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Spring-Loaded

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,904
With so much terrible conduct and abuse coming to light in the industry lately, I was wondering whether something along those lines, or other factors entirely could stop you from being interested in the series. There have been a few guest characters whose series had this type of baggage, same with some potential guest characters.

Your personal breaking point could be something much less heinous of course. But if I learned Sakurai was a real scumbag … it could hamper my interest in the series entirely tbh. I feel like a new entry playing terribly in myriad ways would lessen my interest in that entry, but not the serie so reall since that already happened with Brawl—I thought I didn't care about smash after h th at game, but Sm4sh and 5mash convinced me otherwise
 

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,297
Houston, TX
Sakurai being outed as a bigot &/or a sex pest would make me drop Smash. To be honest, Smash's continued failure with regards to diversity (including its anti-Blackness) has made me play the game much less than I would like outside of the occasional character drop & new spirit event (not to mention the terrible netcode).

It shouldn't have taken until Smash Ultimate for us to get a Chinese character, & we still don't have a Black character. And the racist stereotypes found in Ultimate have already dampened my view of the game.
 
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Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
Roster reboot.

Mario has a new Down-B and all it cost was Terry Bogard.
 

eraFROMAN

One Winged Slayer
Member
Mar 12, 2019
2,874
The vocal fan base has gotten me close a few times; the only thing I can think of is if Sora Ltd. was actively funding some sort of hate group though
 

jtmmachine

Member
Nov 2, 2020
2,321
If Sakurai were ever asked during an interview about the lack of diversity in Smash's roster and he gave a shitty response, that'd definitely hurt my enjoyment of the series.
 

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,914
Nothing really, I'm happy playing melee or project m by myself until the end of time.

Real weird premise to be honest, the series is effectively irrelevant
 

Xwing

Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 11, 2017
9,876
I prefer not to write fan fiction imagining bad futures.
 

Crayolan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,756
Nothing probably. I guess if a new game really sucked then maybe I wouldn't buy it, but that's not gonna stop me from playing the older ones.
 

NotLiquid

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,754
Weird thread but my simplest answer is I'd probably drop it if it loses the impression that it has a true sense of reverence for the material it adapts, which isn't really a concern as long as Sakurai is on board
 

dgamemaster

Member
Jun 29, 2020
996
As many others have shared in this thread, if Sakurai offers a poor response to the lack of diversity, I'd probably lose a lot more of my interest. (though I doubt he'll ever get asked that question tbh) Though at this point, I no longer try to actively play Smash as a fully serious fighting game because taking Smash to a serious degree has done absolutely nothing positive for me (it strained some of my friendships, and the overall community has kinda been awful in terms of actually holding abusive/toxic people responsible)

I will probably never have any difficulty playing Smash for fun with friends though, the core gameplay loop of that game is solid. But once the DLC cycle ends I hope we get a long, long break from Smash for a while and the dev team works on a new IP or something.
 

Deleted member 99377

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Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,297
Houston, TX
As many others have shared in this thread, if Sakurai offers a poor response to the lack of diversity, I'd probably lose a lot more of my interest. (though I doubt he'll ever get asked that question tbh) Though at this point, I no longer try to actively play Smash as a fully serious fighting game because taking Smash to a serious degree has done absolutely nothing positive for me (it strained some of my friendships, and the overall community has kinda been awful in terms of actually holding abusive/toxic people responsible)

I will probably never have any difficulty playing Smash for fun with friends though, the core gameplay loop of that game is solid. But once the DLC cycle ends I hope we get a long, long break from Smash for a while and the dev team works on a new IP or something.
This is Nintendo we're talking about, I doubt they'll leave Smash on the shelf for long. If the Switch's successor is coming in the next 2-3 years, the next Smash game will likely be what Sakurai is put to work on (ideally after taking a few months off).
 

Quasi

Banned
Aug 24, 2021
702
It shouldn't have taken until Smash Ultimate for us to get a Chinese character
This seems like a really strange statement. I agree with the black character part and all that stuff, but a Chinese character had to be in previous Smash games? Why Chinese specifically? I don't get it.
 

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,297
Houston, TX
This seems like a really strange statement. I agree with the black character part and all that stuff, but a Chinese character had to be in previous Smash games? Why Chinese specifically? I don't get it.
It's in reference to Min Min, & I still feel like we should also have Chun-Li. Plus most other fighting games do decently with Chinese representation, so Smash was a sore thumb on that front until recently.
 

SkyOdin

Member
Apr 21, 2018
2,680
This seems like a really strange statement. I agree with the black character part and all that stuff, but a Chinese character had to be in previous Smash games? Why Chinese specifically? I don't get it.
Why is it weird for someone to want Chinese representation but normal for someone to want black representation? Everyone wants representation for themselves.
 

Unknownlight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
10,559
Why Smash in particular? I'm pretty sure the answers in this thread would apply to most series.
 

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
Why is it weird for someone to want Chinese representation but normal for someone to want black representation? Everyone wants representation for themselves.
Yeah.

Wanting a black character isn't just "finally, representation is solved", it's an example of how overwhelmingly white the human characters of Smash are.

Zagreus would be cool as shit in Smash because he's just about the only popular bisexual male hero in games.
 

