What if Sakurai decided to continuing Dragon King instead of Smash Bros?

[AveryisAwesome]

Some of you may know that Smash Bros wasn't all of it seems. It was originally supposed to be fighting game called Dragon King: The Fighting Game (格闘ゲーム竜王, Kakuto-Gēmu Ryūō) It even planned to be a franchise! But however,Sakurai however felt that the game could not provide the proper atmosphere on a home console without Nintendo characters, and they were soon added and the game was redesigned and renamed. BUT, what if Sakurai decided to continue making Dragon King? Would it be the most popular franchise? Or just a one time thing? Tell me what you think in the comments!

Also here's some pics of Dragon King:

 

[Nielicus]

I think it could possibly be on the same caliber as Smash in terms of sales and hype, and they would eventually add characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu and Samus along with the original characters

 

[kantoskies]

Eh, I don't see it becoming nearly as popular as Smash is now, but I could definitely see it becoming successful enough to get a sequel sometime down the line (either on the Gamecube soon after the original game or a "reboot" or sorts on the Wii)

 

[ミスティック Speed]

I don't believe it would have had nearly as huge of an impact as Smash Bros. had. The characters in Smash are NINTENDO CHARACTERS after all!

 

[Smash_Veteran_Amtoj]

At least we won't have those pesky fights about "representation" anymore.

 

[Master Jelly]

I have a hard time believing the Dragon King characters could be unique enough to really differentiate themselves from one another. In terms of popularity, I think it would have as much success as Tekken. But Sakurai would have directed it, so because of that we really can't predict what would happen.

 

[mimgrim]

It would have never moved on from the N64 most likely.

 

[the8thark]

It would have been an N64 game and ever moved on. People buy SSB for Link/Mario/etc as much as they do for it being a fighter that is very easy to get into. The Nintendo IPs in it made the N64 version a million seller. And it's that million seller status that got the Melee etc version started.

 

[Meelow]

I think it could possibly be on the same caliber as Smash in terms of sales and hype, and they would eventually add characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu and Samus along with the original characters

Ahh, I have doubts that it would be on the same level as Smash, the reason why Smash 64 was hyped and sold well was because of the Nintendo characters, if they used generic characters in generic stages, it probably would of sold ok on n64 but no smash levels.

 

[Vintage Creep]

I dunno, but I'm sure the Purple Dragon King would be too ****ing big.

 

[Dinoman96]

I get the feeling it would be a cult following and nothing more, like Power Stone.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

It wouldn't be nearly as popular. The main reason we want to buy a Smash game is the possibility to play as our favorite characters.

Sakurai made the perfect decision with changing Dragon King to Smash, but it'd be nice to see some references to that......

 

[Luigi#1]

It would die out before GCN.

 

[Dark Dude]

Honestly, I'd be pretty curious to see how the Dragon King fighter game would have been if it would have finished without adding Nintendo characters. What would their specials be? Would they just have generic, elemental characters? Like fire, ice, wind, etc.? I don't know. It's impossible to say how it would be if it did come to completion, since the only thing we have to base it on is some early prototype. If Sakurai and Iwata did not get approval from Nintendo to add in Nintendo characters, the game could have gone in any number of directions before release, quite honestly. Maybe they would have gotten other third party characters like Goku and Shrek and people would be clamoring for Mario and Link to be added. ...Just kidding.

Here's a good place to go for more information on the Dragon King demo:
http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/ssbb/6/0

 

[KRBAY]

This place wouldn't exist, that's for sure.

 

[Neko-Knight]

It would probably become a cult classic for unique gameplay, maybe even spawn a sequel but it wouldn't be remotely as popular as Smash. Smash become what it is because of likable characters.

 

[Wyntir]

Nintendo would hire someone else

 

[Datdashtho]

Smash bros was supposed to originally be japan only so sure enough it wouldve stayed in japan

 

[alex6309]

The series would have bombed and probably would have not have gotten a sequel. The appeal of smash is the ability to brutally destroy your least favorite Nintendo characters play as & fight your favorite characters from Nintendo in other popular & iconic areas. Dragon King doesn't have that kind of appeal.