Smashboards

This is more related to something I posted in the last Sakurai comment thread, but man, Sakurai openly saying "I don't make games because I like them, I make games because it's the job I'm best at"... I don't even know how to process that. It explains a lot, but also raises a lot of questions.

God, I wish I didn't let nu-Smash consume my teenhood.

And yet people will always treat him like a god, unless something truly scandalous was to happen.

In fact, I've been wanting to ask this... I know the slippery slope potential of this question turning toxic since this targets a bunch of average joes, but what are your genuine thoughts on the Smash Ultimate fanbase and the casuals that made this game one of the highest selling of all time? And what about the people you see in those comments that genuinely see nothing wrong here? I see no complaints in this video for instance, aside from maybe "just watch out for burnout!", and that is... a bit concerning.

A lot of Smash toxicity can't be helped I feel, when the marketing of the game invites and revels in those stakes. I do think the way people act over Smash inclusions can be bad and that should be talked about, but at the same time it's really important to point fingers at the game itself more than the fans for this behavior (albeit not exclusively) - If you look at the individual Smash DLCs' reviews on Backloggd, their adverts often get rated in the review as if they're part of the product, it's quite troubling. There's nothing wrong with people liking SSBU, and SSBU being a best-seller isn't a bad thing at all, nor would any game taking that title - really, all that truly matters is that other game devs, especially for fighting games, don't get the wrong lessons from it.

Sakurai worship is annoying and can be weird, but if we're to ignore the whole "daddy Sakurai can do no wrong", which is probably quite fringe all things considered, I think a lot of it comes from being misinformed or underinformed - a lot of the most damning Sakurai statements are from videos about corporate affairs and work ethic, compared to the things that get the most attention, Smash/Kirby talk - I guess that's a symptom of Smash fandom being so character-minded ("ugh, can you stop talking about Wii Fit Trainer's eyes??"), but I can't really say for certain if that's on marketing; the games themselves; fans alone; the nature of crossovers; so on. I'd say something I'm more worried about is Sakurai being regarded as a role model or aspirational, particularly in regards to the IV drip incident. That being said, the neutral-to-positive responses to Sakurai's more... let's say "corporate-minded"... takes are VERY bad and quite concerning.

Yeah, that's pretty fair.

As far as other game devs potentially learning the wrong lessons... well, maybe that's not such a big worry. Like, take Capcom. You saw that Season 2 lineup reveal for SF6, right? If this was Smash Ultimate, the leadup to Terry and Mai would be so long and big (heck... the lead-up to the actual Terry Smash reveal WAS that), and you know what it might've been more justified there because they are Street Fighter's first true third-party guests that'd resonate a lot more with core fighting game fans. But it was... well, a lot more casual, it was just Terry walking up on Luke and Jamie in a "hey can I play too?" kinda deal, and I honestly love that. ...oh that and they aren't hiding who you're paying for in the pass until a later date lmao

Heck, the announcement of the big MvC collection, arguably kind of a bigger deal that so many people campaigned HARD for a few years ago... was a lowkey out of nowhere one in a random Nintendo Direct with practically no buildup. Yeah, I think we'll be mostly fine, lol.

I honestly don't know how It is possible that only Smash Bros has this problem where people create fictional wars and get anxious AF over character announcements and the game's director thoughts on anything.

Like idk, from my experience in communities such as the Marvel VS Capcom, SEGA All Stars Racing, LEGO Dimensions, King Of Fighters and other ones, they're never as hostile about characters as the Smash Bros fandom.

I've seen more people getting heated over a character being a spirit or a Mii Costume in Smash Ultimate than people who were dissapointed or anything close to their favourite character not getting into MvC or King Of Fighters (except for the obvious case of the X-Men and Fantastic Four in Infinite, but at least there It was reasonable to be bothered with the "characters as functions" thing and the whole Fox boycott).

And I mean: what even is wrong with a character getting added as a Mii Costume or anything like that? I wish Alex Kidd or Guybrush Threepwood had any presence in Smash Bros at all, I am cool without that being the case, but I wouldn't explode to the levels a good chunk of people did with characters such as Geno or Dante.