Super Smash Creator Thinks Melee Was Too Hard

The man who made the GameCube’s best-selling title thinks the game wasn’t nearly as accessible as it ought to have been.

Slightly over nine years ago, Super Smash Bros. Melee hit GameCubes all across North America. The followup to the quirky N64 platformer/fighter became the most popular game on the system, selling an impressive seven million copies around the world.

Looking back on the game in Famitsu (as translated by 1UP), however, creator Masahiro Sakurai says that the game was too technical – something he aimed to address in the Wii followup, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

“I had created Smash Bros. to be my response to how hardcore-exclusive the fighting game genre had become over the years,” Sakurai said, though it ended up having the opposite effect. “But why did I target it so squarely toward people well-versed in videogames, then? That’s why I tried to aim for more of a happy medium with Brawl‘s play balance.”

If there is ever a fourth Smash Bros., don’t expect it to be a return to hardcore complexity, either. “[Even] if I ever had a chance at another one, I doubt we’ll ever see one that’s as geared toward hardcore gamers as Melee was. Melee fans who played deep into the game without any problems might have trouble understanding this, but Melee was just too difficult.”

“If we want new people from this generation of gamers to come in,” Sakurai said in a statement that will sound familiar to anyone following Nintendo this generation, “then we need it accessible, simple, and playable by anyone. You can’t let yourself get preoccupied with nothing but gameplay and balance details.”

In other words, the game was never intended to be played with all items turned off on one of the boring flat maps like Final Destination. You know who you are, tournament players. You know who you are.

(1UP)