Sakurai's thoughts on "balance"

[TTTTTsd]

I will give you that. Nintendo seems to be opening their eyes more about the failures of their marketing strats. I suppose Sakurai is too stuck in his ways.

*shrug

He's a very strange man, I agree. I wonder where Smash is gonna go after this iteration, sort of worrying and unnerving but at the same time....I don't even know man! Let's just hope the next Smash is even more of an improvement for internal and not external reasons, yeah.

 

[Antoninus]

So here’s the argument against balancing the Smash Bros roster:

“It would ruin the casual player’s experience”. The casual player doesn’t care about whether or not characters are balanced (that's why we call them casual players). If you vehemently detest how OP Diddy's DThrow UAir combo is; congrats, you want the game to be more balanced, and have taken your first step into transcendence.

“It's not what the community wants”. The casual community is indifferent (see above). The competitive community <mostly> wants the game to be balanced. Just look around Smashboards.

But seriously, can I get a real, sensible answer as to why the game shouldn't have a balanced roster? Other than: “Sakurai doesn’t want it that way”. I agree with Sakurai when he said that he doesn’t want to weaken fighters to balance the game, but there's a line that shouldn’t be crossed, and Diddy sharted all over that line before stepping past it.

 

[Gnight]

If Sakurai continued to issue balance patches, then when a casual says "tiers don't matter", it would actually be true.

Okay, rant time.
By that logic Mewtwo does not deserve to be in Smash 4 by that gauge alone. Never mind his awesome design and cool-looking attacks; he's not an awesome fighter in any official Smash game, so he shouldn't be in Smash at all after his poor showing in Melee.

I don't think Mewtwo sucking in melee was an accident

 

[Pazzo.]

In the end, we're not Sakurai.

We can't expect to completely understand what he means, because none of us are 40 year old Japanese men who works themselves to the bone and wants artistic integrity.

 

[MajorMajora]

I think the reason he thinks it could soil the fun of the game isn't because unbalance is fun, it's because he's too hesitant to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Lets we wanted to make Diddy kong less powerful so we got rid of his banana and replaced it with something crappy. Now he's lost something that made him fun to play (using the banana in interesting ways). Yes, he's more balanced, but at what cost?

Now, nowhere in this did he say he was opposed to balancing the game. He just said he wanted to be careful with it. I won't be surprised if he makes some minor numerical adjustments to Diddy to make him manageable (less % on his uair, for example) if he decides that Diddy is too strong, but he doesn't want to be too hasty with it and ruin him for the people who liked playing him.

Yes, Diddy kong makes competitive marginally less interesting, but you also have to realize that there are people all around that main Diddy: casuals included. What if their character got ruined by a patch meant to cater to the competitive crowd?

Also, unrelated, I hate this stigma that casuals don't care about balance. We do. But balance for us is different from the competitive scene. You know how Little Mac is a big deal to a lot of casuals but competitive people brush him aside? It's because balance is a multi-faceted issue that casuals care about too. Nothing to do with my pony, really, but I really hate it when people say "Casuals don't care about the engine/balance/etc.". We do.

 

[Doruge]

“It would ruin the casual player’s experience”. The casual player doesn’t care about whether or not characters are balanced (that's why we call them casual players). If you vehemently detest how OP Diddy's DThrow UAir combo is; congrats, you want the game to be more balanced, and have taken your first step into transcendence.

Why do people like you think "casual" means "complete scrub"? There are plenty of casual players who notice and care about balance.

The fact that you think Diddy is OP because of "dthrow uair" makes me believe that you are, in fact, a casual player.

