What are some of your most biggest questions regarding Sakurai/Smash?

[UserKev]

For me, I can list some absent original non remix soundtrack themes and its completely crazy to me.

Lyn should have been in Brawl. I consider Lyn probably the most neglected candidate. Lyn's game was a relevant and had several region releases and inclusion would have given Fire Emblem a solid 3 characters at the time, Lyn being the original female Fire Emblem newcomer.

 

[YoshiandToad]

What made him decide to upgrade Toad from his Melee, Brawl and Smash 4 depiction to Peach's grabs and throws too? Fan demand?

Why did Dr. Mario make it as a character instead of just an alt costume like the original fan request suggested?

If he was so excited about Geno's name in Brawl and the Mii outfit in Sm4sh why didn't he make him a playable?

What's his opinions on Toad and Waluigi as potential fighters?

His opinion on Bandana Waddle Dee and modern Kirby characters...

Why Zelda doesn't get the same character treatment as Fire Emblem or Pokémon?

Is there anyone he'd really want in Smash that just isn't feasible and what is preventing it?

What his biggest regret regarding the series is?

 

[Crystanium]

1. Why does online suck ass? I actually liked For Glory, unlike some people. The only tweak it needed was preferences. Separating the competitive from the casuals can still happen. Bring back For Fun where options like items, Final Smash meter, regular stages cannot be turned off, while For Glory can have the option of choosing omega/tri-plats, no items, no FS meter, no casual ****.

2. Why do characters have attacks that straight up miss? I bring out f-air before my opponent attacks, and yet my f-air gets completely ignored. Ness' grab is ****. He can literally stand next to Bowser and miss, or dash grab and miss.

3. Why do you nerf characters who don't need nerfing and buff characters who don't need buffing? Maybe you're not the one doing these, but surely you have a say in the matter, being the face of Super Smash Bros. Ridley's n-air was nerfed when it didn't need to be. He's a bad character. Yet, Joker was buffed when he's already fine as is, although one could argue that Arsene needs to leave sooner.

4. Why do we have a limit on who to block? The Wii U had unlimited, or at least an indefinite blocking option. I can only block 100 people on the Switch. Maybe this isn't about your game, but it's so annoying that I can't permanently tell players to piss off by blocking them. Instead, I have to unfortunately unblock people who either tea bagged, lagged hard, had items or whatever on, or all three!

5. Why is there a limit to the rooms in Public Arenas? Sure, I can go in Veteran or Glorious Smash, but then what about when I know these rooms are hosted by players I've defeated before and felt no challenge? Or what about people who have blocked me or kicked me out because I was too good? People actually do that! It doesn't help that rooms with passwords show up for the public, either. What a waste of rooms that I could join.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

why are there no new obscure characters in Ultimate? I get you can't really make a big hype trailer for Muddy Mole or whoever, but you could at least reveal them Brawl-style on a blog post or something.

 

[Frizz]

1. What was your favorite Smash game to develop?
2. Likewise, what was your least favorite Smash game to develop?
3. What character did you have the most fun creating?
4. What character did you have the least fun creating?
5. What was the thought process behind removing the Replay to YouTube feature from Smash 4?
6. When are you finally gonna take a break?
7. What character would YOU personally really like to include, despite all the complications that might be behind it?
8. How do you feel about the "too many anime swordfighters" complaints?
9. Why did Smash Ultimate DLC characters get cinematic trailers but Smash 4 DLC characters didn't?
10. What retro or dead franchise currently represented in Smash would you like to see get another game?

 

[Mogisthelioma]

If he was so excited about Geno's name in Brawl and the Mii outfit in Sm4sh why didn't he make him a playable?

That's really up for Squeenix to decide and not Sakurai.

4. Why do we have a limit on who to block? The Wii U had unlimited, or at least an indefinite blocking option. I can only block 100 people on the Switch. Maybe this isn't about your game, but it's so annoying that I can't permanently tell players to piss off by blocking them. Instead, I have to unfortunately unblock people who either tea bagged, lagged hard, had items or whatever on, or all three!

This. This this this this this. This is part of the reason why Smash Ultimate's online is infinitesimal compared to Smash 4's. Limited blocking. Why on Earth could that possibly be a good idea?

1. What was his favorite/least favorite game to develop?
2. If he had an infinite amount of time and manpower to make the next Smash game, what would it be like?
3. Are there any "dead" franchises he would like to revive?
4. What are his opinions on Kirby and Zelda content in Smash?
5. How does he view Fire Emblem representation and the "too much Fire Emblem" complaints?
6. Who were the ballot winners?
7. Who were his favorite/least favorite characters to design?
8. If he was forced to remove half of the roster, who would he keep?

 

[Ice-N-Space]

1 - Why remove Peach's grabs only to put a badly implemented toad in there place.

2 - Super Princess Peach's music is still missing why is that?

3 - No playable Krystal but they add Wolf?

4 - Why is zoom so limited in stage builder?

5 - Can't the game play just stay slow?

 

[J.I.L]

1. Why does online suck ***? I actually liked For Glory, unlike some people. The only tweak it needed was preferences. Separating the competitive from the casuals can still happen. Bring back For Fun where options like items, Final Smash meter, regular stages cannot be turned off, while For Glory can have the option of choosing omega/tri-plats, no items, no FS meter, no casual ****.

2. Why do characters have attacks that straight up miss? I bring out f-air before my opponent attacks, and yet my f-air gets completely ignored. Ness' grab is ****. He can literally stand next to Bowser and miss, or dash grab and miss.

3. Why do you nerf characters who don't need nerfing and buff characters who don't need buffing? Maybe you're not the one doing these, but surely you have a say in the matter, being the face of Super Smash Bros. Ridley's n-air was nerfed when it didn't need to be. He's a bad character. Yet, Joker was buffed when he's already fine as is, although one could argue that Arsene needs to leave sooner.

4. Why do we have a limit on who to block? The Wii U had unlimited, or at least an indefinite blocking option. I can only block 100 people on the Switch. Maybe this isn't about your game, but it's so annoying that I can't permanently tell players to piss off by blocking them. Instead, I have to unfortunately unblock people who either tea bagged, lagged hard, had items or whatever on, or all three!

5. Why is there a limit to the rooms in Public Arenas? Sure, I can go in Veteran or Glorious Smash, but then what about when I know these rooms are hosted by players I've defeated before and felt no challenge? Or what about people who have blocked me or kicked me out because I was too good? People actually do that! It doesn't help that rooms with passwords show up for the public, either. What a waste of rooms that I could join.

Mogisthelioma
Why the heck do you guys need to block more then 100 people? That’s kinda absurd, don’t you think?

 

[EricTheGamerman]

1 - Why remove Peach's grabs only to put a badly implemented toad in there place.

2 - Super Princess Peach's music is still missing why is that?

3 - No playable Krystal but they add Wolf?

4 - Why is zoom so limited in stage builder?

5 - Can't the game play just stay slow?

We have an answer for Wolf over Krystal. He was easier to make and they had limited resources for any additional characters in Brawl. They could make a mostly unique character by using Fox to make Wolf more easily than having to build someone like Krystal from the ground up.

And then, by the time there was more time to actually build a new character from scratch, Krystal and Star Fox had dropped off quite a bit as a franchise to the point where Wolf got cut from 4 and Star Fox lost content.

 

[J.I.L]

We have an answer for Wolf over Krystal. He was easier to make and they had limited resources for any additional characters in Brawl. They could make a mostly unique character by using Fox to make Wolf more easily than having to build someone like Krystal from the ground up.

And then, by the time there was more time to actually build a new character from scratch, Krystal and Star Fox had dropped off quite a bit as a franchise to the point where Wolf got cut from 4 and Star Fox lost content.

