Sakurai don't wanna make these games anymore. He is quoted saying Smash 4 might be his last game ever. Can't blame him. The pressure from these games and all the energy they take is crazy. The development stories I find interesting. Like Melee had a very short development time in order to keep up with the Gamecube's release. Brawl was never supposed to happen, and Nintendo had to convince him to even make it. 

 

A lot of this reminds me of Hideo Kojima who had struggles leaving Metal Gear Solid. He wanted to stop after MGS2 but he couldn't separate himself. MGS3 was a prequel to everything so fans demanded a continuation to the story because MGS2 was the latest entry into the story. Then came the depressing MGS4. Which Kojima was like "Fine, you want a new game? Here you go." Thankfully, MGS5 is coming out and Kojima actually is wanting to make that game. 

 

I think Sakurai will be able to walk away from Smash or development all together after what has happen and the way he is saying things. There is a chance that that can change but I don't think it will. I may be wrong. I don't think the Smash bros series will end if he leaves because they make mad money and Nintendo won't allow that to end. They would get someone else on the project. I think without Sakurai, Smash wouldn't be a good as would be if it was under him. 

 

Just something I find kinda interesting. Kojima and Sakurai are actually good friends BTW, whole reason Snake is in Brawl. 

Edited February 8, 201510 yr by Skhyatze

I think future Smash games will still be good without Sakurai, but they won't have the same charm and passion that Sakurai's poured into every entry in the series so far. I understand his decision to leave development, knowing how much work it puts on him, but I get a feeling Smash 4 will always be my favorite if Sakurai really does stop working on the series. He had a level of dedication that most game developers lack, and that's why his games are all so great. It's going to be sad if he ends up leaving Nintendo, but if he does, he went out with a bang.

Is there someone from it's development team he could pass the torch to?

Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see.

On another note, if the next Smash does end up sucking, as long as it has a Story mode and maybe miraculously they added a KH character, I will buy the hell out of that game.

And besides, there's already plenty of smash games out already, so all they have to do is just make the exact same thing with a few added features.

Even though Sakura does make the game what it is, its still easily replicated. They already have an established base with the rest of the Smash games, all they need to do is replicate it and add new features and such. Will it be has extensive? Who knows, maybe it will, maybe it wont. Regardless, Smash will still be good and if the new guy firetrucks it up then he really sucks.

 

Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see.
On another note, if the next Smash does end up sucking, as long as it has a Story mode and maybe miraculously they added a KH character, I will buy the hell out of that game.
And besides, there's already plenty of smash games out already, so all they have to do is just make the exact same thing with a few added features.

 

Someone needs to be added in really. Its KH, it can fit so well despite being mainly a non-nintendo game (KH3D, KH Days, and Re:Coded make it even more justified but the numbered games are on other consoles). Seeing as we have gotten Snake and Mega Man (he's a Sega character right?), it has a good chance at being the playable character from another console thing they have going on.

I'd rather this be the last, definitive game that gets constant updates, but that'll never happen.

Sakurai says every smash game is the last one since Melee, so you kind of have to take it with a grain of salt at this point. lolThat said, while Sakurai is obviously a very good game designer, the attitude he has for the games has also been detrimental to them. The only reason Brawl was such a slow-paced game with random mechanics like tripping was because of how much he hated the competitive scene that came out of Melee and made sure to destroy mechanics he already knew about during development such as wavedashing, and he even did things like took out edge-hogging in the newest game.I'm not saying Melee was the only good Smash game (since tbh SSB4 is probably the best one yet since it's basically a faster-paced and less floaty Brawl), but even if Sakurai is really leaving this time around, I don't think that is necessarily a red flag for the quality of future installments as a whole.

Well Smash 4 wasn't very good, so

Brawl was never supposed to happen, and Nintendo had to convince him to even make it. 

How do you know? Where's the source?

Even though Sakura does make the game what it is, its still easily replicated. They already have an established base with the rest of the Smash games, all they need to do is replicate it and add new features and such. Will it be has extensive? Who knows, maybe it will, maybe it wont. Regardless, Smash will still be good and if the new guy firetrucks it up then he really sucks.

 

 

Someone needs to be added in really. Its KH, it can fit so well despite being mainly a non-nintendo game (KH3D, KH Days, and Re:Coded make it even more justified but the numbered games are on other consoles). Seeing as we have gotten Snake and Mega Man (he's a Sega character right?), it has a good chance at being the playable character from another console thing they have going on.

The difference is that unless the new person is as dedicated and experienced as Sakurai is, there's a chance we won't get the same level of detail by the time Smash 5 rolls around. Sakurai's dedication towards making his fans happy is what makes the Smash games so good.

