With the addition of Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Byleth, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate now features eight playable fighters from the Fire Emblem universe. The situation has frustrated fans for a while now, with the most vocal believing that characters from other series deserve recognition in place of more Fire Emblem stars.
It would appear that series director Masahiro Sakurai understands the issue, discussing it in an upcoming issue of Famitsu magazine. An excerpt of his regular column has leaked online, with early translations suggesting that he agrees that there are a lot of fighters from the series, as well as a large number of sword fighters.
According to a translation from BlackKite, Sakurai says that the high number of Fire Emblem and sword-based fighters has simply been decided like that, leaving him to 'proceed as-is'. He explains that new fighters aren't decided by his own favourites - as some fans have theorised in the past - but rather they're chosen by Nintendo.
Of course, it's already been said in the past that Nintendo is responsible for the chosen DLC fighters, but in another early translation provided by PushDustIn, Sakurai reveals that a character he liked 'wasn't given preference'; Nintendo had chosen Byleth and work began while Three Houses was still in development. Byleth's multiple-weapon moveset was included as a way to mix things up.
It's worth reiterating the fact that these translations are from a summary of Sakurai's column, not word-for-word quotes. Should future translations of his exact quotes shed more light on the topic, we'll be sure to let you know.
[source twitter.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 82
"Leaked online"
"Early translations"
What could possibly go wrong?
That's a bit sad for Sakurai. All his momentous effort and he doesn't even get preference over character choices.
I feel like a character like Byleth, where their inclusion is clearly about promotion for another game more than anything else, should probably be free DLC rather than paid. The paid DLC slots should be more about characters who will be fun and interesting and add something a little different to the mix.
Well, at least he knows it's Nintendo's fault. I mean, Nintendo wanted to promote Fire Emblem: Three Houses, after all.
Mach Rider deconfirmed for Smash!
@BenAV exactly. To charge for this isn’t right. The paid DLC should be licensed fighter that’s cost to get them in the game or at least needed negotiating not Nintendo’s own ones. Imho
I bet it was Rex
I was under the impression that it was stated previously that Nintendo made the picks and not Sakurai. Nonetheless, I am still quite happy with Byleth, though I am sure they are plenty who are anything but. If anything, it was reassuring to actually get a first-party character in the DLC as all the others were third-party; not that they didn't deserve the space, but Nintendo does have quite a lot of characters they could add. I am sort of hoping at least 3 of the fighters for Pass 2 are first party.
@Stocksy I get what you are saying, but at the same time Byleth, whilst being owned by Nintendo, still costs money to make (including the stage, spirit board and classic mode). Granted, the music and art assets from Three Houses were a lot easier to get in the game as they already own, but still needed to put into the game and developed.
Edit: Probably should have made the reply to @BenAV as well given they mentioned about having Byleth for free. My bad for terrible reading comprehension.
Alternative view - Sakurai and Nintendo are fully entitled to pick whatever character they like to be part of the game that they themselves have created. Besides, how a character plays should be far more important than who they are. I am a massive Zelda fan but I never play as the Princess herself as I don't get on with her moveset and even though I am not a big Fire Emblem guy I really enjoy playing as Marth and Roy. Sakurai and Nintendo should continue doing whatever they want as that is why we all love this series in the first place.
@Stocksy I don't mind them charging for first party characters if they're beloved characters that a lot of people want or even obscure but interesting characters from older games. Still gotta take the time and effort to develop them so it's not unreasonable to charge for them. In this case though it basically feels like they're just getting the players to pay for their Three Houses promotional costs.
@BenAV
Not really when Three Houses is the best selling game in the series and this goal was reached before Byleth's announcement. If it was really an ad they would've put Byleth in Hero's slot at E3 to sell Three Houses. But they chose not to. The game sold well enough on it's own at 2.58 million copies. They're not selling Three Houses out of desperation, it's a celebration. And even still 4 third parties and one first party. I don't see the problem with that especially given how fun Byleth is to actually use with their unique weapons and attacks that nobody else has. Not everything is an advertisement conspiracy. Sure you could kind of argue that for Corrin since they were added before their own game released in the West but 3H has done record sales numbers long ago.