If you know this, do you have any idea why the online is garbage and what they were trying to go for with it?

 

[EricTheGamerman]

If you know this, do you have any idea why the online is garbage and what they were trying to go for with it?

I don't believe Sakurai has commented specifically on the quality of the current online system besides apologizing for when it was actually completely broken and almost never matching you with people of the same rule set at launch.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Mogisthelioma
Why the heck do you guys need to block more then 100 people? That’s kinda absurd, don’t you think?

I haven't blocked anyone yet it's just that limited blocking is kind of anti-progressive, don't you think? I'm sure there are way more than 100 people out there who are worthy of being blocked.

 

[J.I.L]

I haven't blocked anyone yet it's just that limited blocking is kind of anti-progressive, don't you think? I'm sure there are way more than 100 people out there who are worthy of being blocked.

There’s a lot on this game that is anti progressive, as of matter of fact straight regressive, don’t know if block limit is one of them. It’s more so less liberating. Having a block limit is uneccssary in my opinion and too restrictive/controlling.,people should block whomever they please.

But I just question people who feel proud and campaign to “Increase block limits” so they can block more people. Not sure I like those type of people who just block everyone that annoys them. As a matter of fact, IM SURE I don’t like those people. That’s like what cultish people do. Just block anyone and everyone who they don’t agree with.

Like do those people not understand how painful it feels to be ignored, disregarded or “blocked” by others? It’s the main reason why I strongly dislike blocking people, almost no matter how annoying they are. Blocking people is a weak thing to do. Sorry, but it actually makes me a little ticked off seeing people liking to block people who simply annoy them. I would rant further and lambast people who do that, quite viciously actually, but don’t want to attract mods, especially since I’m in a smashboard era where I’m not at all familiar with these mods.

Back on topic. I’d ask Toriyama .... I mean Sakurai... what goes into programming certain characters? Why are characters given the abilities they are and do you strive to make roster balanced in ability and fairness? Because guys like richter and Simon, Zelda are just so cheap.

 

[Opossum]

1. Why does online suck ***? I actually liked For Glory, unlike some people. The only tweak it needed was preferences. Separating the competitive from the casuals can still happen. Bring back For Fun where options like items, Final Smash meter, regular stages cannot be turned off, while For Glory can have the option of choosing omega/tri-plats, no items, no FS meter, no casual ****.

2. Why do characters have attacks that straight up miss? I bring out f-air before my opponent attacks, and yet my f-air gets completely ignored. Ness' grab is ****. He can literally stand next to Bowser and miss, or dash grab and miss.

3. Why do you nerf characters who don't need nerfing and buff characters who don't need buffing? Maybe you're not the one doing these, but surely you have a say in the matter, being the face of Super Smash Bros. Ridley's n-air was nerfed when it didn't need to be. He's a bad character. Yet, Joker was buffed when he's already fine as is, although one could argue that Arsene needs to leave sooner.

4. Why do we have a limit on who to block? The Wii U had unlimited, or at least an indefinite blocking option. I can only block 100 people on the Switch. Maybe this isn't about your game, but it's so annoying that I can't permanently tell players to piss off by blocking them. Instead, I have to unfortunately unblock people who either tea bagged, lagged hard, had items or whatever on, or all three!

5. Why is there a limit to the rooms in Public Arenas? Sure, I can go in Veteran or Glorious Smash, but then what about when I know these rooms are hosted by players I've defeated before and felt no challenge? Or what about people who have blocked me or kicked me out because I was too good? People actually do that! It doesn't help that rooms with passwords show up for the public, either. What a waste of rooms that I could join.

On the balancing thing, Sakurai is pretty hands off in that regard, to the point where the balance team has the final say. The most famous example was when Sakurai said that he thought K. Rool was fine despite complaints from those unfamiliar with the matchup, citing K. Rool's relatively unimpressive win rate. K. Rool was then nerfed in the next patch.

 

[Crystanium]

On the balancing thing, Sakurai is pretty hands off in that regard, to the point where the balance team has the final say. The most famous example was when Sakurai said that he thought K. Rool was fine despite complaints from those unfamiliar with the matchup, citing K. Rool's relatively unimpressive win rate. K. Rool was then nerfed in the next patch.

Well, it's interesting that character complaints managed to make it to the balancing team. If I knew of a better way than tagging Sakurai and Nintendo of America, I'd contact the proper person or team. I recall Sakurai also saying that the buffing/nerfing decision isn't based on player complaints, so I thought, why is it that these complaints strangely find changes?

Ness' d-smash, for example, was nerfed. People complained, rather than learning how to get around it. Ness has a poor recovery. He's always been gimpable. The one moment he gets to show others what he has to go through, they complain and he gets nerfed. The Ness hate and even Samus hate are unwarranted. If people don't want a campy Samus, then beg the balancing team to give her better CQC instead of nerfing her!

Ness has been improving, but then he drops as the meta evolves. Samus has only been good in SSBM. I just wish that characters who actually need nerfs would get nerfed and those who actually need buffs would get buffed. I think the biggest issue is that these players are fighting a character they never had to deal with, and now that they do, they complain.

I'm guilty of complaining as well, I'll admit. I think it's best for me to just ask for buffs for my characters than to ask for nerfs for others. I wish pro players at times had some say in balancing, although at times I'm opposed to this because they have some odd requests for characters to be buffed whom I don't think need buffs. This is also why I prefer a smaller roster. It's more manageable, but whatever.

 

[Garteam]

-Was there any fan reaction that really encouraged you? Likewise, was there any fan reaction that really deterred you or rubbed you the wrong way?
-Were there any ideas you really liked on paper, but felt were lacklustre in execution or vice versa?
-Were there any characters that were particularly hard to get the OK to put into Smash?
-Will we ever see a third party series with multiple, unique fighters?
-Who was the hardest character to make a satisfactory moveset for?
-What would some of the cut characters have played like? Namely, the Chorus Kids and Decidueye?
-Was Lycanroc ever considered for the roster? If so, what made you decide against him?
-Will we ever see a Japan-only character join the roster again?
-How much does a character's popularity affect them joining the roster?
-How does it feel working with so many massive names at once?

 

[C3CC]

Why can't we change characters in Quickplay between battles? Like, if I want to keep playing with the same person but I want to use a different character, I can't. I need to leave the room and therefore lose my connection with that person. In Wii U it was possible, why did this awful change?

 

[Sonsa]

While online is frustrating and balance may be based on casual results, I think those things will be adjusted soon enough, besides, balancing has been wayyy better than Smash 4, nothing has really confused or outraged me yet, and I love the game speed a lot, Ultimate's for sure my fav so far, the online can use a lot of help but I believe it's coming, yeah. Anyway, I love all sorts of dumb data and am generally more grateful to the guy so I'd wanna fish for a bunch of specific fun facts~

#1. His ideal roster with no limits
#2. His favorite characters to play
#3. Does his wife like to play and who are her favorite characters
#4. He's said that Wario would have made it to Melee if there was more time, and a few different characters were almost done in 64, I wonder if there was more time for the other games who else would have made it? Brawl, Smash4, Smash4DLC, Ultimate, and yknow, curious about the future too! (And also maybe the same questions but applied to stages too!)
#5. If he did make a reboot, or limited himself to 12 just for hypothetical fun, who would he pick now?
#6. Just generally stuff on some of my fav games like Ace Attorney and Undertale, pfft
#7. ......could I please, like, see the ballot results? I know it's probably a bad idea to release em publicly, but I wanna seeee, show me secretly~
#8. What during development of any smash game gave him the biggest laugh
#9. Is there anyone he'd feel comfortable letting lead the next Smash project, being his spiritual successor while he finally rests, or can still oversee if he wants?
#10. Interested in the idea of a Nintendo vs Capcom 3v3 tag fighter game...?