 

[Weeman]

Diddy Kong isn't even that broken, Diddy's playstyle relies a lot on moving around deceptively and setting up frame traps with his bananas in order to do combos, wich does take skill, he cannot just mindlessly get grabs against good players, he is also vulnerable to gimping off the stage.
It's just that one combo that really is too good, but even that can still be DI'd out off at high percents, and more people are already learning to deal with him, heck even ZeRo is trying to switch to Sheik and Captain Falcon as mains.
Anyone who thinks Diddy is as powerful as Meta Knight was in Brawl clearly is just riding the stupid "Diddy is OP" and "HOO HAH" bandwagons of salty people.

 

[Antoninus]

Why do people like you think "casual" means "complete scrub"? There are plenty of casual players who notice and care about balance.

The fact that you think Diddy is OP because of "dthrow uair" makes me believe that you are, in fact, a casual player.

I'm not saying that casual players are bad at the game. My brother likes the game as a party game and is quite good.

Are there ways of getting out of that combo? Well, yeah. If not, it would be game-breaking. I won't say I'm great at the game, but let's not start pointing the "scrub" finger.

 

[Random765]

In this franchise, competetive play is necessary to keep it alive and well.

I pop my melee disc in the gamecube for a good time, 16 years later.

I use the brawl disc as a coaster for my beer.

Look at Project M, they made an outdated game play like an even more outdated game. Why? Because it's more fun yall!

 

[LittleFoxBot]

I'm confused about Rosalina's design. Just imagine: "alright guys, let's try to make the most frustrating character to face in the entire smash bros series."

 

[memk]

In this franchise, competetive play is necessary to keep it alive and well.

I pop my melee disc in the gamecube for a good time, 16 years later.

I use the brawl disc as a coaster for my beer.

Look at Project M, they made an outdated game play like an even more outdated game. Why? Because it's more fun yall!

This makes me think that your statements don't matter at all. You clearly just came into a thread to talk about PM and bash brawl. It adds nothing to the discussion. If you think competitive play is necessary then you are really stupid.

Most sales of any game are from the casuals. Since you fail to realize that I suggest you stop posting.

In regards to the discussion, If you have a G&W beat a Diddy in the current state it would be hype as hell, but if you have a G&W beat a Diddy after balancing the entire game it wouldn't be as interesting. It would be expected since everything has an equal chance

 

[Angel of death patrick]

I want a lil' mac buff. His recovery is pathetic \ (>.<') /

 

[KH1COM2]

IMO, the only balances needed are as follows:

1. Little mac's recovery
2. The removal of little mac's super armor
-A trade off. Better Recovery for less power
3. Toon Link's arrow need to fly way faster, like Link's.

The additions that are definitely needed are:

1. For Glory Online needs platform levels like Battlefield and Smashville
2. Rayman (lol, i know fake leak)
3. The option to play team attack on in Team Battles.

After that, the game should be good to go, save any future DLC, of course.

 

[Lil Puddin]

I'm confused about Rosalina's design. Just imagine: "alright guys, let's try to make the most frustrating character to face in the entire smash bros series."

Well she is like a goddess of the universe, so...

 

[KH1COM2]

Oh, and Mii fighters online with no equipment should definitely become a thing.

 

[Random765]

This makes me think that your statements don't matter at all. You clearly just came into a thread to talk about PM and bash brawl. It adds nothing to the discussion. If you think competitive play is necessary then you are really stupid.

Most sales of any game are from the casuals. Since you fail to realize that I suggest you stop posting.

In regards to the discussion, If you have a G&W beat a Diddy in the current state it would be hype as hell, but if you have a G&W beat a Diddy after balancing the entire game it wouldn't be as interesting. It would be expected since everything has an equal chance

Lol right,

I'm entitled to my opinion, and I'll post whatever the **** I want.

Read my post from the first page of this thread, you arrogant ****head.

Of course casuals are necessary. After all, they consist of Nintendo's prime target audience. The corporation has marketed to the mainstream base for years.

But a competetive audience will enjoy a competetive game for years and years to come. That is what strenghtens brand loyalty and creates everlasting legacy.

A competetive playing game will cater to BOTH fanbases, thus increasing revenues.

