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The upcoming 3DS release of Super Smash Bros. has — despite its HD brethren being lined up for Wii U — been attracting plenty of attention. Not only does it mean that the latest entry in the hugely attractive franchise will be available to owners of both of Nintendo's current gaming systems, but it'll be the first of the series to be available on a portable device.

The prospect of having a few brawls while on the go is sure to appeal to plenty of eager Nintendo gamers, but in a recent interview with GamesTM magazine Masahiro Sakurai has stated that it was a possibility considered in the past; unfortunately a lack of opportunity and viable technology held the idea back.

It’s not that I haven’t wanted to – I thought about it, I did. To be honest, we purely didn’t have the opportunity, it just never came up. And also, to speak freely, if you look at a handheld device preceding anything before the GBA, I don’t know that it would have the capabilities to fully realize Smash Bros.

Sakurai's comment regarding the Game Boy Advance seems reasonable, as it was a portable that could produce decent fighters — see Street Fighter Alpha 3: Upper — but its Game Boy predecessors would have lacked the horsepower to do it justice; the DS family of systems may have been capable too, of course. Yet the 3DS seems like an ideal fit, as it has the ability to render quality 3D models in line with the look that the series has developed, and will hopefully also accommodate strong multiplayer options.

Still, what do you think of these comments? Would you have loved a Smash Bros. title on the GBA or DS, or are you glad that the franchise will make its portable debut on 3DS?

[source gamestm.co.uk, via nintendoeverything.com]