[Source Gaming] Sakurai Talks About Fan Criticism

In his 495th installment of the Thoughts About the Video Games column, Sakurai discusses fan criticism following the reveal of Cloud in the last Nintendo Direct. After Cloud's reveal, some fans complained that Cloud was 'not Nintendo enough' to be in Smash.

Source Gaming has the full column translated for fans to read.

In the column, he begins with how George Lucas has stepped away from the newest Star Wars:

Separate from that, in an interview in the American edition of Vanity Fair, Lucas himself apparently said “you go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized. And it’s not much fun. You can’t experiment.”

He continues,

A truly serious problem….! He’s such a big name, and to hear him leave this franchise that has impassioned so many fans, a person who worked on the originals with his own hands, is incredibly sad and frustrating. Personally, George Lucas’s work is the work I would really like to see.

Sakurai is no stranger to this himself.

However, I truly understand his feelings. You could say my body is filled with these feelings. Making something, and completing it is a huge undertaking, and there are a lot of places where fans can’t see. It’s like building a house, but people focus on a single painting that’s hung up on a wall in one room, and fixate on it, and keep listing off their complaints of that painting. These situations are very common.

He then goes on to connect that feeling with the Smash Bros. series. You can read the rest of the column here.

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Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments what you think of Sakurai's comments.

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Sorry Sakurai, but comparing yourself to Lucas doesn't make a lick of sense when you never made any bad prequels before (plus no JarJar Binks equivalent in the roster).

 

... I've always had an issue with how people don't be grateful for what's been given. heaven help us if Sakurai gets massively disillusioned about trying to appeal to a fanbase that's at odds with each other as much as with him.

licensing and all that Lawyer's speech is also an issue that people don't consider immediately. sure, it could be asked to bring in a Brawl vet like Wolf, but you need to ask Nintendo, and find out if they even give two ****s about him.

the ONLY reason I've not lost faith in this fanbase is because of the players I've met in person, and they're cool people.

The internet is full of ungrateful people, but then again, you really can't please everybody.

View attachment 89849
a.k.a. Super Smash Brothers Melee for Nintendo GameCube

Props to who gets the joke. And no, it's not on quality

I love how melee really doesn't have that many clones, but I guess it depends on your definition of clone. Mine is a very, very copy, like Pit and Dark Pit

 

Sorry Sakurai, but comparing yourself to Lucas doesn't make a lick of sense when you never made any bad prequels before (plus no JarJar Binks equivalent in the roster).

I mean, Smash doesn't need a prequel, but it's debatable that it's had bad sequel(s). I don't wanna open up that can of worms.

Introducing the Jar Jar's of Smash 4...

I'm sorry I have to be a jack***, but your post just struck me as someone with their nose right up Sak's bum.

I love how melee really doesn't have that many clones, but I guess it depends on your definition of clone. Mine is a very, very copy, like Pit and Dark Pit

Have you ever played it before?

 

I love how melee really doesn't have that many clones, but I guess it depends on your definition of clone. Mine is a very, very copy, like Pit and Dark Pit

It's more on the newcomers than on the portion of the roster. We have:
Fox - Flaco
Mario - Dr. Mario
Marth - Roy
Link - Young Link
Captain Falcon - Ganondorf
Pikachu - Pichu
The fact that there are 14 newcomers on Melee, 6 being clones makes it being a little too much. I in fact like how they feel different rather than on moveset, but it is quite a number.

 

The internet is full of ungrateful people, but then again, you really can't please everybody.

I love how melee really doesn't have that many clones, but I guess it depends on your definition of clone. Mine is a very, very copy, like Pit and Dark Pit

There's that word again, "ungrateful". Being grateful for character you don't like after you've been explicitly asked which one you want is like someone asking you what kind of pizza you want, you answering with "pepperoni", and getting one with broccoli and pickles instead. Yeah, it's still a pizza, but come on it's obviously not what you wanted. So, what, we can't complain about that? We can't say "you asked us what we wanted to eat, we said pepperoni, and instead you put on broccoli. WTF?". You guys act as though we don't pay for this game, and Sakurai didn't ask us for what WE wanted while ****-talking other DLC providers talking about "it's about the fans" and stuff like that. There's no reason for us to be grateful for this DLC, it's as simple as that. Bringing the rest of the game into this, is just him throwing himself a pity-party, because no one else brought it up.