Casual audiences will buy a game regardless just to play as ****ing Pikachu, and hardcore competetive types will enjoy it 15 years from now.

So yeah.

Oh, and dont get butthurt, but you arent really the epitome of a guy who makes meaningful "statements" yourself.

 

[Schnee117]

Read my post from the first page of this thread, you arrogant ****head.

So yeah.

Now, now.
No need for insults.

 

[Bighands-Senpai]

I don't like to see balance as "everyone should be equal" but, rather, "the gaps between characters should be narrower".

It's impossible to make a perfectly balanced game. Not even Ultra SF4 managed to do that, and they pretty much balanced it exclusively around the input of pro players. Even if it WAS possible, a perfectly balanced game across the board would create a meta that would go stale quickly.

Balance is not about perfect evenness, but of making all characters viable to a considerable degree.

 

[Raethien]

So? It's a Smash game. Previously, they've never been updated regularly, it shouldn't come as a surprise even if the means are there. I think chaos is beautiful and an unbalanced game is fine by me since I love to challenge myself (hence why I play a lot of )

Playing Ganondorf isnt a challenge. He is the best in the game lol.

 

[Mr. KoopaTurtle]

*sighs*

Why is Sakurai so irritatingly stubborn about this?

 

[shininimuss]

poor zelda

 

[MajorMajora]

IMO, the only balances needed are as follows:

1. Little mac's recovery
2. The removal of little mac's super armor
-A trade off. Better Recovery for less power
3. Toon Link's arrow need to fly way faster, like Link's.

The additions that are definitely needed are:

1. For Glory Online needs platform levels like Battlefield and Smashville
2. Rayman (lol, i know fake leak)
3. The option to play team attack on in Team Battles.

After that, the game should be good to go, save any future DLC, of course.

This is exactly what Sakurai was talking about when it came to ruining the game's fun.

Little mac is defined by many things, but among them are his hilariously bad recovery and his insane super armor. What you are suggesting would remove a whole lot of his identity (not all, but a lot). This makes him less fun/interesting both to play as and against.

Change other aspects to level him out, but you can't take away the things that make them who they are. This is exactly what Sakurai doesn't want to do.

 

[Nabbitnator]

I would rather tone down a character then take away tools.

 

[shininimuss]

I see you posting a lot about making melee techniques easier. While techniques should be easier to do, I have to be honest with you my friend, wavedashing is as simple as it gets. Think of the simplicity of smash. Its like... Attack, special, jump, shield, (grab but its really 2 buttons together). Do you really want to add a *button that will make you do all this different stuff if holded* button/stick?

Other wavedashes:
Mahvel: FF (or 2 atk buttons), D -> repeat
Tekken: FF,DD -> repeat somewhat fast
DOA: D,DB -> repeat VERY fast

WD is sort of perfectly set up. The last input you must do is a trigger button, that leaves your thumbs ready for anything. I like PP in this game though. How would I make it easier? Give us more than 1 frame (last time I saw a post about it, it was 1 frame) to flick.

I really don't trust Sakurai... nothing against him, I just don't trust him... right now at least... I know he said Smash was taking over his life and stressing him out in development, but I have to be honest with myself guys... can someone tell me what was very hard about his job? Was he helping with the coding? Was he bug testing? Was he the one coming with ideas about what should be in or out or was he just a guy who just thumbs up/downed ideas? What is someone in his position doing 'working' for 20 hours a day during dev? I haven't read any article explaining what was so stressful about the development of the game so if someone knows I would like to know. (I'm not pissed at the guy I just can't see what's so stressful and I'd love to know what it was)

i think he does all the hit boxes and characters data by himself

 

[warriorman222]

IMO, the only balances needed are as follows:

1. Little mac's recovery
2. The removal of little mac's super armor
-A trade off. Better Recovery for less power
3. Toon Link's arrow need to fly way faster, like Link's.

