"I think a lot of Melee players love Melee. But at the same time, I think a lot of players, on the other hand, gave up on Melee because it's too technical, because they can't keep up with it. And I know there were players who got tendinitis from playing, and messing with the controller so much … that really is hard on the player and I feel like a game should really focus on what the target audience is."
This is so stupid.
1) Nobody gave up on Melee
when it was the most recent Smash game. Casuals played it, and loved it, just like 64 (which was more punishing), Brawl (which was just as silly as Melee), and Smash 4 (which is the most depthless of them all). Never once did I sit down with my sisters or friends or anyone else to play Melee, and have to hear them complain about how difficult or technical the game was.
2) It doesn't matter how easy you make your fighting game,
casuals will never fit in with competitive players. But that's perfectly fine, because...
3) Smash by nature consists of isolated communities. The vast majority of Smash players will never aspire to Esports or highly competitive play, and that's fine....
4) ...Because the moment they do, they're going to get the rude awakening that happens with every fighting game, when you realize that casual play will
NEVER result in a notable ranking. This is just as true of Melee as it is of Smash 4 -- you're going to get decimated by competitive players no matter which version of the game you're playing or how technical it is.
The only way to avoid people complaining about getting their ass trashed by better players is to make your game so shallow that there's simply no real way to gain a competitive edge. And that is a really, REALLY stupid idea, because casual players are going to enjoy the game regardless. That's why they're called Casuals.
Smash Ultimate looks like it's finally understanding that. And as a result, you've got both Melee and competitive Brawl players finally returning to the game from the terrible drought that was brought on by Smash 4.
As long as Sakurai understands that a game doesn't have to be super technical in order to be
good, then Smash 5 will turn out to be a great game. It looks like someone's already sat him down and explained it to him, as judging from the SmashU changes, but god forbid the game gets nerfed before release