There are 89 playable characters in Smash Bros. Ultimate including Sora.
All 88 non-Sora characters have a corresponding Amiibo.
Why on earth would you assume that they would go to the trouble of licensing Sora for the game without ensuring that they could have merchandising rights to make an Amiibo to complete the collection?
If Nintendo (and by extension Sakurai) managed to just forget to include that in their negotiations, then they're massively incompetent boneheads.
...Why are people surprised at this news? Not just here, but on other forums as well.
There is exactly a 0% chance that they would have negotiated the licensing rights of the character to be included in Smash without securing the eventual Amiibo release, given that literally every single other character has an accompanying Amiibo.
Haha this brings to mind the disaster that was NintendoLife's review of Snow Bros Special. In that one, they brought in a reviewer who admittedly hated the original game to complain about the fact that they faithfully recreated the original with a new coat of paint, even adding three times the content. At least this review fleshed out its criticisms, though, rather than rely on AVGNesque "comedy" to insult the game.
Thought it seems like sometimes NintendoLife is contrarian just for the sake of it, or due to a lone reviewer's bad take.
It makes it all the worse that they don't do the whole "this reviewer believes" thing and instead stick with the "we" perspective. It feels disingenuous to suggest that everyone on staff is in lockstep agreement with the review, especially when that final score is so wildly out of sync with the aggregate opinions of all of the other outlets.
I don't know if outside links are allowed, but I'm talking about articles where it literally just links the trailer and says "Trinity Fusion Launching In 2023" or "Angry Mob Games announces Trinity Fusion for 2023 launch". Not a single mention of Dread in the headline or article body. But there sure as heck are a lot of people comparing them in the comments sections.
Same with the reveal trailers on YouTube. Even the one posted by Angry Mob Games themselves. None of these mention Metroid Dread. And yet go through the comments...
"Heavy Metroid Dread vibes here" "Wow, like a sequel to Metroid Dread" "Looks like Metroid Dread" "And the first game inspired by Metroid Dread appears" "We have Metroid Dread at home"
I don't know why you're working so hard to pretend that people didn't naturally come to the conclusion that this game lifts a lot from Metroid Dread. And again, it doesn't matter, Dread is a great game, and this game looks pretty cool from the trailer too. I hope it's great and that it's successful. But it's so weird to pretend that people are only making the comparison because they're "told to" and that there are no similarities to Dread. Truly bizarre.
@Snow-Dust There exist other websites outside of Nintendo Life discussing this game that feature a number of other commenters also drawing comparisons to Metroid Dread, but that's ok.
@bloodninja I don't think you understand the difference between "play style" and "visuals".
Visuals, set pieces, character designs, mechanics, doesn't matter that all of these are pretty much identical, this game doesn't have you exploring a linear system of caves - this game has you exploring a *procedurally-generated system of caves! It's 100% different!
Haha oh man.
> You don’t even have an icon, probably a troll account for a banned user.
Yikes, attacking the user and not the argument. Not looking good here, friend. I know your shtick is to be this contrarian about every "popular" opinion, but it seems as if you and I are just living in two completely different realities here. I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this one. Have a good one.
Yes, thank you for reiterating a very strong point I made. Please point out where I contradicted myself.
If you cloned all of the gameplay code, enemy designs and powerups from Super Mario Bros and took it out of a linear platformer and plopped it into a procedurally-generated rogue-lite, is your argument that this is now a unique game full of brand-new ideas and not at all shamelessly ripping off a recent, massively-popular mainstream game?
@BloodNinja You're arguing at a strawman. I never once said that the play style of the games is the same. It doesn't matter whether this is a roguelite, or an adventure game, or a walking simulator. I'm saying that they directly lifted mechanics, visuals and character/enemy designs from Metroid Dread. I don't personally care, it doesn't bother me. But I don't see how any reasonable person could disagree.
I don't think you've even played Metroid Dread, or else you'd see how silly your arguments are. Are you being paid by the publishing company to defend this or something? You seem to care deeply about this.
FUN FACT: I saw this trailer before I even visited Nintendo Life today and immediately said to myself "oh man, you really went b*lls-deep on the Dread "inspiration", guys."
I'm not one to shame any game for taking inspiration from other games, or wanting to replicate the experience (and I'm sure this game has a lot of unique, fun ways to mix up the gameplay), but for someone to watch that trailer and claim to not see how much has been directly lifted (right down to some of the enemy designs almost being literally clones) from Metroid Dread, they're either being intentionally disingenuous, or they've never actually played Metroid Dread.
The fighting mechanics, the aiming scope, the landscapes, the two-armed biped enemies with dual-swords, the hulking brutes with minerals sticking out of their backs, the flying tentacled eye-balls, I mean, c'mon...
Again, I'm not affected in any personal way or bothered at all by it, but it's just silly to pretend otherwise.
@thegroundbelowme Yes, Metroid Dread didn't invent all of those mechanics you listed, but they certainly used ALL of them in a single game. You're essentially saying "oh come on, Super Marty Bros is in NO WAY a rip-off. As if Nintendo invented the idea of having mushrooms in their games, or breaking bricks, or fighting turtles, or having flying bullet enemies, or jumping on top of enemies to kill them, or shooting fireballs, or swimming in water stages, or collecting coins. It's just coincidence that they're all in this game. Besides, the main plumber character doesn't even have a mustache!"
Aw, I came here looking for an edgy review full of half-baked "comedy" that ultimately calls the game "boring" and "not fun" for delivering exactly what it promises to deliver.
Some notable games that I own are Little Samson, Snow Bros, and Bonk's Adventure for NES. As well Earthbound, Dracula X and Hagane for SNES.
And I have a complete in box collection of every single Mega Man game released in North America on all platforms.
I'm a player/collector, so I play every single one of these games without ever thinking twice about it. If they eventually break/stop functioning, I'll have more memories having played them than having them sit in a plastic tub somewhere collecting dust.
Yeah, I purposely avoided saying that there wasn't ANYTHING of merit in the review, because I totally agree about the DLC - I'm flabbergasted that they're charging additional for the monster mode, but the rest of the review... Yeeeeesh. It reads like they asked a First-Person Shooter reviewer to review a dating simulator.
Yikes, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?
I don't think this is a fair review at all. The whole point of the game is a pick-up-and-play arcade experience that's about stretching your quarter/life as long as you can. You stack powerups, chain combos, collect 'S N O W' letters to hit the bonus round. When you die, you lose all of your stacked powerups, start off weak again and attempt to build yourself back up. All this in an attempt to get the high score before your game ends.
It's actually quite fun. I actually prefer the speed and franticness over the slower pace of Bubble Bobble.
To each their own, I guess. I just find it weird to see a pretty good little game like this disparaged so harshly when so many 'visual novels' and big-boobed anime fan service Sims get high scores and are labelled 'must plays'. Maybe I'm out of touch?
==
> "Snow Bros. we're looking at the kind of game where we'd personally prefer fewer levels. Maybe it could have... two levels. Or maybe just one? No levels might be a decent idea."
Like, come on, how is this even a fair thing to say at all? It's crazy. I usually don't speak up about reviews I disagree with, but this one seems unnecessarily harsh. Like, were you paid by some rival company to trash this or something?
It's neat but I would have liked it to plug into both controller ports and support two controllers. Paying $100+ for the ability to play 2-players is steep. Not sure of the logistics of it, but it also would have been nice to have some sort of multitap function.
That's right, there's only one Sakurai. And I look forward to seeing what the next iteration of Smash is like when it's wrestled out of his over-bearing hands. Maybe we can get a developer diaries series of videos that shines a spotlight on the development process, or interviews with key members of the other teams on the development. I think we've heard enough whining about how hard it is to play with action figures, draw pictures and share in-game snapshots all day and how this allegedly puts you near-death and requiring an IV drip.
Weird how we've never heard any complaints from any development team members, whoever they are.
I think that extra transparency will be really cool and we'd learn a lot more about what it takes to bring a game like Smash to life. Maybe we'll get a more diverse roster too that isn't dedicated mostly to who Sakurai wants to have made into an Amiibo so he has more toys to play with.
I mean, the Smash Bros formula has been firmly in place for over 20 years now. Of course no game seeking to emulate it will ever be as successful. Any time a new party brawler comes out, it's instantly compared to Smash Bros.
Smash Bros also has several hundred different people who have/had worked on the game over the past couple of decades. Do you know any of their names? Or do you only know the name of the guy who takes credit for everything, claiming the franchise will die without him, even though he has gone on record to state that he has very little hands-on development with the game.
It's pretty appalling how much credit his fanboys give him, while completely ignoring the hard-working developers, designers, artists, testers, engineers, etc who are actually putting in the work to bring the game to life. Even more appalling is that Sakurai himself doesn't give anyone else credit.
Given that, by his own admissions, Sakurai is largely nothing more than a mascot and a PR person for Smash, I think that the series will do just fine in anyone else's hands. Perhaps better.
“I currently don’t see a path where Smash can be produced without myself.”
“If the series were to continue, I have to talk with Nintendo and have a debate on whether it will succeed or not. I must think about this topic seriously.”
Wow, what an ego-maniac. This is what happens when people worship someone as a cult figure. Gotta love how he acts like there aren't at LEAST **200** people credited for their work on Smash Bros. Given how much praise and credit he gives to anyone but himself, you'd think he developed the game alone in his garage.
Can we PLEASE just let this man rest already?! Between giving interviews talking about how exhausted and tormented he is and slowly releasing DLC for a game that was completed almost 5 years ago, I don't know how he's even ALIVE at this point!!! HOOK THIS MAN UP TO LIFE SUPPORT!
And so we're just making excuses now to justify the inclusion of 8 Fire Emblem characters.
> And you're irritated that the guy who made the series and does the decision making added characters from a series he enjoys?
Yes. Because he's literally asked fans who they want to see in the series and received hundreds, if not thousands of suggestions and yet keeps including his own pet characters. You're not supposed to make a game for yourself, you're supposed to make it for your audience.
If he wanted to make his own game, his way, just at least be honest with it. I'd respect him and his decisions more if he stopped shifting the blame to everyone but himself. "Don't blame me, I wasn't the one who wanted to include these three characters who just so happen to be characters who I routinely gush over and post fan art of on my social media accounts. It was all Nintendo's doing! I know that Waluigi has been the number 1 most requested character for Smash for roughly 4 years now, but Nintendo just wouldn't let me license him! They only offered more Fire Emblem characters!"
Dude. Come on.
(And no, I'm not 'just mad that Waluigi didn't make it in', it's just an example)
I'm sorry, but I just don't have the time to spend arguing about Sakurai's shaky track record with the truth right now. I can see that you have a vested interest in defending him and that's your right, so I'll just check out of that conversation. He's made enough questionable statements that his fans will accept as fact, even though he contradicts them in other interviews. He also overstates his own importance on working on Smash. How did someone who, by his own admission, works very little on the actual hands-on development of Smash ("I mostly input numbers, do character sketches, give guidance on movesets and show poses with action figures") end up working an alleged 80 hours per week on a largely-finished game?
Anyway, you have your opinion that having 8 sword-fighters from Fire Emblem with very similar looks and movesets is not overkill. And you're entitled to that opinion. Enjoy your Fire Emblem fighters.
I just hope that the director of the next Smash game keeps in mind that this is a series meant to celebrate numerous video game franchises and not just fans of JRPGs. If Sakurai wanted "Fire Emblem Fighters", I'm sure he could have pitched that to Nintendo and had it greenlit.
Ok. So they're significant and worth including because you like to play as them. What did you say about matter of opinion stated as fact, again?
> it isn't like having less Fire Emblem characters would mean more elsewhere
I... what? Of course it would. The time spent licensing, conceptualizing and developing the characters could have absolutely been spent on a number of other characters. Sakurai has made no secret of his love of the Fire Emblem series, so he obviously worked very, very hard to get all of his favorites included.
And don't get me wrong, I don't think the characters are poor choices because I "hate Fire Emblem" or simply because it's massively overrepresented. I actually have no opinion one way or the other about it as a series. It's the fact that they're literally all same-y swordfighters and admitted personal favorites of Sakurai's.
Fire Emblem deserves some character slots, for sure. Maybe 4 at the most. But not 8. That's not even a matter of opinion, because if you want to judge by how "big" a series is, it's odd that Mega Man, with all of its history and characters only has 1 representative out of 29 games. Street Fighter, 2. Kirby, 3 out of over 30 games. Heck Zelda has less representation than Fire Emblem. All of these aforementioned series are bigger in sales, name recognition and worldwide pop culture relevance than Fire Emblem.
It's incredible to see the depths that people will lower themselves to defend Sakurai and Fire Emblem. You can always just admit that maybe we just didn't need 8 sword-fighters from Fire Emblem in Smash and that perhaps it's a little overkill. Or that perhaps, just maybe, there are franchises that are bigger than Fire Emblem.
Even then, you can be a huge fan of the series and think it's super cool and everything, but I find it baffling that you don't find it weird how overrepresented it is in relation to everything else.
What are you talking about? I'm not saying that all franchises should be equally represented. I've never once said that. Some most definitely deserve the representation they have and some deserve more. Fire Emblem doesn't even come close to being deserving of being on par with the Mario and Pokemon franchises. Especially since even the most ferocious fans of the franchise struggle to think of reasons why all of their Smash characters are different from each other.
"Well, yeah, sure they all fight very similarly and basically have the same moveset, but this guy can shoot fire and this guy can turn into a dragon for his Final Smash. See? Different!"
That's a pretty silly thing to say, really. The Mario franchise is the core franchise behind Super Smash Bros. since the very beginning and is the absolute flagship franchise for Nintendo. Without the Mario franchise, there wouldn't be a Super Smash Bros. If anything, they are underrepresented given their rich history and importance to gaming.
And Pokemon is a global phenomenon. A successful juggernaut in pop culture and entertainment. To even claim that Fire Emblem has half of the relevance or importance of Pokemon is absurd.
Sakurai has lied countless times. From claiming he's so incredibly busy that he's literally on the verge of dying, but somehow still finding time to play through 247 Playstation games in one year, bragging about how he obsessively 100%'d Death Stranding.
Claiming that he had to ignore the results of fan polls in favor of including new swordfighting characters in the game because characters like Simon Belmont and King K. Rool "wouldn't make interesting fighters". And then turning around years later and adding them anyway. They just magically became "interesting" after he got his Fire Emblem picks, naturally.
Claiming that Nintendo is mandating all of the swordfighting Fire Emblem characters "against his will" but then fangushing all over the characters on his various social media accounts and talking about how much he loves them and their games.
Lying about who actually won the top spots in Smash polls.
There is literally no argument to be made that Fire Emblem isn't overrepresented in Smash. Making that argument is absurdly disingenuous.
And I can't believe we're still supposed to take Sakurai for his word for anything. How many times do we have to catch him in a lie before we're allowed to question him?
> if you're going to complain and whine about FE then remember: a plant made it in the game. let that sink in. so next time you plan on hating on FE you'd be wise to remember that
What an odd tangent to go on. If we want to 'remember' something and 'let it sink in', perhaps we should keep in mind that while Piranha Plant is a relatively dumb character, it's at least unique. Marth/Roy/Ike/Lucina/Byleth/Corrin/Chrom may as well all be an alternate skin of the same character.
It's also utter nonsense that the Fire Emblem series is so overly represented in the game. It's not even a secret at this point that Sakurai's obsessive bias is a driving force behind which characters are included in the game.
I'm not personally holding a candle for any other character who didn't make it in. I think there are a ton of other characters who should have made it in, but none that affect me on such a personal level that you seem to be affected by people criticizing Fire Emblem.
Perhaps you should keep in mind that it's completely fair to be critical of some really questionable roster decisions. Not everyone deifies Sakurai as a god and believes he can do no wrong. Some of us can recognize him as an obsessive fanboy who wants to play as all of his own personal favorite characters.
There is absolutely no way that Kazuya was always planned to be the final character of Pass 2. That's too underwhelming. If they couldn't make Sora happen, they would have just moved onto another character for the "surprise" 6th character. There are a ton of other Fire Emblem characters Sakurai could have chosen from. A quick Google search shows some sword-wielding character named 'Eliwood' who is basically a red-headed Marth. Right up Sakurai's alley.
Oh ... oh no! Announced via a tweet from - from - MASAHIRO SAKURAI?!
OH GOD SOMEONE CHECK ON HIM SEND THE AUTHORITIES FOR A WELLNESS CHECK HE NEEDS TO REST THE MAN IS FALLING APART AND MOMENTS FROM DEATH HOW DID HE SUMMON THE POWER TO TWEET?! PLEASE RETIRE PLEASE RETIRE REST, MY KING! REST!
Microids was largely responsible for the Toki remake in 2018, which was a fantastic update to the original. This one looks like it will be just as good.
I understand from your comment that you are under the impression that Sakurai is personally sitting alone at a desk for 23 hours a day adjusting numerical integers and hit boxes for game characters.
Ohhh NOW it makes sense why he's so "burnt out" all the time while casually producing DLC for a long-finished video game. He's also been writing a blog! PLEASE REST MR. SAKURAI YOUR GRUELING SCHEDULE IS GODLY!
@Kid_Sickarus Agreed. That's one of the awful side-effects that comes with having so many people idolize someone like Sakurai. Members of his team will undoubtedly feel pressured to "keep the same pace", whether that pace is real or exaggerated. For all we know, the true source of Sakurai's burnout is from staying up all night playing Playstation or legitimate insomnia, or some form of mental illness, who knows? But by angling it as if he's tirelessly working 23 hours a day, 7 days a week on a single game, others may be asked "why aren't you as dedicated as Mr. Sakurai" or "if you want to make it, you need to show just as much initiative as Mr. Sakurai" or "how can you let your boss work harder than you? Shameful! You want to go home at 5 to have dinner with your family and see your newborn child? You'd never see Mr. Sakurai flaking out while there is work to be done! The man has given his mind, body and soul to this project and you can't even skip dinner?!"
@yoshis1900 Thanks, I've been hoping to hear from someone with some real experience with this who can speak a little more critically on the topic rather than taking Sakurai at his word and heaping praise on him.
I mentioned it earlier in this comments section, but I'm a project manager for a software company so I totally get that a lot of administrative work comes along with being a director/producer. But just ... not to the extent that allegedly comes with Sakurai's role. Even more suspicious is the fact that the core game has been largely developed since 2014 and 100% completed since 2018. I have no idea how or why he seems to need to work himself to "near death" when all they're doing is fine-tuning and adding DLC. Negotiating the inclusion of third-party characters in the game would be handled by a team made up of agents, lawyers and coordinators. Sakurai would likely be pretty hands-off in this department as well, save for maybe a few emails, phone calls and a Zoom meeting or two here and there, if need be. However, it's treated as if he's holding Microsoft/Disney/Sony execs hostage for 15 hours a day, locked in physical combat, to get them to allow him to license DLC Character 5 for use in the game. But that's just not how it would work. Sakurai and his team could get a character licensed over the course of a week without ever having to change out of their pajamas. Like you, I give total props to the team as a whole, but man, this whole Sakurai worship thing has really got to stop. It's weird. Sorry if I'm just breaking the illusion for all of the Sakurai fans here.
What new things did Smash introduce that weren't initialized in Smash Bros Wii U? You're referencing my comment as if you think that I'm implying that a port is a bad thing. It's not at all. But let's get real, the groundwork for Smash Ultimate was built with Smash Bros Wii U. They took an excellent formula they had created and expanded on it.
@somerando
You listed a lot of ailments he allegedly ended up with and also mentioned a nice (and necessary to continue development) thing he did for his staff but ultimately haven't offered any more insight into what he actually does for the game. He, himself, admits that he doesn't actually do any development work on Smash beyond tweaks, data entry and occasional play-testing.
Right. And what does that include? The core game itself is finished. They finished the biggest groundwork when they made Smash Bros Wii U in 2014, then ported and updated it in 2018. It's now 2021 and they're just adding bricks to the rock-solid foundation. They don't have the same deadlines and crunch times.
Even then, the brunt of the work falls on the development team as Sakurai has, on numerous occasions, admitted that he has no part of outside of play-testing and adjusting numerical values for fighter stats. So... what has he been managing that requires such an intense mental focus that he is "killing himself"?
(Currently work as a project manager for a software company myself, with multiple projects on the go, so I'm trying really hard to connect the dots here)
That's the thing, like I'm not saying he just lays around in his pajamas and does nothing (although, it doesn't help with him bragging about playing 241 Playstation games while he was allegedly "working too hard and burning himself out"), but his job hardly sounds as grueling as a lot of other jobs out there. There are teams of developers who work on multiple games at one time, pushed against strict deadlines to push 3-4 games out in a single year. I'd call those people overworked.
Comments 221
Re: Video: Masahiro Sakurai Shows Off His Retro Game Skills In "Special" YouTube Collab
@PtM https://i.imgur.com/52IifMy.jpg
Are you under the impression that these are all different people, or that Sakurai ages so slowly that he ages backwards?
Re: Video: Masahiro Sakurai Shows Off His Retro Game Skills In "Special" YouTube Collab
@Kermit1
I mean, yeah, routine cosmetic surgeries/procedures will do that for a person.
Re: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Final amiibo Is Coming In 2024
@PtM
Tell me you don't understand how licensing negotiations work without telling me.
Re: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Final amiibo Is Coming In 2024
@PtM
There are 89 playable characters in Smash Bros. Ultimate including Sora.
All 88 non-Sora characters have a corresponding Amiibo.
Why on earth would you assume that they would go to the trouble of licensing Sora for the game without ensuring that they could have merchandising rights to make an Amiibo to complete the collection?
If Nintendo (and by extension Sakurai) managed to just forget to include that in their negotiations, then they're massively incompetent boneheads.
Re: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Final amiibo Is Coming In 2024
...Why are people surprised at this news? Not just here, but on other forums as well.
There is exactly a 0% chance that they would have negotiated the licensing rights of the character to be included in Smash without securing the eventual Amiibo release, given that literally every single other character has an accompanying Amiibo.
Re: Review: Sonic Frontiers - A Bold But Ultimately Failed Attempt At Something New
Haha this brings to mind the disaster that was NintendoLife's review of Snow Bros Special. In that one, they brought in a reviewer who admittedly hated the original game to complain about the fact that they faithfully recreated the original with a new coat of paint, even adding three times the content. At least this review fleshed out its criticisms, though, rather than rely on AVGNesque "comedy" to insult the game.
Thought it seems like sometimes NintendoLife is contrarian just for the sake of it, or due to a lone reviewer's bad take.
It makes it all the worse that they don't do the whole "this reviewer believes" thing and instead stick with the "we" perspective. It feels disingenuous to suggest that everyone on staff is in lockstep agreement with the review, especially when that final score is so wildly out of sync with the aggregate opinions of all of the other outlets.
Re: The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'
@Kilroy
I don't know if outside links are allowed, but I'm talking about articles where it literally just links the trailer and says "Trinity Fusion Launching In 2023" or "Angry Mob Games announces Trinity Fusion for 2023 launch". Not a single mention of Dread in the headline or article body. But there sure as heck are a lot of people comparing them in the comments sections.
Same with the reveal trailers on YouTube. Even the one posted by Angry Mob Games themselves. None of these mention Metroid Dread. And yet go through the comments...
"Heavy Metroid Dread vibes here"
"Wow, like a sequel to Metroid Dread"
"Looks like Metroid Dread"
"And the first game inspired by Metroid Dread appears"
"We have Metroid Dread at home"
I don't know why you're working so hard to pretend that people didn't naturally come to the conclusion that this game lifts a lot from Metroid Dread. And again, it doesn't matter, Dread is a great game, and this game looks pretty cool from the trailer too. I hope it's great and that it's successful. But it's so weird to pretend that people are only making the comparison because they're "told to" and that there are no similarities to Dread. Truly bizarre.
Re: The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'
@Snow-Dust There exist other websites outside of Nintendo Life discussing this game that feature a number of other commenters also drawing comparisons to Metroid Dread, but that's ok.
Re: The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'
@bloodninja I don't think you understand the difference between "play style" and "visuals".
Visuals, set pieces, character designs, mechanics, doesn't matter that all of these are pretty much identical, this game doesn't have you exploring a linear system of caves - this game has you exploring a *procedurally-generated system of caves! It's 100% different!
Haha oh man.
> You don’t even have an icon, probably a troll account for a banned user.
Yikes, attacking the user and not the argument. Not looking good here, friend. I know your shtick is to be this contrarian about every "popular" opinion, but it seems as if you and I are just living in two completely different realities here. I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this one. Have a good one.
Re: The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'
@BloodNinja
Yes, thank you for reiterating a very strong point I made. Please point out where I contradicted myself.
If you cloned all of the gameplay code, enemy designs and powerups from Super Mario Bros and took it out of a linear platformer and plopped it into a procedurally-generated rogue-lite, is your argument that this is now a unique game full of brand-new ideas and not at all shamelessly ripping off a recent, massively-popular mainstream game?
Re: The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'
@BloodNinja You're arguing at a strawman. I never once said that the play style of the games is the same. It doesn't matter whether this is a roguelite, or an adventure game, or a walking simulator. I'm saying that they directly lifted mechanics, visuals and character/enemy designs from Metroid Dread. I don't personally care, it doesn't bother me. But I don't see how any reasonable person could disagree.
I don't think you've even played Metroid Dread, or else you'd see how silly your arguments are. Are you being paid by the publishing company to defend this or something? You seem to care deeply about this.
FUN FACT: I saw this trailer before I even visited Nintendo Life today and immediately said to myself "oh man, you really went b*lls-deep on the Dread "inspiration", guys."
Re: The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'
I'm not one to shame any game for taking inspiration from other games, or wanting to replicate the experience (and I'm sure this game has a lot of unique, fun ways to mix up the gameplay), but for someone to watch that trailer and claim to not see how much has been directly lifted (right down to some of the enemy designs almost being literally clones) from Metroid Dread, they're either being intentionally disingenuous, or they've never actually played Metroid Dread.
The fighting mechanics, the aiming scope, the landscapes, the two-armed biped enemies with dual-swords, the hulking brutes with minerals sticking out of their backs, the flying tentacled eye-balls, I mean, c'mon...
Again, I'm not affected in any personal way or bothered at all by it, but it's just silly to pretend otherwise.
@thegroundbelowme Yes, Metroid Dread didn't invent all of those mechanics you listed, but they certainly used ALL of them in a single game. You're essentially saying "oh come on, Super Marty Bros is in NO WAY a rip-off. As if Nintendo invented the idea of having mushrooms in their games, or breaking bricks, or fighting turtles, or having flying bullet enemies, or jumping on top of enemies to kill them, or shooting fireballs, or swimming in water stages, or collecting coins. It's just coincidence that they're all in this game. Besides, the main plumber character doesn't even have a mustache!"
Dude...
Re: Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - The Best Turtles Beat 'Em Up Ever Made
Aw, I came here looking for an edgy review full of half-baked "comedy" that ultimately calls the game "boring" and "not fun" for delivering exactly what it promises to deliver.
Re: Video: Do You Own A Video Game So Rare That You Can Never Actually Play It?
Some notable games that I own are Little Samson, Snow Bros, and Bonk's Adventure for NES. As well Earthbound, Dracula X and Hagane for SNES.
And I have a complete in box collection of every single Mega Man game released in North America on all platforms.
I'm a player/collector, so I play every single one of these games without ever thinking twice about it. If they eventually break/stop functioning, I'll have more memories having played them than having them sit in a plastic tub somewhere collecting dust.
Re: Review: OPUS: Echo Of Starsong - Full Bloom Edition - Evocative And Shockingly Well-Realised
Snow Bros, a classic, action-packed arcade title:
Boring! Not fun!
A game where you endlessly walk back and forth until you're interrupted by text walls:
A MASTERPIECE!
Re: Review: Snow Bros. Nick & Tom Special - A Tired Bubble Bobble-Alike That's Finally Affordable
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Re: Review: Snow Bros. Nick & Tom Special - A Tired Bubble Bobble-Alike That's Finally Affordable
@TurboSpork
Yeah, I purposely avoided saying that there wasn't ANYTHING of merit in the review, because I totally agree about the DLC - I'm flabbergasted that they're charging additional for the monster mode, but the rest of the review... Yeeeeesh. It reads like they asked a First-Person Shooter reviewer to review a dating simulator.
Re: Review: Snow Bros. Nick & Tom Special - A Tired Bubble Bobble-Alike That's Finally Affordable
Yikes, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?
I don't think this is a fair review at all. The whole point of the game is a pick-up-and-play arcade experience that's about stretching your quarter/life as long as you can. You stack powerups, chain combos, collect 'S N O W' letters to hit the bonus round. When you die, you lose all of your stacked powerups, start off weak again and attempt to build yourself back up. All this in an attempt to get the high score before your game ends.
It's actually quite fun. I actually prefer the speed and franticness over the slower pace of Bubble Bobble.
To each their own, I guess. I just find it weird to see a pretty good little game like this disparaged so harshly when so many 'visual novels' and big-boobed anime fan service Sims get high scores and are labelled 'must plays'. Maybe I'm out of touch?
==
> "Snow Bros. we're looking at the kind of game where we'd personally prefer fewer levels. Maybe it could have... two levels. Or maybe just one? No levels might be a decent idea."
Like, come on, how is this even a fair thing to say at all? It's crazy. I usually don't speak up about reviews I disagree with, but this one seems unnecessarily harsh. Like, were you paid by some rival company to trash this or something?
Re: 'Wingman SNES' Allows You To Use 125 Different Wired And Wireless Controllers On Your NES And SNES
It's neat but I would have liked it to plug into both controller ports and support two controllers. Paying $100+ for the ability to play 2-players is steep. Not sure of the logistics of it, but it also would have been nice to have some sort of multitap function.
Re: Random: Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai Just Bought An Xbox Series X
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Re: Sakurai Says He's Not Thinking About A New Smash Bros. Game, But Won't Rule It Out
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Re: Sakurai Says He's Not Thinking About A New Smash Bros. Game, But Won't Rule It Out
That's right, there's only one Sakurai. And I look forward to seeing what the next iteration of Smash is like when it's wrestled out of his over-bearing hands. Maybe we can get a developer diaries series of videos that shines a spotlight on the development process, or interviews with key members of the other teams on the development. I think we've heard enough whining about how hard it is to play with action figures, draw pictures and share in-game snapshots all day and how this allegedly puts you near-death and requiring an IV drip.
Weird how we've never heard any complaints from any development team members, whoever they are.
I think that extra transparency will be really cool and we'd learn a lot more about what it takes to bring a game like Smash to life. Maybe we'll get a more diverse roster too that isn't dedicated mostly to who Sakurai wants to have made into an Amiibo so he has more toys to play with.
Re: Sakurai Says He's Not Thinking About A New Smash Bros. Game, But Won't Rule It Out
@SpaceboyScreams
I mean, the Smash Bros formula has been firmly in place for over 20 years now. Of course no game seeking to emulate it will ever be as successful. Any time a new party brawler comes out, it's instantly compared to Smash Bros.
Smash Bros also has several hundred different people who have/had worked on the game over the past couple of decades. Do you know any of their names? Or do you only know the name of the guy who takes credit for everything, claiming the franchise will die without him, even though he has gone on record to state that he has very little hands-on development with the game.
It's pretty appalling how much credit his fanboys give him, while completely ignoring the hard-working developers, designers, artists, testers, engineers, etc who are actually putting in the work to bring the game to life. Even more appalling is that Sakurai himself doesn't give anyone else credit.
Re: Sakurai Says He's Not Thinking About A New Smash Bros. Game, But Won't Rule It Out
Given that, by his own admissions, Sakurai is largely nothing more than a mascot and a PR person for Smash, I think that the series will do just fine in anyone else's hands. Perhaps better.
Re: Sakurai Says He's Not Thinking About A New Smash Bros. Game, But Won't Rule It Out
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Re: Sakurai Says He's Not Thinking About A New Smash Bros. Game, But Won't Rule It Out
“I currently don’t see a path where Smash can be produced without myself.”
“If the series were to continue, I have to talk with Nintendo and have a debate on whether it will succeed or not. I must think about this topic seriously.”
Wow, what an ego-maniac. This is what happens when people worship someone as a cult figure. Gotta love how he acts like there aren't at LEAST **200** people credited for their work on Smash Bros. Given how much praise and credit he gives to anyone but himself, you'd think he developed the game alone in his garage.
Re: Random: Now That Smash Is Complete, Sakurai Doesn't Have To Worry About What He Shares On Social Media
Can we PLEASE just let this man rest already?! Between giving interviews talking about how exhausted and tormented he is and slowly releasing DLC for a game that was completed almost 5 years ago, I don't know how he's even ALIVE at this point!!! HOOK THIS MAN UP TO LIFE SUPPORT!
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
Thanks for stopping by!
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
Just imagine being so hopelessly devoted to a random game developer that you literally treat him as some sort of a cult leader. It's so embarrassing.
I'm sure you're just arguing from an unbiased position here anyway, guy with Fire Emblem avatar.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@Classic603
And so we're just making excuses now to justify the inclusion of 8 Fire Emblem characters.
> And you're irritated that the guy who made the series and does the decision making added characters from a series he enjoys?
Yes. Because he's literally asked fans who they want to see in the series and received hundreds, if not thousands of suggestions and yet keeps including his own pet characters. You're not supposed to make a game for yourself, you're supposed to make it for your audience.
If he wanted to make his own game, his way, just at least be honest with it. I'd respect him and his decisions more if he stopped shifting the blame to everyone but himself. "Don't blame me, I wasn't the one who wanted to include these three characters who just so happen to be characters who I routinely gush over and post fan art of on my social media accounts. It was all Nintendo's doing! I know that Waluigi has been the number 1 most requested character for Smash for roughly 4 years now, but Nintendo just wouldn't let me license him! They only offered more Fire Emblem characters!"
Dude. Come on.
(And no, I'm not 'just mad that Waluigi didn't make it in', it's just an example)
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@Tobiaku
I'm sorry, but I just don't have the time to spend arguing about Sakurai's shaky track record with the truth right now. I can see that you have a vested interest in defending him and that's your right, so I'll just check out of that conversation. He's made enough questionable statements that his fans will accept as fact, even though he contradicts them in other interviews. He also overstates his own importance on working on Smash. How did someone who, by his own admission, works very little on the actual hands-on development of Smash ("I mostly input numbers, do character sketches, give guidance on movesets and show poses with action figures") end up working an alleged 80 hours per week on a largely-finished game?
Anyway, you have your opinion that having 8 sword-fighters from Fire Emblem with very similar looks and movesets is not overkill. And you're entitled to that opinion. Enjoy your Fire Emblem fighters.
I just hope that the director of the next Smash game keeps in mind that this is a series meant to celebrate numerous video game franchises and not just fans of JRPGs. If Sakurai wanted "Fire Emblem Fighters", I'm sure he could have pitched that to Nintendo and had it greenlit.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@Classic603
Ok. So they're significant and worth including because you like to play as them. What did you say about matter of opinion stated as fact, again?
> it isn't like having less Fire Emblem characters would mean more elsewhere
I... what? Of course it would. The time spent licensing, conceptualizing and developing the characters could have absolutely been spent on a number of other characters. Sakurai has made no secret of his love of the Fire Emblem series, so he obviously worked very, very hard to get all of his favorites included.
And don't get me wrong, I don't think the characters are poor choices because I "hate Fire Emblem" or simply because it's massively overrepresented. I actually have no opinion one way or the other about it as a series. It's the fact that they're literally all same-y swordfighters and admitted personal favorites of Sakurai's.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
Fire Emblem deserves some character slots, for sure. Maybe 4 at the most. But not 8. That's not even a matter of opinion, because if you want to judge by how "big" a series is, it's odd that Mega Man, with all of its history and characters only has 1 representative out of 29 games. Street Fighter, 2. Kirby, 3 out of over 30 games. Heck Zelda has less representation than Fire Emblem. All of these aforementioned series are bigger in sales, name recognition and worldwide pop culture relevance than Fire Emblem.
It's incredible to see the depths that people will lower themselves to defend Sakurai and Fire Emblem. You can always just admit that maybe we just didn't need 8 sword-fighters from Fire Emblem in Smash and that perhaps it's a little overkill. Or that perhaps, just maybe, there are franchises that are bigger than Fire Emblem.
Even then, you can be a huge fan of the series and think it's super cool and everything, but I find it baffling that you don't find it weird how overrepresented it is in relation to everything else.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@Classic603
What are you talking about? I'm not saying that all franchises should be equally represented. I've never once said that. Some most definitely deserve the representation they have and some deserve more. Fire Emblem doesn't even come close to being deserving of being on par with the Mario and Pokemon franchises. Especially since even the most ferocious fans of the franchise struggle to think of reasons why all of their Smash characters are different from each other.
"Well, yeah, sure they all fight very similarly and basically have the same moveset, but this guy can shoot fire and this guy can turn into a dragon for his Final Smash. See? Different!"
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@Tobiaku
That's a pretty silly thing to say, really. The Mario franchise is the core franchise behind Super Smash Bros. since the very beginning and is the absolute flagship franchise for Nintendo. Without the Mario franchise, there wouldn't be a Super Smash Bros. If anything, they are underrepresented given their rich history and importance to gaming.
And Pokemon is a global phenomenon. A successful juggernaut in pop culture and entertainment. To even claim that Fire Emblem has half of the relevance or importance of Pokemon is absurd.
Sakurai has lied countless times. From claiming he's so incredibly busy that he's literally on the verge of dying, but somehow still finding time to play through 247 Playstation games in one year, bragging about how he obsessively 100%'d Death Stranding.
Claiming that he had to ignore the results of fan polls in favor of including new swordfighting characters in the game because characters like Simon Belmont and King K. Rool "wouldn't make interesting fighters". And then turning around years later and adding them anyway. They just magically became "interesting" after he got his Fire Emblem picks, naturally.
Claiming that Nintendo is mandating all of the swordfighting Fire Emblem characters "against his will" but then fangushing all over the characters on his various social media accounts and talking about how much he loves them and their games.
Lying about who actually won the top spots in Smash polls.
And so on and so on.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
There is literally no argument to be made that Fire Emblem isn't overrepresented in Smash. Making that argument is absurdly disingenuous.
And I can't believe we're still supposed to take Sakurai for his word for anything. How many times do we have to catch him in a lie before we're allowed to question him?
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@Fujimoto-San
> if you're going to complain and whine about FE then remember: a plant made it in the game. let that sink in. so next time you plan on hating on FE you'd be wise to remember that
What an odd tangent to go on. If we want to 'remember' something and 'let it sink in', perhaps we should keep in mind that while Piranha Plant is a relatively dumb character, it's at least unique. Marth/Roy/Ike/Lucina/Byleth/Corrin/Chrom may as well all be an alternate skin of the same character.
It's also utter nonsense that the Fire Emblem series is so overly represented in the game. It's not even a secret at this point that Sakurai's obsessive bias is a driving force behind which characters are included in the game.
I'm not personally holding a candle for any other character who didn't make it in. I think there are a ton of other characters who should have made it in, but none that affect me on such a personal level that you seem to be affected by people criticizing Fire Emblem.
Perhaps you should keep in mind that it's completely fair to be critical of some really questionable roster decisions. Not everyone deifies Sakurai as a god and believes he can do no wrong. Some of us can recognize him as an obsessive fanboy who wants to play as all of his own personal favorite characters.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
@JR150 Ok, but this only further reinforces my point that this character would be a strong contender for Sakurai's final pick if Sora didn't work out.
Re: Sakurai Reveals How A Chance Encounter Led To Sora In Smash Bros. Ultimate
There is absolutely no way that Kazuya was always planned to be the final character of Pass 2. That's too underwhelming. If they couldn't make Sora happen, they would have just moved onto another character for the "surprise" 6th character. There are a ton of other Fire Emblem characters Sakurai could have chosen from. A quick Google search shows some sword-wielding character named 'Eliwood' who is basically a red-headed Marth. Right up Sakurai's alley.
Re: Smash Bros. Ultimate's Final DLC Fighter Has Arrived - Sora From Kingdom Hearts
Oh ... oh no! Announced via a tweet from - from - MASAHIRO SAKURAI?!
OH GOD SOMEONE CHECK ON HIM SEND THE AUTHORITIES FOR A WELLNESS CHECK HE NEEDS TO REST THE MAN IS FALLING APART AND MOMENTS FROM DEATH HOW DID HE SUMMON THE POWER TO TWEET?! PLEASE RETIRE PLEASE RETIRE REST, MY KING! REST!
Re: SNES Classic Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja Is Getting A Proper Remake On Modern Consoles
Microids was largely responsible for the Toki remake in 2018, which was a fantastic update to the original. This one looks like it will be just as good.
Re: Gallery: Sakurai Shares New Screenshots Of The Final DLC Fighter For Smash Bros. Ultimate
Oh gosh, I hope he's alright after sharing these screenshots!
TAKE A REST, DADDY SAKURAI, YOU ARE OVEREXERTING YOURSELF AND COULD COLLAPSE YOU DESERVE A BREAK!
Re: It Seems Masahiro Sakurai Will Be Ending His Famitsu Columns Very Soon
@Bulborb Were you aware that there is a team of over 200 people who work/worked on Smash Bros Ultimate?
https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Smash_Bros._Ultimate/credits
I understand from your comment that you are under the impression that Sakurai is personally sitting alone at a desk for 23 hours a day adjusting numerical integers and hit boxes for game characters.
Re: It Seems Masahiro Sakurai Will Be Ending His Famitsu Columns Very Soon
Ohhh NOW it makes sense why he's so "burnt out" all the time while casually producing DLC for a long-finished video game. He's also been writing a blog! PLEASE REST MR. SAKURAI YOUR GRUELING SCHEDULE IS GODLY!
Re: Talking Point: #ThankYouSakurai For Smash Ultimate, Now He Should Choose His Own Path
@Kid_Sickarus Agreed. That's one of the awful side-effects that comes with having so many people idolize someone like Sakurai. Members of his team will undoubtedly feel pressured to "keep the same pace", whether that pace is real or exaggerated. For all we know, the true source of Sakurai's burnout is from staying up all night playing Playstation or legitimate insomnia, or some form of mental illness, who knows? But by angling it as if he's tirelessly working 23 hours a day, 7 days a week on a single game, others may be asked "why aren't you as dedicated as Mr. Sakurai" or "if you want to make it, you need to show just as much initiative as Mr. Sakurai" or "how can you let your boss work harder than you? Shameful! You want to go home at 5 to have dinner with your family and see your newborn child? You'd never see Mr. Sakurai flaking out while there is work to be done! The man has given his mind, body and soul to this project and you can't even skip dinner?!"
Re: Talking Point: #ThankYouSakurai For Smash Ultimate, Now He Should Choose His Own Path
@yoshis1900 Thanks, I've been hoping to hear from someone with some real experience with this who can speak a little more critically on the topic rather than taking Sakurai at his word and heaping praise on him.
I mentioned it earlier in this comments section, but I'm a project manager for a software company so I totally get that a lot of administrative work comes along with being a director/producer. But just ... not to the extent that allegedly comes with Sakurai's role. Even more suspicious is the fact that the core game has been largely developed since 2014 and 100% completed since 2018. I have no idea how or why he seems to need to work himself to "near death" when all they're doing is fine-tuning and adding DLC. Negotiating the inclusion of third-party characters in the game would be handled by a team made up of agents, lawyers and coordinators. Sakurai would likely be pretty hands-off in this department as well, save for maybe a few emails, phone calls and a Zoom meeting or two here and there, if need be. However, it's treated as if he's holding Microsoft/Disney/Sony execs hostage for 15 hours a day, locked in physical combat, to get them to allow him to license DLC Character 5 for use in the game. But that's just not how it would work. Sakurai and his team could get a character licensed over the course of a week without ever having to change out of their pajamas. Like you, I give total props to the team as a whole, but man, this whole Sakurai worship thing has really got to stop. It's weird. Sorry if I'm just breaking the illusion for all of the Sakurai fans here.
Re: Talking Point: #ThankYouSakurai For Smash Ultimate, Now He Should Choose His Own Path
@BTB20
What new things did Smash introduce that weren't initialized in Smash Bros Wii U? You're referencing my comment as if you think that I'm implying that a port is a bad thing. It's not at all. But let's get real, the groundwork for Smash Ultimate was built with Smash Bros Wii U. They took an excellent formula they had created and expanded on it.
@somerando
You listed a lot of ailments he allegedly ended up with and also mentioned a nice (and necessary to continue development) thing he did for his staff but ultimately haven't offered any more insight into what he actually does for the game. He, himself, admits that he doesn't actually do any development work on Smash beyond tweaks, data entry and occasional play-testing.
Re: Talking Point: #ThankYouSakurai For Smash Ultimate, Now He Should Choose His Own Path
Maybe the director of the next Smash game can give us back a decent single player experience/story mode.
Re: Talking Point: #ThankYouSakurai For Smash Ultimate, Now He Should Choose His Own Path
@ModdedInkling
Right. And what does that include? The core game itself is finished. They finished the biggest groundwork when they made Smash Bros Wii U in 2014, then ported and updated it in 2018. It's now 2021 and they're just adding bricks to the rock-solid foundation. They don't have the same deadlines and crunch times.
Even then, the brunt of the work falls on the development team as Sakurai has, on numerous occasions, admitted that he has no part of outside of play-testing and adjusting numerical values for fighter stats. So... what has he been managing that requires such an intense mental focus that he is "killing himself"?
(Currently work as a project manager for a software company myself, with multiple projects on the go, so I'm trying really hard to connect the dots here)
Re: Talking Point: #ThankYouSakurai For Smash Ultimate, Now He Should Choose His Own Path
@Kid_Sickarus
That's the thing, like I'm not saying he just lays around in his pajamas and does nothing (although, it doesn't help with him bragging about playing 241 Playstation games while he was allegedly "working too hard and burning himself out"), but his job hardly sounds as grueling as a lot of other jobs out there. There are teams of developers who work on multiple games at one time, pushed against strict deadlines to push 3-4 games out in a single year. I'd call those people overworked.