Topic: 2 Major Things That Go Against Having A Smash Bros. "Deluxe Port"

@SVTornado Yes, as of now, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms, and Splatoon 2 have free online modes. None of them would be used as selling points for Nintendo Switch Online, however. If Arms or Splatoon 2 were delayed for this online service in particular, that would be just fine.

@Harmonie to be honest the WiiU game was limited by the WiiU too.

8 player smash was a thing. And the ice climbers, with hd models and textures, would've definitely not worked with it. They even had to simplify most stages to get it to work, imagine if they had to account for the possibility of 16 kids with fuzzy parkas running about.

I wouldn't mind disabling ice climbers in 8 player smash if it meant letting them come back...

@backup368 they are selling points for the online service though, because these games have a healthy community that will defenitely pay just to keep playing them.

@SVTornado In order to win over Playstation and XBox gamers consisting of over 100 million consumers worldwide, 3 games isn't enough, especially since that it has been several months already since those games have been released and many Switch owners have had their fill already.

Look at the opposite side of the token. On other consoles, gamers are paying for Madden, for Call of Duty, and many other games for an annual fee of 60 bucks a year. If those games were to be playable online for Switch, that would be all the more reason to subscribe because you would only need to pay 20 bucks to play the same lineup of online software.

@backup368 madden or COD aren't system sellers though.

@SVTornado The goal here is not to sell systems. The goal here is to sell a paid subscription service. You can buy a system and games for it, but you don't need to pay for anything beyond that if you do not have a reason to.

@backup368 people won't buy a primarily multiplayer game though and then not pay to play it online, that's just stupid.

@kkslider5552000 Ultra Street Fighter 2 wasn't really just a port. It was more of a remake with suped-up sprites, 2 extra copy-paste characters, and a first-person mode.

Two things?

@backup368 Honestly the easiest thing Nintendo could do for the paid subscription to be profitable is lock VC behind it. Have it so the HAMSTER ACA games are the only pre-Wii U games available to those who don't subscribe.

Their software library & their online service.

I mostly want a port because I want Sonic, Megaman and Pac-Man back, but even then there's no guarantee they would return. I've lived long enough to know nothing is a guarantee in video game sequels. That and I think Sakurai is pooped at the moment, and they really need a Smash right now to keep the momentum up and something to entice people to get their online service.

Seem to be reasons for a port, not against it

@TheLZdragon If Nintendo never made another game since 2014, & consumers don't mind paying up to 80 bucks on a 4 year old game.

Smash Bros, as well as the majority of Nintendo games, can be enjoyed in local multiplayer, and that has been their bread & butter for multiple generations.

When compared to a game like Overwatch, Smash Bros. has a ton of gameplay options for playing alone or with friends. Being able to play wirelessly with other people or playing with 8 players in the same room are experiences that are not only enjoyable, but do not require an online connection. Overwatch, on the other hand, can only be played online, which is where the product's overall appeal lies.

How does this change if it was "Smash Bros 5" rather than "Smash Bros for Switch"? Isn't it the same argument regardless of what the release is? This isn't a discussion about paying for online vs having a free service. We're discussing whether or not a Smash 5 is really necessary when a port of the Wii U release with all the DLC and a few new extras would be good enough. And then tangentially whether or not Smash Bros as a release would be high profile enough of a game to launch online with alongside Mario Kart, Splatoon, Arms etc.

So this whine about paying for online is a moot point. Is Smash Bros of any kind big enough of a game to get people talking? 100% yes, no question about it. As I said, people still drag out the Gamecube release. They could release Melee with an online mode and it'd still make a big splash. Is Smash Bros for Wii U good enough of a release that port to Switch with DLC and a few extras is enough not to need a Smash 5? I think yes. You may disagree. Ague about that point if you wish

I don't think it would be good enough. There is quite the number of changes they need to make to certain existing characters.

@backup368
If you're talking about balancing they would surely be doing that anyway. If they were to release a deluxe port with a couple of new characters it would require some re-balancing. And in any it would be effectively a new release and so would get patches not unlike how any other game does, the same as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did. I think you're making a whole bunch of assumptions here.

@skywake
Jesus. People would be happy to pay for online with Melee because... get this, they haven't already been playing it online for free all last gen. You see the difference? Something they used to have for free versus something brand new? Same difference with Smash 4 and Smash 5. Not a complicated point. People (and particularly the people Nintendo targets) are going to be asking "why do I have to pay for online?" The answer (for these filthy casuals) cannot be "to do something you already used to enjoy for free". This is why they didn't sell many Wii Us in the first place, because with their braindead customers it was like going back to 1991 - "I already own a Nintendo, why do I have to buy another one?"

Maybe they think only a few people actually played it online for free on the Wii U, but combined with the fact that they must have had Smash 5 in development anyway, I don't see why they would go with a port. If they port 4, surely they won't be releasing 5 for a good few years, which seems weird.