I was making a joke about Smash Brothers in a what-if scenario of Nintendo trying to force the series 3d or do something the fans hate, and then this interview with Sakurai comes to light.
When you look at fighting game forums, you’ll see a preference for Melee, and yet, I think there are lots of people in the silent majority who don’t post online who prefer Brawl.
“I would say that the speed of gameplay [in the next Smash Bros.] is going to be a little bit less than Melee, but a little bit more than Brawl.
Nintendo says they want players to share their emotional feedback to games. When it contradicts what Nintendo wants to do, they just ignore the feedback entirely and play make-believe that there is a ‘large silent majority’ of gamers out there who wants what the Nintendo game director wants.
What Sakurai is saying also doesn’t make sense. The top selling game in the US is Injustice, a fighting game. Mortal Kombat also sold extremely well when it came out in its revised state last generation. Street Fighter IV has performed extremely well. How can he say fighters are a hobbyist sport?
Did you know that Smash Brothers Melee is my nephews’ very first video game? Oh yes. They loved how they could just slap buttons and stuff would happen. Eventually, they began to understand the game. But if three year olds can play Melee, how is that not accessible?
Sakurai just isn’t in touch with The Common Gamer. He’s missing many of the nuances going on, and he is misinterpreting Melee’s popularity. A game having a skill set doesn’t make it inaccessible. The original Super Mario Kart was very accessible yet it had a skill set where you could do some amazing stuff in it. Gamers want to be rewarded for mastery. This is why they hate “party” games so much.
I just sense condescension coming from Nintendo. Everything we say is wrong unless it matches what they want to hear. There is no curiosity coming from Sakurai such as, “What is it about Melee that people like so much?” He automatically assumes it is ‘technicality of fighting’ and completely dismisses it.
Oh well. Smash Brother fans get to enjoy Nintendo condescension with the rest of us now.
BTW, why is Sakurai mentioning Kirby? No one buys Kirby. Of course, Nintendo keeps making games with him even though I’ve never heard anyone say, “You know what I want? Another Kirby game”.