Recently, Hideki Kamiya noted that every main developer in the video game world has a different style and way of viewing things, and that’s why many of them can’t work together on certain projects. Masahiro Sakurai is definitely one of those people, as he’s had many views of the gaming world via his experiences, and he’s tried his best to express those views in the “Creating Games” series on YouTube. In his latest video, he revealed that there have been times when Nintendo has come to him for advice not on software but on hardware. And one of his biggest pieces of advice is something they still haven’t done to this day.
What would that be? Well, he wanted a “scroll wheel” on the controller of Nintendo’s system ever since he worked on Super Smash Bros Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube. He noted that mice on computers have this feature, and it’s a really useful one. He highlights how this simple addition could be used to help players get through members quicker and have faster reaction times for certain scrolling options.
This might seem odd for Sakurai to want, but as he states in the video, it’s all about getting the input done quickly so they can move on to the next thing. When he’s playing games, he wants to get through menus and UI options quickly. A scroll wheel can help with that because it is simple to move up and down with them. He even showed a piece of art showcasing where the wheel would’ve been on the controller had they done it. He even highlighted how the wheel had a very “tactile” feel to it, and thus it would’ve helped with the “immersion” of the video game, especially if its functions were applied to gameplay elements.
So why didn’t Nintendo put it in the Gamecube controller? He admits that while a scroll wheel is useful, it tends to be rather big and thus might have been a bit difficult to fit into the controller. And when you think about the Nintendo Wii, the Wiimote and Nunchuk combo wouldn’t have been a much better place to have that wheel, same with the Joy-Cons on the Nintendo Switch.
That doesn’t mean that Masahiro Sakurai was wrong for making that suggestion, as he still feels it’s a good way to get the quickness of scrolling done versus the buttons and joystick taps that players do now. Check out the full video below!
