Honestly, I think the 3DS is going to be the biggest roadblock when it comes to the idea of DLC. Is it even possible to patch/change a game on that system?
By the way, I thought I’d take a shot at translating the translations in that interview ( neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=603986 ) as some lines are a little nebulous. Do note that some of his answers, such as the one on save transfers, were valid as-is and bear no further re-translation. Edit, clarification: Any translation referring to ‘you guys’ or broad groups means “general gamers” and not specifically SRK readers, as Sakurai’s responses were to a general gaming audience publication.
[details=Spoiler]PN:In the E3 2013 Developer Direct you mentions the fact that characters on 3DS are circled in black in lines in order to distinguish them a small screen.What kind of technical limitations did you have face on 3DS?Did you have to reduce the number of items or special effects on screen?
Sakurai: We had to take several factors into considerations to produce a satisfying experience for both platforms.[/details]
Translation: Well yeah, of course. Weaker hardware, smaller screen and resolution, different control layout. That’s kind of why we’re doing different stages for the 3DS version, among other changes that accept we’re working on a notably reduced system when one compares 3DS to Wii-U. If anyone is surprised by this, then we’re surprised you’re surprised. I just couldn’t say that outright because that’s not corporate-language-friendly; you don’t call your own hardware “weaker” than anything, even when comparing it to your other, obviously stronger, system.
[details=Spoiler]PN: In all your games, and especially in Kid Icarus Uprising and Smash Bros, the amount of game content is very important, with sometimes hundreds of hours of game.Why do you always put so much content in your games?Is it because you are not really fond of DLCs and instead prefer to have access to a complete game right away?
Sakurai: Oh it’s not that I dislike DLCs, it’s just that I don’t really have time to think about it.I’m too busy working on the game and put as much content as I can. The goal is to give a full and interesting game to players.
I’m not opposed to DLCs on principle. I really liked the Fallout 3 DLCs for example.[/details]
Translation: And by the way, to those of you who read way too far into every little thing I say up to and including what I ordered at a fast food place last night? That is not a character hint. You will not be seeing the Wanderer From Vault 101, their father (James), Threedog, or anyone else from Fallout 3 appearing in the game. Seriously. They have about as much to do with Nintendo as random anime characters do. Wait? You in the back, you wanted to ask me about…? …No! Nothing from Fallout 3! No characters, no items, no stages! No Fallout 3 in any fashion whatsoever! I was just saying I like the DLC structure Bethesda used for it and hypothetically we might maybe possibly not guaranteed potentially use it for Smash 4! Maybe! Sheesh!
[details=Spoiler]PN: You take an active part in your games’ playtesting, every nook and crannies: details, changes etc…You even playtest the multiplayer yourself.Why do you do that? Is it the only way for you to be sure that a game stays on the right path?
S: It’s hard for me to find an easy answer to a question like this one about the nature of my work. I can explain it this way: developing a game is way harder than it looks like from the outside.
That’s why I think the Director has to involve himself a lot and care about even the smallest details of his game, each gameplay elements. It’s hard for me to conceive developing a game any other way.[/details]
Translation: That said, I might need some help this time around. Sometimes I miss those ‘smallest details’ and we wind up with embarrassing mistakes like Snake’s tilt attacks having hitboxes that aren’t even vaguely close to what the art/animations would imply.
[details=Spoiler]PN: In Famitsu magazine a few months ago you said regretted not being able to patch SSBB on Wii, especially the online mode. This is not case anymore on Wii U and 3DS where it is possible to modify a game after its release. What aspects of the new SSB game will be scrutinized in prevision of possible patches?
S: It’s hard to tell right now but of course we always try to keep the best balance.Nevertheless I do not know yet if it will be easy to patch the games once they are released.For example, if you have a person playing a patched version of the game playing against a person without the patch problems may occur. We will have to do a lot of research about this.
That said I think patches are very important to keep the game balanced once it’s out.As you already know players are very interested in knowing whether a character is considered strong or weak on the Internet.
And sometimes you have to see if those perceptions are correct or if people are just following the popular opinion.We really want each character to have their special abilities, with statistics balancing their strong points.