 

I mean, Smash doesn't need a prequel, but it's debatable that it's had bad sequel(s). I don't wanna open up that can of worms.

Introducing the Jar Jar's of Smash 4...

I'm sorry I have to be a jack***, but your post just struck me as someone with their nose right up Sak's bum.

I don't sound like anyone who's really defending Sakurai at all, even I find the idea of one winner from the ballot as disappointing. So no need to go all "You must die!" Ganon.

It's just that the comparison strikes me as odd since I see no real similarities between the two (except for the mass criticism both people receive). And this is coming from someone that never saw any enjoyment out of the prequels.

 

People can complain all they want but Smash 4 has the best roster in any of the games, and I don't think any succeeding games would surpass it.

 

... I've always had an issue with how people don't be grateful for what's been given.

Yeah! I can't believe people aren't faking enthusiasm for a character they didn't like!

So what if the next Smash Bros. was a turd in a box? Shouldn't we be grateful for it then, just because that's what he gave to us?

People can complain all they want but Smash 4 has the best roster in any of the games, and I don't think any succeeding games would surpass it.

Yeah, Smash 5 will totally be a downgrade from Smash 4, because that's how that works.

 

All I see here is people ******** and moaning about minor details in Sm4sh and about Sakurai himself. SHUT THE F*** UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PRICKS.

Oh gee golly, you insulted people in all caps because they had some criticisms about a video game that they paid money for! That's a great way to get your point across. I'll go get my idol of Sakurai out of storage now so I can worship it. Thanks for showing me the light!

 

[deleting]

 

I'm just surprised that Sakurai is apparently a fan of Star Wars.

I think that comparing Sakurai to Lucas isn't actually so weird. I mean, they both created revolutionary masterpieces that left substantial marks on pop culture despite next to nobody expecting them to, after all. Nonetheless, Sakurai should be glad that his idea of Nintendo characters launching each other off stages was taken in so well by Nintendo and the gamers that played Smash Bros N64. Lucas had an extremely hard time to get a lot of people working with him to see his ideas as anything better than total crap (even Harrison Ford once told George that he "can write this ****, but you sure as hell can't say it").

It seems like neither Sakurai nor Lucas expected some people to love or hate the content they would later produce as passionately as they do when they first came up with the ideas for Smash Bros and Star Wars respectively.

 

Sorry Sakurai, but comparing yourself to Lucas doesn't make a lick of sense when you never made any bad prequels before (plus no JarJar Binks equivalent in the roster).

I you think you can escape me very easily, then you're going to have a bad time. Please do bother listening to any important PM I have for you instead of ignoring me as many times as possible.

We have some important plans for this week regarding your "work" and it would be shame if you try your best to ignore it. This is unbecoming of an author like yourself and using an excuse like "I won't to type chapters because uploading documents on Fanfiction.net is impossible today" is asinine because that would make you as horrible as Geibuchan (Who's putting no effort in continue his best work out of his own YouTube Channel because of laziness). Please understand that there are around 3,000 fans that are dying to see this story get unfold. And this is coming from a person whose been helping you with this thing for 14 months.

My apologies for disturbing this interesting topic mates since SOME people think that listening to their own love isn't important.

 

I you think you can escape me very easily, then you're going to have a bad time. Please do bother listening to any important PM I have for you instead of ignoring me as many times as possible.

We have some important plans for this week regarding your "work" and it would be shame if you try your best to ignore it. This is unbecoming of an author like yourself and using an excuse like "I won't to type chapters because uploading documents on Fanfiction.net is impossible today" is asinine because that would make you as horrible as Geibuchan (Who's putting no effort in continue his best work out of his own YouTube Channel because of laziness). Please understand that there are around 3,000 fans that are dying to see this story get unfold. And this is coming from a person whose been helping you with this thing for 14 months.

My apologies for disturbing this interesting topic mates since SOME people think that listening to their own love isn't important.

God damn it, did you really have to sit here and attempt to embarrass me like you always do? You are just as cold as Endive.

Fine, I'm sorry for ignoring you because some people was distracting me for the past two hours. You really didn't need to give me that bad/trolling author analogy, Chi Chi. Cheezus Chrust, I'm just an author who's running into more than enough problems because of my ungrateful followers (6 in particular just accused me of being a lazy ******* and I had to tell them what's preventing me from uploading that new chapter). Just take a chill pill and I'll be one my way there.

Moral of the story: Never date a girl who acts like a younger version of your mother.

 

People can complain all they want but Smash 4 has the best roster in any of the games, and I don't think any succeeding games would surpass it.

This is an opinion, know that. It's the biggest so far, but that doesn't make it the best. Personally, I felt Brawl's was the closest to being the perfect roster.

They didn't add Wolf #worstgameever /s

Obviously anyone that plays the game can look up the roster beforehand. And still bought it. If not having the character you want makes the game bad for you, don't buy it.

Dlc is something else entirely, you don't have to buy any of them. It's when people get their hopes up and convince themselves that x character should be/will be in the game that they get angry when that character didn't get in. It's ridiculous. Don't want disappointment? Don't set yourself up to be disappointed. The reason I'm focusing on dlc is because this is where most of the complaints seem to be coming from.

Criticism is one thing. Saying smash is a bad game or dissing this Sak guy because of one character the game doesn't have is kind of...well, you don't have to like it, but it doesn't make it a bad game.

Some people just want to whine and are never happy. Criticism is fine, though. Constructive criticism. Which is different from whining, in case I didn't make that clear.

We didn't set ourselves up for disappointment, he did. He did it when he said "DLC should be about fanservice" which, on top of putting in Mewtwo, who was pretty much unanimously the most popular character around the globe, and by making the thing known as the Smash Ballot, pretty much said he was going to take our opinions seriously. He didn't, and that's why people complain, because he acted like he was listening, and decided to ignore us anyway.

It doesn't matter though, because you guys think that anything other than endless praise is whining. People asking legit questions like, "Why no Wolf?", "What's wrong with King K, Isaac?", "Why another FE character", "Why Cloud/Ryu over more heavily requested 3rd party characters?" is always seen to you guys as us crying for some reason, even though those are pretty legit/(mostly) unanswered questions. It's fine that you like it/can deal with it, but stop acting like everyone else that doesn't at least pretend to are being cry-babies. A lot of us have legit criticisms/questions yet it's always dismissed by comments like yours that leave no room for further discussion.

 

Why are people really complaining about Cloud?

 

Sorry Sakurai, but comparing yourself to Lucas doesn't make a lick of sense when you never made any bad prequels before (plus no JarJar Binks equivalent in the roster).

I you think you can escape me very easily, then you're going to have a bad time. Please do bother listening to any important PM I have for you instead of ignoring me as many times as possible.

We have some important plans for this week regarding your "work" and it would be shame if you try your best to ignore it. This is unbecoming of an author like yourself and using an excuse like "I won't to type chapters because uploading documents on Fanfiction.net is impossible today" is asinine because that would make you as horrible as Geibuchan (Who's putting no effort in continue his best work out of his own YouTube Channel because of laziness). Please understand that there are around 3,000 fans that are dying to see this story get unfold. And this is coming from a person whose been helping you with this thing for 14 months.

My apologies for disturbing this interesting topic mates since SOME people think that listening to their own love isn't important.

God damn it, did you really have to sit here and attempt to embarrass me like you always do? You are just as cold as Endive.

Fine, I'm sorry for ignoring you because some people was distracting me for the past two hours. You really didn't need to give me that bad/trolling author analogy, Chi Chi. Cheezus Chrust, I'm just an author who's running into more than enough problems because of my ungrateful followers (6 in particular just accused me of being a lazy ******* and I had to tell them what's preventing me from uploading that new chapter). Just take a chill pill and I'll be one my way there.

Moral of the story: Never date a girl who acts like a younger version of your mother.

 

Why are people really complaining about Cloud?

