Do you play Super Smash Bros. for the story? No, of course you don’t, because you are a sane, rational human being. Despite the fact that nobody (well, besides pervy fan-fiction writers,) cares about Smash Bros.’s story, director Masahiro Sakurai felt the need to explain the new game’s lack of a dedicated story mode to Japanese gaming mag Famitsu.
“Unfortunately, the movie scenes [from Smash Bros. Brawl] we worked hard to create were uploaded onto the internet.” Sakurai told Famitsu (translation via Kotaku.) “You can only truly wow a player the first time he sees [a cutscene]. I felt if players saw the cutscenes outside of the game, they would no longer serve as rewards for playing the game, so I’ve decided against having them.”
Instead of creating a dedicated story mode with a single, long story, the Smash Bros. team this time will instead create character specific “intro” videos for each character, similar to the Mega Man video that was unveiled at E3. While Sakurai was depressed that people uploaded all of Brawl’s story cutscenes to the internet, he actually wants people to share and promote the new game’s character videos on the internet.
Like I said before, I’m pretty sure that 99% of the people who play Smash Bros. do so for the game play and not because of the story — nobody cares why Link and Mario are fighting, they just want to see them duke it out. I’m pretty sure that the thousands of people who watched the Smash Bros. Melee finals at Evo 2013 a few weeks ago weren’t watching because they wanted to learn about Donkey Kong’s motives or Captain Falcon’s tragic past. I’m confident that most players won’t mind the new Smash’s lack of a dedicated story mode because 1. Melee didn’t have one and everyone loves that game, 2. nobody cared about the story in Brawl, and 3. Smash Bros. is the type of game that never needed a story in the first place. Caring about the story in Smash Bros. is like wishing that Tetris or Gran Turismo had a story.
So it’s kind of ridiculous that Nintendo and Sakurai would cook up such a half-assed excuse as to why the new Smash Bros. doesn’t have a story. Just say that it doesn’t have a story because it doesn’t need one. Simple. Hey Nintendo PR — if you’re looking for more advice, hit me up. My consulting fees are very reasonable. I could help you avoid some potentially embarrassing situations.
Super Smash Bros. is scheduled to be released simultaneously for the 3DS and Wii U sometime next year; while both versions will feature the same core gameplay, each game will have unique stages.
