Featured Comments

That thing Sakurai said about Brawl played online, I think you might have misunderstood what they were talking about. I used to play Brawl online, and quite often if the stage ever went to Temple, people would camp the corners of the stage and never fight, just waiting for the time limit to run out so sudden death would start. It was actually really boring for me, since I don’t hop on an online game, waiting for people to join in on the match just so I can wait even longer for the chance to randomly blow up. I think that campy play was what he was trying to address, not necessarily people playing safely.

Also, that image of competitive players only playing on FD might have been skewed by his perception. I remember hearing that Japanese stage lists for competitive play is a lot more strict than those in western tournaments, so FD or FD-like stages get played more often. I might be wrong about this, and I can’t quite find anything to back me up.

Honestly, I do appreciate that Smash can be played in so many different ways, even if Sakurai himself prefers it to be one sort of way. I played Melee and Brawl casually, but Smash 4 got me interested in competitive play, even though I still primarily play it casually (thanks in no small part due to my country having no competitive Smash scene whatsoever). It works for me because I don’t have to worry about a ton of complex tech skills, and the flow of the game feels better suited for 1v1 than Brawl did (Brawl was always more fun for free-for-all matches to me). But each Smash game has their own feel to it, so each one can be played in their own way. It makes me wonder if Smash 5 will play still differently to the previous four, though I think Sakurai has found a happy medium between casual and competitive play with the direction he took 4 in.

Also Zelda is totally viable and I will have a civil debate with anyone who thinks otherwise.

From: Sakurai’s Thoughts on the Competitive Community

Interesting lineup of games at TGS and glad you went. One day, I’d love to go goat least one major gaming convention, but always have to think about the expenses. I never got into the Resident Evil series due to the horror genre but would like to start someday. I have yet to try VR, but I’m interested as to what the full game for RE will be like. Since I primarily play on Nintendo consoles nowadays, I’ll feel right at home with playing that Mr. Tako game. The aesthetic limitations and swapping the color palettes were pretty cool. Also, happy belated birthday, PushDustin.

From: Source Gaming at Tokyo Game Show 2016

The Tokyo Belly Button Show: “Introducing the Belly Button, a new way to play!”

I find it interesting that companies are diving straight into VR, since I feel that the hardware is still too expensive for it to gain a large audience. I agree that spaceship sims seem like the perfect fit for VR, such as that upcoming Star Trek game. Also, when I think of Mr. Tako, I can’t help but to also think of tacos… Do you have any Engrish gems to share from that game, Push?

From: Source Gaming at Tokyo Game Show 2016

To be fair, I guess most characters would probably have come out differently had they been added in a later Smash game, not just Ganondorf. The Smash series seems to be getting better and better at portraying character true to their source material as well as allowing for more unconventional movesets and gimmicks. Its interesting to think about what a lot of characters might have looked like had they been added a game or two later.

Would Samus have been a more ranged focused fighter similar to Mega Man?

Would Kirby pull from a wider variety of his abilities rather than primarily just using Fighter’s moves outside of his specials, once again akin to Mega Man?

Would Fox utilize any weapons from the ground based portions of Assault had his moveset been conceived after that game’s release?

Would Ness still need to borrow offensive moves from other characters in his game, or would Sakurai have figured out a way to make a moveset centered around his status inflicting powers?

Would Captain Falcon have still gotten a moveset (possibly) inspired by Dragon King if the concept hadn’t been so fresh in Sakurai’s mind?

Would Zelda’s strong associated with the Light Arrows in recent titles lead to them being a more prominent part of her moveset, beyond just being her final Smash?

Would Pit use more of his Uprising weaponry if he had been added in Smash For?

As you said it works the other way too, with characters like Wario who were long overdue, and others who just weren’t major enough to warrant an appearance in earlier games.

Would Bowser Jr. use his paintbrush more if he had been added when Sunshine was still the most recent 3D Mario Platformer?

What would Diddy Kong have looked like way back in Smash 64, before he got his popgun and jetpack from Donkey Kong 64?