Not everyone likes him, "iconicness" doesn't resonate with everyone, and he came out of nowhere. It's not that hard to figure out really.

 

I wish some of y'all would just calm the **** down, we don't always get what we want in life, right? Smash is no exception.

Sure we didn't get returning veterans like Snake and Wolf, which I will admit I was disappointed about, yet at the same time, excited that we got two newcomers as the last DLC characters for Sm4sh, though I'm more hyped about Corrin than I am with Bayonetta (Yeah, man! Keep bringing in more Fire Emblem characters in Smash, please!)

Anyways, regardless of my favorite characters' involvement, I still paid good cash money for this masterpiece and I have absolutely no regrets...obviously.

Yeah, Smash 5 will totally be a downgrade from Smash 4, because that's how that works.

It's gonna be a challenge for developers to make future Smash games as phenomenal as Sm4sh is.

 

Dlc is something else entirely, you don't have to buy any of them. It's when people get their hopes up and convince themselves that x character should be/will be in the game that they get angry when that character didn't get in. It's ridiculous. Don't want disappointment? Don't set yourself up to be disappointed. The reason I'm focusing on dlc is because this is where most of the complaints seem to be coming from.

Sakurai set us up for disappointment with his whole "fan service" hoopla.

I think that comparing Sakurai to Lucas isn't actually so weird. I mean, they both created revolutionary masterpieces that left substantial marks on pop culture despite next to nobody expecting them to, after all. Nonetheless, Sakurai should be glad that his idea of Nintendo characters launching each other off stages was taken in so well by Nintendo and the gamers that played Smash Bros N64. Lucas had an extremely hard time to get a lot of people working with him to see his ideas as anything better than total crap (even Harrison Ford once told George that he "can write this ****, but you sure as hell can't say it").

I'm not trying to disrespect Sakurai, but putting him on the same plane as George Lucas is kind of disrespect. It doesn't really take a genius to come up with the concept of Smash Bros. I'm pretty sure every 10 year-old in 1995 was dreaming of a game where they could pit Mario against Link. I'm just saying Sakurai isn't on Lucas' level when you pit the creative concept of Smash vs. Star Wars.

 

I wish some of y'all would just calm the **** down, we don't always get what we want in life, right? Smash is no exception.

Sure we didn't get returning veterans like Snake and Wolf, which I will admit I was disappointed about, yet at the same time, excited that we got two newcomers as the last DLC characters for Sm4sh, though I'm more hyped about Corrin than I am with Bayonetta (Yeah, man! Keep bringing in more Fire Emblem characters in Smash, please!)

Anyways, regardless of my favorite characters' involvement, I still paid good cash money for this masterpiece and I have absolutely no regrets...obviously.

It's gonna be a challenge for developers to make future Smash games as phenomenal as Sm4sh is.

I don't know who you're talking to. Outside of the sidebar conversation between Azure Warrior and Awesome Aussie, everything seems calm enough.

Anyway, this is a pretty relevant article for these kinds of discussions/debates, so I don't see the issue with talking about it here.

 

You know, it's funny: a good majority of the whining from the Smash fanbase comes from those whining about those "whining" about the game. And it's always some little rant about how we have to apparently be grateful for everything Sakurai does, as if we get everything from him for free. And it doesn't matter whether it's a actual complaint or whining. Now, are there actual whiners? Yes. Are they the vast majority? Really... no. People just like to stretch the truth just so they can find something to make a big deal out of.

 

I don't know who you're talking to. Outside of the sidebar conversation between Azure Warrior and Awesome Aussie, everything seems calm enough.

Other than this guy, lol.

All I see here is people ******** and moaning about minor details in Sm4sh and about Sakurai himself. SHUT THE F*** UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PRICKS.

 

You mean... you do not want to call him Sak? Why?

Dude, shut the **** up about Sakurai's name. Seriously, it gets very annoying and nobody literally ****ing cares what people call him. Just stop.

