There have been a lot of requests for Nintendo to revive the GameCube hit Super Smash Bros. Melee, but according to former NoA employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, it probably won't happen. In a recent episode of their podcast, the pair responded to a question asking about the possibility of Smash Bros. Melee in HD, claiming it's unlikely.
Krysta believes "it's absolutely, 100% never gonna happen", with Kit reiterating this - stating how Melee was a "Mother 3-level game" during their time at Nintendo, where if it was mentioned, "you [would] kind of tense up". Apparently, the perception of Melee "inside Nintendo" and having to deal with it was considered to be a "nightmare".
Krysta: "There are so many negative things from a Nintendo perspective around Melee that it's just like... now it has the 'black market emulation' around it and all this other stuff that Nintendo does not like..."
Ellis added how the Melee community would likely not respond well to changes if a new version was given the green light:
Kit: "I think one of the reasons not to do this game is how annoying the community would be around it. If you change even one minuscule detail about this game, it'd be like 'Oh, this game is not viable.'"
Krysta: "There's no way you can satisfy the zealousness of that community and I think Nintendo totally knows that."
The pair, who both worked for Nintendo in the US for well over a decade, claim a remaster like this would only create "more headaches" for the company and mentioned how the best approach was to just "sweep it under the rug" - where you "don't talk about Melee", let the community do its own thing, and you "move on".
Of course, while this may have possibly been the attitude towards Melee during Kit and Krysta's time at Nintendo, anything could happen in the future - with the company most recently shadow-dropping Metroid Prime Remastered.