The additions that are definitely needed are:

1. For Glory Online needs platform levels like Battlefield and Smashville
2. Rayman (lol, i know fake leak)
3. The option to play team attack on in Team Battles.

After that, the game should be good to go, save any future DLC, of course.

Yeah... NO. Take away Mac's armor, and all of a sudden, he's not unique. he's not remotely fun, and each little Mac main has to redo their entire gameplan, because instead of your smashes beating evrything, they lose to everything, and now your ground game is way worse, and no longer near the best, ruining Mac's concept.

 

[Quillion]

At this point all I can do is add this to the discussion:

Directed to both sides, FYI.

 

[CryoGX]

I remember reading an article saying that leaving the balance mostly alone in a game like Smash leaves players to, over time, determine more strengths and ways to play a character. You see how dynamic every tier list has been, right? Unless there's a Brawl Meta Knight, or something else that's overtly OP in this game, I don't think it needs to be immediately balanced.

Hell, Diddy Kong's been stuck at #3 on the actively updating tier list for a while now, with Rosalina being the one at #1. Even Shiek had some time at #1 for a while too while Diddy's been down for a while.

While tier lists don't always denote the strength of a character (I mean Diddy is sorta legendary, so I'm pretty sure he'll remain #1 to a lotta people), it does show that character strengths can come out in a game where balance is sometimes seemingly broken.

There's people who still think Little Mac is OP because of his ground game.
There's people who think Ness's PK Thunder 2 is OP because they can't capitalize on his charging time window.
There's people who will scream "OP" to anything that they struggle to beat, when they're simply playing the matchup wrong.


In a sense, it's absolutely impossible to have ultimate perfect balance in this game, because that would mean every character's strengths acting on the same level against every other character's weaknesses. If you have diversity in a game at all, that is impossible to achieve, as some characters strengths will always work better and counter other characters' strengths and weaknesses. The only way for a game like Smash, or any game to truly have perfect balance would be to cut down on the diversity considerably, making everyone play nearly the exact same, which would in turn, actually ruin the game.

Although, I understand that a lot of the arguments here are more slight changes that competitive players will notice, while casuals probably won't notice much of anything. A lot of you guys, myself included, want there to be smaller gaps in between characters, in which case, brings a lot of us to wonder why Sakurai wouldn't do this. Idealistic balancing is definitely impossible, but something of this nature isn't that hard. It isn't the end of the world to live without those small balances, either, though.

I'm guessing Sakurai is thinking more on a level that if they constantly change characters, even slightly, then a lot of the hidden strengths and potentials of some characters that we could've otherwise found over time (hence the trends for some characters on tier lists over time) would be ruined, especially if the thing changed wasn't gamebreakingly OP.

 

[Syrek]

Honestly, I think balance in a Smash Bros. game would be rather boring. I've always viewed Smash as a fun party game with my friends and family, never something to be taken too seriously. Kinda like how I view Mario Kart but a little different than that. It's always thrilling to use a character like Mega Man, Robin, Lucina, and Shulk and win against the so called "top tier" characters. But what do I know. After all, I am a "filthy casual."

I've just never seen the need for balance in a Smash Bros. game but that's mainly because I don't play competitively or as seriously as many others do. It's difficult to see future Smash Bros. games taking on a more competitive stance in terms of gameplay and mechanics than what is already presented from Smash 4. Mind you I could be wrong but as it stands right now, I doubt even if Sakurai were to not work on the next Smash Bros. title, Nintendo would more than likely not make the next games more competitive, even if the competitive scene is very vocal about it. If they were to go back to something more mechanically complex like Melee with faster characters and what not, I know personally I'd be turned off by that quite a bit. There's a reason why the only fighting game I play is Smash Bros and it's because it's easy to understand, not too complicated and anyone can get into it easily. If that were to change, I doubt I would play the next Smash Bros. game. But I know the outcry for Smash to become more competitive is very real and I cannot deny that nor think only my opinion on the subject matters. At any rate, I'm on Sakurai's side when it comes to the balance of the game and I'm sure I'm the minority when it comes to siding with him. Oh well, so be it. ^w^

 

[Snipnigth]

All characters should have a equal chance too win, right now ill say ita more balanced than brawl or melee, but some characters are still to strong and with to many safe options compared to many of the roster, I mean watching shiek its almost like watching melee, she lcancels everything there is almost no openings to punish her, diddy as well, freaking fast and strong strong hitter, but wait he needs more lets give him a banana to trip ppl and peanuts to harass from afar...the game could use a little more balancing, nerfing the op ones or just buffing the ones that lack....the game must be a fun but when there is a character that just plains destroys anyone in a roster with little to no weakneses then its not fun at all, i stoped playing brawl mainly because of metaknight (and triping) that guy simply destroyed everyone and with just 1 freaking move, this makes the game boring to watch and to play....ppl that play for fun wont even notice any changes to the game, so any competitive/balancing changes wont damage for fun players...regarding the clones, i dont think dark pit should have existed, nor dr. Mario, i think the main reason dr. Mario was added was to attract the melee fans....if you really wanna attract melee fans, make the game balanced and competitive! Thats my personal opinion.

 

[warriorman222]

Honestly, I think balance in a Smash Bros. game would be rather boring. I've always viewed Smash as a fun party game with my friends and family, never something to be taken too seriously. Kinda like how I view Mario Kart but a little different than that. It's always thrilling to use a character like Mega Man, Robin, Lucina, and Shulk and win against the so called "top tier" characters. But what do I know. After all, I am a "filthy casual."

I've just never seen the need for balance in a Smash Bros. game but that's mainly because I don't play competitively or as seriously as many others do. It's difficult to see future Smash Bros. games taking on a more competitive stance in terms of gameplay and mechanics than what is already presented from Smash 4. Mind you I could be wrong but as it stands right now, I doubt even if Sakurai were to not work on the next Smash Bros. title, Nintendo would more than likely not make the next games more competitive, even if the competitive scene is very vocal about it. If they were to go back to something more mechanically complex like Melee with faster characters and what not, I know personally I'd be turned off by that quite a bit. There's a reason why the only fighting game I play is Smash Bros and it's because it's easy to understand, not too complicated and anyone can get into it easily. If that were to change, I doubt I would play the next Smash Bros. game. But I know the outcry for Smash to become more competitive is very real and I cannot deny that nor think only my opinion on the subject matters. At any rate, I'm on Sakurai's side when it comes to the balance of the game and I'm sure I'm the minority when it comes to siding with him. Oh well, so be it. ^w^

We don't need mechanic complexity. All we want is smaller gaps between characters. That's it. We're not asking for blandness, or Melee. Just everyone being viable. That's not as hard as perfect balacne(which would suck)

 

[Syrek]

We don't need mechanic complexity. All we want is smaller gaps between characters. That's it. We're not asking for blandness, or Melee. Just everyone being viable. That's not as hard as perfect balacne(which would suck)

Technically everyone is viable, at least from what I've played, you just need to learn how to play them properly. Yes, some are better than others, that's a given, but ultimately, if you put enough time into any character, you can hold your own against the best. But of course, I'm not in the competitive scene so obviously it's different when it comes to balance and viability. This is just what I've experienced with online matches and playing against friends and family. At any rate, I doubt we'll see smaller gaps between characters in future Smash games given that the characters aren't suppose to be balanced in the first place and haven't been since the first Smash game. It's not like that will magically change in the next Smash game just because the competitive players ask for it. Sakurai and even Nintendo don't see Smash Bros. as a competitive game as many others do, even if Nintendo has been openly supporting the community, it does not mean the balance of characters will suddenly change. The majority of Smash Bros. players aren't competitive but casuals, that is a fact. While the community is very vocal, it is still a minority at this point in time and even then, Nintendo has never been one for balance when it comes to games like Smash and Mario Kart. It's more about the over the top gameplay and characters rather than fine tuning the balance of the gameplay to them and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[LayingSnow]

