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HD remakes and remasters are all the rage right now, and have been for a few years. There’s no doubt things will stay this way for years to come, as doing an HD remake/remaster doesn’t cost as much as building a game from scratch, yet it can yield some very impressive financial results.

Nintendo certainly has a number of titles longtime fans would like to see get an HD remake/remaster, with Smash Bros. Melee being one of the biggest requests. Decades after the game launched, we’re still seeing it played at tournaments on pretty much a monthly basis. With that much love behind a game, you’d think Nintendo would jump at the chance to cash in again. Well, according to some former Nintendo employees, the chances of that actually happening are slim to none.

Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, two former Nintendo employees that fans are very familiar with, have spoken about the idea of a Smash Bros. Melee HD remake/remaster, and they just don’t see it happening. The two shared their thoughts on an episode of the Kit and Krysta Podcast, explaining why fans shouldn’t hold their breath for this to happen.

Krysta: “There are so many negative things from a Nintendo perspective around Melee that it’s just like… now it has the ‘black market emulation’ around it and all this other stuff that Nintendo does not like…”

Kit: “I think one of the reasons not to do this game is how annoying the community would be around it. If you change even one minuscule detail about this game, it’d be like ‘Oh, this game is not viable.’”

Krysta: “There’s no way you can satisfy the zealousness of that community and I think Nintendo totally knows that.”

[Kit & Krysta Podcast]

Of course, you never know with Nintendo. What is a definite no one day could get the greenlight the next. As time rolls on, things change. It’s certainly possible Nintendo could decide to take this project on at some point, but for now we’re inclined to agree with Kit and Krysta.

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Comments (4)

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riftsilver

They're absolutely right about the zealousness of the community. I used to love Melee to death, but even I was eventually turned off by the hardcore community.

The community has modded the game with all sorts of tools to tune the game and learn everything about hitboxes, framedata and more. Even if Nintendo did a "great" job, it would still not be considered enough by a lot of people's standards and they'd still advocate playing the original GameCube through the aforementioned "black market emulation" instead.

riftsilver

1y ago

They're absolutely right about the zealousness of the community. I used to love Melee to death, but even I was eventually turned off by the hardcore community.

The community has modded the game with all sorts of tools to tune the game and learn everything about hitboxes, framedata and more. Even if Nintendo did a "great" job, it would still not be considered enough by a lot of people's standards and they'd still advocate playing the original GameCube through the aforementioned "black market emulation" instead.


kuribo

1y ago

There are some games that simply will never get remade, rereleased or remastered for various reasons and Super Smash Bros Melee is one of them.


dubbie

1y ago

Nintendo would just rather release a new game than remaster an old Smash

Edited 1 time

kingbroly

1y ago

I agree with them on this. The Melee community is...very particular, to put it kindly.