The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
And are starting to deviate from the aspects that will truly make or break Smash 4: GAMEPLAY and BALANCE.
Ever since the Toon Link reveal I've been reading too many complaints about the lack of quality newcomers revealed thus far, or about the possibility of the game introducing less newcomers than any other Smash game prior (resulting in a smaller roster size than anticipated). Now I'm not denying that these are legitimate things to be concerned about. I'm just trying to make people realize that they're getting too worked up over them for two very large reasons:
1) No matter how much you are anticipating the Smash 4 newcomers, they are most likely NOT going to live up to Brawl's in terms of both quantity and quality.
And Sakurai knows this. This might come off as overly pessimistic but the reasoning behind this is simple; Brawl had a much larger pool of Nintendo All Stars to choose from whereas Smash 4 has very little. For comparison purposes lets look at the highly requested All Stars that Brawl was able to add to the Smash series (Nintendo characters only): Diddy Kong, Wario, Metaknight, DeeDeeDee, Olimar, Wolf, and Lucario as well as other characters that weren't quite as requested/expected but All-Stars in their own right such as Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, and Pokemon Trainer. To save you the time that's ten Nintendo All Stars.
So how many true "All Stars" are left for Smash 4 to add? Most of you already know this answer because of the huge amount fan demand for them: Mewtwo, K. Rool, and Ridley... That's literally it. The reason these 3 are so widely requested is because they're arguably the only 3 major names left that the Smash series is missing, and one of them has made an appearance already, so technically that's only 2 newcomers. Sure characters like Little Mac, Chrom, and Palutena are popular and have large amounts of fan demand, but compared to the above listed characters they don't have quite the same amount of star power and/or fan demand.
So since Brawl did a great job of fleshing out the Smash roster in terms of both quality and quantity it's safe to say Smash 4 will most likely put less emphasis on the number of newcomers this time around. There's a reason Smash 4's reveal only showcased 3 newcomers as opposed to Melee's 4 and Brawl's 5 after all. Some of you expecting a huge roster with over 50 characters need to accept this.
Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not, because now this means Sakurai and the rest of the development team will be able to dedicate more time to the core gameplay and balance, which leads to point numero dos:
2) A fighting game's roster will make you want to play it. A fighting game's core mechanics and balance will KEEP you playing it.
All I need to do is point to Melee and Brawl to support this statement. Brawl pre-launch was able to achieve greater hype levels than arguably any other game in Nintendo history (Twilight Princess would probably give it a run for it's money). HUGE amounts of people wanted to play it and a large part of that hype can be credited to the roster, but as we all know due to the gameplay and balance issues Brawl ended up alienating a very large amount of hardcore Smash players which means Brawl's overall competitive lifespan will undoubtedly be much shorter than that of Melee's (most are expecting it to die out once Smash4 drops). Melee on the other hand had a pretty "meh" roster overall thanks to the game being plagued with clones but the community is still going strong to this day thanks to the game's mechanics.
TL;DR - Stop being so pessimistic about the idea of Smash 4 introducing less newcomers or having a smaller roster than you anticipated, and instead lets be HAPPY that Sakurai and the development team are putting more time and focus on the things that will actually make Smash 4 an overall superior product. Ridley being playable or not will not make or break Smash 4. No matter how much Wii Fit Trainer bothers some of you, her presence will not make or break Smash 4. GAMEPLAY and BALANCE is what will make or break Smash 4. And who's to say Sakurai can't include a kick ass roster along with superior mechanics/balance? Lets have some more faith in this man.
Anyone who disagrees will be referred to Reggie...
Ever since the Toon Link reveal I've been reading too many complaints about the lack of quality newcomers revealed thus far, or about the possibility of the game introducing less newcomers than any other Smash game prior (resulting in a smaller roster size than anticipated). Now I'm not denying that these are legitimate things to be concerned about. I'm just trying to make people realize that they're getting too worked up over them for two very large reasons:
1) No matter how much you are anticipating the Smash 4 newcomers, they are most likely NOT going to live up to Brawl's in terms of both quantity and quality.
And Sakurai knows this. This might come off as overly pessimistic but the reasoning behind this is simple; Brawl had a much larger pool of Nintendo All Stars to choose from whereas Smash 4 has very little. For comparison purposes lets look at the highly requested All Stars that Brawl was able to add to the Smash series (Nintendo characters only): Diddy Kong, Wario, Metaknight, DeeDeeDee, Olimar, Wolf, and Lucario as well as other characters that weren't quite as requested/expected but All-Stars in their own right such as Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, and Pokemon Trainer. To save you the time that's ten Nintendo All Stars.
So how many true "All Stars" are left for Smash 4 to add? Most of you already know this answer because of the huge amount fan demand for them: Mewtwo, K. Rool, and Ridley... That's literally it. The reason these 3 are so widely requested is because they're arguably the only 3 major names left that the Smash series is missing, and one of them has made an appearance already, so technically that's only 2 newcomers. Sure characters like Little Mac, Chrom, and Palutena are popular and have large amounts of fan demand, but compared to the above listed characters they don't have quite the same amount of star power and/or fan demand.
So since Brawl did a great job of fleshing out the Smash roster in terms of both quality and quantity it's safe to say Smash 4 will most likely put less emphasis on the number of newcomers this time around. There's a reason Smash 4's reveal only showcased 3 newcomers as opposed to Melee's 4 and Brawl's 5 after all. Some of you expecting a huge roster with over 50 characters need to accept this.
Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not, because now this means Sakurai and the rest of the development team will be able to dedicate more time to the core gameplay and balance, which leads to point numero dos:
2) A fighting game's roster will make you want to play it. A fighting game's core mechanics and balance will KEEP you playing it.
All I need to do is point to Melee and Brawl to support this statement. Brawl pre-launch was able to achieve greater hype levels than arguably any other game in Nintendo history (Twilight Princess would probably give it a run for it's money). HUGE amounts of people wanted to play it and a large part of that hype can be credited to the roster, but as we all know due to the gameplay and balance issues Brawl ended up alienating a very large amount of hardcore Smash players which means Brawl's overall competitive lifespan will undoubtedly be much shorter than that of Melee's (most are expecting it to die out once Smash4 drops). Melee on the other hand had a pretty "meh" roster overall thanks to the game being plagued with clones but the community is still going strong to this day thanks to the game's mechanics.
TL;DR - Stop being so pessimistic about the idea of Smash 4 introducing less newcomers or having a smaller roster than you anticipated, and instead lets be HAPPY that Sakurai and the development team are putting more time and focus on the things that will actually make Smash 4 an overall superior product. Ridley being playable or not will not make or break Smash 4. No matter how much Wii Fit Trainer bothers some of you, her presence will not make or break Smash 4. GAMEPLAY and BALANCE is what will make or break Smash 4. And who's to say Sakurai can't include a kick ass roster along with superior mechanics/balance? Lets have some more faith in this man.
Anyone who disagrees will be referred to Reggie...
