I got a permission from a moderator so everyone, please play it nice and not try to get other thread locked.. Also feel free to rip my case apart!
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I didn't know that there are kinda two almost similar threads, so I'm going to repost what I said in other thread, regard with Smash NX (I know there are many assumptions here so I want to clear it up with "extended vacation")
I admits that we don’t really know anything about Smash NX and what it’s going to be. I want to start with what we already know. We only have a rumor from Dr. Toto which claimed Smash NX is planned to be one of launch titles for Nintendo NX.
I’m totally aware that people already know that Sakura is on an extended vacation. I think people might look into this too literally because it could meant anything depend on people's preference of word-usages. I meant, there is an article that Sakurai implied that his vacation might be short. I know it's easy to cherry-picking to temper our disappointments.
Sakurai could take a break from industry and let Bandai-Namco handle the port job. When the team is done with their port and code job with Smash NX, he could come back to development. If I recalled correctly, I remembered an article claims that Bandai-Namco working on porting Brawl to New Smash, and getting the prototype ready for Sakurai awhile he's working on Kid Icarus. (I might be wrong on that)
But short development schedule? We don't know what they are up to. It's possible that they wouldn't change that much between Smash for and Smash NX. But there is a chance they might do so we shouldn’t forget the fact that they already have assets ready for 58 characters, stages, etc.
Also I would like to point it out that It only took Sakurai and his small team to make 7 characters, 9 stages and many Mii Costumes within 16 months which is pretty impressive. Imagine bigger team with 13 months. It only take two years and half to make 51 characters with a huge team, along with many contents like stages, single players, etc.
Sakurai is one of most proud developer so I'm not sure if he would like the idea of Smash 3DS/Wii U being a port job to Smash NX and just simply leave it alone. I meant he would rather to make Brawl over letting them port Melee with internet mode to Wii. A guy who shared information about Sakurai (the guy who got fired) said that Sakurai is very hand-on with Smash Bros Franchise so I could imagine that he's going to work on next Smash Bros (maybe for last time (Port or not,)) Also he really like to work on Smash Bros because he felt that he could work on interesting things, and he's unsure if team is ready to work on Smash Bros without him. Here is his statement on his opinion.
Regard with New Contents,
Sakurai already acknowledged that characters are the perfect tool to hyping up the audiences and to build up the interest for the audiences to purchase new Smash. Personally, I think Sakurai knew Smash is one of most high profile franchise and have the power to move the consoles, so I think it might be their best interests to include brand new contents for the fans to purchase the game again. I know it's very debatable with the fact it doesn't need new contents for some fans to re-purchase the game.
He already felt that Smash for 3DS and Wii U already went passed the limit for Smash Bros franchise. Also it would made an excellent counterargument that we might not get any new characters in Smash NX. (I would like to mention the comments Sakurai made was in Jan 2015)
My final comment:
After those quotes, I just can't imagine that Sakurai would leave up the port job to Bandai-Namco and call it for day. I think Nintendo and Sakurai actually know that people would be excited to see more new characters, and motivated them to pick up Smash NX and Next Gen console. However I think it's best to expect the worst for Smash NX. Either it goes, I'm going to be there on day 1 if I could.