Super Smash Bros Changing Direction on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Creator, Masahiro Sakurai, says change is to come in the newest installment of the venerable franchise.
The Super Smash Bros. series is one of Nintendo’s finest. Ever since the original came out on the Nintendo 64, gamers have been duking it out with the likes of Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and Kirby, for hours on end. Through the three iterations that the game has had, not much has changed about the overall experience. The combat and control mechanics remain largely the same while more and more characters continue to join the fray. In a recent interview with R4i3dshouse, the creator of this beloved series has said that things will be changing for the franchise on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Is that a good thing though?
“As you noted, there is a certain dead end we come to if we just expand the volume of the game,”
As with any series that continues to add content without expanding upon the ideas in the game, things can go wrong. There is only so long that you can continue to expand a character roster without really changing the game. Luckily for us, Sakurai seems to understand this very well. As he recently showed gamers with his revival of Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sakurai isn’t one to sit around and use the same ideas that a series is known for. In fact, he turned that franchise completely on its head and delivered a fun, fast experience that was unlike what fans would have ever expected from Kid Icarus. Can he do that again with the next Super Smash Bros. game though?
I intend to change direction a little as we go. The key to that’s going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U. I’m really just getting started on this so it’s going to take time, but I’ll come up with something that uses that link as the game’s central axis, so I hope you’re looking forward to it.
It sounds a lot like Sakurai is going to be using the Wii U and 3DS connectivity in some interesting ways. If he plans to make the link between the systems an integral part of the game, could we be expecting wi-fi battles between the Wii U version and the 3DS version of the game? I would absolutely love to see that. I could see Nintendo giving gamers without a stable internet connection a way to play against console players while using their 3DS and that sounds extremely fun to me.
It could also mean that we might see special characters or stages exclusive to the R4i 3DS or Wii U. By connecting with a friend on either system, perhaps you could expand your character roster or help that player out on the campaign with a character they haven’t unlocked yet. An online co-op campaign would be loads of fun and I hope we get that when the new Super Smash Bros. arrives sometime in the future. What features do you hope Sakurai adds to the new games?