we get is a real stinker I wouldn't throw a penny at, they will exist in the fandom forever. They'll appear online and at tournaments. You'll see them attached to creative works. People will clamor about them on forums & social media. And because of the circumstances of their inclusion, I'll have to miss out on the definitive Smash experience.

I'm a man of my word. So for now it seems that I'll not have my full Super Smash Bros. 4 experience anymore. Good for those who want it. Good for the developers for providing more of one of my favorite games. Good for me so I can give & take so i can sleep at night.

Wait for the inevitable GOTY/Complete edition.

...or actually sell your current copy first THEN get the GOTY edition.

 

[PushDustIn]

Sakurai has kept up with his Weekly Famitsu column for over a decade. During Brawl development he worked on Brawl for 6 days a week, and then worked on the column/other jobs on Sundays. He has some interesting points about other games, so I'm thinking about posting some non-Smash related Famitsu articles too, so people can get a better sense of the guy.

 

[Deleted member]

I'm glad that there's going to be more DLC for this game, it'll probably be the one game where I can happily spend my money on it without a second thought.

 

[ZeldaMaster]

Hopefully this means we get a 1,000 more characters

 

[Khao]

I honestly don't really expect much more than like... 5-6 characters total. (Counting Lucas and Mewtwo)

We already know we're gonna get a third DLC character, and from the sounds of things, it'll be released pretty much at the end of the year.

That's three characters on the game's first year. Can we really expect them to keep up the same pace on the following years? We could get another 2-3 through 2016. After that? Who knows, they won't continue working on this game forever.

I mean, we could get much more than that for much longer time. But I wouldn't get my hopes up.

 

[Deleted member]

I honestly don't really expect much more than like... 5-6 characters total. (Counting Lucas and Mewtwo)

We already know we're gonna get a third DLC character, and from the sounds of things, it'll be released pretty much at the end of the year.

That's three characters on the game's first year. Can we really expect them to keep up the same pace on the following years? We could get another 2-3 through 2016. After that? Who knows, they won't continue working on this game forever.

I mean, we could get much more than that for much longer time. But I wouldn't get my hopes up.

There's speculation that there is five unused character slots in the game files (one is now taken by mewtwo, the other will be taken by Lucas), so 5 - 6 seems reasonable.