As far as sword users go, no. They're in the minority and don't even take up 1/5th the roster. Fire Emblem itself? That's subjective. I don't think there would be as many complaints if other franchises got more characters too. But Marth with some simple reskins, Ike, Corrin, Robin, and Byleth are not intrusive at all to me. 5 unique character types.
And considering that these aren't direct quotes and it's all just a mere "summary" I am not going to take any of this at face value. Things get lost in translation all the time and Sakurai could've been misinterpreted. I'm gonna wait until we get a full word for word translation before I believe anything.
@Xiovanni F-Zero does have many characters, but whether they'd be fun to use is rather subjective. I personally am not bothered by Byleth, he's rather unique and fun to play as.
I'd rather get a new unique character than just ensuring a series is represented better. If both can be accomplished at the same time then that's even better.
I'm a fan of Fire Emblem, though not so much of the later releases. It's a bless to be able to play as Ike, I really like his character and his moves in SSB, but it's kind of annoying that each new games get 1-2 representatives, 3 if you think about Awakening.
Of course it makes sense Nintendo using Smash to promote their other games, but c'mon, that's kinda weak. Combined with those mobile tactics, my favorite entertainment maker is slowly moving away of the reasons I follow them
@Ainz
People don't realize but Byleth does just that by having multiple unique weapons that nobody else has access to and adding variety to the FE cast. Nobody can say they're all the same anymore now that there's a mage, a heavy-handed buff swordsman, a literal dragon man/woman, and a walking weapons cache with Byleth.
@BenAV @Stocksy What? Why? How can you decide which character is 'fun', 'interesting' that brings something different to the mix?
in my opinion, Byleth meets all three of those criteria. What's so different about Byleth vs for instance the inclusion of Terry? The latter is not unique too?
Also, what about Cuphead. Is that something that should be free in your opinion since it's just an ad?
They really knew how to turn a new gamer to the series off. This was my first entry into the Smash universe, and it will be my only. Don't get me wrong, I love Terry, but he's the only reason I'm here. The uninspiring release of another character from FE completely ruled out me buying Fighter Pass 2. I just don't want to be disappointed by each and every single fighter they release in that pass. The worst part is, the six are already decided upon, so you can likely bet we'll see major letdowns.
This calls into question Jokers inclusion as only being because Sakurai wanted him. This sounds more like Nintendo wanted him and they aren't so blind not to see the demand for P5 on switch. Mark my words Persona 5 is coming to switch (and not just its spinoff sequel).
Can't wait for the entire smash fandom to use this forever to make fun of fire emblem fans. Oh what's that, theres children whining here right now? Oh😐😐😐😐😐
Why was everybody so disappointed / surprised about the inclusion of Byleth? You could have seen it coming. (though admittedly I thought they'd include Dante)
Super Smash Bros. has always been about characters from the Nintendo universe (and not Sakurai's universe) fight out which one's the best. Fire Emblem is one of the biggest series for Nintendo, especially in Japan. It had one of the biggest games launched last year in terms of Fire Emblem. The protagonist of that game is Byleth.
Makes sense he's in the game, right? Especially when you combine that with the extra promotion of the DLC and Tokyo Mirage Sessions
Odd, I was under the impression that we shouldnt complain because Sakirai picks the characters and he can do what he wants. That's what I've learned from reading comments, so it must be true, right?
Were Nintendo fans...Wrong!?
No, it cant possibly be that...its me who is wrong, everybody who said that will do a 180 and will deny ever having even claimed that.
Where is Waluigi?
Nintendo left out a recognisable character but includes all these FE characters that no one cares about. There has to be a reason: either Nintendo is planning to make a Waluigi game and will include him later in Smash Bros, or Nintendo just doesn't care.
This almost sounds like he wanted cup head to be the main fighter
@BenAV Well Byleth is certainly fun and interesting and plays differently from every other fire emblem character.
Man oh man, is this thread going to be a mess. Fire Emblem's my favorite Nintendo IP so I can't say I'm upset that Byleth is in, but it's sad to see Sakurai held down by corporate restraints.
@Tao Well accoring to your own logic you were wrong for complaining about Sakurai.
Well Nintendo is the publisher... Sad but true, publishers are in control.
I can believe he didn't decided it, but Sakurai had all the fun in the world trolling us with it.
Of course I understand and approve, he knew the backlash was coming so he just had fun and rode the unavoidable wave.
@JR150
Nintendo: How about you add Byleth to promote Three Houses? You can make a fighter out of them easily.
Sakurai: Are you sure about--
Nintendo: We're asking if you can do it.
Sakurai: But there's so many--
Nintendo: We expect Three Houses to be one of our top-selling games in 2019, so we want a Smash character in the Fighter's Pass to tie into that. Can you make them a fighter?
Sakurai: Yes
Nintendo: Good
@Friendly The timing was horrible. Nobody would have been nearly as upset if it was the 2nd or 3rd DLC for Season Pass 2. The grand finale of Season Pass 1 which was otherwise full of big 3rd party surprises ended up being a character from a game that already had s e v e n fighters in Smash. Seven! Literally everyone was trained like Pavlov's dogs to expect a big 3rd party character, it's really not that hard to imagine why they ended up disappointed.
From what is said, expect another FE character, while Travis Touchdown of No More Heroes and Rex from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 have an increased chance of joining as they use swords...
@BenAV exactly-that’s what I’m most upset about the Byleth pick about, I and millions of others paid good money for a glorified advertisement rather than a fan favorite.
@GameOtaku I mean, eventually, maybe. Atlas has been shoeing in joker into everything on the switch. Wouldn't surprise me that he cameos in smt 5 whenever that comes out. Sorta like a Dante in SmT 3 situation
Interesting, but it's just an initial translation. Probably rough, or very rough translation. On the other hand, it could be accurate to what Sakurai actually said. Now, regardless of translations accuracy, he could be trolling us; as in "playfully", not "maliciously".
@T7Hokage017: I like that little comic.
@T7Hokage017 Why Chrom, out of curiosity?
Black Shadow from F-Zero deconfirmed for Smash bros.
Angry fans: We don't want another Fire Emblem character!
Sakurai: Well, ah it wasn't my idea. It was Bill's idea a-a-and Fred's idea!
Let me play as a Pikmin.
I do find it strange that Nintendo is sooooo obsessed with promoting FE, which they were planning to kill off around the time of awakening. Yes, it's become successful, yes, it's a major brand, but yes, it's also represented in Smash, which is a large marketing potential franchise you'd think they'd want to use to promote more of their lesser known franchises than the same one over and over. FE got a big boost from Brawl. But why not have used Smash for more representation of Nintendo-owned brands that could be returned to success? F-Zero, Kid Icarus, Star Tropics, etc. etc. I feel like Iwata understood Smash's brand role. Current management seems to think of Smash as a synergy tool to cross-promote whatever is already currently popular.
I fear current Nintendo management isn't really any different from EA, Activision, Sony, or Capcom management and the special era is over.
Not that I’m against the character but I already called this. The shareholders choose the character that benefits their pockets the most. That’s just how business works
Of course Nintendo decides...but Sakurai said multiple times he loves Fire emblem. So he can't be THAT against it.
The truth is: Most characters could be seen as "promotions". Byleth promotes three houses, Hero promotes Dragon quest eleven on Switch, Joker promotes the upcoming Persona spin-off on Switch, etc. Banjo however is only promotion...for Microsoft (or there's a Switch game in the pipeline we don't know of yet).
@NEStalgia,
They do this always: Promote the stuff that already sells, like Mario and Pokemon. They don't feel like resurrecting old franchises, because then they have to put energy in it. Noooo, its much easier to just focussing on the stuff they are making for years. Besides, Pokemon and Fire emblem are probably very cheap to make. Fire emblem on Switch has weak graphics, and Pokemon only makes baby-steps all the time.
@NEStalgia I think people overestimate Smash's ability to advertise games that haven't somehow made their own impact already. Contrary to popular belief, Brawl did virtually nothing for FE. After Brawl, the next 3 FE games all stared a protagonist featured in Smash, and all three failed miserably. People knew the characters, but that did very little to actually increase FE sales. In contrast, Awakening came out well after Brawl, featuring brand new characters, and become the first FE game to sell a million copies (and got pretty close to selling 2 million) well before Robin and Lucina were even announced for Smash. Smash can certainly generate interest in a new series, but it's unlikely that that interest will lead to anything unless some sort of positive conversation is already formed around that game or series. As of such, I doubt advertising a long dormant series using Smash when there hasn't been a game in said series for years would likely do much to help bring it back from it's hiatus.
I´m ok with Byleth and seriously ... that was expected at some point, given the success of Fire Emblem Three Houses.
Now I really hope that they are done with FE in Smash. There is a new challenger pack coming and I hope they bring more characters from classic franchises.
@NEStalgia
Melee did the same by throwing Roy in to promote the upcoming Fire Emblem game on GBA in Japan, so it's not like this is a new trend or anything. Byleth, DQ Hero, and Joker are all definitely promoting new and popular games right now. At least we got K.Rool and Banjo though. With the new challenger pack coming, we may have a shot at seeing some more interesting characters down the line. I wouldn't mind seeing some more Namco and Konami characters make it in, such as Klonoa, Goemon, etc, but the odds of this are extremely low for reasons you already stated. Those characters have no new, popular games out at the moment so they're extremely unlikely. On the Nintendo side of things, Issac from Golden Sun would be interesting (I know he's an assist so it ain't happening) and I still wouldn't mind if Shantae actually made it in. As long as it's not another FE character, I'm happy.
Given the current trend though, the next character is probably going to be from Pokemon Sword and Shield. I mean, Duck Hunt kinda proved that Nintendo can come up with some off the wall surprises once in a while, but my money is still on a Pokemon S&S rep.
How I wish we were in that reality where Fire Emblem died.
That being said: As much as I love Smash I hate it that it's basically a parade of dead franchises. I mean: Where's my new f-zero, kid icarus, Warioland, etc? It's like Nintendo wants to say: Look at all those awesome franchises we don't care about anymore! Its heartbreaking!
We all knew this with the way Byleth was introduced. No funny cutscene. The 'I know it may not be the character you want' comment. Bet he wanted Klonoa (or Vyse)...
There is an easy solution - mod the Wii U version. There we go.
I’ve gotten over the addition of Byleth but I certainly hope it’s the last Fire Emblem character to be added to the game. I’m cautiously optimistic for the second season of DLC and hopeful a third season is also on the way. (Yeah, it’s a greedy assumption but I can dream, can’t I?)
It's not necessarily "dead" franchises, it's more about "classic" and "nostalgic" ones as well. Characters like Game & Watch, Duck Hunt and R.O.B. aren't exactly promoting anything new.
The problem with all the Fire Emblem characters is that if you don't follow the games, they all seem too much alike, since they're all in standard Anime style to begin with. Meanwhile Mario, Yoshi, and Peach are all from the same series, but they're at least distinctly different characters and do very different things. All the sword swingers seem very similar, grunting and yelling out their attack phrase while their weapon fires blasts of light. Are they all somehow more unique from each other if you're more invested in their respective games?
7 characters from one game is a bit excessive even if they weren't all nearly the same. It's about time for another Sonic character. Eggman would do nicely, and Knuckles or Tails would as well. Dig Dug, Q-bert, Earthworm Jim, even Stanley the Bugman. Toss a dang Clayfighter in there. Hell, I'd even welcome Bubsy if he's not weilding a thunder sword. Just let's give the Anime warriors a little rest and not dominate the next wave.
