Super Smash Bros. Fan Provides a Suprisingly Detailed 20 Point Plan to Improve the Wii U Version

Sure but has he ever made a game?

None of this will probably happen and I think the guy realizes that. But that's a great document that he can display when applying for a design job at some developer. I don't know if the author makes games or not but this shoes dedication and a lot of thought put into the game's design, regardless if the changes are actually for better or worse.

If the most notable thing is a new stage format, the rest can't be very interesting.

Sakarai: (laughs) (shrugs)

"Alpha" stages aren't intended to be a "middle ground." This idea that Final Destination is the ultimate competitves stage comes from a poor understanding of competitive Smash--FD is not a true neutral stage. The ability to disable stage gimmicks without otherwise altering the stage is something the competitive scene has wanted since before the game released.

The biggest change that needs to be made is just options for multiplayer. Why can't I play team battle with my friend over the internet? Why is 2 minute the only option? Give me a break.

I admire the effort he has put in this work, really. I'm not into the competitive part of Smash at all, but the details he displayed are very well thought of. However, as said in the article, it's too late for any of these changes to be implemented for many reasons. And again, his work was more about the more technical side of the game, talking very little about anything else.
I don't know if he has any experience as a developer (as in the time and resources required to develop or modify a game), since what he is proposing is very ambitious, but I'll still give him credit, even though I was convinced that it was an elaborate joke at first.

I can't read it on the Wii U browser, otherwise I would.

He forgot a very crucial and basic way of improving the game: add an adventure mode. That's pretty much my only complaint with Smash Bros 4.

I like 1,3,4,8,9, some of 10, 11, 12, 13,16,17,and 19. Its surprising that offline tourneyas aren't a thing yet though.

Even if he doesn't understand the mechanics of game making, suggestions are how companies improve. It's ALWAYS a good idea to make suggestions; you never know when your suggestion might inspire a fantastic addition or improvement.

I definitely agree with 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20.

@bitleman Have you ever painted a house? Surely you're that doesn't bar you from having ideas about what colour you'd like your house painted?

Quite a lot of this just sounds like something only the competive crowd would care about.

I'd rather just have more characters, stages and music. Something which has already been promised.

@abbyhitter If they did it right, sure. But Adventure Mode in Melee was dreadful. SSE in Brawl was better, but no one seemed to like it. They've tried twice and failed, so it doesn't bother me if they don't make another attempt.

I still haven't bought Smash Bros, because they still haven't added Ice Climbers + made Ice Climbers Amiibo.

@abbyhitter Adventure mode is definitely what is missing from Smash Bros. 4.

@Dr_Corndog @NintyMan Sure. I'd be fine with Smash Tour in the Wii U version. I just want something to flesh out the single player experience. Adventure Mode in Melee was just Nintendo game themed platforming levels with enemies to kill. SSE in Brawl tried something new with a storyline told through silent cutscenes while battling through platformer levels. To top that, Smash Bros 4 could have added a 3D open world adventure mode where you fight through Nintendo themed dungeons and beat bosses at the end of each dungeon. You could have a hub world similar to Splatoon's plaza where you could chat with the rest of the Smash Bros roster.

@Expa0 My thoughts exactly.

@NintyMan Yeah, me too. I love Smash Run.

@Ventilator Then I guess you're missing out. Well, technically Ice Climbers WERE added to the game. But they couldn't get them to work on the 3DS after trying numerous different things (they didn't just do quick minor testing to get them work than said "eh, they're not high priority, we'll try again later"). So Sakurai had to remove them again, and he won't add them unless he can get them working on 3DS. And since he already tried numerous things to get them to work... good luck with that one.

Dear Nintendo,

Get the Smash team to resurrect all my favourite dormant franchises. Nobody else at Nintendo ever wants to make the ultimate version of the IP they're working on. Let the MK8 team handle the DLC though. Smash DLC was extortionate by comparison.

It looks interesting. I would most definitely like to see 'Alpha' stage mode.

