In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, players have access to a massive roster of playable fighters spanning the history of the video game medium. In a new video, director Masahiro Sakurai went into detail about the process of creating fighters for the series. Titled “Average and Mediocre Are the Same Thing,” the video talks about Sakurai’s philosophies regarding fighter creation. The whole thing is pretty short, coming in under four minutes. However, it offers a lot of information about how the developers strive to keep things fun and engaging. Sakurai also notes that the “echo chamber” of the internet can sometimes make it seem like fighters are less balanced than they really are.ย
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“The internet can tend to be an echo chamber of sorts, so if people start saying something is strong or weak, that assessment will gain momentum and make people think it’s truer than it is,” said Sakurai.ย
Creating Unique Characters
The crux of Sakurai’s argument is that making fighters all “average” is not the goal, but instead he strives towards making them all unique. In Sakurai’s opinion, this leads to better balance, and to prove his theory, the director offered a look at the global win rates for fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. According to the director, the highest win rate of any fighter is 51.43%, while the lowest is 47.18%. Sakurai does not reveal which fighter is which, but the closeness in those numbers shows that prioritizing uniqueness has resulted in a more balanced (and enjoyable) game.ย
The Future of Super Smash Bros.
It will be interesting to see how that theory is applied as more characters are added to the series. At this time, Nintendo has not announced a new Super Smash Bros. game, but there have been signs that development on a new entry may have started for the company’s next system. Sakurai had made a lot of comments about being “semi-retired,” but he has plans to end his current YouTube channel this year, and Bandai Namco seems to be hiring for a Nintendo game that sounds an awful lot like a new Super Smash Bros. entry.ย
Since the original Super Smash Bros. released on Nintendo 64, every Nintendo console has hosted a new entry in the series. With a new Nintendo console set to be unveiled within the next year, it seems like a very safe bet that we’ll see a new Smash Bros. announced around the same time. We don’t know how it might be different from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or what characters will be featured, but if Sakurai is involved, we can likely expect to see a bunch of newย fighters introduced.ย
Do you think Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is well-balanced? Do you think it’s better to have fighters that are unique as opposed to average? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky atย @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