How would Olimar have worked with a more conventional moveset in Melee?

What on earth would Palutena have pulled her moves from in a pre-Uprising world?

Obviously a lot of these scenarios probably never came close to occurring while we know Wario and Ganondorf very nearly did and didn’t make it into Melee. Regardless, I think its interesting to consider how different some characters might have turned out if they’d simply been added at a different point in time.

From: Featured Comments

It seems it’s hard to talk about Ganondorf in Smash without causing some debates. But as long as things stay civil (and of the comments I’ve read, they are, so I’m not calling out anyone), then discussion is great. It often seems that people are either strongly for or strongly against his current representation, but even in those broad categories, there’s variation. I think Ganondorf is fine right now, while Frostwraith would like an overhaul that keeps his playstyle similar, just with updated animations to match his newer incarnations. On the other side, some people argue for giving Ganondorf a sword or his trident, while others would base his moves more on his appearance in Ocarina of Time. There are a lot of ways to look at it, and I’ve come to respect all those other ways more now.

From: Featured Comments

You sure that Push doesn’t want to write an article in defense of the Virtual Boy?

From: What Nintendo can Learn From Previous Launches

Wario and Waluigi in would make me excited.

From: Five Things: Super Mario Bros.

I would love a lot of these, since Mario has just gotten stale for me. Or maybe I’m too much of a Sonic guy.

Either way, one thing I want is GOOD co-op. In games like Sonic 3 and Rayman Origins/Legends, Co-op isn’t necessary but manages to add so much to the gameplay. It’s fun, and the levels are built around it being useful.

Mario co-op has just felt more intrusive than helpful, as other players constantly get in your way thanks to annoying ways to interact. I especially found this odd in Mario 3d World, a game with much more room for space than the Wii titles.

I’ll overall take anything unique and new in Mario. He’s just gotten so boring. I’d much rather spend hours on the Dreamcast than spend seconds going back to the cobbled together and repetitive mess that was 3d World.

From: Five Things: Super Mario Bros.

A couple possibly incoherent thoughts about “bias”.

First of all, I feel the distinction between fact-based and opinion-based articles is clear enough (just look at that huge disclaimer at the beginning of the recent Ganondorf article). That said, opinions are what they are, and carry an inherent bias by definition.

I don’t see this a a traditional news site (you all don’t even get direct monetary compensation for this), one which should be as neutral as possible all the time. I’m mostly under the impression that this site is ran by a group of friends/acquaintances which happen to share several opinions and are brought together by them: if said opinion is (I’m generalizing a bit here) that Sakurai is doing something right, would it be “fair” to request – or even force – the inclusion of different writers with an opposite point of view, so that a specific (small? large?) group of readers feels represented? Would the team like having to do this? (Note: these are not rhetorical questions.)

(For the record, my previous comments weren’t mean to belittle the idea that Ganondorf should get new moves; I see it as a definitely valid position which, like others, has several pros and cons.)

From: Featured Comments

I think (generally speaking) everyone on the article team is here because they love Nintendo and consider themselves big fans of Nintendo, and they also love Smash. Of course they won’t all have the same opinions, but that is how I would describe everyone on the article team (including guest writers). I think everyone at least respects Sakurai, even if they may not agree with certain choices he makes. They also tend to care about how characters are represented in Smash, to varying degrees.

Also, funnily enough, I think a “should Sakurai return as the director of the next Smash” article series is in the works. Obviously with a better title than that of course.

The translation team is a bit different, in the sense that, well, I am the majority of the translation team (at least at the moment :P).

From: Featured Comments

First of all great article, second, I think Leon would be an excellent character to put in Smash Bros! It wouldn’t surprise me if we get him or even another Resident Evil character in the next one considering Resident Evil is one of Capcom’s highest selling franchises, and Leon, Jill, Chris, and Claire are pretty well known characters. Also Capcom seems to be getting along really well with Nintendo right now what with Ryu and Mega Man already in Smash, so negotiations would probably go really smoothly.

From: Dream Smasher – Leon Kennedy