To DLC or not to DLC

[SSB4Dojo]

I was having a discussion with a friend earlier today about DLC in Smash. We were trying to understand what exactly Sakurai could do for DLC. Now I realize that Sakurai is waiting to think about DLC for after the launch of Smash 4, at least that is what he says, but we can always think about what possibilities there are. The idea we came up with is buying a pack themed around a character (for this example, Little Mac). For 5 bucks you get Little Mac, an official Punch Out stage (something different then the current boxing ring), Glass Joe as an assist trophy, King Hippo as a boss, a specific break the targets stage (assuming individual break the targets returns) and 5 event matches. The first match would be a mini tournament where you have to take down King Hippo and after beating up King Hippo, the true champion in Little Mac enters the battle for the battle to unlock him making you fight to unlock him, not just getting him automatically.

Now I know some people wouldn't want to have DLC as they feel then forced to purchase the characters in order to keep up with the competition. Most people would just care about the fighters so my idea is after two months of being only for those that buy the pack, only the fighter becomes unlocked for everyone who can connect to the internet so if Little Mac came out on March 1, he would be unlocked for all non purchasers for May 1 but they wouldn't have the events, stage, assist or boss to enjoy. I think this could be an awesome and fair way to have DLC giving those that want to pay a chance to be an early adopter and those that want to wait not feeling like they are missing out on a character.

 

[Morbi]

I personally just want some DLC characters, maybe some stages, but mostly characters. I don't really care about assist trophies or bosses or event matches... none of them really add to my experience as an individual. I would prefer that Sora Ltd. spends time developing characters to increase the longevity of the game, especially if he is going for the minimal cuts, minimal newcomers approach.

 

[Aurora Jenny]

And thus you would fall into that latter category, my Vin Diesel loving friend. Me? I would like my money's worth. Just characters wouldn't do it for me in my case. I like story and challenges as much as I do the playable character.

 

[LancerStaff]

Waiting for the 'How's about a no.' bear.

Seriously though, Sakurai has mentioned how much he dislikes DLC before he started SSB4.

 

[D-idara]

I personally just want some DLC characters, maybe some stages, but mostly characters. I don't really care about assist trophies or bosses or event matches... none of them really add to my experience as an individual. I would prefer that Sora Ltd. spends time developing characters to increase the longevity of the game, especially if he is going for the minimal cuts, minimal newcomers approach.

I really don't think DLC's worth it if it doesn't include some sort of single-player content.

 

[josh bones]

I really don't think DLC's worth it if it doesn't include some sort of single-player content.

Cause smash bros single player is so important right? #sarcasm

 

[Aurora Jenny]

No need for sarcasm. I happen to agree with him. Some of us don't have local friends to play with so the biggest part of their enjoyable IS that single player.

 

[D-idara]

Cause smash bros single player is so important right? #sarcasm

Yeah...Smash Bros. single player IS very important...as Aurora Jenny said, some of us don't have friends avaiable at all times. For example, most of my friends have ****ty taste in games and would rather play some generic piece of crap like Battlefield before playing a masterpiece like Smash, the parts I enjoyed more about Brawl were the SSE and the Trophy Collecting.

 

[Renji64]

I would like dlc but it could lead to extra patching and issues. I say if it is characters that couldn't make in time or that he wants in the game later sure. But stage DLC and music would be the way to go wiith single player stuff and events for the month ect.

 

[Drclaw411]

if dlc means moar chars, then yes yes yes to dlc

 

[dezeray112]

I could see Nintendo use the DLC opportunity as a way to bring out playable characters who were cut from the final roster which provides them with further development time.

They could also bring characters from future upcoming Nintendo titles (such as X) in there as well.

 

[SSB4Dojo]

I could see Nintendo use the DLC opportunity as a way to bring out playable characters who were cut from the final roster which provides them with further development time.

They could also bring characters from future upcoming Nintendo titles (such as X) in there as well.

