Super Smash Bros. for Wii U isn't far away, due in late November / early December depending on your region. Logically development should be drawing to a close, as a result, though Masahiro Sakurai — in his most recent Weekly Famitsu column — has said "I'm not done yet...". There's still work to be done.
Of course, a variety of elements of the Wii U iteration are still a mystery at the moment, with modes and system-unique features still largely unknown. It seems that may change, however, as Sakurai-san has stated an announcement will come soon and show off the "true potential of Smash Bros." — we hope it'll be a follow-up to the Super Smash Bros. Direct from earlier this year.
Elsewhere in his column Sakurai-san outlined the challenges and demands of development, though he's thankful for his team and the gamers that buy the finished result.
Game development is very hard. You cannot get through it without sacrificing everything, including your own private life, and you often get hurt. However, I'm grateful that so many people have been involved, for the games that are completed, and all the people who play the games.
We're certainly due an information blow-out on the upcoming Wii U release, and based on these comments we don't have long to wait. What do you still hope will be revealed for the home console Super Smash Bros.?
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 73
Still in development? You're approaching that three week mark, Sakurai. After that, you're done with the game.
I figured that he was hiding something on the U version of Smash considering very little is shown as the release date draws to a close, how and when will the true potential of Smash bros will be revealed remains to be seen. That said....
Sheesh, Sakurai-san U ain't done on the U version yet?
I hope he is not bluffing. Looking forward to that announcement a lot.
Woah... now I'm hyped for real! So the Wii U version still has some unknown features and modes? I thought It'll be pretty much identical on everything as the 3DS version but only in HD. So excitingggggg and I'm looking forward to that special announcement (fingers crossed it's a new Smash Direct!)
Hopefully when they do the Smash U direct it will be a general direct with 15-20 mins of Smash and some other info for the rest of 2014 and some teasers for 2015.
It perhaps bodes well that Sakurai's team are working on the game right down to the wire to ensure everything is the best it can be and there's nothing missing. How many games do we get nowadays that are unfinished at launch, where basic features aren't introduced until later patches, updates and DLC? On the other hand, let's hope that they're not just behind schedule and rushing to finish. It would surprise me if that were the case, but finishing so late doesn't give them much time to check the finished product before it ships.
"Full potential" makes it sound like it'll be something big. Don't disappoint me Sakurai-san.
STAGE BUILDER?!?!?!?
Much of the U version is still a mystery. Its not hard to see that the 3DS version is only a tease of the full potential of Smash for this generation of gaming. I'm inclined to think that the 3DS version isn't even complete yet, perhaps some more will become unlocked int he 3DS version when you link it with the Wii U version?
I hope he's done with the game. He seems to be cutting it pretty close. Maybe it'll be an update or DLC. I just hope it's not delayed. All I am hearing now is "Please understand".
Oh, and considering its impossible for a game to come out these days WITHOUT DLC its possible hes still working on it and will be for quite some time. The 3DS version doesnt even have amiibo support yet.
He hasn't even revealed any major features exclusive to the Wii U version of course he's not done. He also made no mention of possible DLC so i hope people would put that to rest
@NintendoMan94 To answer your question, Mario Kart 8 I.e. coin counter, little map on screen, etc.
It doesn't sound like a Map Editor, but I want nothing more.
Hand drawn maps, or freely resizeable tiles and a tile editor + sharing with friends has been my evening prayer for many years.
I suspect the game will be a lot like the 3DS version, with some additional modes, bigger/crazier stages, and of course, sweet, sweet HD.
HYPED FOR DIRECT! I just hope it's a good length one and not entirely focused on Smash Bros. We need the Amiibo validation as much as we need the Wii U modes of Smash. Be nice to hear about some new things or updates on next years games.
I think this might be referring to the rumored 8-player mode...
He just said Smash Bros...not Smash Bros. for Wii U, maybe there's more to the 3DS and Wii U connectivity thing...?