Heh, some of these changes I would like espically some I been asking for since launch like he replay mode frame by frame and playback action. (mai pictures!!!!) Though I feel some of these changes can be a bit ridiculous and could be best suited for a certain Project instead of this game (Best example is the some of the character "balancing" he outlined). Best of luck to him tho.

I just want them to fixing the crap balancing again, and FIX THE DAMN SCORING SYSTEM ALREADY. NOW

Something is wrong when a person can be sure they only scored two KOs in a match only for the final scoring to say they KOed 11. Other situations are messy, too. Actually, in general this game is really, really messy.

Well, last time a random guy offered to help with development (he was a competetive player) Sakurai just said "have you ever made a game"? So yeah. Not saying the ideas are neceseraly bad though.

@Expa0 because theres only so few already

Why so serious?

I'm assuming thisbasically makes the game Melee?

I spent some time reading this and I was surprised how many good ideas he had. SSB4 development team won't spent time much longer developing updates I guess, but there are a lot of things I would like to see in SSB5.

@XCWarrior
I didn't see any mentions of wavedashing or L-cancelling but I could be wrong. Those would be nice additions too, though.
Air dodge mechanic would have to be changed for wavedashing though.

68 pages??? As if Sakurai would ever read that lol. What a waste of time, some good ideas but still

The Alpha stage is something I have always wanted... as a completely casual player, I would still love the ability to play all/most of the stages without the gimmicks... When I found out about the Omega stages, I was excited... then I tried them and realized how completely stupid they are as completely flat stages... not having the platforms completely ruins Smash... but the gimmicks are also very annoying.

@bitleman But remember that movie critics can critique a film without making a movie.

Why do people always say "Has he ever made a game"? Is that some prerequisite to become a critic of video games or something?

Otherwise I agree with the points, especially the Alpha Stages (Although a Stage Hazard switch is just as effective) and offline tourneys.

68 reasons how to improve Super Smash Bros. for Wii U says the guy who had never made a game in his lifetime.

@EngieBengie You had to realize there's limitation and cutting corners in a videogame, not everything is as simple to implement as it seem. You could ask for 10 changes to Super smash Bros. and only 3 out of the 10 could be possible.

D'aww, that's so cute! It's like a kid making a long list to Santa of all the ridiculous things he wants for Christmas, but won't get!

Why is everyone dissing on this guy? Is the Nintendo community really getting to the point where anyone who suggests that Nintendo could have done something better is totally written off and sometimes even mocked? Nintendo Life used to be a cool, positive environment, but you guys are just getting nasty! No game or company is above criticism, PERIOD!

@retro_player_22 True but something like Omega stages could've been avoided entirely if Sakurai and his team had done a little more research in competitive Smash instead of basing things off a meme that isn't funny in the first place.

@Arlo Man, I know that feel. Here's a guy providing constructive criticism and ways to improve the game, which is a very good thing and most comments here are like "lol, like Sakurai would listen to this guy". No game should escape criticism. Absolutely shameful and depressing to see this reaction out of people.

@Arlo Thirded that sediment.

I love sudden death 💀!

The only thing I really need is a Custom Move Shop and a King of the Hill Mode. Also, how dare you, I frickin love Sudden Death. My cousin and I, when one of us chooses Palutena's Temple again, wait out the entire match not doing anything (we prefer playing timed battles) and then avoid the bombs until one of us gets hit. It's barrels of fun and a nice side game!

@allav866 Sorry was that sarcasm? This guy actually made some really good points. It's called something of being a fan. Obviously he is so why wouldn't he dream up different smash ideas and what not. Surely you've never done that before on a game?

As much as I love Smash 4, I agree with a lot of the points this guy made. It's not going to happen, and everyone realizes it. But it's still a well written document.

I agree with the alpha stages ideas.

Just generally, something that disables the gimmicks would be awesome, like some of 20XX features and what PM did for some brawl stages.

Though some other stuff like team attack on in 2vs2 for glory is a bad idea. What would prevent me from griefing my teammate?

"Peach's float should be allowed to continue if interrupted, but not regenerate."

As a Peach main, if this happened then most of my friends would be terrified and never want to battle with me (her) ever again. 😐

Lol at the chatacter changes, especially link. Make his different colors have different effects? No thanks, I don't want to see or be forced into Magic defense link. And the fact that most characters get really weird changes and then leaves half the cast alone makes it sounds like he couldn't think of what to apply to them.

Some of the ideas sound good, but this is just a crazed fan worth too much time on their hands

With the exception of goals #1 and #18, they all seem like small, nit-picky changes and not really large scale changes to the game, but I applaud him for the amount of detail he put into this.

I wish there were less combos that you can't get out of. In that regard, I wish they made grabs more interesting instead of just setting up combos. I would like more counterplay to these counters instead of waiting until I have a higher percent (or not getting hit). I like it being about reacting and reading your opponent and such.

Ahahahahahahahahaha, a 68 page report, ahahahahahahahahaha.
Smash nerds are so sad.

@bitleman so if you've never made a game yourself you can't offer views on how to improve it?! A lot of game journos are going to be out of a job i would think...
apologies in advance if i've misunderstood what you meant in your original comment, that's just how it comes across.

@coolaggro Did you really just ask for less combos? Please just learn to Directional Influence. What we really need is the opposite. More combos, they are almost non existent in smash 4. Though I do agree on more interesting throws. We need tech chase throws like Brawl and Melee had.

@Pie7 Yes, I've had my own opinions of how Smash could be changed, but the likelihood of the changes ever happen are slimmer than the odds of me bumping into Masahiro Sakurai himself! And as far as alpha versions of each stage? It would be easier just to turn off hazards altogether.
Some of the other ideas are even more ridiculous "Hitboxes were visible in Project M and Melee, so they should be visible in training mode!" Project M is in no way affiliated with Sora Ltd. or Nintendo, and the option was part of Melee's debug menu, which was only ever intended for development purposes.

Even beyond the Alpha Stages (I could do with "Beta" stages being the Originals without activities), I wholly agree with separated enabling and disabling of Custom Moves and Equipment, including for amiibo. Would love to be able to use some of the alternative moves online; would make for some fun mix-up. (And, yeah, maybe add some alternative moves for the DLC characters?)

And count me for one of those who'd like an Adventure mode. As said, even Smash Run could help to fill the gap, but something besides battle stages!

Maybe it won't happen this game, but it is a possibility that Nintendo will consider these changes for smash 5. that is, if there is a smash 5.

Sakurai has expressed his opinion about turning stage hazards off and I agree with him, it's not happening.

well he's right about everything that i scanned over

Hello readers! I appreciate the feedback and interest shown to this article! I will make sure to review all comments! I will be posting a revision of the article on SmashBoards once more feedback comes in. Thanks again to Thomas for publishing this!

Didn't read the whole thing yet but I fully agree with wanting more neutral stages of varying designs. The number stages that I actually liked in Smash 4 Wii U was disappointingly low to me given just how many there are. I'm not a competitive player by any means, but getting KOed by stage hazards at as low as 50% just isn't fun for anyone.

@GameImprovements Dude, they should give you a job, 'cause those are some good ideas.

@Arlo seems like everyone here either has "if you haven't developed a game, you don't deserve input" or "ha, these are stupid changes, never going to happen".

I mean, I read that entire document and most of the ideas are great, character balancing is a bit over the top, especially things like the Link idea, but Alpha, King of the Hill and the Handicap/Launch rate/Special Smash trio are things this game would be much better with.

Who has time to compose 68 pointless pages of writing about a video game!!!!

@JaidynReiman : I'm not missing out at all, because i don't like fighting games much. I would buy it only to get more of Ice Climbers as Nintendo refuses to make a sequel.
And besides. Wii U version is so different from 3DS that i can't understand why they care for Ice Climbers on 3DS at all as there is so much Wii U exclusives already.

I think that being able to see the hit boxes in training mode is a really good idea! I hope this actually gets into the game someday. If not Smash 4, then hopefully the next Smash game.

@Itglows I agree completely - there should be far more customisation of online options

I don't care much about most of these ideas, but I do agree that we should have more online options, local tourneys, and separate custom move / equipment selection.

To add to my personal wishlist, bring back predefined landscape pieces in custom stages for people like me who can't draw worth a darn, and combine the pool of shared custom fighters between the Wii U and 3DS versions while giving us more search options for both custom fighters and custom stages.

Agree with BulbasaurusRex. And i don´t like the idea about Alpha stages.

Eh... some ideas are okay. I don't agree with a lot of his alpha setups, but I would certainly appreciate some nice stages for for glory mode. Most of his character balances are ridiculous, imo. Especially what he proposed for link and toon link. And I don't think he realizes how much a lot of his team heal suggestions can be abused. At least it was an interesting read.

@QuadraSmash it's annoying to have throw combos that you can't do anything about as the defender. If Samus down throws you at a low percentage Samus can then forward air A and as the defender you will get hit. No counter play. You can d-input to make sure you don't get hit by another forward A or anything else. But knowing the combo isn't a fun skill. The defender should be able to do something to counteract it. Otherwise just have the throw do more damage.

@coolaggro Have you even played Smash Bros? There are a variety of things to avoid true combos, or at least force the player to react with a different follow up. Try using Directional Influence. Fight a CPU Ness. When he tries to downthrow forward air you, hold towards Ness. You will end up above him, forcing Ness to use a different option. And if you don't like it l, go play brawl.

@EngieBengie The only thing you have to do to become a critic in the gaming industry is have an affair with Zoe Quinn.

@NIN10DOXD ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

eh it is fine

@QuadraSmash There are plenty of combos where subsequent hits are unavoidable. And that's all well and good, all other fighting games have it. I just prefer there to be counterplay and it to be about reaction time and reading your opponents instead of knowing combos. That's why I've liked Smash instead of other fighting games.
Look at the competitive scene. ZSS down throw to up air combos. If the best players in the world couldn't get out of that combo, how can we?

@coolaggro The only reason players like Nairo get combos like that is because of their reaction time, and reading opponents Directional Influence. The only way to start combos is to get reads and have good reflexes, which were some of the things you mentioned you wanted. Besides, if there weren't any combos, the game would be slow, and almost exclusively in neutral, which doesn't allow good counter play, as counter play requires something to be countered in the first place.

@QuadraSmash I don't remember seeing Zero get out of any, or at least not many of Nairro's combos. That in essence means that no matter what Zero did (no matter what DInput he did) he got hit. That's the kinda stuff that is a bit frustrating. I love smash and am fine with it the way it is, but I think it could be better without some of those. And the problem is primarily just due to grabs. They can set up a combo for many characters and so grabs have become very prolific. I guess I wouldn't complain as much if it was a tougher-to-hit-with initial move that set up more of the combos. Because I do agree that no combos would make it slower or more neutral. How do you feel about grabs in particular?

I doubt Sakurai san would have read that and thought "holy smokes, I need to seriously consider each and every point written down here !!!" - He's just about done with Sm4sh bros, he's been working on that game since the wii U launched and any notion that he's going to direct the next installment of smash bros is far from guaranteed.

Never the less we can count out the modding scene to consider implementing some of these suggestions in a future fan mod of smash bros for wii U.

@coolaggro After playing "Rivals of Aether" (which doesn't have grabs) I must admit that I would not miss grabs if they were removed. Problem is, this would make shields even better. Maybe if grabs were slowed down enough, it wouldn't be as much of a problem, as grabs kind of slow the game down. Once you're grabbed, you are completely in your opponents control. Something should be done about grabs, that's for sure.