Report: Smash Bros. 6 Already Being Prepped For 2015

[Steven Bogos]

Report: Smash Bros. 6 Already Being Prepped For 2015

A recruitment listing from Bandai Namco has cropped up, for a "Smash Bros. 6," scheduled for release in 2015.

There are a few things we know in life to be fact. Grass grows, birds fly, the sun shines, and Nintendo only ever releases one Super Smash Bros. game per console generation. Except that may be about to change, going by a leaked recruitment listing from Bandai Namco, who is developing the new game. The listing, which was quickly pulled on discovery by Japanese outlet Game Jouhou [http://remoon.blog15.fc2.com/blog-entry-30079.html], was for something called "Smash Bros. 6" due for release in 2015.

The recruitment page was specifically looking for programmers, and notes that the project currently has 120 people working on it, and they expect that number to increase to 200. At the moment, they're in need of people for various roles, who will then be put into different teams to handle characters, stages, 3D programming, motion, game mode, mini-games, menu, UI, and more.

The page was accompanied by the following message:

"Social games are currently a big hit, but the current state of job opportunities for making retail games is critically low. In the midst of this, this will likely be your only chance to be part of a development project for the Smash Bros. [series], which has surpassed a total of 10 million in worldwide sales. And Bandai Namco believes that now is the best time to recruit programmers for retail games."

So what can we draw from this? First of all, there have only really been three Smash Bros. games: Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The currently-in-development titles for the Wii U and 3DS would be number 4. So, there are two conclusions we can draw from the listing.

The first, is that the "6" is simply a typo or miss-communication, and the Smash Bros. game that is currently in development for Wii U and 3DS has been pushed back to 2015.

The second, is that they are considering the Wii U and 3DS versions of the new game as "Smash Bros. 4" and "Smash Bros. 5" respectively, and a sixth title is in development for 2015.

Siliconera notes that "while the original recruitment page has apparently been deleted from e-career FA, it doesn't appear to be fake. Tatsuya Matsumura, a consultant who uploaded the ad, seems to still have all of his other recruitment ads live on the website, which includes career opportunities for other companies such as Square Enix, Capcom, Tecmo Koei, and various mobile developers."

Hopefully we'll learn more about this during tomorrow's Smash Bros.-focused Nintendo Direct [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133489-Super-Smash-Bros-For-3DS-Wii-U-Nintendo-Direct-Coming-Soon].

Source: Siliconera [http://remoon.blog15.fc2.com/blog-entry-30079.html]

Permalink

 

[xaszatm]

There have been two theories that what this means:

1. The advertisement was meant for Soul Caliber 6. This is because the first sentence doesn't matches Nintendo's philosophy but matches Namco's. Secondly, Smash Bros has sold over 20 million so saying 10 million implies another series. Finally, Soul Caliber will be the sixth if the release a new game.

2. The advertisement was to bring Smash Bros to arcades. This is a bit more baseless, but since Smash only appears once per generation, this was the step most likely to happen if Smash is doing a 6th. Namco has done Mario Kart Arcade before so it isn't out of the question.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

6??? We haven't even had 5 yet. Also why is Namco Bandi advertising this? There has to be an error there somewhere.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

6??? We haven't even had 5 yet. Also why is Namco Bandi advertising this? There has to be an error there somewhere.

That's the main theory; especially since there's no way Nintendo would let something like that leak. They always keep things on the down-low so something like this coming out of nowhere seems unlikely. And, as mentioned above, the SSB series has sold 20 mil, not 10. Not exactly adding up correctly.

 

[xaszatm]

6??? We haven't even had 5 yet. Also why is Namco Bandi advertising this? There has to be an error there somewhere.

Apparently, the Wii U and 3DS versions are 4 and 5 though I haven't seen any information confirming this so take it with a cart of salt.

 

[Hero of Lime]

That is really odd. I'll just assume it's an error of some kind until we get a confirmation or denial. Who knows, this may come out in the Smash Bros. Direct today, but I am pretty sure it's an error.

Maybe Namco is going to make a Smash Bros-like game with their characters, and Smash Bros. 6 is just a placeholder name. That would be interesting.

 

[Mr. Q]

I'm guessing this is a mistake or a typo. It is way too soon for a SSB sequel when the latest one for WiiU and 3DS has yet to come out. Hope there will be some clarification on this soon.

 

[lacktheknack]

Not gonna lie, if we get three SSBs in two years, that would be hilarious and amazing.

Dare to dream, right?

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Maybe you should write [Obvious false rumor] instead of [Report] in the title because that one is obviously either fake or a mistake in the text. Neither does it seem like Nintendo's philosophy to release sequels that often nor does it make sense considering we're getting SSB4 only now which means we would need to get 2 more in the next year to get to 6.
It's like Soul Calibur 6.

 

[Risingblade]

We're on 6 already? I thought we were on 4

 

[Canadamus Prime]

6??? We haven't even had 5 yet. Also why is Namco Bandi advertising this? There has to be an error there somewhere.

Apparently, the Wii U and 3DS versions are 4 and 5 though I haven't seen any information confirming this so take it with a cart of salt.

Yeah I'm not exactly buying that explanation.

 

[Plucky]

Im thinking either Bandai Namco is a little too optimistic. or someone in the melange of companies wants Smash Bros to go the way of Street Fighter. think of it, have one mode exclusive for the 3DS version, have features exclusive to the Wii U version. then after a whole year, they release Smash Bros 6 as some sort of Super Hyper Ultimate edition. the 3DS-Exclusive mode could probably be fit to the Wii U version by just having 1 large stage and the ability to dip in and out of matches if people leaves.

Sorta don't want Smash Bros to become a yearly franchise, or try to weasel more sales by having super ultra mega versions, or ones with lots of costumes...even with previous examples of that being 3rd versions of Pokemon, it felt special having newcomers being revealed. and with Nintendo's track record with online, i'd doubt people would stick around 1 version of Smash for long...even if assuming remake/improved editions isn't compatible.