Balance is key

Some people like to place themselves in one of two camps when it comes to the Super Smash Bros. series: either siding with the faster-paced, more technical Melee or favoring the wilder yet easier to access Brawl. The rest of us just shrug and start chucking home run bats at each other no matter which version we’re playing, but that’s neither here nor there.

In an interview with Kotaku, series director Masahiro Sakurai explained, through a translator, the reasoning behind how Melee and Brawl were tweaked, and how he intends for the next games for the Wii U and 3DS to strike a balance between their two most recent predecessors:

And so the vision for the overall balance of the game in Smash Bros Melee, it was sort of more focused towards more hardcore players. Then when it came around to making Brawl, this was a game that was targeting a Wii audience where there were a lot of beginner players, so it sort of leaned a little bit more in that direction.

So now, for this time around, we're sort of aiming for something that is in between those as far as the speed of the game. Because I don't really think this time we're in a situation where we're trying to accommodate that many new players.

Once such nuance that will be addressed is the removal of “tripping,” or the small chance in Brawl that your character will fall flat on his or her face if you make a sudden dash or smash to the side. Sakurai said this vocally unpopular addition “will not return.”

And really, would the Wii Fit Trainer, monochromatic vision of control and grace, ever be caught tripping over her own two feet? We think not.

How do you think the new Smash Bros. titles should be fine-tuned for play? Sound off in the comments below.

[source kotaku.com]