Since we recently got confirmation of a 2nd season of Smash Ultimate DLC & it's looking like the Fighters Pass is gonna be all guys, I thought I should bring forward one of my longer posts from the Smash speculation thread in hopes that it raises awareness of the current problem plaguing Smash in the hopes that things can improve for next season (if the roster hasn't been decided yet).
While I respect Sakurai immensely as a developer, my main qualm with him (especially considering how the Fighters Pass is shaping up) is his seeming indifference towards representation for both women & people of color as well as his rigid-ness when it comes to his protagonists/poster children first policy. Though to be clear, when I say indifference, I mean that Sakurai's priorities are elsewhere. And the fact that he sticks so rigidly to his policy of main characters & poster children first for any given franchise doesn't help matters. The two aforementioned issues kinda bleed into each other as well. There aren't a ton of people of color to choose from, but Sakurai could make the most of what's available (Ex: Elma). An example of this for the next Smash game (beyond the aforementioned Elma) is Twintelle, who would help with Smash's issues of few women & even fewer people of color. But I can't see her getting in before ARMS poster boy Spring Man. As for how he's handled women, I spearheaded an entire thread talking about where he can improve.
It's the little things that Sakurai could do to help with the lack of women in Smash that he hasn't done. Even looking at Corrin, simply changing them to where Female Corrin is the default would go a long way (since defaults are the ones used in marketing &, in most cases, the Amiibo), but he didn't. And while you can argue that it's a general thing about Japan, I'm not too sure about that on a grand scale. Granted, you wouldn't be entirely inaccurate there, but we're seeing games like Tekken 7 & the new Guilty Gear game embracing black excellence. Even Street Fighter has been improving in its handling of trans characters since working with GLAAD to make sure they got Poison right, & it shows. This can also be extended in Capcom working with Sony's Middle Eastern distributor to get Rashid right. I want to see that kind of progress for Smash. Even Nintendo is starting to improve with their inclusion of people of color as well as LGBTQ+ characters (albeit very slowly). So far, the only black/brown character in Smash that's the default is Ganondorf. Likewise, something that Heartskips brought up is that Sakurai's growing focus on surprising inclusions has pivoted away from correcting the flaws of the existing roster. The Fighters Pass so far is proof of this, especially if the supposed SNK character is indeed Terry. It's the reason why Sakurai needs to loosen up on his policies for the sake of improved representation. Even Capcom has demonstrated more flexibility when it comes to sticking to the main characters (see Morrigan), sometimes to a fault (see the lack of Mega Man in MvC3/UMvC3). So while yes, many of the roster's choices are made with Japan in mind, Smash isn't just made for Japan. And as more fighting games improve, Smash's approach to representation will start to feel more & more dated. I only hope that Sakurai realizes this & improves things going forward. As someone who loves Smash, it's disappointing to see the series lag behind on this front when most of the other major players are making (varying degrees of) progress.
If there's one thing that I hope this thread takes away from this massive wall of text, it's this: Representation Matters. To paraphrase my personal experience on this front from another thread, some of my little cousins initially gravitated towards Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 for their Switch-playing session with me thanks to the presence of characters like Black Panther, Storm, Miles Morales, Falcon, & Luke Cage. It's something that a good chunk of fighting game developers are beginning to realize in recent years, & I hope that Sakurai (or his successor, should Sakurai call it quits after Ultimate) realizes this as well sooner rather than later (preferably with Season 2).
As an aside, what I won't fault Sakurai for is the lack of female alts for Hero, that is entire Square-Enix's fault. And going by the likes of Robin, Corrin, Inkling, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, & more, I'd imagine that Sakurai would have at least included Sophia over Solo if given the chance.
While I respect Sakurai immensely as a developer, my main qualm with him (especially considering how the Fighters Pass is shaping up) is his seeming indifference towards representation for both women & people of color as well as his rigid-ness when it comes to his protagonists/poster children first policy. Though to be clear, when I say indifference, I mean that Sakurai's priorities are elsewhere. And the fact that he sticks so rigidly to his policy of main characters & poster children first for any given franchise doesn't help matters. The two aforementioned issues kinda bleed into each other as well. There aren't a ton of people of color to choose from, but Sakurai could make the most of what's available (Ex: Elma). An example of this for the next Smash game (beyond the aforementioned Elma) is Twintelle, who would help with Smash's issues of few women & even fewer people of color. But I can't see her getting in before ARMS poster boy Spring Man. As for how he's handled women, I spearheaded an entire thread talking about where he can improve.
It's the little things that Sakurai could do to help with the lack of women in Smash that he hasn't done. Even looking at Corrin, simply changing them to where Female Corrin is the default would go a long way (since defaults are the ones used in marketing &, in most cases, the Amiibo), but he didn't. And while you can argue that it's a general thing about Japan, I'm not too sure about that on a grand scale. Granted, you wouldn't be entirely inaccurate there, but we're seeing games like Tekken 7 & the new Guilty Gear game embracing black excellence. Even Street Fighter has been improving in its handling of trans characters since working with GLAAD to make sure they got Poison right, & it shows. This can also be extended in Capcom working with Sony's Middle Eastern distributor to get Rashid right. I want to see that kind of progress for Smash. Even Nintendo is starting to improve with their inclusion of people of color as well as LGBTQ+ characters (albeit very slowly). So far, the only black/brown character in Smash that's the default is Ganondorf. Likewise, something that Heartskips brought up is that Sakurai's growing focus on surprising inclusions has pivoted away from correcting the flaws of the existing roster. The Fighters Pass so far is proof of this, especially if the supposed SNK character is indeed Terry. It's the reason why Sakurai needs to loosen up on his policies for the sake of improved representation. Even Capcom has demonstrated more flexibility when it comes to sticking to the main characters (see Morrigan), sometimes to a fault (see the lack of Mega Man in MvC3/UMvC3). So while yes, many of the roster's choices are made with Japan in mind, Smash isn't just made for Japan. And as more fighting games improve, Smash's approach to representation will start to feel more & more dated. I only hope that Sakurai realizes this & improves things going forward. As someone who loves Smash, it's disappointing to see the series lag behind on this front when most of the other major players are making (varying degrees of) progress.
If there's one thing that I hope this thread takes away from this massive wall of text, it's this: Representation Matters. To paraphrase my personal experience on this front from another thread, some of my little cousins initially gravitated towards Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 for their Switch-playing session with me thanks to the presence of characters like Black Panther, Storm, Miles Morales, Falcon, & Luke Cage. It's something that a good chunk of fighting game developers are beginning to realize in recent years, & I hope that Sakurai (or his successor, should Sakurai call it quits after Ultimate) realizes this as well sooner rather than later (preferably with Season 2).
As an aside, what I won't fault Sakurai for is the lack of female alts for Hero, that is entire Square-Enix's fault. And going by the likes of Robin, Corrin, Inkling, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, & more, I'd imagine that Sakurai would have at least included Sophia over Solo if given the chance.
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