Nintendo’s new Smash Bros. games for Wii U and 3DS will not be capable of cross-play functionality. However, Masahiro Sakurai confirmed to Joystiq that players will be able to take customized characters and transfer them to the Wii U version.
The specifics on the customizations aren’t entirely clear. But we do know that they aren’t related to costumes and won’t need to be unlocked through repetitive tasks. The developers want to avoid these kinds of tasks as the team makes a “stress free, easy connectivity” between the two versions.
In other news, Sakurai had nothing to say about the possibility of the level editor’s return, saying: “no comment.”
Platinum Games’ Hideki Kamiya showed interest in working on Star Fox in 2010. The same held true last year. When interviewed at E3 2013 this week, Kamiya once again said that he’d love to work on Star Fox or Nazo no Murasame J?.
“Of course I’d like to work together with Nintendo to make original games going forward. But as far as Nintendo franchises, the reality is that these are big franchises that have lots of fans and lots of history and it’d be really hard in my position to say ‘Oh, let me make one of these games.’ But tomorrow, if suddenly somebody came to me and said ‘We want you to make Star Fox,’ of course I would be pleased. So Star Fox is one, another series, Murasame J?. I grew up on Nintendo games so there’s a whole lot of respect for those.”
There’s a small bit of hope that Plants vs. Zombies 2 could be landing on the 3DS. Responding to a fan request for a release on Nintendo’s handheld, the game’s official Twitter account said that more news will follow after the game’s launch in July.
@ahmadchannel2 PvZ2 will be coming to Apple first in July. There will be more news to follow, so please do be sure to stay tuned! ^MowerMatt
— Plants vs. Zombies (@PlantsvsZombies) June 11, 2013
The original Plants vs. Zombies came out on the DS as a physical and downloadable game, so I see no reason why its sequel can’t end up on the 3DS. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Thanks to Ahmad A for the tip.
We have one more nugget about the new Smash Bros. games for Wii U and 3DS.
Masahiro Sakurai confirmed to Polygon that the game will have multiple air cancels.
Polygon editor Michael McWhertor shared the news through Twitter.
No tripping in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Multiple air cancels in the game “at this point,” Sakurai says.
— Michael McWhertor (@MikeMcWhertor) June 13, 2013
Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS will be similar to Brawl in many ways, but there will be plenty of changes as well. Tripping, for instance, has been removed.
The new Smash Bros. will be a change in direction as opposed to changes pertaining to fixes. Sakurai reiterated what we heard earlier today regarding his team’s attempt to blend the feel of Melee and Brawl.
“I would consider the changes that we’re making this time around not as fixes, but that we’re changing the direction. And so the vision for the overall balance of the game in Smash Bros Melee, it was sort of more focused towards more hardcore players. Then when it came around to making Brawl, this was a game that was targeting a Wii audience where there were a lot of beginner players, so it sort of leaned a little bit more in that direction. So now, for this time around, we’re sort of aiming for something that is in between those as far as the speed of the game. Because I don’t really think this time we’re in a situation where we’re trying to accommodate that many new players.”
Skylanders will be facing its first competition this year. Disney plans to launch Disney Infinity this summer, its own attempt at a video game that incorporates the usage of physical figures.
Despite the impending arrival of Infinity, Activision isn’t changing its sales projections for Skylanders Swap Force.
Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told Joystiq:
“We’re still bullish on our projections. We feel like it was only a matter of time, given the scale of the success of Skylanders, that other competitors entered the genre. That’s to be expected. I get this question a lot on Call of Duty. We have tough competition every year. We have tough competition in every category we play in, it’s a part of the business. We try not to focus on it. We try to focus on making the best games we can and exceeding the expectations of our fans and bottling magic.”
