Random: Sakurai Didn't Appreciate The "Rough" Comments During TGS, So He Decided To Turn Them Off

Exhibit 4,245,866: people, especially when they think they are anonymous, are horrible.

Good on him, its always good to ignore rather than engage with certain fans

Yeah. This is 2020 internet culture in one word: RUDE.

The only options are avoid it entirely or just learn to deal with it.

I quit basically all mainstream social media. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Reddit for me. Just here and YouTube comments when I am feeling like some self abuse.

Did not realize he had such a rough history with the toxic nature that can develop when people can be keyboard warriors

I always turn off comments on things like live streams. Not worth the negativity and I got better things to do than be angry at some random people

@Heavyarms55 Well... not really. 2020 internet culture is actually far, far more tolerant than about 10 years ago. While many of the toxic trolls from that time period have hung up their dirty aprons and got married/moved on with their lives, some extremely loud relics are still acting like man children on places like Reddit. If you look at TikTok, despite being rather annoying they’re actually far nicer to each other than you’d expect. That’s probably more a reflection of Gen Z in general though, which makes sense when you look at the political landscape in which they’ve grown up.

I always turn off the chat, mostly because of the incessant whining and people just being plain rude, but also because I'm usually a bit behind in the stream and don't want to get spoiled.

This is why I generally hide the chat during anything related to a gaming reveal event. Did it for all the Nintendo Directs I tuned into live as well as all the Xbox and PS5 showcase events. It honestly boils my blood knowing people can act so freaking heartless and scummy thinking a person in a particular position won't see it just because they think they're not bothered by what people say about them.

I still remember the PC Gaming Show of June 2020 and both YouTube and Twitch chats being flooded with "BLOODBORNE BLOODBORNE BLOODBORNE".

I think stream comments are hot garbage and I'm glad he turns them off lol. Good for him.

I would say that's fair. If people want to have chats about it they can use discord or a gaming site that is more self admined. Not nessecary to just have a sounding board for random hate from who knows who.

Oof, yeah I always close the comments bar. Good decision Sakurai

Don't blame him honestly. There's WAY too much negativity in gaming communities.

Sakurai is tired of our bullsh*t

I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. He’s gave us one of the best games of all time and the community treats him like that. What a bunch of crybaby losers.

Kinda dissapointed in us as a community. He gives us banjo and steve, (which were characters we wanted) and fighters like joker that we never saw coming (no pun intended) but we still love and what do we do? We be every ness, young link and sonic online. We be toxic. Sakurai keeps giving us what we want and we are ungrateful and rude like a 3 year old to his or her parents

@Heavyarms55 Online culture has always had it's very unsavory and rude side. Unfortunate.

Has any live chat ever not been a toxic cesspool? I don't see why they even leave them on anymore.

This is the kind of situation where it doesn't even need to be a lot of people doing this, if what you're doing is being viewed by hundreds of thousands of people if only 1% are being really nasty then that's thousands of people being nasty, that's enough to overwhelm anybody.

In other words, people on the internet are garbage.

Honestly I think especially for a japanese it feels even worse.

I miss when the internet used to be a nice place. Back when social media was driven by the community, not corporations.

I really don't care what character we get, I'm just here to have fun.

I typically hide most chats and comment bars when watching a live stream. Not so much due to the idiocy that often abounds in them, but more because I find the constant flurry of activity really distracting.

Typical behavior of nintendrones, sadly. Most toxic and arrogant of any fan base.

Live chats are the worst.

Also, this reminds me that I need to play Baba Is You.

I hope someone tried to rickroll him

Gotta spam "I'M USING TILT CONTROLS!" in the chat before a Direct starts, but then I hide it.

This dude is the man. The internet is so toxic, especially once you account for the nightmare Facebook, twitter, and the such have become.

@NGNYS did you make an account just to defend nintendo on a nintendo website or what? it's okay to like a company and admit it has flaws, I don't know why that's such a sin in your eyes

Twitch/Youtube chat is pure CRINGE

@nessisonett I really really don't agree at all. What you describe does not match my experience at all. Nor does it match what most others have told me when I have talked about it. It's just harder to get away with more blatant vulgarity now.

@arekdougy It has. But I really do think it's gotten worse over time.

In the words of a certain hockey player...

"It's only game. Why you have to be mad?"

@Heavyarms55 99% of the proper horrific stuff I see is from people at least 25 years old. Especially on Twitter and Facebook which have seen a growing number of older users in the last 10 years. 2020 internet culture is not decided by these people. So yes, the internet is horrible and it always will be but I completely disagree that it’s anything to do with the culture these days. If anything, the ones coming through have a harsher stance on online abuse because they don’t know any different and are tech literate from a younger age. The young ones who are horrible tend to congregate in echo chambers like 4chan or certain subreddits like KotakuInAction or that bloody TLOU2 nonsense. Which, again, is spearheaded by users in their mid to late 20s.

@nessisonett I don't see how internet culture is solely the property of people under 25. But sure. If you say so. You don't have to convince me. It's okay to disagree with me and just leave it at that.

Even this site's comment threads get crazy. I honestly think a few users comment certain things under articles with the intention of goading someone else into an argument. Everyone- young, old, liberal, and conservative. Some people thrive on negativity and don't even realize it. It really is sad.

These fanboys literally think it's just him working by himself on the entire game, making every decision. The extreme fanaticism in the Smash fanbase is diseased.

@Kriven I'm 29, and looking back on all the time I spent on forums when I was 13 onwards, specifically on gamefaqs...man, what a bunch of drivel. A lot of hatred, a lot of impulsivity. It's really rare to find a productive forum of many sorts, especially when socializing is an element. Old discussion forums and newsgroups though, there's information to be mined there.

@Heavyarms55 I think maybe you're right, that it's definitely gotten worse. I think that's because it's just gotten so much bigger. It's ballooned and encompassed so many people.

Wow this is so random

@Heavyarms55 same here social media is too toxic for my liking nowadays

Oh I knew where it was all going when I discovered "online" gaming in the later 90's particularly the OG Unreal on Heat.Net (anyone remember that service!?). Soooo toxic in every horrible possible way back then. I remember saying I wonder how much worse it can get...

All I have to say is this: this man puts his SOUL into these games. He will stop at nothing to keep producing the perfection we expect from him. Yes we didn't get waluigi yet and stuff but A it wasn't his decision to make B he literally has stories about him working with pumps in his body and you harass him for not including the specific character of your liking? I wonder if he really hates the community because the loud minority shame on them, because the majority have had kirby and smash be a bright constant in the harshness of life. That's just my take on it sakurai really seems like a cool dude the more I hear about him so why are people bothering him?

Edit: sakurai holding that minecraft sword was a powerful image in the steve presentation lol

Sometimes, gamers really were a mistake.

I don’t blame him at all; people are so toxic and act so entitled these days. He made the right decision, I think.

@Chamver humans are a mistake.

I think that respectful conversation is heavily tied up with respect for the community within which one is conversing. But the notion of ‘community’ itself sort of falls apart when the scale of the conversation and its participants grow unfathomably large.

At the scales found in these major events - where potentially hundreds of comments are sent a second - conversation isn’t really even an option anymore. The only goal is to be recognised, which means posting content than stands out, rather than fits in or contributes to an existing conversation.

Major open facing platforms typically are home to the worst examples of this, as thousands of people with little in common and no previous awareness of each other get dumped into a single space and have to clamber over one another to be noticed. Any graspable notion of ‘community’ is replaced with this weird, amorphous notion of ‘the fanbase’ which, despite not having any clear limits or solid definition, still somehow manages to assert enormous influence on people with an interest in the topic at hand.

‘The fanbase’ as a concept is in some respects an ‘anti-community’ as, by nature of its size and vagueness, it lacks nearly all the qualities necessary for respectful social discourse to occur, or for its members to be accepted as individuals. If a community is a conduit for broadening discussion, then a fanbase is a conduit for homogenising it, causing all ideas that don’t fit the prevailing narratives to fall by the way side.

Of course, the traditional notion of community is not fully dead, even on the current internet. While the comment sections on this website can get pretty hairy on occasion, I feel the forums are much less tumultuous. It’s much easier to get to know people as individuals and actually mull over what they have to say, rather just shrieking into a chasm of voices already hoarse from yelling.

So in conclusion, I’m glad we have the forums here. If Masahiro Sakurai’s Twitter feed was the only chamber of discussion I had for Nintendo topics it’d be pretty depressing.

I don’t know what pisses me off more:
Negative comments or ads/popups

I get it! I wish I could turn them all off!

Social media has brought out some of the very worst of human nature. Societally we entered uncharted territory with the advent of the Information Age, not only technologically but also in terms of changes to basic human interactions. We are more "connected" by various forms of digital media than ever before, but we're also physically and emotionally more isolated than at any time in history.

The results speak for themselves. Between an addiction to instant gratification and "convenience" that's prompted many people to willingly give up their rights to privacy, the perception of anonymity that makes some feel empowered to say the meanest, most vulgar, or malicious things online (which I fully believe has spilled over into the physical violence we see in the headlines on a daily basis now), and its weaponization by both private individuals and huge corporations for propaganda and thought control, humanity hasn't "progressed" toward anything but its own self-destruction.

I quit twitter after 11 years of active use. Same with instagram. I even took myself out of 90% of whatsapp groups. Trimmed facebook. Didn't get into snapchat or tik tok deliberately

I just post here a little, main family and friends on whatsapp and facebook now.

Shame as I e-met some good ppl on twitter but the toxicity was out of control in many areas of the platform.

Cognitive dissonance

@arekdougy More people using it and more people who realize that there is really very little penalty to being a total jerk online.

Everything is cost-benefit/punishment vs. reward. Rules/laws that can't be or aren't enforced are nothing more than suggestions, and if people see more merit in something than demerit then they do it.

The internet is, for many people, a place to vent, to take out their frustrations, their anger, and their malice on people who really can't do anything but ask you to stop. Being behind a keyboard and a username generally means you can say anything you want. You can be as cruel and vicious as you wish, and then if it becomes an issue, simply discard that online persona.

The kinds of things I see online all the time, even while actively trying to avoid it, are the kinds of things that people almost never would say in person unless they were looking to start a fight.

It's all because there's really almost no demerits to doing so. What's the worst that can happen in most cases? You get that account banned on that site? Maybe your IP address? Big deal. Anyone can use a VPN to hide their IP and make a new email and account.

This has given rise to all manner of bullying, hate speech, cesspools of just raw, unrestrained negativity. It happens everywhere. Not just the obvious topics of politics or religion, which are cancer even in person. But games, music, anime, movies, books. Sites about any topic, any content you can find just raw nastiness.

I used to let myself get pulled into arguments for hours on end on social media. I couldn't get away from it. It was happening on social media pages for everything. It didn't matter what I said, what comment I left, there would be 30 people waiting to tell me why I am not only wrong, but a terrible human being for even having a differing opinion. I could post on a Star Wars page about liking a specific character and get 20 people attacking me for it. I could talk about Pokemon and get the same treatment. God forbid I comment on a political article and I'd get death threats! Or if not threats, then people at least telling me they hope I die.

After a while I finally realized I was spending my evenings getting pulled into this cesspool of hatred over and over. It was making me angrier and angrier until the point that I was getting sick.

And then, I said enough was enough. I was wasting my time, my life on that trash. I quit. I quit all of it. And it was so liberating! Suddenly I had more time for video games, anime, building model kits. I could spend so much more of my free time doing things I actually enjoy!

I still regret all the hours I wasted on social media. I'll never get that time back. But at least I can avoid that nonsense moving forward! It's been a few years now. And there are a few small handful of things I miss about it. But it only takes a couple seconds before I smash the idea of going back like I would an enemy threatening my life.

You barbarians made Sakurai-sama cry!

The chats are childish and exhausting. I always turn it off.

It's true that for the most part Nintendo's live chat during Directs (for example) are full of trolls and disrespectful idiots. Even with the "best comments" filter on YouTube's chat, it's all that I see.

And it's also true that nowadays the toxicity levels in social media are honestly too much. I had to leave Twitter last year because all the pointless political "debates" and all the toxicity over there were too much. And, to be honest, I don't miss it. I kinda reccomend it too.

Nintendo Life / Gamer Network has some of the best comment sections relative to live streams or YouTube streams. Just so many haters and people ready to complain when they have no right to diminish the hard work and sweat people pour into their games and franchises. Unless it's EA, that's fine hahah

@Maxz Have to say this about the concept of a "fanbase". When I see someone saying that "the fanbase of x is y" I honestly roll my eyes a bit nowadays.
Don't get me wrong, It's true that, due to how algorithms (and Internet in general) work and how tense people are nowadays online, there is a TON on toxicity. But saying, for example, that "a fanbase is toxic" is a big generization.
Like, imagine with a franchise like Super Mario. Let's take the sales of Super Mario Odyssey as a metric, for example. There we have potentially 10+Million people that could be fans (even if usually is less than a quarter of them that engage as fans online). And that's without considering other things like how is not a fixed pool of people either. Assuming all are toxic because of a tweet that got maybe 10K likes is generalizing. And it is something that I've seen even the folks in Nintendo Life doing.

Edit: Heck, I've seen people in this very comment thread doing this.

Hm. Perhaps now is the time to inject this perspective... I hesitate, given some of the comments in this very thread. OK, here goes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

Leave the man alone jesus XD

Reading these comments, I really hope we as a society eventually learn to move past grouping everything into arbitrary communities and cultures.

The ***** community is the worst.
***** culture is toxic.
The ***** fanbase is so entitled.

Can't we all just agree that humanity in general is the problem, while still acknowledging that good people exist in all walks of life and just trying our best to be that person instead of pointing fingers at individual groups?

Can't we all just agree that humanity in general is the problem...

@Not_Soos No.

If humanity is a problem, then we have nothing at all, no base to work from.

Walking away from people acting like idiots is a practical solution when you're just one person.

Honestly, what were the comments exactly? I mean if he didn't like it that's fine but i wish we had screenshots of the live chat. It could be extreme people saying offensive things to sakurai or it could just be people in chat arguing with each other or the chat just spamming or saying something rude, which part of the course of the internet.

I understand since this generation is full of entitled brats

@jowe_gw Absolutely. If the ‘fanbase’ is just ‘the sum total of all fans’, and a ‘fan’ is just ‘someone who likes something’, then said ‘fanbase’ should be too abstract and meaningless to be of a whole lot of use.

But words get weaponised, and the definition of ‘fan’ get contested, and everything becomes an issue of identity and belonging, making things very muddy indeed. Which another issue that the sheer scale of larger open platforms is ill-suited to resolving, as it’s almost impossible to be unique and appreciated in a sea of millions without forcefully bending yourself into whatever shape you think will have the most widespread appeal.

Again, I’m just glad the smaller communities like the forums here still exist.

This site has nasty people here too. Some of the comments I've seen are just downright nasty and stupid. There are stupid people everywhere, but the issue with being anonymous is that these people open their mouths when they wouldn't otherwise. Keyboard warriors are the biggest thing I hate about the internet. I tend to avoid comments sections entirely on every page, even here.

@Darkyoshi98 I beg to differ. They exist in every generation there's no generation that just doesn't have entitled people. I've seen 60-year-old men and women act like 5-year-olds online and in person. Everyone assumes that a "bratty internet user" is young when in fact they can be old or middle-aged as well. I just hate this stupid blanket assumption.

@SpaceKaren This is true for every single fanbase. It happens to all of them. There are just more Nintendo gamers than any other system usually. Fanbases are stupid and biased no matter what. I am not a "fanboy" of any one system. I own them all, I play them all, and I understand they all have strengths and weaknesses. People who are blind fanboys are just idiots in general and refuse to see it any other way.

@Darkyoshi98 Yeah... All the toxicity online is because of Millenials and Gen Z people. Just like it is their fault that they are leaving their parents homes much later than previous generations since they spent all their money in abocados.

(Btw, this comment is oviously a joke. Sarcasm and all that)

@Maxz Something that annoyes me a lot (that even some editors in this website did) is picking one tweet that maybe got like 10 likes in total and using that as an example to prove a point.

Like, this is an extreme example but remember when there was one account that made false sexual abuse allegations against Masuda for the SWSH prerelease fiaso? That was one twitter account that was quickly deleted. I say this because instead of treating it like it was (one idiot doing an obvious false claim online) some people stated that what happened was that "people complaining about SWSH" made up sexual abuse allegations. Basically, they generalize something to make their point look valid without having to justify their points.
I used an extreme example but this happens multiple times online. For small and big topics alike. And I'm surprised people still fall for it. Specially in the most obvious cases.

Think about it:
"Men is turning off comments on web stream"
THAT's the stuff we're reading and commenting on. WTF?! 😑

Let us not forget about the hostility towards Nintendo as a whole that started building up at The Game Awards 2019 up until Nintendo shadow-announced the Super Mario 35th Anniversary. That's almost one whole year worth of toxicity from a minority group that has spoken too loudly that it influenced the greater communities.

Internet: Bastion for the ignorant and inexperienced to be "heard" by the same type of individual.

I'm not much of for live-streams but I am not into people being mean to sakurai. He has the courage to display his face for the game and it just makes it even more personal for people to blast their opinions on him

@nessisonett
I have to disagree with you as well. The Internet has changed dramatically and the biggest change is the evolution of social media into a form of content that is believed and followed by even somewhat rational people. This was precipitated by the slow adoption of online usage by the non digital/computer savvy generations who now feel empowered to use this is a podium for any thoughts that come through their head much like not fully formed adults.

The Internet is worse now because it has expanded and the self policing movement that existed for years was given up by the early adopters as they scurried to safer corners of the web or reconstituted BBS sites.

@COVIDberry
Lol, I didn't know this became a Wiki thing. Fun times when the bus became full.🤢

What's wrong with Reddit? I mean, just sort by "best" and you'll barely have to deal with any nonsense.

You brought Rock man back into my gaming industry, stay strong Sakurai...

back when they had the Splatoon opens there were people screaming hate after one player squidbagged for approximately 0.5 seconds idk if anybody remembers that 🤢 XD

That’s how you deal with trolls and bullies......shut them down!

It's honestly really sad how people never think on what they say. If there's a slight opening to harass someone online, they'd do it without a second thought. Then they make themselves look like idiots after realizing they said the wrong thing for the wrong reason. It's something that constantly repeats online and it always will.
Take the Fire Emblem reps in Smash as an example. Truthfully, I'm almost certain 50 out of 100% of the FE reps were only added in for advertising purposes. Corrin was added to advertise Fates, Byleth was added to advertise Three Houses, hell even Roy was added just to advertise Binding/Blazing Blade. Thing is, hardly any of that was Sakurai's fault. Nintendo TOLD him to add those characters for advertising's sakes, and Sakurai had no say in that. Yet people instantly assumed Sakurai was the one at fault for tainting the roster with too much Fire Emblem, therefore they go off and harass the poor man for it.
Listen, I've seen things talking about the conditions he puts himself under for his games and their communities, ESPECIALLY Smash Bros. It's crazy and shows just how dedicated he is, yet for people to just go and harass him for false reasons? Yeah, undeserved and idiotic. It perfectly shows just how stupid and self-centered people are these days.

I'm with him, every time I watch a streamed event, especially a Nintendo event, I full-screen to block the comments because people are just terrible.

@Yanina Honestly yeah. Idk too much about Japanese culture but the general impression I get is that they tend to be a lot less negative. Whenever a smash character is revealed I prefer to watch Japanese reactions because its a lot more laughing and cheering and generally boosts the hype for me

@Heavyarms55 "Everything is cost-benefit/punishment vs. reward. Rules/laws that can't be or aren't enforced are nothing more than suggestions, and if people see more merit in something than demerit then they do it."

This, unfortunately is not simply an internet thing but the modern reality of American, and arguably, all Western culture. A system of self restraint based on common ethics was replaced entirely by this cost-benefit, punishment-risk evaluation. All aspects of society are governed solely on that basis now.

most people I feel like are just crazy because they didn't get their own ô selected character in smash. I'm totallyfine with Steve, tbh.

Absolutely can't stand this Diva at all. 1) He's totally up his own intestinal organs. 2) The people he rages against are probably kids whose money feed and clothe him. Wretched ungrateful thing.

God bless you nintendo and bless me too........

@nessisonett I will have to disagree with you as well with the several other people who have. I have been around the internet since pretty much when it got big in the mid-90s. I have been thought it all like forums, chat, fan sites. I can say in the 25 years I have used the internet today is far worse. Saying one generation is the issue is completely wrong. I seen all generations act like "manbabies". This isn't a generational issue. The internet being toxic is from all generations no one is innocent here.

Lesson learned, I would have done the same thing (turned the comments off).

Carry on, Sakurai. Can't make 'em all happy.

Anyone else like Sakuri even MORE because of this?

@GamingTelescope I do. Not adding fuel to the fire was a good choice.

@ivory_soul I agree to disagree
I was born in 1980.outta all this time this is the worst generation.i come from a time that if you acted like a brat you got you butt whooped.this gen is way to extreme

Seems a bit overly sensitive to me...

@Darkyoshi98 Why do you insist so much with that lie?

@Darkyoshi98 I disagree,all generations have entitled people not just this generation,also it doesn't mean all people are entitled in this generation.

@Heavyarms55 The modern equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears.

People are awful.

More than anything re: Sakurai, I'm worried about his health. He looks so skinny and tired and withered from all of this. We know he's worked himself nearly to death before on Smash, so I'm worried he's pushing himself too much again.

People attacking him online can't help, either. Why can't people just be grateful for the massive labour of love he and his team have taken on to deliver the best Smash has ever been?

By doing so, Samurai disrespects all the lovely people who pour their heart into those insults and occasional death threats.

I'm not sure why he thought he needed to address this, like it's surprising or something. Did he think there would be overwhelming positive reinforcement?

You'd think he's never seen a stream chat or youtube comment section before. I'm not talking about him specifically, I mean in general.

Comment section on any website even this one :We live in a society

Good for him! People act like awful little bullies on the net.

@Ryu_Niiyama

“Give a man a mask, and he will show his true face”. I miss the days when gaming was for losers and we all bonded together over our love for video games. Modern gamers define the word toxic.

I mean what are you gonna do? You either accept it as a joke and move on or get affect by it.

It's kinda sad watching people like John Linneman from Digital Foundry get "deeply affected" by trollish negative Twitter commentary instead of sidelining it as he should, but at least Sakurai choose to turn the chat off 🤷

@Darkyoshi98 Gen X are brats too. You also realize the generations before you said the same thing about your generation as well? This is such a stupid blanket comment. Every generation has brats. You act like every single young person never gets punished. This type of thinking is what's keeping the world back. So what. Beating kids is the answer? Times have just changed dude. Things are different from FOURTY years ago. Either adjust to the times or get left behind. I know more Gen X "brats" and bums than I do any other generation just FYI.

@Ghostchip Yean I unfollowed Him because how toxic the Smash Twitter has gotten. They really need to lave the Man alone, They got what they wanted when He put Minecraft into Smash now They should let Him put what character that Him or Nintendo wants

@1upGaming1up notice how he had a hand in picking ones he was a fan of (joker and banjo) and we went nuts yet when nintendo wants min min and byleth we take it out on him? Sigh this guy made kirby how low can you go.

@Darkyoshi98 as much as you like to think that has changed I'd still get my ass handed to me if i was a brat in person and I'm pretty much positive I've seen just as many stupid people around your age as kids my age. I mean just because some people are brats doesn't mean a ton of your generation was just as horrible as ours. The problem is you have no idea of anything about your gen because there was no internet to see toxic people when people our age act like brats online and are normal in person. People suck. The world has had so many unnecessary things happen because of this (holocaust, slavery, etc.) And all this has happened across all generations. I bet that kids born in the 1960s-70s probably thought you were absolutely brats because well there are brats in every generation ever. Yes I am a high school kid and yes there are brats at my high school but from what I've seen, adults are just as bratty, prideful, and overall bad people as us. Have you seen that video of the woman (about your age) blowing on old people because "masks are useless" which is as dumb as calling the earth flat and potentially costing lives. Listen, all I'm saying is that loud minorities of generations have nearly nothing to do with actual people of the generation. I don't think all people born in the 80s are stupid antimaskers who are putting lives at risk due to stupidity and blindness, then you probably shouldn't think that all children our age are brats.

@Ghostchip These are all Nintendo's choice, I was disappointed when Steve was announced mostly because I had hopes for Crash to get in aswell as Arle and Neku (while I still have hopes for Arle and Neku sadly I can't say the same for Crash) But I don't get angry and harass Him I deleted Steve and moved on as DLC is optional, if Sakurai adds a character like Tracer into Smash the community will attack Him when Nintendo is promoting Overwatch alot (I don't want Tracer yet I won't mind Her too). By the end of the day it's just business Sakurai and the employees at Nintendo need that pay check to make a living

@1upGaming1up oh yeah agree totally (except for crash has no chance and Steve was eh) but what I meant to say was that sakurai does have mild control over the character choice in a few circumstances. The way he talked about joker he talked about it as if he pushed for it him in meetings so I assume he had at least an impact.

@Ghostchip You're right. The reason why Snake got in is because Kojima-Senpai begged for Him to be in Smash since Melee but was added into Brawl, Tracer could get in via the Solid Snake effect (which is what I dub it) because Jeff Kaplan wants to see Her in (I like Overwatch but I think Arle and Neku is more deserving than Her) Maybe Nintendo and Blizzard talked over something and They have been pushing Overwatch since December 2019 (after the BoycottBlizzard debacle in Oct 2019). If a Character like Hero, Terry, Byleth and Min Min gets into Smash instead of Doomguy, Goku, A Valve character, Sora or Dante/Another Capcom character They'll harass Sakurai and that's why I left the Smash Community because of how Toxic it is

@1upGaming1up dude I could go on and on about how bad the smash community is... the undertale community (which is sadly really bad) is comparable but they are bad for different reasons. Smash players I play against (in tourneys at least) are so verbally abusive even if they win by a narrow amount I mean I get it I'm no MK Leo I play the game for fun and like to play in little contests leave me alone lol. Along with the abuse online, it's just a pretty bad community with a suprising amount of top players being great people (seemingly) but the players right below that just seem like absolute brats lol. Just let me enjoy sakurai work hes my favorite over at nintendo and had always done what is best for the player. Brawl was best for the average player and that was why people hated on it as well as 4. Ultimate may be a better balance but that doesn't change his first priority the player. Just like kirby, you can br bad and still enjoy it and the community needs to realize that. Curious how much you like kirby one of my favorites

@1upGaming1up also I would say we were both right as what you said was just as likely but I was just stating what I was thinking wr can take this to chit chat forum if you want to

@Ghostchip I like Kirby but I like Mario (that includes Yoshi and Wario series aswell), Zelda, Donkey Kong and Star Fox more when it comes to Nintendo. I just love Nintendo in general. Also I don't do forums anymore because They can be toxic

@1upGaming1up yeah I get it all are fantastic games! You getting pikmin 3 Dx? I'm so pumped huge pikmin fan!!!

I feel so bad for him..