 

Also, KH wouldn't fit in Smash since it's never had a major impact on Nintendo as a company, or the development of Smash. Sonic was in because of Nintendo and Sega's old rivalry, Snake was in because Kojima and Sakurai are really close friends and Kojima asked for Snake to be added (And Sakurai doesn't seem to think Snake fit, considering he was cut from Smash 4), Mega Man was one of the most iconic platformers on the NES, and Pac-Man was added since Namco helped develop Smash 4. All that KH really did was have a few games on Nintendo systems, it never had a big place in the company's history. Unless Sakurai and Nomura have secretly been best friends since childhood or something, we won't be getting Sora or anyone else since KH doesn't have that relation to the company. If we got a Square character, it would probably be someone from an older FF game or something like that.

 

Sakurai says every smash game is the last one since Melee, so you kind of have to take it with a grain of salt at this point. lol

 

That said, while Sakurai is obviously a very good game designer, the attitude he has for the games has also been detrimental to them. The only reason Brawl was such a slow-paced game with random mechanics like tripping was because of how much he hated the competitive scene that came out of Melee and made sure to destroy mechanics he already knew about during development such as wavedashing, and he even did things like took out edge-hogging in the newest game.

 

I'm not saying Melee was the only good Smash game (since tbh SSB4 is probably the best one yet since it's basically a faster-paced and less floaty Brawl), but even if Sakurai is really leaving this time around, I don't think that is necessarily a red flag for the quality of future installments as a whole.

Edge-hogging is one of the worst tactics the series has ever had, I don't see why anyone would complain about it being removed from the game. It's incredibly cheap and ruins the fun of a match.

 

Well Smash 4 wasn't very good, so

The only people who I've seen say this were the Melee fans, and you. Smash 4 is generally considered to be a fantastic game.

The only people who I've seen say this were the Melee fans, and you. Smash 4 is generally considered to be a fantastic game.

Well I would say Melee was a better game

Maybe it's people who have been around longer and want a bit more out of games, I dunno

Well I would say Melee was a better game

Maybe it's people who have been around longer and want a bit more out of games, I dunno

I've been playing games almost my entire life. I might not have gotten into Smash until Brawl, but I can say that the amount of time people have spent with games doesn't give them a set belief on what games should have. Smash 4 had a lot of content, much more than Melee did. In fact, the only thing it really removed from Brawl was a story mode, and the story mode in Brawl sucked. Smash is a party game, and Smash 4 was fantastic in that sense.

I've been playing games almost my entire life. I might not have gotten into Smash until Brawl, but I can say that the amount of time people have spent with games doesn't give them a set belief on what games should have. Smash 4 had a lot of content, much more than Melee did. In fact, the only thing it really removed from Brawl was a story mode, and the story mode in Brawl sucked. Smash is a party game, and Smash 4 was fantastic in that sense.

it has a lot of content, sure, but it lacks heart. Melee was the product of pure passion. Sakurai legitimately poured himself into topping the original in every way. That's what makes it beloved. It has a good balance of characters, and features for pretty much anybody. Basically no fluff. Adventure Mode was good, Event Matches were fun, versus was tight, if not balanced. Sure Smash 4 and Brawl beat it for features but... that's quantity. I can live without 30 second trials of Donkey Kong, ten thousand trophies, a hundred thousand stickers, and remarkably boring equipment and custom moves. It's a mask. The actual content in Smash 4 and Brawl has barely changed since Melee. In a lot of cases there are less now than there was then. And for what? a lot of filler. Smash 4 even managed to make the number of characters a negative in my eyes, because the only single player content for the most part was "play this mode with all doggamn 51 characters"

it has a lot of content, sure, but it lacks heart. Melee was the product of pure passion. Sakurai legitimately poured himself into topping the original in every way. That's what makes it beloved. It has a good balance of characters, and features for pretty much anybody. Basically no fluff. Adventure Mode was good, Event Matches were fun, versus was tight, if not balanced. Sure Smash 4 and Brawl beat it for features but... that's quantity. I can live without 30 second trials of Donkey Kong, ten thousand trophies, a hundred thousand stickers, and remarkably boring equipment and custom moves. It's a mask. The actual content in Smash 4 and Brawl has barely changed since Melee. In a lot of cases there are less now than there was then. And for what? a lot of filler. Smash 4 even managed to make the number of characters a negative in my eyes, because the only single player content for the most part was "play this mode with all doggamn 51 characters"

And Smash 4 wasn't the product of pure passion? The many nights Sakurai reported on working overtime to put in as much effort as he possibly could to make this the greatest Smash game wasn't passionate enough? The fact that Sakurai actually worked himself to injury doesn't prove that he poured his heart into this game, and wanted nothing more than to make his fans happy, even putting them above himself? Sure, it has a lot of extra content that might not have been needed, but I fail to see how that can really be considered a negative if it adds more content. The formula is arguably better than ever (I far prefer it over Melee's clunky physics), and playing solo with all 51 characters might take a long time, but would you really have the same small roster we've had since Melee? A lot of people have found new favorites in the roster (As much as I love Ness and Zelda, Shulk is easily my favorite character in the series), and a lot of the new characters actually had some cool mechanics. The customization helped to make the game even more open, thanks to the alternate moves that could be unlocked and switched out. The stats might not have been as interesting, but it's all something that a lot of people can use to gain more play time out of the game. Eight Player Smash negated the possibility of having a fifth wheel, and as almost anyone who's actually played with 7 other human players can say, it's an incredibly fun new mode. Masterpieces allow people who want to know more about a specific character to actually try out one of their games to see how much they like it, opening fans up to new gaming opportunities with a short trial. Sakurai put a ton of work and heart into making Smash 4 the best in the series, and I've only ever seen the Melee players who will bash anything that's not Melee say anything bad about the game.

And Smash 4 wasn't the product of pure passion? The many nights Sakurai reported on working overtime to put in as much effort as he possibly could to make this the greatest Smash game wasn't passionate enough? The fact that Sakurai actually worked himself to injury doesn't prove that he poured his heart into this game, and wanted nothing more than to make his fans happy, even putting them above himself? Sure, it has a lot of extra content that might not have been needed, but I fail to see how that can really be considered a negative if it adds more content. The formula is arguably better than ever (I far prefer it over Melee's clunky physics), and playing solo with all 51 characters might take a long time, but would you really have the same small roster we've had since Melee? A lot of people have found new favorites in the roster (As much as I love Ness and Zelda, Shulk is easily my favorite character in the series), and a lot of the new characters actually had some cool mechanics. The customization helped to make the game even more open, thanks to the alternate moves that could be unlocked and switched out. The stats might not have been as interesting, but it's all something that a lot of people can use to gain more play time out of the game. Eight Player Smash negated the possibility of having a fifth wheel, and as almost anyone who's actually played with 7 other human players can say, it's an incredibly fun new mode. Masterpieces allow people who want to know more about a specific character to actually try out one of their games to see how much they like it, opening fans up to new gaming opportunities with a short trial. Sakurai put a ton of work and heart into making Smash 4 the best in the series, and I've only ever seen the Melee players who will bash anything that's not Melee say anything bad about the game.

It's not a product of pure passion. Look at Sakurai, he WANTS to quit. He's trying to satisfy his fans and he SHOULDN'T be because his heart isn't there. Nintendo drops these games on him without warning and he takes on the burden because he'd most likely feel guilty otherwise, or is too proud to let someone else take on the reigns. Being injured isn't the sign of passion, it's the sign of being injured. It happens.

Extra content takes effort to make. A more focused design with less fluff is ultimately a better experience. I don't have an answer to the small roster thing. Obviously there needs to be new characters, but frankly the 51 character march for singleplayer content wouldn't be that bad if there was something ELSE to do to break it up.

The alternate moves are one of my bigger disappointments about Smash 4, they're such superficial lazy changes, outside of some obviously favourited characters. Palutena gets a suite of diverse moves while everybody else gets the attack but now its on fire, or the jump not quite as high but do more damage. 8 player smash is pretty cool. Doesn't eliminate the fifth wheel though, they're just called the ninth wheel now. Though I'm not sure how practical it is to have eight controllers, that's a lot more controllers than the average person needs to actually play most games. Even if I were able to to find a gamecube adaptor that leaves me with a total of five compatible controllers. It's a good new feature though, it's not like I ever said Smash 4 was devoid of good qualities though. I just find the negative more overwhelming.

Masterpieces MIGHT do that if they had a less strict time limit. Ever since Nintendo realized they could sell their old and virtually worthless games back to people for 10 bucks they've been way too afraid of letting people sink their teeth into their games. The Gamecube version of Animal Crossing came with multiple unlockable NES games. Nowadays Nintendo demos have limited uses. Let a person explore a dungeon in Majora's Mask, a world of Super Mario Bros, a mission of Star Fox 64, and you might get people hooked. But with the current time limits your fun is over before it even starts.

Personally I think people claiming Smash 4 is the best entry are being blinded by the shine of the newness factor. I'd rank Brawl higher than Smash 4 as well, it's now limited to Melee being superior. Smash 4 has excellently honed balance in terms of mechanics, but the features aren't there. Maybe if Smash 3DS ad Wii U were released as a single game, but they weren't. And it shows. These are the most hollow entries in the series