Sakurai not including Wii Fit Trainer/Villager in new Smash Bros. just to surprise people

Most Smash Bros. fans likely didn’t expect Nintendo to announce Wii Fit Trainer as a playable character in the new Wii U and 3DS games. Yet, during E3 2013, Nintendo did just that. The company also revealed the Animal Crossing Villager, a character that you wouldn’t exactly peg as a fighter under normal circumstances.

Masahiro Sakurai told GamesTM this month that the their inclusion isn’t simply a means of surprising players. Rather, he feels that they “are very unique characters and they lend themselves well to the Smash Bros. family because they bring things we don’t already see.”

Sakurai said:

“The Wii Fit Trainer and the villager from Animal Crossing, there may be some people out there being like, ‘Okay, great, now you’re going out on a limb, you’re trying to do something strange or unusual, but there’s really no meaning behind it, you’re just doing it for…’ I don’t want to say shock value, per se, but just to surprise people. And that’s really not the case. I think these are very unique characters and they lend themselves well to the Smash Bros. family because they bring things we don’t already see.”

Thanks to joclo for sending this our way.