I agree with you here. One of my original ideas for DLC was for Nintendo to promote games with either characters or stages. So lets take X for example, as a way to help promote the game, Sakurai releases two months prior to its release a stage from the game. It is free for everyone to play on for 2 months and when the game releases, the stage begins to cost money, lets say 2 bucks. But for those that support X and link their purchase of it to their Club Nintendo Account, they will get to unlock the stage for free as a bonus of buying the game. This could be a great marketing tool for Nintendo as it would possibly help Smash fans get into other games as they get sort of a taste for the environment and want to experience it more fleshed out with the bonus of the free stage/character/whatever.

 

[dezeray112]

Another thing, is that fans will request for further content once the game is out.

 

[Oniric Spriter]

If the DLC characters are veterans or were cut because of time constraints then ok, if not no, because it basically kills all the hype for the next smash bros. games if we already had all the characters we want in.

 

[Stenton]

If it's just characters and stages. Then yes, I would approve DLC support.

Balance Patches would be amazing too.

 

[SSB4Dojo]

If it's just characters and stages. Then yes, I would approve DLC support.

Balance Patches would be amazing too.

Balance Patches would be great especially as a way to fix glitches (I am looking at you Meta Knight that is invisible forever) but Sakurai has stated that the isn't the biggest fan of patches. Mostly he doesn't want there to be two versions of Smash out there, the patched and non patched version. Now this would really only matter for when I go to a friends house who doesn't have online so they couldn't get the update so things would feel different as all people that would want to play online would be required to have the most recent patch but since they are already trying to play online, that shouldn't be a problem similar to the Mario Kart 7 update required to play online getting rid of the Maka Wuhu glitch. I hope for some patches if anything big is found flawed but if someones hit box seems 1 pixel too big, I think I will learn to live with it.

 

[DaDavid]

Waiting for the 'How's about a no.' bear.

Seriously though, Sakurai has mentioned how much he dislikes DLC before he started SSB4.

Maybe he did but...

http://nintendoeverything.com/sakur...dlc-patching-why-villagertrainer-are-in-more/

He's clearly not opposed to it now. In fact, he has in my opinion the absolute best opinion of DLC. Not opposed to it, but not thinking about it until the games are out. The fact that he cites Fall Out 3 specifically as good DLC gives me even greater hope that any DLC that would come to Smash would be absolutely worth the money.

 

[DakotaBonez]

Might be a pain in the ass to fit that content on the Wii U's hard drive.
Actually, it might be impossible on an 8gb wii u, which after all the updates over the past couple of years, it would only have 3gb of storage, and in the consoles future it might only have 2gb. At the rate that Nintendo keeps patching the Wii U, 8gb owners might not even be able to hold save data for games on their console... alright maybe not that extreme but they might not be able to install the patches for games like Tekken and Injustice.
I know that they pretty much dont market the 8gb model anymore but they might still take early customers into consideration when thinking about DLC, as in, they wont include anything over 1gb. Even patches for games can take half a gb. I expect there to be future patches in Smash 4.
With this in mind theyd probably delay the game rather than make any dlc. If there was dlc for smash I'd want it to be something pretty substantial, like 4 newcomers at least, along with their stages it could take up some memory. Maybe not so much as I think.
I mean, the only reason dlc characters dont need much memory to download in games like Marvel Vs Capcom is because those characters were already built inside of the game, Capcom just wanted to rip people off by making em pay to unlock content already on the disc. To be honest though, this is really the most sensible option if you're worried about losing hard drive space, I could maybe understand this if the next smash bros came with like 60 characters from the start and they wanted me to pay to unlock a few more...it would only be fair considering this game lasts hundreds of hours where as games like ben 10 try to charge 50 bucks for a 2 minute adventure.

Yall dont think theyd ever make a rerelease of smash 4 later on with all of the patches/dlc on disc do ya?
Smash Bros 4: Clash Editon

Oh gawd they could potentially take all of my money if they tried to do something like this.
Street Fighter and guilty gear fans had to rebuy the game every year as a new edition was released.

 

[finalark]

I'm not a fan of DLC, mostly because I've seen how other companies have abused it in the past.

But in all honesty, if Nintendo did put out DLC I'd likely buy it anyway. Either that or wait until they release an updated version of the game with all of the DLC characters/stages in it and buy that.

 

[I_hate_usernames]

Nether-realm Studio's style DLC? yes!

Capcom style DLC? OH HELL NAW!!

 

[Accf124]

I support Character and Stage DLC as long as it's free.

 

[Pazzo.]

On that Note, I'd like to see Dillon from RW as a DLC character. Why not?

 

[GrosMinou]

I think it would be fine, at a reasonable cost (if any cost at all), but it is most likely not gonna happen. Nintendo never really liked the idea of DLC.

 

[finalark]

I think it would be fine, at a reasonable cost (if any cost at all), but it is most likely not gonna happen. Nintendo never really liked the idea of DLC.

Fire Emblem Awakening.

 

[SKM_NeoN]

What's with the Shakespeare-inspired thread titles we've been getting lately?

 

[kataridragon]

I would buy every peice if dlc that released for this game. I am really hoping that this game not only gets future dlc (planned after release obviously) and balance patches. This could easily be the best smash bros ever!!! Take the path of Capcom/Ono (sort of, not like sfxt, like sf4) keep building then release a retail version. I would pay out the eyeballs for this..... OUT THE EYEBALLS!!!

 

[JediLink]

What's with the Shakespeare-inspired thread titles we've been getting lately?

What's in a name? That which we call a thread, by any other name, would contain as many pointless arguments.

 

[Daedra]

I never actually thought about SSB offering DLC. Although, DLC is usually over priced and in reality, we can kinda expect DLC or at least Sakurai somewhat thinking about it. Without a doubt it has come into discussion among the developers. Along with the main post from SSB4Dojo I can unfortunately see.. map packs.. or in this case "Stage Packs". They would consist of 4 or more stages and be themed and along with, like i said before, being over priced. I guess we will all just have to wait and see what's in store for us.

 

[Aurora Jenny]

Entai, it all boils down to how it's handled. I can guarantee you that.

 

[Ulti-Bman]

I'd only like DLC if it included characters and such from games that are released post-Smash 4.

 

[Morbi]

I never actually thought about SSB offering DLC. Although, DLC is usually over priced and in reality, we can kinda expect DLC or at least Sakurai somewhat thinking about it. Without a doubt it has come into discussion among the developers. Along with the main post from SSB4Dojo I can unfortunately see.. map packs.. or in this case "Stage Packs". They would consist of 4 or more stages and be themed and along with, like i said before, being over priced. I guess we will all just have to wait and see what's in store for us.

I don't necessarily agree, it is the oldest argument in the book, but if the DLC is "over-priced" do not buy it. If you want to buy it, but you don't want to because it costs money, then don't buy it. If you feel you are missing out on exclusive content... you are. If you care, buy it. If you don't want to, don't buy it. It is really simple. That aspect of free-will is always there.

 

[Daedra]

I don't necessarily agree, it is the oldest argument in the book, but if the DLC is "over-priced" do not buy it. If you want to buy it, but you don't want to because it costs money, then don't buy it. If you feel you are missing out on exclusive content... you are. If you care, buy it. If you don't want to, don't buy it. It is really simple. That aspect of free-will is always there.

Damn, yeah. Never really looked at it like that but I definitely agree with you.

 

[Protom]

5 dollars to remove ridley and make him a stage hazard.

 

[dezeray112]

I think it is best to wait once the game is released, then I think we can expect something about DLC at some point.

Another thing, what will Sakurai and his team will use to help decide what sort of DLC content (characters, stages etc) fans want? Will they use fan polls?

 

[D-idara]

5 dollars to remove ridley and make him a stage hazard.

Idiot.

 

[Jackson]

I'll agree with most people above and say that DLC characters would be awesome.

 

[Starcutter]

for character DLC just I hope they finish everything they couldn't finish in time for release and then release it as free DLC a couple months later.

 

[Goten21]

I hope DLCs will only happen once the game has been going for some time and Sakurai decides he wants to add something to the game.

 

[finalark]

Seeing how "planned" DLC is a thing in this industry, I'm pretty resistant towards the whole notion. I just hope that they don't chop characters out of the game only to nickle and dime us for them later.

 

[dezeray112]

I wonder how and what sort of ways Sakurai can use to help decide certain DLC? By fan polls perhaps?