@Tsurii897 - Well at least I stopped obsessing about the date
The Brawl stage builder was so limited compared to games like Mod Nation Racers, Minecraft and Little Big Planet - the new LBP3 is insane - that Im hoping we can really see the power of the Wii U and Gamepad put to good use. I know its a 2D game but Im still hoping we can do some crazy stuff. Or back to Earth anything at this point
@rjejr
Well, we got the date and then we got the Amiibo information, so keep wishing because he seems to be answering all of your questions.
It's just like the monado! Sakurai will reveal us it's true potential. It will alter the way we fight. It'll change the nature itself of gaming. !!!
Smash Run is great, but maybe we'll get a full fledged City Trial remake for the Wii U version!
I personally would like a good stage editor. Not like the half-baked one we got in Brawl, but something akin to the Smash Bros version of Mario Maker. Doubt it'll happen, but that's what I would include in my dream for Smash.
Every stages from every smash game ever! that would be awesome ! Fountains of dream, Mute city Mushroom kingdom 2 from Melee etc. That would be nice and huge !
Hmmmmm...
Honestly, if the online infrastructure is going to be on the same level as brawl, then I don't even care what this added stuff would be. Nail that down in terms of stability and features, then we'll talk. Like seriously. If it's going to be lag city playing online with friends, it's going to be hard to come back to smash in the future. It's vitally important that this be functioning to it's "true potential", because outside of online, brawl was actually a very fine installment. A lot of my friends dropped Nintendo for that very reason since we couldn't play smash consistently online - something that should not have been an issue.
"Game development is very hard. You cannot get through it without sacrificing everything, including your own private life, and you often get hurt."
Right... I am sure he doesn't work overtime and if he does, he's probably paid for it. I just remember people going on about the sob story of him working through his birthday "for us" even though 95% of the working world works on their birthday....
@ikki5
If you are a game developer and you have a family, which I don't know if he does or not, then your relationships can suffer greatly. It is a hard thing to balance making a good game with having a good private/family life. A lot of the time you sacrifice being present for special occasions, just to ensure that fans or potential fans will be pleased with the game you are working on. Cut the guy some slack, he is working pretty hard to please a bunch of ingrates.
@Unit_DTH
Tell me something, why does it have to suffer any more than anyone else with a full time job? That's all being a developer is, it's your job and most companies that are set like this usually have a set working day with having to work overtime from time to time. Yeah you may get called to go somewhere for "X" conference but that is your job and it is just the same as any other job especially in the corporate world. I am sorry if I sound kind of negative but over all, Sakurai for some reason, people go on and on about how hard he works and how much he sacrifices when he probably works just the same as any one else in a day job. Also, he tends to be kind of a douche(I hope I am allowed to use that word as I can't think of a better one, if not, I apologize) to people when they give criticism towards one of his products and then points blame and insults to the consumers. I don't know about you but I started to more think to myself how the rest of the working world works and how his is probably just the same.
@sinalefa - Well I wished for a pony and just got Epona about an hour ago so maybe there's something to that
Outside of stage builder I really don't know what else I want in SSB, except to play AS amiibo, not just alongside amiibo, but I think that's out. I'm not sure what all those different challenge modes are in the 3DS version, classic, trophy, rush, etc. so I wouldn't know what to ask for. Just that my kids keep asking me about the stage builder. And they really want Mario Maker. And after seeing this LBP3 vid this morning my 9 yr old erupted with joy talking about all the levels he wants to make, including Hyrule Warriors.
http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/what_kind_of_levels_are_being_made_in_the_littlebigplanet_3_beta#comment2668560
Friday Direct confirmed?!
"Shows the full potential of Smash Bros."? That spells 8 player Smash to me. It's too bad he left the audio of the announcer saying those words in the 3DS version or else we wouldn't know. It must be real, why else would they get the announcer voice actor to say those words? The 3DS itself is obviously incapable of 8 players so Wii U is where it's at.
@ikki5
Yeah, it didn't sit with me very well in an article I read that he backlashed against critics of the few cloned characters in smash bros. 3ds. I won't spoil said characters for anyone here, but his comments were something along the lines of saying the video game community are a bunch of complainers and that those "extra" characters were just that, extra.
I agree that the community complains aaaaaalot, but I'm sorry, he had that coming. Ever since Melee, fans of the series are not fans of seeing "clones" of existing fighters and have made that very clear. So, when these "clones" made their way into the 3DS version, it kind of illustrates how little he cares about the criticisms coming from the fans on that issue from the previous games. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing director of the series and has a lot of awesome ideas that have made it into the series, but on the flipside, ignoring fans request about something so important as leaving out fighters with a different skin when they could have dedicated that time to someone new to fill that spot, seems a bit silly.
BAYONETTAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Big Announcement: The game has been canceled. The cost of keeping all of those icons together in the same room just became too great. Nintendo is bankrupt. Merry Christmas.
I think Mr Sakurai should take a long vacation after this.
@Stu13 Mario's done a Charlie Sheen
Calling it now. The Direct will be announced tomorrow, and it will air on Tuesday. And with it, all my doubts and fears about the new console iteration will evaporate.
I LOVE that screenshot. ZSS looks like a real person! The graphics are gonna be so good I can feel it. THERE BETTER BE AN OPENING VIDEO.
And the big announcement is probably 8 player cross-play matches between ads and wii u systems, or a delay.
Reading that he's going to show the true potential of smash bros has me VERY excited.
ICE CLIMBERS!
"THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM!!!"
Man, Smash U is going to impress... A LOT.
Still in development? I hope the bug testing team isn't on vacation.. that usually ends badly (like it did already for smash 3ds.)
@ikki5 I don't. My job better be burning down for me to come in on my b-day. That's my personal holiday. I always make sure to save up PTO just for it. So props to Sakurai for working during his with an injury.
There is nothing worse than working on a product for public consumption. Everybody is a critic, and the artist/dev/whatever is a hack. I see why we are having more and more devs just walk away.
@ikki5 (and other people too)
Sakurai has worked over most weekends and holidays while preparing these games. He did so much testing and what-not himself that he got some problems in his wrists and arms and had to rest a bit more. Most Japanese work late at night anyway, but I'm sure he's there first thing in the morning and until night, just going home to sleep. Besides what do you care? Just go enjoy your smash on the 3DS
The true potential of the WiiU?
Boss Vs mode!
Where the player using the game pad controls a boss character, and environmental hazards!
Or a referee mode, where the player with the Gamepad controls environmental hazards and item spawning!
"not done yet" takes me back to brawl days...where it wasn't delayed just once, but TWICE!
o well, if its not ready on nov 21, pokemon sapphire will be my purchase.
@ikki5 wow, someone has obviously never heard of "Crunch" time?
Towards the end of game development, developers and testers will probably be there until midnight, with coders trying to fix "X" bug, then a new build needs to be compiled, then a disc burned with the new build, then a tester has to try to reproduced the bug the coder was trying to fix, then finally the updated build can be sent to the publisher for their testing team, and the developers might be able to go home for the night.
If the bug wasn't fixed though, then they'll have to have a closer look, try to fix it again, and wait for the new build and testing.
Trouble with the wife, eh?
This game definently seems like it will be a whole lot better than Smash 3ds, and if that's the case, we're in for a treat!
This game needs to deliver on its other modes for it to be good. I don't want to feel like its 2/3 of the Smash experience and feel that the 3ds version is taking away from it.
If it needs to be delayed so be it. This game needs to be perfect
HYYYYYYYPPPPPPEEEEEERE!!!!!!!!!!!
@Ananymoose I agree.
@Spartacus3765 Clones are sometimes can develop into great characters over time. Ken Masters is a great example. Akuma, Gouken, Sakura, and even Dan are little more than clones of Ryu, yet how often do you hear people complain about it? Capcom took a great template and then tweaked in various ways to produce variety. In Mortal Combat has how many different colored Ninjas now?
