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When it was revealed that Byleth would be the sixth DLC fighter coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, many fans collectively groaned at the idea of yet another Fire Emblem character coming to the game. It’s not that anyone dislikes Byleth, Roy, Chrom, or any of the seeming multitude of sword-wielding heroes that are part of the Ultimate roster. The issue is more that characters like Waluigi, Crash Bandicoot, Sora, and countless others are sitting on the wayside while this one, particular franchise appears to be getting a disproportionate amount of love and attention.
Well, it seems that Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the Smash Bros. series, is also a part of that camp of fans burned out on Fire Emblem fighters!
In an upcoming interview with the Japanese magazine Famitsu, Sakurai explains that he, too, believes that the Ultimate roster is a tad inundated with both Fire Emblem and sword-using characters. While one might assume that Sakurai could easily do something about this— after all, he’s in charge of developing the game— alas, that’s not the case. According to early translations of Sakurai’s comments to Famitsu, the director is at the mercy of his bosses at Nintendo. Fighters are chosen based on the whims of management, not Sakurai. Indeed, according to these translators, Sakurai alleges that even a fighter he personally had tried to give preference to was pushed aside in order to focus on developing Byleth.
It might sound strange at first to think that Fire Emblem is getting the priority that it has within the roster of fighters in Ultimate, but the series is a perennial favorite in Japan and has become an integral part of the Nintendo family of franchises in the West, as well. Whether or not that means Ultimate needs to have eight (count ’em eight!) Fire Emblem brawlers is up for debate, but for now it seems that Sakurai is part of the crowd that wishes for more variety.
Source: 黒凧 BlackKite and PushDustin Twitter Accounts
