Genius developer Sakurai just stunned us all (again!) with his ridiculous attention to detail in a new character in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. With Steve, Sakurai has pretty much crafted (haaa) a game within a game.
I mean, in a dizzying whirlwind of info this morning, we learned about item durability and upgrades; the crafting table, its destructibility, and summoning it with Shield + B; the seven material types, their terrain-specific mining locations and spawn rates, the gauge that shows their ratio, the rate at which they're consumed, and the durability of the tools and blocks they create; the ways to use blocks and the limits on where and how they're placed, i.e. crumbling faster near blast zones; the track-laying minecart mechanic with redstone propulsion and ricochet and hostage-taking shenanigans; the elaborate TNT setups, with or without gunpowder-trail detonators; attacking with the sword while running or retreating or juggling people with the hatchet; the magma block clipping through soft platforms as a lingering hurt-box and the lava bucket delivering low-altitude launch trajectories; the anvil drop consuming iron, fishing rod tether traps, falling flintstone fire, realistic glider control -- and more!
It begs the question: What other franchises could be reinterpreted in Smash, such that the complexity of their systems and mechanics are faithfully captured (in spirit) while enriching the whole of Smash with newfound variety?
A Resident Evil character scavenging limited supplies on stage and managing inventory via an item box to capture the survival element?
A Tetris, Bubble Bobble or Puyo Puyo character somehow managing puzzle pieces in the fray of battle for dramatic chain reactions?
A Halo or Doom character somehow implementing elements of a first-person shooter in the context of a 2D fighter?
A Monster Hunter character where you commit to one of various weapons and must sharpen them?
A Devil May Cry character with straight-up style switching?
A Xenoblade Chronicles 2 character with the driver-blade duo dynamic of driver combos, blade combos, chain burst, etc?
A Dark Souls character that goes hollow every other stock, and that can maybe even accrue and reclaim souls to upgrade at bonfires?
How can Sakurai match the creativity of Steve's adaptation to Smash? I'm keen to hear your ideas.
And for those who missed it, the 45-minute presentation:
I mean, in a dizzying whirlwind of info this morning, we learned about item durability and upgrades; the crafting table, its destructibility, and summoning it with Shield + B; the seven material types, their terrain-specific mining locations and spawn rates, the gauge that shows their ratio, the rate at which they're consumed, and the durability of the tools and blocks they create; the ways to use blocks and the limits on where and how they're placed, i.e. crumbling faster near blast zones; the track-laying minecart mechanic with redstone propulsion and ricochet and hostage-taking shenanigans; the elaborate TNT setups, with or without gunpowder-trail detonators; attacking with the sword while running or retreating or juggling people with the hatchet; the magma block clipping through soft platforms as a lingering hurt-box and the lava bucket delivering low-altitude launch trajectories; the anvil drop consuming iron, fishing rod tether traps, falling flintstone fire, realistic glider control -- and more!
It begs the question: What other franchises could be reinterpreted in Smash, such that the complexity of their systems and mechanics are faithfully captured (in spirit) while enriching the whole of Smash with newfound variety?
A Resident Evil character scavenging limited supplies on stage and managing inventory via an item box to capture the survival element?
A Tetris, Bubble Bobble or Puyo Puyo character somehow managing puzzle pieces in the fray of battle for dramatic chain reactions?
A Halo or Doom character somehow implementing elements of a first-person shooter in the context of a 2D fighter?
A Monster Hunter character where you commit to one of various weapons and must sharpen them?
A Devil May Cry character with straight-up style switching?
A Xenoblade Chronicles 2 character with the driver-blade duo dynamic of driver combos, blade combos, chain burst, etc?
A Dark Souls character that goes hollow every other stock, and that can maybe even accrue and reclaim souls to upgrade at bonfires?
How can Sakurai match the creativity of Steve's adaptation to Smash? I'm keen to hear your ideas.
And for those who missed it, the 45-minute presentation:
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