Super Smash Bros., Director, talks about the process and character development

By Nick Santangelo

With 74 playable characters, the Super Smash Bros. alignment. Ultimate is superimposed, and the creator of the series, Masahiro Sakurai, recently explained to Game Informer how everyone was chosen and developed.

Sakurai, who said "it's actually a miracle" every time Nintendo creates a new Smash Bros. game, wanted to realize the dream of including all the previous fighters. His team did that, then some, adding 11 new characters to the previous 63 used. But even that did not satisfy all fans of Smash.

"There will be people who could be disappointed if fighters who appeared in a previous title are not included," Sakurai said. "I did not want players to feel that, so we worked very hard to make that happen.

"But what I've learned is that despite all our efforts, whatever our efforts and the number of fighters we include, there will always be people who feel that."

Sakurai went on to explain that the team chooses all the characters that will appear in all Smash games from the beginning of development. No characters are added or removed afterwards.

It may sound strange, since the Pokemon Incineroar was not created before the development of Ultimate started, but Sakurai planned this and deliberately left a free slot in the Pokemon list, knowing that Nintendo was working on a new game.

In choosing the characters, Sakurai takes into account the need to balance the alignment with what character fans vote for Smash Bros. Nintendo Fighter Nerd. After that, it's about finding a way to make these characters and their scenes authentic.

"You can not expect it, but just reproduce the original work does not come out as it should," said Sakurai. "By putting the emphasis on exaggerations, we are able to create elements so that something realistic and comical does not seem embarrassing."

"It's essential to know each character thoroughly, and sometimes the staff deepens the original work and adds even better elements."

Sakurai said he felt "speechless" after seeing the fans' reaction to the Ultimate character, but his goal is not to surprise his fans. The Piranha factory was nevertheless a surprise, but Sakurai chose it for unconvincing reasons.

"I think rather that it's important to have a good balance as a game. In previous titles of the series, Mr. Game & Watch, ROB and Duck Hunt Dog were just some of the examples that we quoted outside the usual expectations of people, "he said. has explained. "However, if we do not have this type of fighters and if we only had typical hero / heroin fighters in training, there is not much difference. interesting, not true? "

Japanese fans can soon get their hands on a amiibo version of Piranha Plant and 62 other ultimate characters in one set. Before the launch of Smash Bros. Ultimate on December 7th, all fans can read the story mode of World of Light.

Nick Santangelo is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He thinks Waluigi is cool, but megafans have to calm down. Follow Nick on Twitter.