We want to put forward specific each characters’ specific abilities but at the same time players have to ask themselves if they accept the Internet reputation of a character.It’s something we have to take into account when we will create patches.[/details]
Translation: I know this is asking a lot of you guys, but please don’t hivemind. Be willing to hit up training mode and experiment and see if something is really as awesome and unstoppable as it appears. I really don’t want to have to deal with all of you posting nonsense on the Miiverse about how so-and-so is cheap when you didn’t put in any work to deal with the tactic. Please understand when I say that, that this is coming from the person who directed the Kirby games, a series that includes a game where you cannot die. And in regard to tier lists, please use them responsibly as a way to gauge community opinion and frame meaningful discussion. They should not a be-all-end-all of a character’s worth.
[details=Spoiler]PN: With each new game in the series you added more stages, more characters, but Brawl felt less polished than its predecessors. For the new Smash are you going to change your approach by including less content but making sure the game is more polished?
S:Until now I always considered that I was responsible for each and every aspects of every characters, the balance of the game, to the point where I created each different attacks separately for every characters. I’ll share this work with other people this time around, to make sure a good balance can be found for this game.
In the past I was often overwhelmed and I’m trying to avoid that now.Of course working on a game like this one takes a huge amount of time, especially since we have to work on two different versions.Polishing and finding the right balance will take a lot of time. Of course I fully assume my role as a Director of those two games and test every aspects of them, but I also try to delegate some tasks.I try to focus on the things only I can take care of.[/details]
Translation: Per my remarks above, it turns out there were a few things I let slip last time around. It’s true. So for this game I’m not going to be such an obsessive control freak and accept that I’m working with a competent team that can help me with various tasks in this game. Hopefully this will result in Smash 4 being a stronger game than Brawl.
[details=Spoiler]PN: Will the new SSB have players created content, with a stage or character editor?
S: I’m sorry I can’t talk about this for the moment[/details]
Translation: We’d like to, and you should take this as a coy confirmation that we’re considering it to see how we can fit something along these lines in. That’s not a guarantee that it’ll be in. Please understand that the last time we did this, people found an exploit that allowed everyone to easily homebrew-enable their original Wiis. As much as consumers probably thought that was awesome (and it was!), here at Nintendo we’re kind of required to disagree with that and be really careful to avoid a repeat of this incident. So basically the answer is “Provisionally Yes; it has to fit our development time-table and we have to find a way to make it secure insofar as Nintendo’s interests are concerned. If either of these becomes a ‘Nope, can’t do it’, then the answer becomes No.”
[details=Spoiler]PN:Let’s talk a bit about the new characters, Megaman looks “normal” for the series, but the Villager and WFT who are pretty surprising choices, not so much.Why did you choose to include them in the game? Do you want to appeal to those games’ players?
S: The first thing I want to say about those characters is that they’re pretty fun to play with, and that I understand that people think that Megaman is perfectly suite for the series.
But when we decide to include characters in the series we ask ourselves: “What can this character do that existing ones cannot?” and so I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what Villager and WFT could do. I’ve realized that they were many interesting things to be done with these two characters.[/details]
Translation: C’mon guys, give them a chance. Princess Peach was a ‘surprising choice’ too because in the vast majority of the games she’s featured in, she cannot fight. Yet we made her a satisfying addition to the Smash roster nonetheless. Not every character has to be an obvious hero or badass. We’re going to throw some curveballs at you and we hope to do so in a way that makes you say “Heyyyy, that could be cool. I’m at least going to try them when the game is released.”
[details=Spoiler]
PN:You receive a lot of requests for new characters, from fans and even developers.Do you take those requests into account or would you rather keep your vision of how the game should be pure, keeping the sought-after balance intact?
S: Actually I do take into account fans requests.But the phase where I gather this information is already over and we’re currently adding content to the game.We always strive to put as much content as we can in our program.[/details]
Translation: We’ve finalized or nearly finalized our roster, just so you know. Doesn’t mean they’re game-complete yet, but we know who’s in and who’s not; all that’s left to do is actually create them in-game. You guys can keep playing roster theorycraft if you want, but the only way it’s going to matter is if we end up doing DLC. So please keep your expectations realistic from today onward.
(End article translation)
Yes. They did it already with Mario Kart 7, and are technically doing it with the Fire Emblem DLC.
As far as I know the only limit would be the size of the SD card.
That got me thinking, I will miss Ike since he for damn sure won’t be in Brawl. His heavy style was very fun to use and was a nice counter-balance to Marth.
Oh well =/
In this thread- People who do not own/have no idea how the 3DS works. Red Rick Dias, do you truly believe the 3DS has a lack of games? The damn thing’s library of quality titles-- actual video games, and not this “Triple A Experience” bullshit masquerading as games on the consoles-- outstrips its big console brothers in my opinion, with more great stuff coming down the pike. Not to mention having access to the DS library through the now non-existent on “next-gen” consoles advanced technology known as backwards compatibility…
Condescending tone aside, doesn’t Fire Emblem awakening have a metric ton of DLC characters/missions available? I’m sure if they really wanted to, DLC for Smash would not be a problem. That said, I DO NOT WANT CHARACTER DLC in Smash Bros. or any other fighting game… just look at all the crying over Scorpion in Injustice or how patch-happy in general Netherrealm is. Remember SFxT and the on disc DLC shenanigans? I don’t want that shit anywhere near Smash, or any other future fighter.
But all this will probably be flagged and shouted down, whilst people wonder why companies keep shoehorning all this crap into games… Because people keep foolishly BEGGING to be fucked in the ass with DLC…
I thought it was well-known that the 3DS is capable of patches and DLC? Guess not.
I don’t intend to vote you down, Po Pimpus. Instead, DS library excepted (which I immediately concede is full of good stuff, as my 3DS is often host to games from it) I would like you to enlighten me. I’m not saying that sarcastically; I honestly and truly want to hear more about which 3DS games you refer to. Please understand I picked one up at launch where it had only a handful of decent games with few to no true ‘system sellers’ at the time. Since then I’ve only been exposed to its bad and underwhelming titles, so at some point it’s possible I picked up a negative perception bias. I would like to have more good games for it in my collection. I know about Fire Emblem Awakening (and by the way, I agree that the DLC structure on that game is bad; they vastly overprice that stuff relative to what it’s really worth) and Kid Icarus Uprising. What others are there? Maybe I’ll go shopping for them.
I do have a negative opinion of the 3DS’ overall library at this point, but that’s not because I want to hate on the system. I bought it at launch and would just as soon my purchase be justified. I want it to be a good thing that makes me happy, and if you think I’m missing some things that would fulfill this goal then I truly do wish to hear about them. Please, when you get the chance, tell me more?
That said, my point about “Hey, if they can make a decent 3DS Smash then I’m all for it” remains. Having even more good games on a platform is… well, obviously good.
Edited to clean up my writing a little. Wrote this in a hurry on my way AFK for a bit.
Dias, it’s very easy to see what games are available on the 3DS. Then there’s the eShop, where you can find some good digital games. Check out the 3DS thread if you want suggestions.
I for one wouldn’t mind DLC along the lines in the forms of new characters and stages…as long as they were free. Like the free characters/maps that you got with Fire Emblem Awakening, that was nice.
However…ultimately, yeah, I don’t think we should get more character DLC, free or not. It’d just lead to fans complaining about their characters not getting in, there’s the cost issue (I doubt it’s cheap to create another character, plus you have the fact that you probably have to patch other characters in the game depending on the character you’re putting in, plus you’d have to patch Kirby each time to give him a new hat for the new character), which would make it problematic to make the character free in the first place…and to top it all off, you have the balancing issues. Even just adding one character can throw the balance of a game completely off (which seems to have happened with Injustice), which would require a balance patch…
Ultimately, as nice as new additions to the roster would be…it probably wouldn’t be worth it in the end. Though it’d be neat if we get extra costumes as DLC down the line for certain characters. Like extra tunics for Link (the farmers outfit or Skyloft outfit would be neat too), if certain costumes/skins don’t make it into the initial version.
I knew you could download games digitally, but I didn’t know there were patches available.
Why not? My shitty phone can patch, it’s an expected thing these days. Don’t know why it is surprising people. But yeah good more people know this.
I agre about the 3DS library but eh… little on the antagonistic side there. :-p
Anyway, DLC characters/content can be a good thing… when done right. The problem with the examples you listed (SFxT included as much as I freaking love the game), is that they were handled wrong. Very wrong.
