After digesting the Super Smash Bros news and getting past some of the knee jerk reactions I have to say that I think a lot of us have been overreacting to the news -- I overreacted. A lot of what Sakurai has said in the past twenty-four hours is little different than what he's alreadt stated in the past. Here are some of my thoughts.
@3rd Party characters: Sakurai didn't really change the script on this subject. They are special situations, there aren't going to be many of them and not just anyone can show up. We already knew this. None of us reasonably expected more than a couple (assuming the best). He never addressed the topic of Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake returning, rather simply making a general statement on why there won't be many in the game. It's really that simple.
@Cuts: A little bit of history will help illustrate the point I'm going to make. In May of 2006, seven months after Super Smash Bros. Brawl was announced to be coming to the Wii, and a month prior to its E3 reveal; Masahiro Sakurai did some journal entries that addressed select questions he had received from fans. Right off the bat one issue Sakurai addressed was cuts to Melee veterans, to which he responded that not every character would return. Everyone knew what to expect at that point and most of us pretty much knew what was coming. Now fast forward to 2013 and we find ourselves in a similar boat, or do we?
And what about returning characters? I knew Sakurai wouldn't want to get too specific—Nintendo likes to announce characters for their big mascot fighting series with a dripfeed of news on the Smash Bros. Dojo website—but should fans expect all of their favorites from Melee and Brawl?
"The reality of the situation unfortunately is that there are certain limitations on the 3DS," Sakurai said. The 3DS and Wii U versions of the next Smash Bros will have the same library of characters.
"So we're forced into the situation where we may need to reduce some characters to a certain degree. but we're really working hard in order to include as many characters as possible."
The surprising part of his response is not actually about the 3DS' limitations, for we have already known that for months now by Sakurai, but what is interesting is Sakurai is being less definitive on whether or not there will be cuts. The key word in the first sentence is "may." The second part worth noting is that he is working as hard as he can to include as many characters as possible. Not only does this eliminate the theory that he is setting a cap on the amount of characters but it also indicates that he
wants to keep as many of the characters from Brawl as he can. Trust me, no matter how badly we may feel about characters being removed if anyone probably hates it more it is Sakurai. If he is cognizant enough to remove tripping due to our loathing then I can guarantee you he can see how many people want to hold onto the characters from Brawl.
This does not mean there won't be characters cut, but from what I gather it will be something that will be a forced last minute decision and not a part of the plan. Most of the characters in Brawl are not like the the cut Melee veterans (bar Mewtwo), and those who were late additions only include Wolf, Sonic, Toon Link and Jigglypuff.
@DLC: I'm actually not surprised by what Sakurai said, nor should anyone else. He is the type of developer who likes to get it perfect once. If he runs into a Mewtwo or Roy situation were he is unable to include content due to time constraints I think there may be avenues for DLC, but for now it is a good thing that he is focused on delivering a good game.
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There is more I could write -- and probably could edit as well -- but for now I'll leave it at what I've written.
