Sakurai again comments on clone characters in Smash Bros., roster approach
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has once again commented on some of the clone characters in the new Wii U and 3DS games. He was asked to touch on the difference between clone characters like Marth and Lucina versus alternative costumes such as the Koopalings for Bowser Jr.
Below are his full comments on the matter:
“With regards to Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, Marth vs. Lucina, there are reasons for each. Lucina was the first to be split-off, this is because we made Marth’s moves more standard so he could be easy to handle by novice players.”
“However, any character which gained some uniqueness through their balancing needed to be separated so their results and statistics could be counted properly. It wouldn’t have been fair to have the results counted together even though their strengths differ between the variations. In the end, what was needed for each of these changes was to reduce the work required to balance the game.”
“Hence all these characters were adjusted relative to their clone. For example, Marth and Lucina would only be tested against each other, until they were roughly equal and in balance.”
Other quotes from Sakurai concern his approach for developing the roster:
“We do various kinds of research during the planning stage. We consider the inclusion of characters that feature in games being developed at the same time, are highly requested by users and are popular within their series. We then think about how they could be unique if they were to appear in Super Smash Bros.”
“Even if a character is highly popular and famous, they might not be chosen to appear as a fighter in Smash Bros because they lack uniqueness. On the other hand, if a character seems to have the potential to exhibit an interesting characteristic, they might be selected regardless of their popularity.”