I hoped we don't get a new Fire Emblem or Pokémon character. And now it seems we get both. One half of the worst case scenario already got real. No, I'm overreacting, there could be even worse choices than those.
However, there's enough Fire Emblem and Pokémon promotion in the game. Every Smash player, from Melee onwards, has checked out Fire Emblem (and Pokémon) already and either liked it or not. With 7 Fire Emblem fighters in the game (and Chrom already being a newcomer), and 3 stages, and tons of music, Assist Trophies, and 78 spirits, there was more than enough FE coverage in Ultimate already. Byleth just has very little impact.
Ah well, even though she's a disappointment for being from an overrepresented series, I like her as a fighter and the stage is beautiful so that's good. And we still have 6 characters to dream about.
Sword users aren't a problem though,there are still many great sword characters that I'd like(or wouldn't mind)to see in Smash like Rex,Sora,Dante,Sephiroth,Alucard,Zero,Ghirahim,Kratos,etc.
I know people are gonna on Nintendo but he didn’t want banjo either. Nintendo chose that. So you get the good with the bad. I love banjo and glad Nintendo included him.
Yeah I knew this wasn't Sakurai's fault, the last fighters pass character in vol. 1 would've been different if he had the choice. I should've known Nintendo would toss in another FE character, I'm gonna assume we're getting another one in vol. 2. >_>
@Kobeskillz
Don't you know how the internet works? Something is either perfect and you can't dare criticize it or irredeemably bad and you can't say anything good about it. No nuance, no in-between. Ever!
It's true Nintendo choose the Characters for the first Fighters Pass, but something tells me even if Sakurai was given the green light on who he wanted, we'd still have seen Blythe in the second Fighter's Pass. He seemed pretty excited during the Blythe reveal, so it just feels like he's using Nintendo as a scapegoat for this situation.
Assuming the 'leaked article' and translation are remotely correct of course.
I can't believe it. But he did.
@BenAV All the characters are basically ads.
@Joeynator3000 No. But we will get a pokemon
@Klunk23 Wait? What? Three houses literally came out in June. And byleth isn't to sell three houses, it's to sell the dlc to people who had three houses
@MS7000 naw dawg. Ninty should have paid Sakuria to do Byleth and release it for free without expecting a return. That way Sakurai gets paid, the game gets promoted, FE fans can waffle and everybody else is happy, nobody is disgruntled.
@Jayofmaya There would still be people disgruntled. People would be angry that they have to pay for new characters they want, whilst others are seemingly created for free, in this specific case, an FE character which is already controversial because supposedly no smash fan likes FE.
Also if released for free, you might get a classic mode but that would be about it like Piranha Plant. No new music, no new spirits, and most importantly (for me at least) no new stage. Despite how many stages exist, only about 5 (Edit: Only 4, New Donk City, Great Plateau, Moray Towers, Dracula's Castle) of them prior to the DLC were new. I would much rather they charge us so we get the whole shebang than a half-hearted effort, especially since if doing for free, why would they bother making Byleth as unique as he is? Why not just give him the Sword of the Creator and have done? So FE fans and some smash fans would also be angry about that. Not everything is as simple as making it free. Ultimately, we would still be having these same disagreements about Byleth being in the game.
Imagine if Three Houses was terrible and a flop. Samurai would have ended up with an egg on his face.
I'm calling absolute BS on this story. Sakurai's long-time obsession with the Fire Emblem series is well-documented. There is no way that he had no part in bringing all of the Fire Emblem characters into Smash. This is damage control on his part because he craves the attention he gets from his fanboys who gush over everything he does.
This why things like ‘Season Passes’ can go directly to Hell where they belong.
@FNL Wow. The ability of gamers on the internet to make wild assumptions about people never ceases to amaze.
More final fantasy characters it's a no brainer. Cloud vs sephiroth!even barret and Vincent. List could go on and that's a few from 7.😒😔☺️😀
So remember that time i said Smash has too many Fire Emblem characters in it?
