The next Super Smash Bros. game will not focus on dramatically expanding the series' character roster.

Development on the project, due for release on Wii U and 3DS, will instead feature "a change of direction" for the series, Smash Bros. boss Masahiro Sakurai has explained.

"It isn't a matter of 'if the next game has 50 characters, that'll be enough'," Sakurai told Nintendo Power (via Nintendo Everything.

"There is a certain charm to games that have huge casts of playable characters, but they tend to have issues with game balance and it becomes very difficult to fine-tune each character and have them all feel distinctive."

Nintendo's all-star cast of fighters has ballooned since the series' inception, with 36 faces fighting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

"In terms of quantity, we've probably already reached the limit of what's feasible. I think a change of direction may be what's needed."

Sakurai has previously explained that the twin games' "key" ingredient will be connectivity between the 3DS and Wii U versions.

"There is a certain dead end we come to if we just expand the volume of the game," Sakurai said earlier this year. "I intend to change direction a little as we go. The key to that's going to be its dual platform support."

Sakurai has also teased the first piece of concept art for the project on his Twitter account, showing a whiteboard doodle of some familiar faces.

Included in the image are a host of Smash Bros. regulars, including Kirby, Link, Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong and Samus.

Also spotted: Meta Knight, Wario, Mr. Game & Watch, Pikachu, Fox, Pit, Marth, Master Hand, a Pikmin, Mr. Saturn and the Sandbag.