I look at it more in the way of Pokémon to be honest. Types are very effective against other types. Characters are effective against other characters. I like how the uniqueness of a character and bis way to play is good against another one. It should be like that and cut some cheap combos (Looking at you diddy) to make the game fünf for everyone

 

[warriorman222]

Technically everyone is viable, at least from what I've played, you just need to learn how to play them properly. Yes, some are better than others, that's a given, but ultimately, if you put enough time into any character, you can hold your own against the best. But of course, I'm not in the competitive scene so obviously it's different when it comes to balance and viability. This is just what I've experienced with online matches and playing against friends and family. At any rate, I doubt we'll see smaller gaps between characters in future Smash games given that the characters aren't suppose to be balanced in the first place and haven't been since the first Smash game. It's not like that will magically change in the next Smash game just because the competitive players ask for it. Sakurai and even Nintendo don't see Smash Bros. as a competitive game as many others do, even if Nintendo has been openly supporting the community, it does not mean the balance of characters will suddenly change. The majority of Smash Bros. players aren't competitive but casuals, that is a fact. While the community is very vocal, it is still a minority at this point in time and even then, Nintendo has never been one for balance when it comes to games like Smash and Mario Kart. It's more about the over the top gameplay and characters rather than fine tuning the balance of the gameplay to them and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Yes, I know they are not about balancing. But let's say something: say some random character was busted, even better than MK, would you think Sakurai would put a balance patch? I would want a patch, depending on how bad said character really is. He said he'd fix large issues, and the community is turning Diddy into one(even thoughhe's fine, I see YT videos about diddy being Icies tier).

Casuals do care about viability. I'm likely not competitive, but I don't want to have my favorite character being not good. The Little Mac, Robin and Bowser outcries were definitely not from the tourney players, and the Diddy outcry started with casual players, then ZeRo got to him, then...

It's agreed upon that there are characters that need buffs, some that need nerfs. And in any game I could train with Ganon for 10K hours, maybe i'd beat ZeRo. Maybe.

I'd probably still get bodied by other players because Ganon is huge, slow, not getting nearly enough reward for landing hard reads(AKA his whole kit), and lacks methods of killing despite being a heavy, as well as getting gimped easily, and leaving opponents alive to longer % then lightweights do, because his whole moveset consists of hard reads bar one or two moves...

Nintendo has said multiple times that they are willing to cater to the hardcore(in a more cartoonish way, hence why Fire Emblem still exists, and why CODENAME STEAM and Splatoon are coming/have come). Sakurai is the one here who wants to cater to casuals. That's fine. Absolutely fine. What I disagree with, is the way he says that he won't balance a game because we want chrarcters to all be the same boring stuff. It's easy to understand how he thinks this but it's wrong. Most of us here don't think that.

Casual players do care about balance, or else Diddy would be C tier, Rosa and Mac wouldn't have been nerfed and so. Casual players can literally decide what the bandwagon top players use by getting vocal over what they hate. They have far more influence than us by virtue of being and acting casual, because Sakurai.

Like I said, I don't want a stale bagel. I want to keep this game the awesome, colorful shrimp platter it is, just making every single part taste good. I don't want a stale balanced game, I want a variable balanced game. Oh and by balanced I mean everyone clearly fun and viable. It's impossible to make it happen, but hey, you can hope right?

 

[TweetyPurd]

does anyone know what "stat-boost mechanic" was added to doc that he talked about??

 

[LimitCrown]

The stat-boost mechanic is probably referring to the 1.12x damage multiplier that Dr. Mario has, which affects all of his attacks.

