There is always a lot of hype surrounding announcements for
Super Smash Bros. games, mainly because fans of the iconic crossover fighting series want to be surprised by the new characters that the developer announces, and the last
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct was not the exception.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's last Nintendo Direct introduced us to
Street Fighter's Ken Masters and
Pokémon Sun/Moon's Incineroar as the last characters for the game; at least the last characters before the game launches, since Nintendo are already planning to add 5 more characters post-launch.
To the surprise of many, Masahiro Sakurai—director of
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and series creator—still had an additional character to reveal:
Super Mario Bros. series' Piranha Plant. The announcement was met with a mixed reception by fans, who were disappointed because their expectations weren't met.
In a recent interview with Game Informer, Sakurai comments on his decision to add Piranha Plant as a playable character, as well as the reason behind this unlikely addition to the roster, and how he doesn't focus on surprising fans when introducing new fighters.
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I’m actually not paying too much focus on the surprise element when we introduce a new fighter. The surprise element quickly fades once the announcement has been made. Rather, I believe it’s important to have a good balance as a game. In the past titles in the series, Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B. and Duck Hunt Dog were some of the examples we offered outside of people’s typical expectations. However, if we don’t have these types of fighters, and we only had typical “hero/heroine” type fighters in the lineup, there’s not much difference. It’s probably not very interesting. Correct?"
Sakurai makes a very valid point since without the "underdogs", there wouldn't be too much variety. It's fine to add heroic characters but the fact that he finds it necessary to add unlikely fighters like Mr. Game & Watch, as well as Piranha Plant is one of the many reasons why the games are so successful.
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Also, unlike some main characters from some (not widely known) franchises, Piranha Plant is a character everyone knows well. And, I want to make sure to remind everyone that it is a limited-time offer fighter everyone can get for free as an early-purchase bonus", explains Sakurai.
Meeting fan expectations is always going to be difficult, if not impossible, and is great that Sakurai and his development team are not focusing on meeting these expectations and choose to surprise fans instead; especially since they already know that there is always one person that won't be happy with the characters being introduced.
So far,
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate looks great as it is, and whether fans like Piranha Plant or not, they are still excited to play the game when it finally releases on the
7th of December.
Legendary game worlds and fighters collide in the ultimate showdown—a new entry in the Super Smash Bros. series for the Nintendo Switch system! New fighters, like Inkling from the Splatoon series and Ridley from the Metroid series, make their Super Smash Bros. series debut alongside every Super Smash Bros. fighter in the series…EVER!
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on the 7th of December.