Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai doesn’t feel like the franchise he helped create is a good fit for online play.
In Sakurai’s latest video on creating video games, he spoke on the topic of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Nintendo Wii and how it was the first game in the franchise to implement online play.
“I don't think online play and Smash Bros. are a very good fit for each other," explained Sakurai. "One of the best parts of Smash Bros. is how players can become champions among their friends. But being subjected to online competition can cause people to lose confidence, which isn't great.”
He also noted about how the game had to use full synchronous communication, where input timing is synchronized among all players in every frame. In comparison, games like Mario Kart used asynchronous communication. Having to use synchronous communication in Brawl limited players to facing off against others close to them for the best possible experience.
This meant that playing online worked the best by not only players sticking with their own countries, but also their local region. Additionally, the network lag made for a choppy experience overall.
Sakurai went on to discuss the game’s single-player mode, Subspace Emissary. Initially, this part of the game was supposed to be outsourced to an external studio to develop. However, he explained that they couldn’t find the right contractor to take on the project and decided instead to keep the project in-house within Nintendo.
As a result, this was the first time Smash’s development team exceeded 100 people. The team had to create two separate jump and movement parameters for characters specifically for Subspace Emissary. Simply just dropping characters with their usual specifications from versus modes didn’t work.
Sakurai started his YouTube channel back in August last year in order to talk about topics like game development. He also previously mentioned that there are no plans for a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sequel at the moment.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey