UPDATE
Does this breakdown help you appreciate the two games more? Do you have the urge to go play them now? Let us know below!
ORIGINAL STORY
Masahiro Sakurai has been doing incredibly with his “Creating Games” series on YouTube. Fans worldwide have come to watch his videos about the gaming industry, his time in it, and most importantly, the video games that he’s developed as a part of Nintendo and as a freelancer. Today was the latest entry in his “Game Concepts” line of videos, and the video game he broke down this time was Super Smash Bros For 3DS and Wii U. These titles were very unique compared to the titles that came before and the one that came after, so there was much to speak about.
For example, from the beginning, Masahiro Sakurai knew that there would be “unique challenges” to making the games work and feel special on the two platforms. After all, the 3DS had mobility, but it also had less graphical and processing power. Meanwhile, the Wii U was an HD platform that could handle high-end graphics, but they couldn’t go “all in” on that one and then leave the 3DS version bare.
As a result, Sakurai compromised and streamlined things so the games would have the same core gameplay, animations, and more but would rely on their strengths to deliver fresh experiences to the player. That’s why the 3DS version had the mode “Smash Run,” while the Wii U version had “Smash Tour.” It’s also why the Wii U could allow up to eight players to be on a single system while the 3DS fully embraced the 3D slider feature, so you could make the game pop if you wanted.
Another key thing that Sakurai noted was that the game’s development was helped heavily by Bandai Namco Studios. Nintendo announced early on that they were working on the game, so there weren’t rumors about why Sakurai was walking around their offices. As we would find out, they took a heavy burden off of Sakurai and were instrumental in key elements of both versions working out. That included the 3DS version running at 60 FPS, which Sakurai insisted on.
Just as important was that the 3DS and Wii U versions brought many things to the series for the first time. For example, the character trailers became events thanks to these games. Likewise, DLC characters were able to happen thanks to being able to do online updates. Additionally, the Amiibo was born for these games, becoming another “event” for gamers when new ones were released.
You can check the full video out below: