Masahiro Sakurai, Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Akihiro Hino share brief comments about 2016
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
A whole bunch of developers spoke with Famitsu this week about their aspirations for 2016. Aside from what we posted regarding Etrian Odyssey V from Atlus’ Shigeo Komori, here are some of the other Nintendo-related comments we’ve come across:
Masahiro Sakurai: I want to enjoy every Sunday. But it’s not like the next job hasn’t been decided yet.
Rune Factory and Story of Season’s Yoshifumi Hashimoto: I haven’t announced new titles yet, but some are already on the move.
Level-5’s Akihiro Hino: In 2016, other than expansion of Yokai Watch’s world, we’ll also announce titles with brand-new world settings.
Sakurai reflects on criticism
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 63 Comments
Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai’s latest Famitsu column was all about the new DLC characters in the Wii U and 3DS games. Prior to this though, in another recent issue, he tackled the topic of criticism.
Sakurai begins his piece by talking about Star Wars and George Lucas, who is no longer involved with the franchise. He also reflected on a quote from Lucas in which he stated: “you go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized. And it’s not much fun. You can’t experiment.”
Sakurai then went on to say:
… I truly understand his feelings. You could say my body is filled with these feelings. Making something, and completing it is a huge undertaking, and there are a lot of places where fans can’t see. It’s like building a house, but people focus on a single painting that’s hung up on a wall in one room, and fixate on it, and keep listing off their complaints of that painting. These situations are very common.
For me, a familiar example would be…in Smash, Cloud recently became a playable character. And there were people that strongly criticized that, saying “Stop adding non-Nintendo characters!” This is completely ignoring the fact that I’ve added many, many Nintendo characters to Smash. It also ignores the many fans who were overjoyed at Cloud’s addition. Looking at the big picture, I am on the receiving end of countless amounts of truly trivial statements.
However, I think that’s okay. Different people value different things differently, and they should stay honest to that. For example, even I, as a fan (?) have my complaints with Star Wars. I honestly dislike Episode VI’s long-winded pacing and how easily the Empire Stormtroopers fall to the Ewoks. I think that the re-releases are redundant and superfluous. But, more than that, I am grateful that they showed me these various worlds, and let me enjoy them. Normally, I just don’t have the opportunity to vocalize my feelings of gratitude.
Those are just some of Sakurai’s comments from the column. You can read the full thing here.
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Sakurai on the inclusion of Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta in Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 62 Comments
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai often writes columns that are featured in Famitsu. There’s a new piece in this week’s issue, and unsurprisingly, it’s dedicated to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Sakurai specifically comments on the latest DLC characters: Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta.
With Cloud, Sakurai reiterates what he said during the Smash Bros. presentation about his inclusion. He was picked as a roster addition because he’s the most popular Final Fantasy character by far.
Sakurai on Fire Emblem characters in Smash, says DLC is ending soon
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 95 Comments
All sorts of interesting information has been emerging from the Fire Emblem 25th anniversary book. Among other things, there’s an interview with Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, which has him reflecting on the appearance of Fire Emblem characters in the series. He spoke about how Marth and Roy made it in, shared a story about re-recording Roy’s lines, and plenty more. He also commented on those who wish to see him work on an entirely new game, and noted that DLC for Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS is ending soon.
We’ve picked out some tidbits and quotes from the interview below. You can read the full translation over on Source Gaming.
– Sakurai wanted to include Marth since Smash Bros. on the N64
– The hidden characters in that game were made “only on the premise of being able to reuse some movements and parts of the models of pre-existing characters”, so Marth didn’t make it
– Sakurai wanted Marth in to represent Fire Emblem and have more variety with sword-wielding characters
– Roy came up while thinking about clone characters for Melee, and his game was in development at the time
– Roy’s design from Melee was more of a suggestion, and many of his aspects were redone
– Counter moves for the Fire Emblem characters comes directly from the Fire Emblem games
– There were difficulties in trying to include Marth (such as how he never appeared overseas), but Sakurai pushed to have him in
– Discussion and internal disputes when it came to Roy
– Sakurai met with Nintendo of America while working on the game, and there was talk about removing Roy
– NoA said he’d be fun, so Roy was left in
On the selection process for the Fire Emblem characters in Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS…
Sakurai tweets about today’s Nintendo Direct as well
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 98 Comments
Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda isn’t the only one tweeting about today’s Nintendo Direct. Masahiro Sakurai, director of Super Smash Bros., is joining in on the fun as well.
?????????? https://t.co/BCCa2ZoVhX
— ?? ?? (@Sora_Sakurai) November 12, 2015
On his Twitter account, Sakurai mentioned that he’ll be waking up early for the Direct. Might that mean we’ll be seeing some Smash Bros. news later today?
More: Masahiro Sakurai, Nintendo Direct
Sakurai talks about players who are bothered by extra features in games
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 35 Comments
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has once again written a column in the latest issue of Famitsu. In this week’s magazine, he tackles the topic of those who are bothered by extra features in games.
You can find a summary of Sakurai’s column below. For the entire column, check out the full translation on Source Gaming.
– Sakurai mentions how a game review organization handed out high marks to a simplistic puzzle game
– He says that since it didn’t have extraneous features warranting demerits, it was able to earn the high score
– Sakurai feels this isn’t the right way to review a game
– He’s been looking at user reviews for Fire Emblem Fates, and noticed that there were many comments saying “I don’t need this; I don’t need that, either”
– Ex: inviting companions to your house and stroke their heads/faces to raise your affinity level
– Sakurai feels that players who are bothered by this sort of feature should simply ignore it
– Sakurai: “Developers include all sorts of bonus features simply because they want to provide a little something extra for the fans.”
