Taking the fight online

Super Smash Bros. Brawl was one of the few Wii games to venture online. By delving into the Nintendo WFC players from all four corners of the world could brawl with each other in what was a decent experience in some battles, and a more turbulent one in others.

Unfortunately, as with most online multiplayer games, there's always someone out there who wants to ruin it for everyone. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl this was generally done by people using overly defensive tactics that make the whole match a bit dull and boring.

This was brought up by an anguished gamer who wrote to the game's director Masahiro Sakurai wondering what his thoughts were on the matter.

In his latest column in Famitsu, Sakurai responded to the letter by writing:

The idea of Brawl's 'carefree brawling' motto was to get rid of as many restraints as possible and allow people to choose whatever play approach they liked. I'd like people to take some freer approaches with their gameplay, but the sort of battle style you describe in your letter is not interesting or fun. That's why I'll probably be thinking of a way to deal with that in the next game. We've learned a lot about net play since Brawl was released, after all, so a lot more is possible.

It would have been nice if we could have revised the game rules as appropriate, but with the system we had, that wasn't possible.

It looks as though the developer is working towards rectifying some of the main issues that occurred in Brawl, which can only be a good thing. Wii U has a much improved online space compared to its predecessor, so we're hopeful changes will be made to make the experience a lot more fun.

What would you like to see from the online segment of the upcoming Smash Bros. title? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source polygon.com]