@Ananymoose At the time they revealed the release dates, they would have known if they need to delay it. The game is almost gold, if not already.
The Hype Train isn't done yet! Also, Sakurai, if you're reading this, then please, after you're done, take a vacation! You've, in every meaning of the phrase, earned it!
@ikki5 If you believe you can be a manager for a product like SSB U + SSB 3DS within a timeframe of 4 year period by working office hours, you need a reality check. And if you think Japanese game developers are well paid for their work, you might need another reality check. You might also want to look in the book "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 1" for the unnaturally long list of Japanese game developers who have died in pretty young years.
@Yorumi I wasn't saying Crunch time is the entire project, and I was just giving a general idea of what can go on during Crunch Time, from personal experience of working at a Video Game Developer.
They actually Were burning game discs at the company I worked at, towards the end of a project, as there can be slight differences between test hardware and actual hardware. The QA team Would be staying Late With the Programmers, so that the software could be tested as soon as the disc was burned(or a new build complied). This is an actual thing that happens. I don't believe I ever said the fixing of bugs wasn't done by programmers, though I did refer to them as Coders, since it is the same thing. A Coder writes code, i.e. The Programming? Occasionally with very Specific bugs you might have a level Designer/gameplay implementer there too, but usually it was the QA team(to test to see if "X" bug is still present in the new build), the Programmers (who will have to have another go if that didn't work, plus they may have a better idea of what is still causing the bug if they see it happen) and the Producers (just to mostly oversee things, and talk to publisher probably)who are there the latest.
THE HYPE TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES
if this means DLC with new characters, sign me up! crosses fingers
@thesilverbrick I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. Still skeptical but I know I'll love 8 player smash
@ikki5
Haha! That's a good point. I've worked EVERY birthday since I've had a job. Not to say Sakurai doesn't work hard. But it seems like because he's a good game dev then people seem to elevate every normal thing he does to godhood.
Sakurai passed that kidney stone for you...his favorite fan...
Fanboys: Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!1
@bizcuthammer What if you're allowed to draw your stages? As well as building them for people who dont draw. It will utilize the game pad. Id love that
It's true potential means that 3DS parity is gone.
This sounds like it will have a level of polish among the best in the gaming industry, ever.
Thank you, Sakurai. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.
"The true potential of Smash Bros."?
That sounds...EPIC!
HYYYYYYYPPPPE!
@Spartacus3765
Objection! Complaining about clones is largely vocal online otakus, and not the general consensus!
People who complain about clones (like you!) , don't seem to comprehend that the time it takes to make a new character is far in excess of making a clone. In the time it would take to make Ridley they could've probably made ten Lucina's. In that case there are trade offs for making clones, but that isn't even reality the clones in this game were reportedly originally going to alternate costumes for Marth, Mario, and Pit. But then they decided to spend a bit more time to expand them to their own characters because that would be neat! Had they not taken that minor effort to make a neat little perk, there would've been fewer complaints about clones, but also three less characters on the roster. You see they're the developers because they know how to make good games, and we the consumers often make ridiculous, selfish demands like children.
I didn't like Sakurai's approach to limiting the playability of Brawl, but fortunately he's matured and is no longer sand bagging his own game.
True potential. Neat. I hope it won't be delayed to 2015 though..
I always get the impression game development takes its toll on sakurai, I hope he has a good rest after this one and comes back to work on something new for nintendo, maybe kid icarus u, or something new altogether.
I like how Sakurai never said there would be DLC, but people are acting like it's gonna happen.
If I could guess at what features will be revealed, I'd say the ability to upload replays to YouTube, and Stage Builder with a sharing system similar to Pullblox/Pushmo World's.
Part of the description on Amazon for those who haven't seen : ...You can even pit your amiibo against a friends’ to see how your training methods stack up. Whether you’re creating stages on the GamePad, competing in challenges crafted by Master Hand and Crazy Hand, or outwitting your opponents in a brand new board game mode, there’s no doubt that the ultimate Smash Bros. game has arrived.
DO A BARREL ROLL!!!
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