Maybe someone will see this and get to ask him something similar someday and I'll get that dumb lil trivia I love~

 

[NapoleonDos]

Mogisthelioma
Why the heck do you guys need to block more then 100 people? That’s kinda absurd, don’t you think?

This was my thought as well- reading the rest of the numbers of the original post, I see now a few reasons the guy may rub many the wrong way.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

-Was there any fan reaction that really encouraged you? Likewise, was there any fan reaction that really deterred you or rubbed you the wrong way?
-Were there any ideas you really liked on paper, but felt were lacklustre in execution or vice versa?
-Were there any characters that were particularly hard to get the OK to put into Smash?
-Will we ever see a third party series with multiple, unique fighters?
-Who was the hardest character to make a satisfactory moveset for?
-What would some of the cut characters have played like? Namely, the Chorus Kids and Decidueye?
-Was Lycanroc ever considered for the roster? If so, what made you decide against him?
-Will we ever see a Japan-only character join the roster again?
-How much does a character's popularity affect them joining the roster?
-How does it feel working with so many massive names at once?

Decidueye never got past the consideration stage so I doubt he has a super well formed idea of him as a character. We also really have no clue on the Chorus Kids and where they might or might not have been in Smash 4.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

My biggest question is, how far is he willing to go to break seemingly-established "patterns"?

To list some of the biggest habit breakers: Brawl brought third parties and a story mode to the table. Then 4 allowed to have more than one from the same company, some Western third-party content and introduced a single DLC season. And now in Ultimate we have a Western AT, a frigging playable regular enemy, a character with an extensive set of specials, and a full-blown playable Western character (and we have yet to see whether Ultimate stops with that).

My second biggest question is, will Nintendo step in if they feel that Sakurai should add any other Kirby characters and venture outside of his comfort zone?

 

[Guynamednelson]

And now in Ultimate we have a Western AT, a frigging playable regular enemy, a character with an extensive set of specials, and a full-blown playable Western character (and we have yet to see whether Ultimate stops with that).

You forgot multiple fighters and ATs from one third-party series, and Young and Toon Link both being on the roster.

How does he view Fire Emblem representation and the "too much Fire Emblem" complaints?

He was already concerned about adding Corrin on top of Robin, Lucina, and the return of Roy.

 

[hazrdous]

My biggest question regarding Ultimate is why was GSP the ranked system of choice instead of a more traditional ranked ladder?
Because it's hard to pin down who exactly is on top, where you stand compared to the rest of the planet (because it's not shown how many total players there are), and where the cut off for Elite Smash is.
I'm on 3.5 mil GSP as Zelda and I have no idea how good that is compared to the rest of the world because is that average, above average, or below average? I just don't know.

 

[UserKev]

My other biggest questions, what happened to Metal Cavern? Why is it still an un-selectable stage?
Can Special Smash be more specific as, we choose to Vs. a metal, giant or invisible player/CPU while our characters remain default?
Has Andross ever been considered?

 

[ze9]

I'd like to ask him some of the following:

-WHERE THE HECK IS DIXIE????
-What are, exactly, the reasons that prompted you to re-evaluate your stance on Ridley in such a short time?
-Did you ever have to cut characters during the development on Smash games? If so, who are they and why did they get cut?
-Did something change in the way you design stages between one installment of the series and the next?
-What is, in your opinion, the Smash game that best embodies your vision for a game that's just as accessible to new players as it is satisfying for those who decide to put much more time in it?
-Smash has over 80 characters now. Is there any one of them you felt particularly excited while bringing them in the fray?
-Smash 64 had a beautiful premise in which the characters were just puppets with which Master Hand/the boy in his bedroom is playing. In later Smash games, though, many more entities started to appear, ranging from Crazy Hand to Galeem and Dharkon. So... is there any meaning behind the lore of World of Light?
-One aspect of the games that felt really tedious to work with?
-Do you enjoy to watch fan reactions? Do they have some effect on you?
-Your favorite game of all time?
-In Brawl, a mechanic that would show battle damage on the fighters was planned, but it was later scrapped. Is there any mechanic or some other idea that you had for Ultimate that didn't manage to get the cut?
-When selecting characters, and in particular 3d party characters, did you ever receive some kind of input or direction from Nintendo? Of course I'm mostly talking about the characters in Ultimate's Fighter Pass.
-Who was the character that receveid more votes in the Ballot? How do you feel about the Ballot?

...and that's it, probably.

 

[Blackwolf666]

I'd ask him

-What is your motivation for working so hard on the Smash bros series?
-How much does fan criticism affect your work?
-Who is your favorite character to play as?
-What is the character you hate playing as the most?
-Do you have any characters you regret creating, if so who?

 

[C3CC]

One that I've always wondered:

-How much do you get paid for each Smash game you make?

 

[TheSkillMythos]

Why was Joker, a character who never had a game on any Nintendo system at that time, added to SSBU instead of highly-requested characters like Waluigi?
Why are the DLC characters more OP than the standard characters?
What's the REAL story behind World of Light? (I watched The Game Theorists cover that one, but I want to know if everything in that video was accurate)
Do you still have a role in the creation of Kirby games?
What programming language/engine was SSBU made in?

 

[StormC]

Did King K. Rool ever pop up as a discussed candidate before Ultimate?

How much do you consult with the team before making a list of newcomers (and cuts/returning vets)?

What are the top 20 characters on the ballot, excluding non-video game characters?

If you could add one more character to Ultimate’s base game, no restrictions, who would you pick?

Is there a common Smash request where you’re absolutely baffled why they’re so popular, besides non-video game ones? And was there a character who you were surprised was so popular but put in anyway?

What made you change your mind on Ridley after two statements on two games saying he was impossible?

Is there a reason you seem to be particularly conservative about content from Kirby games besides your own?

How did the conversation go when Kojima approached you about adding Snake? Were you apprehensive at all about adding the first third party character to Smash, let alone one as left field (at the time) as Snake? What made you decide to expand the third party roster, particularly to characters that aren’t “iconic?”

How much do the requests/reception of characters in Japan become a priority? Are you hesitant to add characters completely unknown to Japanese audiences?

What are your top 5 favorite Nintendo games? And top 5 non-Nintendo ones?

Has a non-Triforce Zelda character ever been considered?

Is Square-Enix particularly difficult to negotiate with over Final Fantasy content?

Would you ever consider hosting a “stage ballot?”

When you add characters like Piranha Plant, do you anticipate backlash from fans? Does this factor into the decision making process?

Do you think the future of Smash will gradually focus more and more on third parties?

Why was Joker, a character who never had a game on any Nintendo system at that time, added to SSBU instead of highly-requested characters like Waluigi?
Why are the DLC characters more OP than the standard characters?
What's the REAL story behind World of Light? (I watched The Game Theorists cover that one, but I want to know if everything in that video was accurate)
Do you still have a role in the creation of Kirby games?
What programming language/engine was SSBU made in?

Joker appeared in Persona Q2 in November 2018. I don’t see though why Joker was singled out over any other “non-fan favorite character?”

 

[Sebas22]

First, I would thank him for his work on the Smash games, of course. Then, this single question:
Do you dislike the Kirby games that were made after your departure from HAL?

 

[Perkilator]

"Ayumi Tachibana wasn't playable in Melee due to her game never being released outside of Japan."

Same person who put Marth and Roy in Melee-and they were meant for just the JP version-the latter having indirectly pioneered the FE series in the West. Mind explaining this, Sakurai?