Sakurai and Iwata discuss Smash Bros. 3DS and Wii U, plans for gameplay elements and more

- talk of creating another Smash Bros. began internally soon after the launch of Brawl
- Iwata thought that it might not be fair to ask Sakurai to create a Smash Bros. game for 3DS after just wrapping Brawl
- Kid Icarus: Uprising was decided as Project Sora’s first game, as a way to build up knowledge of the platform
- newly hired staff at Project Sora had no idea that they were coming on-board to work on a Smash Bros. game after Kid Icarus
- Sakurai new automatically that a new Smash would be requested for both 3DS and Wii U
- Sakurai feels that just adding in new characters, better graphics and more stages wouldn’t be the right path for this new Smash Bros.
- Sakurai believes a portable Smash experience allows for new ideas, but it also becomes more personal than the console experience
- both Iwata and Sakurai said that adding an element of growing your character through in-game experience would ruin the game
- Sakurai would like to see players build up their character on 3DS and then take them over to Wii U to show off
- this would make the “personal” portable space and the stadium-like “public” console space mesh together
- Wii U’s power could lead to 60 frames per second visuals, high quality graphics, dynamic effects, and smooth character movements
- Sakurai feels the connectivity between both games is very important
- Sakurai wants the 3DS version to be a slightly different experience than what we’re used to
- he’d like to have players helping one-another
- while Sakurai has headed up areas of Smash Bros. games like game balance and character strength settings, he’s hoping to have the staff take that on for these titles
- first plans for the game’s development is basic gameplay systems of Smash Bros. X to 3DS and Wii U
- Sakurai warns that if he can’t find the right staffers to work with, he’ll either take 5 years to make the game with a small team, or end up making just one version of the game

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