Back to the topic, I understand his feelings towards trying to make a great game and getting nothing but negative criticism. But that's the nature of the business. Gamers are some of the most self-entitled groups out there who would rather see the studio craft a game to what they envision rather than what the studio envisions. Gamers are beginning to feel that the studio involved with development doesn't exactly understand what's best for thier games. Which is rather ridiculous, IMO. It's good to have a mixture of studio and player input when developing a game but I feel many gamers feel more entitled to direct the development of the game. I don't see this attitude changing anytime soon though and I don't see it changing for Sakurai either. It's rather a moot point at the moment.

 

[deleting]

 

Not everyone likes him, "iconicness" doesn't resonate with everyone, and he came out of nowhere. It's not that hard to figure out really.

People are acting like it's the worst thing that could have happened. I can understand disappointment or confusion but not rage.

 

[deleting]

 

This has become a crossover between Sakurai's comments and Star Wars in general. What the heck is going on?!

 

Complaining doesn't help anyone, saying x should have gotten in instead of y.

Complaining about our complaining doesn't help anyone either. If anything, if a lot of us keep complaining, then maybe it'll make a difference, but that isn't even our purpose. It just frustrates me when people start telling other people what they can and can't talk about on forums.

Looking at my perspective, though, a lot of this sounds like whining, when you say that Sak didn't listen because you don't understand/like his character choices.

Where are you seeing that in this thread? It sounds like you are digging up old reactions from 2 weeks ago. We are just pissed off because people keep enforcing to us that we have to be grateful for some reason.

Nah, it's all in your head. Okay, maybe he did set it up a little.

I guess I underestimate the range of emotions people regularly work with. Because I don't understand being disappointed about this.

My idea of fan-service was Banjo, Shovel Knight, K. Rool, Shantae; you know, the characters people were actually talking about; not Corrin and Cloud. Bayonetta was a bit weird, because she was kind of 2nd tier ballot hype, and for her to win the whole thing was a bit unsettling, but I am not complaining about her at all because she was at least requested, and I am not questioning if the ballot was rigged or not.

Now we are getting into that dangerous territory of me starting to whine, but I don't really think it's whining, and I don't get how I don't have a valid point.

 

I'm not upset about Cloud's inclusion as much as I am about the characters from the ballot. Not because of who they were but because of how they were decided.

 

I honestly think that questions are fine. It's fine if you want to know why x didn't get in but y did, but can you also look at this perspective? Complaining doesn't help anyone, saying x should have gotten in instead of y. That's all based on personal opinion, and Sak can't make everyone happy. People can have their theories that because x isn't in the game that no one wanted y and x should have been in instead, but that's a little self-centered.

Questions and criticisms are fine. You can say you thought x was a better choice. Looking at my perspective, though, a lot of this sounds like whining, when you say that Sak didn't listen because you don't understand/like his character choices. I, personally, like giving people the benefit of the doubt and believing the best in them, and that he made the best roster he could.

I don't approve of Ryu or Lucas getting in, seeing as I don't like them. I also don't like Wii fit or Duck Hunt. Or smash tour. In my eyes, they were bad choices. Can you say I'm praising all of Sak's decisions? Or that you can't have your opinions?

It's difficult to get my point across in the internet. I don't know what tone you're reading this to yourself in, but I hope it doesn't sound condescending/rude/etc. as that is not my intention.

Nah the tone is fine, I get your point. My point is that people are upset for what I feel are justifiable reasons, and most of the criticisms are just. That's really it, I'm sorry if I came off rude or condescending, I just see the "you can't make everyone happy" thing way too much I guess.

Anyway I think to an extent, a few of the "why didn't x make it in over y" make sense. I think it's fair to wonder why, during DLC that was supposedly fanservice, the biggest fanbases weren't serviced. I think it's definitely reasonable to wonder why Wolf didn't make it in over Corrin, because Wolf was almost infinitely more popular and came from a similar situation. While that example is one of the rare few that work in my opinion, I think the question is still apt.

People are acting like it's the worst thing that could have happened. I can understand disappointment or confusion but not rage.

Most of the reaction was just that, though, confusion or disappointment. I think a lot of the anger comes from people telling them that there's no reason not to like it, and that they're just being salty.

I'm only speaking from my perspective, but that's how it went for me. I mean, I don't have to like things. When I voiced my opinion on that matter (which started off as pretty much "why Cloud?"), I was pretty much **** on for it, that's when I lost it. I'm not proud of it, but I think my situation is pretty common for many. Sometimes people just need to vent, but this sites becoming more and more averse to any sorts of negativity, and it only ends up breeding more.

 

Sorry Sakurai, but comparing yourself to Lucas doesn't make a lick of sense when you never made any bad prequels before (plus no JarJar Binks equivalent in the roster).

Diddy kong

 

Diddy kong

JarJar used to be OP?

 

JarJar used to be OP?

Remember how they nerfed him to be a senator or something?

 

Remember how they nerfed him to be a senator or something?

Ah yes, if I recall he was meant to be a Sith lord.

 

I do think people are being too hard on him, I mean come on: Sakurai made this game for you, don't send death wishes. But Criticism is something even a creator has to accept. And most of the ones I hear are pretty valid. Fire Emblem reps need to be cut down in Smash 5, More series's need representing (and Cloud should be replaced with Slime). But that's only constructive criticism. Bad Criticism is saying the game automatically sucks because of one slight change or so, Sure I think Smash 4 could have been better toward the end but just because I don't like Cloud, Corrin and Lucina doesn't mean I'm going to slander the games name and quit playing it.

If that's what you people do, then you are just an ass. I'm sorry. And Corrin was already taken up so much development time and resources: Cancelling him from release will only burn out the developers more.

 

Ah yes, if I recall he was meant to be a Sith lord.

Exactly. Since nobody liked watching him, they nerfed him to be a senator and he was never seen on screen again. Also, the scene where JarJar steps in the poopy is basically bananas.

 

We have one of the most solid Smash Games ever made and I am not talking about competitively but the overall package. You have 8 player smash, Over 50 characters and among them are video game giants such as Mario, Sonic, Pac-Man, Ryu, and Cloud altogether in one game. You have a selection of N64, Melee, Brawl, and original Smash 4 stages to choose from. This time around we have a much better Online experience, Tournament Mode, Replay Mode, Spectator Mode, and Final Destination versions of every stage.

We can connect our 3DS to the game to transfer data between the console and the handheld. You can customize your fighter, Level Up Amiibos, and even use your very own mii to join in the battle. Then you also have 2 player co-op player for the Adventure campaign. Now we have DLC which at one point I had doubt that there were going to be any at all.

We have a fully complete packaged game, what more do you want? Yeah, I wanted Isaac, Krystal, and Chrono in the game but it didn't happen because all of this DLC was just bonus content to me. I was very satisfied with its default roster and would have still enjoyed it. The direct ended two weeks ago and this topic is still up for debate. Its done and over with, lets enjoy the game for what it is instead of what it should be. Plus I would rather for them to save more characters for the next entry because there is no way they are abandoning this money maker of a franchise.

 

Exactly. Since nobody liked watching him, they nerfed him to be a senator and he was never seen on screen again. Also, the scene where JarJar steps in the poopy is basically bananas.

So I'm guessing they made Diddy not as powerful in this game because people hated how he was so strong in brawl?

 

Exactly. Since nobody liked watching him, they nerfed him to be a senator and he was never seen on screen again. Also, the scene where JarJar steps in the poopy is basically bananas.

Dumb story, but when that movie came out, I LOVED Jar Jar Binks. I was a... dumb kid.

Anyway, I convinced my family to buy me this crazy expensive Halloween costume for him. They tried to convince me to be a vampire or something else, but nope, I was convinced that I had to be Binks. I wanted to be him for a couple reasons. One, I thought he was cool, and two, I thought that everyone else thought like me, and that would only lead into me getting the most candy.

I didn't get a whole lot of candy that year. Hell, hath no fury like a pissed off Star Wars fan, which that day I learned there was a lot of.

 

So I'm guessing they made Diddy not as powerful in this game because people hated how he was so strong in brawl?

It's been an ongoing hatred for a lot of people. http://www.loadthegame.com/2015/04/16/latest-smash-bros-patch-nerfs-hated-character-smash-community/