The following comes from Sakurai’s 502th Column “Reader Response #46” published in Famitsu. When reporting on this translation you must mention that it was translated by Soma for Source Gaming. Please include a link to either our Twitter account, or to this article WITHIN the actual article. For additional information, please read this post. This translation is for fan use only, and may not accurately reflect the opinions of Masahiro Sakurai. This column was originally published on March 24th, 2016.

Q: Recently, Smash has risen in popularity as an eSport. What do you think of the fact that Melee is as popular as Smash 4? (Male, Kyoto)

A: First off, it makes me very happy. They’re both games I made, after all. And I’m also surprised. Because it means that the players really understood the concept behind that game correctly. The one where skills gaps become very apparent, the one that’s highly competitive is Melee. But I want to avoid a design where stronger players utterly dominate weaker ones. We should make it so that new players can have fun as well. I’ve touched upon this idea in previous columns.

If you want to enjoy the strategy or competitiveness in playing against another person, then maybe normal fighting games are more suited for you. Virtua Fighter 2 had flashy, showy attacks, but it doesn’t appear at overseas tournaments, I wonder if that’s because of a cultural difference?

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