Sakurai continues to be divisively honest when it comes to Super Smash Bros as a competitive game, as he elaborated on in yesterday’s interview.
Asked about how people play Smash, Sakurai elaborated that there may be people who prefer serious competition, others who are happy with casual play, some who play with their amiibos, and that it’s good to have different ways to play it. Sakurai then elaborates on the differences between Smash and other fighting games and how the competitive scene should view the game.
Sakurai states flat out that other fighting games are more suited to competitive play, and, in the most contentious quote from the interview, that for Smash competitive players, the game has no future.
This statement has to be taken in context of what else Sakurai says in this quote, which runs along the lines of keeping the game’s appeal to more casual players.
As Sakurai points out, Smash is deliberately designed and developed differently from other fighting games, like Street Fighter or Guilty Gear. Whereas those games play faster, and have more command inputs, Smash is designed so that beginners can play it.
There is some technical skill required to play Smash, but Sakurai wants players to focus more on the feelings of playing Smash (winning and losing, and the desire to play again) than to have to worry about other elements, such as technique or move execution.
Sakurai makes a strange analogy regarding Smash’s development. To him, making Smash more competitive friendly, or as he puts it, spectator friendly, is akin to a mountain that tapers to a peak. The higher that mountain becomes, the smaller that peak gets. Perhaps by this narrowing peak he refers to the possible narrowing of the game’s fanbase.
Overall, Sakurai sums this part of the interview by describing Smash as nebulous and ambiguous compared to other fighting games.
The way I see it, Sakurai is not referring to Super Smash Bros for Wii U or 3DS as it is designed now. Competitive fans who have played the game attest that it is a huge improvement over Brawl, and it has potential as a competitive game.
However, Sakurai wants to stem any further fan demand for game patches. Sakurai sees that fans want the patches to make the game more competitive, but he has already set a balance between competitive and casual play, and he does not want to change it further in the future. In that sense, Smash for competitive play has no future.
How do you feel about Sakurai’s statement? Would you agree with my interpretation of his intent? Do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
