Super Smash Bros. is Done With New Characters

[Cognimancer]

Super Smash Bros. is Done With New Characters

Nintendo's hit brawler may have already maxed out its roster.


The original Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 featured 12 playable characters from a variety of Nintendo franchises. Super Smash Bros. Melee made use of the Gamecube's hardware to realize 25 characters, more than twice the original cast. Super Smash Bros. Brawl upped the count to 35 playable characters on the Wii. So with a Wii U Smash Bros. title in the works, how many new characters will this installment bring? Well, possibly none.

Series creator Masahiro Sakurai is cautious about continuing to expand the already massive list of characters. "It isn't a matter of 'if the next game has 50 characters, that'll be enough,'" Sakurai said in an interview with Nintendo Power. "There is a certain charm to games that have huge casts of playable characters, but they tend to have issues with game balance and it becomes very difficult to fine-tune each character and have them all feel distinctive."

"In terms of quantity, we've probably already reached the limit of what's feasible. I think a change of direction may be what's needed."

These are wise words to fans of fighting games. Many criticized Super Smash Bros. Brawl for having some notably unbalanced characters, while other characters were carbon copies of each other (I'm looking at you, Team Star Fox). With a focus on quality over quantity, and some fresh ideas from co-developer Namco Bandai [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118051-Next-Super-Smash-Bros-Gets-a-New-Developer], the series may be in for some unexpected turns.

Source: Official Nintendo Magazine [http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/39783/smash-bros-wii-u-may-not-feature-more-characters/]

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[Waaghpowa]

Give me back Mewtwo, and I wont give a shit what you add or don't add.

 

[greasedweasel]

Travis Touchdown pls. That will be all.

 

[Theminimanx]

What is this "balance" you speak of? I know only Meta Knight.

 

[Space Jawa]

Even if they don't expand the overall number of characters, they could at least replace some of the fighters present in Brawl. Toon Link could stand to be shown the door, we don't need both (or either of) Falco and Star Wolf, and Lucario could easily be swapped out for another new pokemon if Mewtwo doesn't reclaim his place. That right there is three to four characters that could be swapped out to bring in new characters or bring back characters who were dropped from Melee.

 

[Fappy]

They need to smack Square upside the head and let them use Geno. If not I will settle for Kamek.

 

[SodaDew]

I was really looking foreword to this game, now not so much.

 

[jayzz911]

That it might be hard to fine tune the characters might be a valid argument if the older characters didn't use the same moves as in the last game. Now if everyone had a new movelist I could see where they're coming from if not and they just make the same characters and a nerf to meta knight, this game wouldn't have a lot going for it.

 

[Terminate421]

I'm tired of the Mewtwo/Lucario War. Since their attacks are virtually similar, just have them as skins.

 

[JWRosser]

Well that's silly. What's the point in releasing a new game with no new characters? Just patch the old one if you're going to do that...

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Well that's silly. What's the point in releasing a new game with no new characters? Just patch the old one if you're going to do that...

1. They have a new system, and it is a Nintendo law that their always is a new mario, zelda, and smash bros on a new console.

2. You can't patch the Wii very easily. Only two games ever had (Call of Duty Blops and MW3), and they had to stretch the system to the limit to get it.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

Give me back Mewtwo, and I wont give a shit what you add or don't add.

Welp, I got beaten to this, but basically, ditto. I just want Mewtwo back, because Lucario is lame and the original 151 are better and I like Mewtwo.

Yep.

(Captcha: 'no dice.' Nintendo speaking through the ether?)

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I predict Lucario will be swapped out for Zoroark, however they'll have to change the moveset since Zoroark is less power based and more trick based.

They could stand to take some of the characters out and replace them with others, I didn't want to see Toon Link again in Brawl, I would have preferred Midna.

 

[Mike Kayatta]

So, I read "In terms of quantity, we've probably already reached the limit of what's feasible. I think a change of direction may be what's needed" as "We'll still have 35 characters, but they won't be the same 35." If that's the case, that doesn't seem like a huge deal. Some of the characters included were more for "hey, look; it's your favoritest Nintendo dude!" more than creating actually viable options for even moderately skilled players.

Basically, I don't think we won't see new characters, I just think the ones that we do see will replace some of the others.

Personally, I would be all for downgrading the "clones" to skins, and dialing back the roster to 25 really well-thought-out, balanced fighters. Then again, I was severely disappointed with Brawl, so without knowing what direction Nintendo is taking the series this time around, it's hard to say what the best move is.

 

[Frostbite3789]

It's cool that you have 35 characters. If only some of them weren't copy and pasted movesets with a different skin.

I'm looking at you Star Fox team.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Give me back Mewtwo, and I wont give a shit what you add or don't add.

Welp, I got beaten to this, but basically, ditto. I just want Mewtwo back, because Lucario is lame and the original 151 are better and I like Mewtwo.

Yep.

(Captcha: 'no dice.' Nintendo speaking through the ether?)

Mewtwo: The only character where you could say "Fuck you" by KO throwing someone straight up.

 

[The Great JT]

If they want to put a cap on characters, I have no problem with that.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

I'd be down with them dialling back to 25, if I wasn't also sure we'd end up with 5 of them being Star Fox Characters (Fox, Falco, Wolf, Krystal... Slippy? I dunno, I'm sure Nintendo can dig deep and find more Star Fox characters to have as clones).

My biggest issue with Smash Bros is also the only issue I have with Assassin's Creed 3, "We say one thing, then do another". For Smash Bros it was "We won't do any more clones" then adding Wolf and Toon Link, for AC3 it's "We aren't picking sides" and the latest trailer has the slogan "July 4th, ignite the revolution" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1OvvLH2w6Q]. I'm getting put off both by the idea the developers are just disingenuous :-/. Going off the releases for Brawl, I'm expecting a roster of 40+ with plenty of clones unless I see a reason to think otherwise.

 

[JediMB]

I'm tired of the Mewtwo/Lucario War. Since their attacks are virtually similar, just have them as skins.

Very much this.

Rather than just having different color schemes available for the characters, they could let you choose between multiple characters using the same moves. So all of Team Star Fox could be there, but you could only pick Slippy (or whoever your favorite is) by unlocking him as an alternate form of Fox.

On the character selection screen, that could be shown with a set of small Team Star Fox icons in a circle around Fox's face.