– Even if bonus features were removed, that doesn’t mean they’d “make room” for something else
– Sakurai: “If you approach game development with a demerit-based mindset, it doesn’t leave much room for anything extra, and games become pretty dry—and that’s just no fun.”
– Sakurai points out that Smash Bros. has plenty of unnecessary content
– However, taking out features means you’re left with “a bare-bones, niche-market game”
– Sakurai understands that some people want a minimalist-type of game, but Smash Bros. isn’t targeted at that niche market
– While some believe that superfluous features should be removed, others feel the opposite way
– Sakurai points out that not all bonus features to “plump up a game” are designed with everyone in mind
– Sakurai: “At the same time, games are a form of entertainment, so I sincerely hope people realize that “user abstinence”—not using unwanted content—is also a valid option.”
– Ultimately, he thinks you shouldn’t force users to play extra features in order to complete a game
– As long as the above point holds, Sakurai believes developers should be able to make games the way they see fit
– Even if you’re not interested in a certain feature, someone else might be
More: Famitsu, Masahiro Sakurai
Nintendo Treehouse staffer talks about Sakurai’s commitment to making Smash Bros.
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 18 Comments
Yesterday, we posted a number of tidbits coming from a Part Time Gamer interview with Nintendo Treehouse localization writer/editor Chris Pranger. If you missed that, you can read it right here.
Gamnesia has since transcribed Pranger’s comments about Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai. Here’s what we said about the developer:
“Sakurai’s outlook on the games is very dire. He gets really sad when he finds out how people are reacting and he gets sad whenever there’s a leak, because he really wants to create. And he’s an auteur in the most crazy sense. He’s basically Vincent Van Gogh cutting off his own ear and we’re sitting there going ‘Frick! Stop doing that!’ And he’s like ‘You don’t get it, guys, my vision!'”
Sakurai reflects on Iwata’s funeral in latest Famitsu column
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
In his previous Famitsu column, Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai wrote about the passing of Satoru Iwata. This week’s issue of the magazine has another piece from Sakurai in which he touches on Iwata’s funeral.
Sakurai wrote:
“Normally at a place like this, one’s eyes go to the photo [of the deceased]. The smiling face of Mr. Iwata surrounded by flowers was a very nice picture.”
“Inside there was the still body of Mr. Iwata. He was probably dressed in traditional white funeral garb, his glasses removed, and his nose stuffed [with cotton]. And today, his body was going to be burned and reduced to nothing. Mr. Iwata would no longer exist in this world.”
More: Famitsu, Masahiro Sakurai, Satoru Iwata, top
Sakurai remembers Satoru Iwata
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 20 Comments
Masahiro Sakurai published a new column in the latest issue of Famitsu. His piece is entirely about Satoru Iwata, who just recently passed away.
Sakurai started out by stating the following when he heard the news: “My mind went white and even now the reality hasn’t sunk in.”
He then remembers the early days, and recalled how Iwata had been one of the interviewers when Sakurai applied for a job at HAL Laboratory Inc. “Our positions and locations changed throughout our long association,” he said. “He was the best superior I ever had and a man who understood me better than anyone.”
Later in his piece, Sakurai described Iwata in the following five ways:
He was a man of virtue. Where a normal person would get annoyed or angry, he would never show such emotions and would instead analyze, organize, and offer ideas. He was someone who could bow his head and apologize for things that weren’t his fault. I often worried about his stress levels, but he always talked with a smile.
He had a brilliant mind. Even when people would talk at length or without focus he was able to quickly say, “so, what you’re trying to say is…” and quickly summarize their point. He was able to see to the heart of people and things and was a master of simplifying them so that anyone could understand their point. He could immediately make a call on changes to improve. I have no doubt that many people were saved by this quality.
He was a man of effort. Even though he didn’t start out in the managing field, he read numerous management books, he would ask for advice from the necessary people that he would take to heart, and managed to become the president of Nintendo. What he gained from his years as a programmer allowed him to take many long-term projects to successful fruition.
More: Famitsu, Masahiro Sakurai, Satoru Iwata, top
Sakurai considered having a separate company handle Smash Bros. Brawl’s Subspace Emissary
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 11 Comments
An old – but recently translated – Famitsu column from Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai gives insight into Brawl’s Subspace Emissary.
In one portion of his column, Sakurai talks about how there were initially plans for a separate company to handle this mode. The main team would have provided oversight.
Things sadly didn’t go according to plan since the team “couldn’t find a promising studio to take on the contract.” Aside from the cut-scenes, all aspects of Subspace Emissary were created “almost entirely in-house.”
Here’s the relevant excerpt from Sakurai’s column as translated by Source Gaming:
In the first project plan, this mode would have been worked on by a separate company, with oversight from us. For the evolution of “Smash” simply increasing the number of stages and characters is not good. I have already reached the limit. From the production and playing perspective, if I don’t spend enough time on a character, that character wouldn’t receive the love [that they need], the project would become bloated and disorganized, and versus would have no room to breath. The previous game, “Melee” barely made it….of course. Naturally, I will do my best, one step at a time.
Therefore, I thought we could arrange the main team would work on the game in conjunction with another team who is working on the action game in a different location.
… Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a promising studio to take on the contract. Well. In the end, everything other than the cutscenes was done almost entirely in-house.
As much flack as Subspace Emissary gets, I would have loved to see an evolution of it in the latest Smash Bros. games for Wii U and/or 3DS. It added a little something extra to the single-player experience!