 

[SmashChu]

I'll never understand how a level playing field would make it less about playing the game. Isn't the goal for everyone to be able to use whoever they want and still stand a chance?

What he means is preventing the game from being so balanced it's not fun (like what Blizzard does). If they focus too much on it, the characters will be too similar and anything that makes them unique will be negligible. Perfectly balanced games are dull.

 

[κomıc]

I like Sakurai's philosophy on game development and all that jazz, but I don't understand his points in regards to game balance. I can kinda see where he is coming from, but I don't think he is doing a great job conveying that message. It's almost a half-assed answer and a way to avoid the question directly.

What I see is someone who, judging by his recent interviews, doesn't like too much input because it is his game. That's the impression I'm getting. He doesn't have to change things on the whim of the competitive players but he should at least recognize it and see that the balance issue could be a problem. I mean, League of Legends has how many characters? Lots of balances and tweaks. And I don't even play that game competitively- but this is where in a way, he kinda has a point.

For example: Soraka. I love her. And I'll always use her. I'm not a huge fan of the changes they made to her. It was a complete rework and as I play the game casually (granted, I've gotten to Silver twice easily with provisionals), it did bother me that they changed her set and I was forced to relearn her new quirks. I've grown to like her new set but at the same time, I'm always reminded that "Damn, if only I could do the SAME thing I did with her previous set of abilities"

If anything, Sakurai may be addressing people like that. That yeah, they may play casually, but if they notice a change or something essentially makes the character feel different, they wouldn't be happy. I mean, there are casuals that love Diddy Kong as a character and happen to use him. If they see a massive change with him, they wouldn't have fun trying to relearn or get used to the changes. Because in their eyes, they didn't see a problem with Diddy Kong that the other side, did see.

I mean, it sucks that both parties can't have a win-win in all of this. And let's be honest, there are more people playing casually that competitively. That is not wrong.

That's what it is.

In any case, I hope in the future he reconsiders in tweaking some aspects of the game. First and foremost: Fix the damn c-stick and grab button. It's grating on my nerves that aerials are much more harder and require more work that needed to be successful. And the 50/50 grab or attack after pressing the grab button is really hurting my progression and pretty much killing my fun since it isn't working the way it should.

 

[Lil Puddin]

Both parties can have a win-win if only buffing happens. Adding 3-10 frames of delay wouldn't be noticeable but would also be enough to make certain characters feel less broken to competitive people or people who actually care about balance.

So really, the only thing holding Sakarai back is his stubbornness and he possibly doesn't know how to balance. Peach is the epitome of balance. So he obviously has some sort of idea about what should be done. IDK maybe he just wants to be lazy and wash his hands of all this mess.

 

[κomıc]

Both parties can have a win-win if only buffing happens. Adding 3-10 frames of delay wouldn't be noticeable but would also be enough to make certain characters feel less broken to competitive people or people who actually care about balance.

So really, the only thing holding Sakarai back is his stubbornness and he possibly doesn't know how to balance. Peach is the epitome of balance. So he obviously has some sort of idea about what should be done. IDK maybe he just wants to be lazy and wash his hands of all this mess.

He's a smart guy. I don't think it is incompetence. Maybe he is fatigued and somewhat over Smash Bros. Every time he talks about it, from reading interviews it sounds like he is trying to get away from it and move on. I remember reading somewhere or even on his Twitter how he enjoys playing other games and enjoying works of other people. And also how defensive he gets over game development when a player "challenged" him or questioned him about wanting to balance Smash 4. It really sounds like Sakurai is starting to hate working on video games. I know he commented on wanting to create a beautiful HD game like Crysis 3 when he was playing it but recently he has been sounding pessimistic. I've very curious to know what his plans are from here on out besides Smash Bros.

 

[TweetyPurd]

The stat-boost mechanic is probably referring to the 1.12x damage multiplier that Dr. Mario has, which affects all of his attacks.

so, you mean 1.12% more damage than all of marios attacks?