At the tail end of the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U "50-Fact Extravaganza" video, Mewtwo was announced as a DLC character, set to arrive in Spring 2015 and free for players who own copies of both the Wii U and 3DS games. This understandably excites fans, since it opens the door for additional stages, fighters, and other content. You might want to check your expectations, however — Mewtwo sounds like a one-off deal.
In an interview with VideoGamer.com, Smash director Masahiro Sakurai explained that there are many financial and psychological hurdles in the way of proper DLC:
I understand that DLC could add a lot to the appeal of Smash Bros., and I appreciate that a major part of the excitement for these games come from which characters will appear in the roster, so I think fans could really enjoy DLC that could keep this excitement going. However, I think there might be criticism that we are cutting up content to sell characters one by one, or that we are adding things later that should have been there from the start.
He adds that there currently isn't any paid DLC being worked on, and that even creating a single new character would require a huge investment of time and manpower. That doesn't mean, however, that the team won't be closely weighing their options going forward.
So then why are we getting Mewtwo? As Sakurai told IGN:
As for why Mewtwo isn't paid content from the start, releasing that character is an experiment meant to act as a foothold in content distribution; thus it's simply meant as part of the service we're providing to gamers.
Mewtwo could lead to more DLC, or it could not. Jus don't get your hopes up.
In a way, I understand where Sakurai is coming from. Whether it's true or not, some players will always see DLC as content that was deliberately removed from a completed product to be sold separately at a later date. I appreciate Sakurai's ethical stance here, but with Mario Kart 8's proving just how wonderful DLC for a major Nintendo game could be, it seems criminal not to try the same with Smash.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U arrives this Friday, November 21.