Quasi

Banned
Aug 24, 2021
702
It's in reference to Min Min, & I still feel like we should also have Chun-Li. Plus most other fighting games do decently with Chinese representation, so Smash was a sore thumb on that front until recently.
Yes, I get that it's in reference to Min Min, but almost everyone in Smash is from fantasy places. I think in Smash 4 only Little Mac and Ryu are from real world countries. So saying that there should have been a Chinese character in the previous Smash games just seems really weird to me.

Why is it weird for someone to want Chinese representation but normal for someone to want black representation? Everyone wants representation for themselves.
Because Chinese representation is bound to a very specific country, I guess. I get wanting Black, White, Latino, and Asian representation and what not but Chinese specifically I find a bit weird.
 

NioA

Member
Dec 16, 2019
3,627
Honestly? Nothing, I've invested more than 1000 hours into this series and I'm happy with it. It's among those favourite series of mine, practically untouchable (like, idk, Xenoblade or Metroid)

But maybe I'm missing some context too, 'cause it doesn't seem like Smash is going anywhere and if there's some sort of controversy I might have missed it
 

dgamemaster

Member
Jun 29, 2020
996
This is Nintendo we're talking about, I doubt they'll leave Smash on the shelf for long. If the Switch's successor is coming in the next 2-3 years, the next Smash game will likely be what Sakurai is put to work on (ideally after taking a few months off).

eh, I personally disagree that the Switch's successor console is coming in the next 2-3 years since I personally think they'll try to go for the decade life cycle, but if they do create a follow-up console within 2-3 years, it would be ideal to just port Ultimate with a new batch of characters/moveset refreshes rather than starting from scratch (and that's assuming Smash needs to be on there within first two years) and just let the dev team work on a new project

I honestly would not mind having another director take the helm in the next Smash game if it means Sakurai gets the chance to work outside of this.
 

SkyOdin

Member
Apr 21, 2018
2,680
Yes, I get that it's in reference to Min Min, but almost everyone in Smash is from fantasy places. I think in Smash 4 only Little Mac and Ryu are from real world countries. So saying that there should have been a Chinese character in the previous Smash games just seems really weird to me.


Because Chinese representation is bound to a very specific country, I guess. I get wanting Black, White, Latino, and Asian representation and what not but Chinese specifically I find a bit weird.
No it isn't weird. Asian people are not a monolith. Japanese and Chinese people and their life experiences are not interchangeable.
 

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,594
Unless the next one builds on what's in Ultimate, it'd take a beefy co-op mode ala Subspace to get me there day 1 if there're roster and stage cuts.
 

Empyrean Cocytus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,695
Upstate NY
I don't think it's possible to drop the series given its connection with so many other gaming properties, Nintendo and otherwise. If you love those games, then you love this one.
 

Quasi

Banned
Aug 24, 2021
702
No it isn't weird. Asian people are not a monolith. Japanese and Chinese people and their life experiences are not interchangeable.
I'm not saying they are. But the same obviously goes for black and white people. So I still find it strange to pick China specifically as a country that should have had a character before Ultimate.
 

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,297
Houston, TX
eh, I personally disagree that the Switch's successor console is coming in the next 2-3 years since I personally think they'll try to go for the decade life cycle, but if they do create a follow-up console within 2-3 years, it would be ideal to just port Ultimate with a new batch of characters/moveset refreshes rather than starting from scratch (and that's assuming Smash needs to be on there within first two years) and just let the dev team work on a new project

I honestly would not mind having another director take the helm in the next Smash game if it means Sakurai gets the chance to work outside of this.
Yeah, I don't see the Switch lasting an entire decade.
 

Bard

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,429
I already dislike Sakurai in many aspects regarding how he approaches Smash, so him being outed as a sex pest or something would just make me dislike him as a person as well as for his stupid decisions.

I also currently barely play the game, since I moved away from my close friends with whom I would play in person with. I have little to no interest in playing online too so that's barely a factor for me.

The fact that Smash has pivoted to adding shit third party characters without any actual connection to Nintendo's history instead of first party characters is a giant sour spot for me, and them picking characters I absolutely despise only makes me want to support it even less. Last but not least is the lack of diversity in the roster for some really stupid reason serves to lessen my already small desire to play the game.
 

rrost

Banned
Jul 20, 2018
480
Did something happen recently to raise this question?
The pedo circle thing is 1 year old. I doubt smash as a product itself has anything to do with it. And Nintendo won't touch the community with 10 foot pole after that.
 

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,914
Did something happen recently to raise this question?
The pedo circle thing is 1 year old. I doubt smash as a product itself has anything to do with it. And Nintendo won't touch the community with 10 foot pole after that.
I think it's a hypothetical in response to the Activision-Blizzard situation.
 

SkyOdin

Member
Apr 21, 2018
2,680
I'm not saying they are. But the same obviously goes for black and white people. So I still find it strange to pick China specifically as a country that should have had a character before Ultimate.
Probably because people of Chinese ancestry make up 18% of the world's population, and are spread out across a number of different countries, including the US. There are Chinese people in the Philippines, in the UK, in Australia and more. It isn't about "one country".
 
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