In the latest Famitsu magazine, Sakurai explained how clones in the latest game came to be, and thanks to Hardcore Gamer, we have some snippets from that column.
“There are 3 fighters [Lucina, Dark Pit, and Doctor Mario] that are alternate models (clones) in the game. Each was originally a color variation, but during development, they were given balanced characteristics. Since their functionality had differences, forms were separated from each other. However, it was vital that this didn’t increase the required man-hours. Some relative tuning was sufficient as it wasn’t necessary to create balancing from scratch.”
That was far from all though, as Sakurai took the chance to speak out against those that bash the inclusion of clones in the game and how their reasoning is very off base.
“This is like a free dessert after a luxurious meal that was prepared free of charge. In a restaurant with this type of service, I don’t think there’s anybody who would say, ‘Change this to a meat dish!!’
“Yet, I’m told [to do that] about Smash Bros. But, I guess since a lot of them are children, it cannot be helped.
“Could you please leave it to me to select [characters] with man-hours and costs in mind? However you look at it, the game is a great bargain buy as a result.”
This topic certainly seems to strike a chord with Sakurai and for very good reason according to Sakurai’s explanation.
- This article was updated on March 7th, 2018
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