Have the complete game out, with either extremely limited to absolutely none of it stored on the disc Finish or create a new character down the line, offer it for a very fair price… then its a bonus and something to keep the game somewhat fresh and get those requests/ideas that just could not make it into the game’s timeframe, or were thought of afterwards.
At least that’s how I see it.
King9999: Fair enough. I’ll stop by the thread later tonight and see what I can figure out from it. Thank you!
RE: Good games on 3DS… off the top of my head I can think of:
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Shinobi
Super Mario 3D Land
Code of Princess
Mario Kart 7
Project X Zone
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Team
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Mario Tennis
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Upcoming Titles:
Super Smash Bros. for 3DSsilly-ass, but apt title**
Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds
Pokemon X & Y**
… Not to mention the aforementioned DS library and E-Shop titles*(NES Mega Mans 1-5 are already up plus classics like Super Metroid)*and I’m sure there are several games I’ve forgotten or don’t know about. A quick stop over to our resident 3DS thread will keep you up to date on what’s coming and with Sonichuman at the helm, you’ll never be out of the loop, lol.
I know I came off as a dick earlier, but I’ve been really short-fused about the 3DS not getting its fair shake by the media and all the ignorance surrounding Nintendo products in general. No, I’m no Nintendo apologist, but I like video games. The 3DS has been delivering in that department far, far better than the other consoles, but no one seems to know or care. That annoys me.
DLC also annoys me, because the industry has proven that they have no intention of doing DLC the right way… Maybe Nintendo won’t do that, but there’s a hell of a lot of history proving otherwise.
No love for Luigi’s Mansion? That’s the whole reason I bought a 3DS.
Truthfully I’m more cynical about it than I appear, but I’m willing to give it a chance. My fear of course, is that things get held out or hidden for the sole purpose of DLC, which I am absolutely not a fan of. Sakurai is at least saying the right things though, and considering how fully featured Smash tends to be, I think he’d be less likely to put completed things behind a paywall or charge for half-baked DLC.
And it also sounds like he wouldn’t go patch crazy either, another plus in my book. Of course we have to wait and see if that all even plays out, but I am kinda’ expecting them to be more modern with this one in regards to content, without sacrificing the quality at launch.
EDIT: DAMN, that list is even further reminder of how much 3DS stuff I’ve been missing. Not even from a “I dislike my 3DS” standpoint, as I LOVE my 3DS (ambassador program being a big plus since I didn’t have to pay for it to begin with!), I’ve just been playing other stuff that I’ve unintentionally neglected it. T.T
My social life ends when X/Y releases.
I love my 3DS but the eShop sucks. We get it; it’s a portable. That doesn’t mean I want to play a bunch of awful gameboy and game gear games I wasn’t interested in 20 years ago.
But what about all the great Game Boy games? I picked up Metroid II and Link’s Awakening as soon as I saw them.
http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/23/smash-bros-is-aimed-at-intermediate-players-not-experts/
I have faith in Sakurai.
I could post up solid 3DS game list in the 3DS thread…but I’m not actually the one in control of the 3DS thread…otherwise I would have put the list that I put up in the OP to help answer questions about what’s available and good for the system.
DLC isn’t a bad thing inherently. It’s all about how it’s done. Sakurai is already thinking about DLC correctly by stating ‘I’m busy making sure the full game is fine first…THEN we’ll see what’s up’.
Some other things I was thinking about that I’d like to see in Smash is hopefully having rooms set up in a similiar fashion for fighters now. Please give us the ability to make a room with more than 4 people and have it so those who aren’t playing can watch. For that matter take a page out of Capcom’s book and make a section for people to watch replays that have been uploaded. If possible make it so that people can watch stuff with just certain characters or just random. It’s already being sorta done for Mario Kart so don’t give me any garbage about ‘it’s not possible’. I’d also like that there be a setup in the rules parameter where 1st stays, 1st and 2nd stays, and what not. Please also include voice chat…this really should be a given but I know Nintendo isn’t forcing it on people but I’m sure some people would like to chat with others and maybe even get tips if they’re getting destroyed.
There were some other thoughts I had that elude me at that moment.