And the Smash Fan Turds jumped on my back about it?
Ya'll shut up now though haven't ya.
There was pretty major backlash from some "fans" when Terry was revealed. I'm sure everyone will forget this once they can start hating the next one.
@Xansies I was just talking about the general "Smash Characters as advertisement" conversation as a whole, not really in full reference to Byleth. Quite honestly, I don't even know if Byleth is being used as an advertisement for the DLC. Three Houses sold fantastically on it's own merit, and a lot of people (such as myself) bought the DLC pass well before Byleth even got announced. I think Nintendo just likes to push Fire Emblem as a series because it does well (now), there's a lot of possible character options, and the mobile title makes them a truck load of money.
I see Fire Emblem fans desperately trying to reassure everyone that this was a good idea and that nobody should be upset. Sorry but there is a good reason why a ton of people were very disappointed by the way the fighter pass ended. It sounds like even Sakurai was disappointed in that decision. It sucked, and that is all there is to it.
@SegaBlueSky Wow. The ability of Sakurai zealots on the internet to believe everything he says never ceases to amaze.
@MS7000 True, some would feel like that. I guess if the character and moves were less thought out and an explanation of promotion given then that probably would quell the anger of the jealous fans of other franchises but make the character not very popular, so yeah I get where you are coming from. I personally would be fine with paying for characters I want and getting ones I don't for free, even if they were well designed, so I would have thought that was a given to all.
So basically, Byleth was selected and mandated by Nintendo, and Sakurai just kind of rolled with it. It's a different situation compared to Corrin, where Sakurai was initially against it and had to be convinced that Corrin would be unique enough to stand out as a fighter.
@FNL Completely proved my point there by going on to make a daft assumption about me.
I’m no fan, Smash isn’t really my thing. Bought the latest one but if I’m honest it didn’t really click and I haven’t been impressed by the DLC. Only bought Joker and even then only played it once since then so kinda wish I didn’t. Byleth was a massive disappointment but creating conspiracy theories about Sakurai and assuming he’s some kind of bizarre narcissist is just weird.
@SegaBlueSky
> but creating conspiracy theories about Sakurai and assuming he’s some kind of bizarre narcissist is just weird.
Yeah, it's totally crazy to think that a guy who is obsessed with plastic surgery and botox would be a narcissist. It's also soooo totally unbelievable that, as an admitted massive Fire Emblem fanboy, who regularly draws Fire Emblem fan art, would have a hand in bringing all of these Fire Emblem characters to his pet project franchise.
Thanks for your valuable input.
@FNL Want to link to a source of Sakurai's alleged obsession with plastic surgery and botox?
And I never said he had nothing to do with Byleth's selection. All I said was that you were making wild assumptions about someone you don't even know, and unless you can answer the above I'm afraid you haven't convinced me otherwise.
@SegaBlueSky So I take it you've never seen pictures of the man over the years and how as he gets older, his face gets more childlike?
And I never said he had nothing to do with Byleth's selection. All I said was that you were making wild assumptions about someone you don't even know, and unless you can answer the above I'm afraid you haven't convinced me otherwise.
I don't really care whether I've convinced you of anything or not. You're free to be another Sakurai zealot, just as I'm free to give my opinions of him. I'm not sure why you felt the need to stick your nose in here and start messing with me in the first place.
First time commenting here, while I don’t hate the inclusion of another Fire Emblem character, I’m disappointed that people ask for characters like Crash Bandicoot or the Undertale, Doom guy and what not. I’ve always viewed the smash series as a celebration of gaming icons, not just Nintendo characters. But people asking for those unknown one time games or characters is annoying, leave those characters for Smash games knock offs.
He's lying. He wanted Byleth.
@Saint_Link boi
I just bought that game recently as it’s not a platform game. And I have no dlc or anything and I still groan at every time a fighter is coming I get a fire emblem character. It makes lengthens the time between plays considerably. The pro wrested Pokémon is cool tho.
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