Note: Do not repost the full translation. Please use the first two paragraphs and link to this translation. 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 December 17th, 2015. It is the column that was published before Three New Characters, as Diverse as Possible.

By the time this column has been published, the final Smash special presentation should have debuted, offering some new information. But, as of my writing this, nothing has been announced. Please watch it!



Around the same time, the new Star Wars film is going to premiere, something I’m also anxiously waiting for. I’m so excited! However, George Lucas is not directing it. He’s not even a producer. Lucasfilms, and the rights to the movies, were purchased in 2012 by Disney. This time, J.J. Abrams is directing. The reason for the buyout was “to protect Star Wars and Lucasfilms.”

Separate from that, in an interview in the American edition of Vanity Fair, Lucas himself apparently said “you go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized. And it’s not much fun. You can’t experiment.”

A truly serious problem….! He’s such a big name, and to hear him leave this franchise that has impassioned so many fans, a person who worked on the originals with his own hands, is incredibly sad and frustrating. Personally, George Lucas’s work is the work I would really like to see.

However, I truly understand his feelings. You could say my body is filled with these feelings. Making something, and completing it is a huge undertaking, and there are a lot of places where fans can’t see. It’s like building a house, but people focus on a single painting that’s hung up on a wall in one room, and fixate on it, and keep listing off their complaints of that painting. These situations are very common.

For me, a familiar example would be…in Smash, Cloud recently became a playable character. And there were people that strongly criticized that, saying “Stop adding non-Nintendo characters!” This is completely ignoring the fact that I’ve added many, many Nintendo characters to Smash. It also ignores the many fans who were overjoyed at Cloud’s addition. Looking at the big picture, I am on the receiving end of countless amounts of truly trivial statements.

However, I think that’s okay. Different people value different things differently, and they should stay honest to that. For example, even I, as a fan (?) have my complaints with Star Wars. I honestly dislike Episode VI’s long-winded pacing and how easily the Empire Stormtroopers fall to the Ewoks. I think that the re-releases are redundant and superfluous. But, more than that, I am grateful that they showed me these various worlds, and let me enjoy them. Normally, I just don’t have the opportunity to vocalize my feelings of gratitude.

It’s particularly easy to voice criticisms, and opinions are very strong. When people yell loudly, it also invites mob mentality and conformity. It’s easy for negative opinions to be amplified, while positive opinions are quieted. People don’t understand the circumstances and state of affairs behind development, and it’s not allowed for creators to make excuses. There are even people who feel emotionally battered and quit working.

Some players might think “If you’re going to lose to stuff like that, maybe you shouldn’t be a creator?” But, creators are people too. It’s not that we’re ignoring the feelings of the people who play our games. But criticisms can become slander that’s focused on being an attack, and if you take those hits upfront, then it chips away at the power of production.

From the beginning, I have thought “the people who don’t raise their voices are important.” I created my first game, Kirby’s Dreamland, a game you could say was designed for beginners, because beginners don’t usually raise their voices. I think that it is necessary to really look at these people, understand them, and work patiently and persevere and build on my work.

I don’t want people who are involved in ‘creating’ things to become disheartened by criticism. Just being able to impart ‘fun’ to a lot of people is a blessing, after all.

For Famitsu scans, please check out Japanese 3DS, or follow Bri Bri on Twitter.

We will be hosting a Smash tourney on Twitch this weekend. Watch it on www.Twitch.tv/SourceCast.

US EST: 11:30

England: 16:30

Japan: 01:30