Super Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai recently had time to answer Super Smash Bros related questions with Japanese Nintendo publication, Nintendo Dream. During the interview Mr Sakurai explained the reasoning behind including Dr. Mario in the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U title. It’s certainly an interesting interview and you can read more of his answers, here.
“Actually all “Model-change”-characters that we have now were originally just supposed to be color-configurations. Just like the Little Mac-wireframe or how Olimar and Alph are included, we planned to just make the look and maybe the voice a possible configuration. But, when talking about Dr. Mario, including his abilities he had a lot of individuality in Melee compared to Mario. Also there were fans that said things like “I’m a doctor!”, or “A back-alley doctor!” when they chose the black color-config. When you have such fans and you just change the character-model and leave it at that and it becomes “The same as Mario”, we thought people might get angry (laughs). That’s why we forced ourselves and changed that. But, unlike we did in the past when we separately added abilities and monitored the results, this time we used the customization-system and entered the adjustment-process by starting with a “Mario that’s a bit heavier, with added attack-power”. Although even then it still took a lot of work. During the regular adjustment-process we have each fighter battle all others and try to grasp the “strong” and “weak” problem areas, but in this case we had Dr. Mario go against Mario and tried to adjust it so it would most likely result in a tie. We did the same for Marth and Lucina, as well as Pit and Black Pit.”
Thanks, MasterPikachu6
Cue the butthurt fans from the Smash Fanbase.
The Smash Bros fanbase is WAY MORE TAME than the Sonic fanbase…
The worst clone of all is rosalina. She’s just peach in a blue dress
Saying Rosalina is a clone to Peach is like saying Zelda is a clone to Peach.
Both have dresses of different colors. :O
Real smart dude, at least there move sets are different…..Dark Pit and Pit are the same move set and stuff……sort off.
And so is Dr.Mario and Mario! :O
AND LUCARIO AND MEWTWO–
Well, we don’t know that yet. xD
Right over your head
don’t tell me you are one of those idiots who say lucario is a clone of mewtwo. the only similar move is shadow ball and aura sphere, by that logic, mewtwos a clone of samus because of the same b neutral >.<
When I first saw Rosalina in Super Mario Galaxy, I thought it really WAS Peach. Like, an alternate version. I mean, would it have killed Nintendo to make her look different? At least Daisy and Pauline looks different.
Who in the name of fuck would say Rosalina is a clone of Peach? She’s a new character who is no clone of anyone. Rosalina doesnt levitate, she dash attacks forward while Peach doesnt, she has Luma as a fightable companion while Peach uses Toad as a shield in a cruel way (lol) and even her final smash is different. Lucina, a new character, is a clone of Marth. Ganondorf since Melee is a clone of Captain Falcon with Falco as a clone of Fox. Dark Pit..well, we all know that one is the biggest example of “clone” in Smash Bros. but perhaps the most pointless and laziest character of all next to Wii Fit.
hmm. Wii fit lazy? You do realize she has the name wii FIT.
Fit what exactly? Into clothing? Fit into the crowd? Or my ass? lol No specifics on what “FIT” is suppose to imply.
Nah, both fanbases are equally “toxic”.
Toxic? Let me tell ya about League of Legends
No its not…
i am not vutt hrut its just my ass YOU DUNCE
I just hate that they brought up a lot of clones (although I love Dark Pit). They left outside the roster some important characters that could have given more variety to the game, like Wolf or Lucas. I also miss Snake, but that’s the only case which is understandable.
While I get the point you’re trying to make, you just said they should bring back Lucas, who is, in most ways, a clone of Ness. Lucas’s differences to Ness are akin to those of Dr. Mario vs Mario anyway. Though I do miss Wolf. Besides, there are only three “clone” characters, which isn’t really “a lot”. At the end of the day, we have 50 some interesting characters to pick from and a really enjoyable game.
“Lucas’s differences to Ness are akin to those of Dr. Mario vs Mario anyway.”
Blatant lies
Lucas and Ness only share 3 moves
They could have made dark pit an original character but no screw that,lets put the same moves.(i still dont understand whats different except the thunder element).
He’s stronger than Pit for one thing, his forward B rush attack thingy is pretty strong and can KO at lower percentages than you may think. I can’t stand dark pits online cause all they do is sit back and shoot arrows or do the rush attack. I swear I am plagued with spammers every match I play lol. No matter who the other people use there’s always at least one spammer in a match.
I don’t care what anybody says, 2015 will be the best year for Wii U, both on a sales front and from a games point of view…
I m waiting for zelda and xenoblade also splatoon will be my extra.Thinking about star fox also.Also i have to complete some 2014 games i havent even started and 100% some of them like bayonetta and zelda ww.Lots to do!
Sakurai just wanted to bring Dark Pit so he brought few more clones to shadow Dark Pit beneath them.
Dark Pit is just an excuse, there is nothing indivdual about him compared to Pit…
Thunder element is the only thing added to him thats different?I havent notice anything else i will try test them both to see if he is heavier/faster/stronger or anything else different than regular Pit.
Heavier or not, still not as different as at least Dr Mario is to Mario…
He’s as similar as Falco to Fox, Ganon to Falcon, Dr. Mario to Mario himself and now, a pointless recolored version of Pit which already exists in Pit anyway.
The same time Sakurai made him playable and making Dark Samus an assist trophy who its own moveset, Dark Samus should’ve been a playable character.
His forward B is a lot stronger and can KO a lot easier, so unfortunately all the dark pits I face spam that and his arrow from a far. When lag is thrown in (I didn’t have one lag free match yesterday) and you’re playing 4 way matches, it can be quite annoying. Well spamming is always annoying lol. But lag makes it really annoying.
I want characters that play different, having somewhat more powerful attacks that are identical to another character makes it a clone by default…
I am happy with dark pit, although he is a clone it’s better than being a colour swap like Alph,
I find it to be the same thing…
Not arguing that at all lol just explaining the little differences. I think Dark Pit should have a different set of moves.
Hey what’s up, just checking if you were still down to play today. I’m at work, and as of writing this, I have about 6-7 hours till my boss comes in, and when she does I won’t be able to play for about 4-5 hours, then she leaves after our live races finish, so I can play again after that. Let me know if you’ll be free.
Is it possible tomorrow around the same time?…
I am more occupied today than I thought I would be…
Yea, I don’t work until 6:45pm eastern US time tomorrow and I don’t close so I should only be working like 4 hours. Oddly enough lol I had a dream that I played you online last night, among other strange things in the dream.
Yes…
A dream…
7:35-9:00
…That is too weird, the dream I was talking about ended up with my ex and I on an alien ship in outer space….no joke
Don’t tempt me…
lol I won’t. Just finished the video, pretty creepy. Been watching X Files lately so goes right with it
You watched the whole movie?…
I love X-files…
Yea watched the whole thing lol and yea X-Files is awesome, I’m on season 7, not looking forward to the last 2 seasons where Mulder becomes a guest star essentially.
If you haven’t seen them, they are almost as good in many ways…
Yea I’m taking a little break, ordered Millennium & the Lone Gunmen series, wanna watch Millennium before watching the crossover episode in season 7. I’ll definitely watch the last two seasons, I just won’t enjoy Mulder being replaced lol. They should hopefully be getting to my house in the next few days. Have you watch those two series?
Not really, the Lone Gunmen didn’t interest me that much as it’s more of a comedy and is Millenium really a crossover in that episode?…
I love the Lone Gunmen so I had to support them, got i in the mail btw. X Files season 7 episode 4 is titled Millennium I believe and the star of Millennium helps Scully and Mulder out. Stupid Wal mart cancelled my order for Millennium though so I gotta find it elsewhere :(
The movie you sent kind of reminds me of Fire in the Sky
I see you’re playing for glory at the moment, did you happen to have some extra time for a few matches? If not no problem
I had some time later but my brother played most…
I actually was disappointed to see that rosalina got her own character, peach was her own character, but daisy is just a color swap of peach. and they couldn’t even bother to at least change the name. its obviously her but they’ve done it this same way since melee. I know I’m probably the only one who cares but a mrs. pacman swap for pacman would have been awesome to. anything to better even out the male to female ratio in smash would have been good in my opinion. in the end though what we got is great and I know it takes them a lot of time to do those types of things.
I agree with you about both Daisy and Mrs.Pac Man. I’m more upset about Daisy seeing as this is the 3rd time, but Mrs.Pac Man wouldn’t have been all that hard to make as an alt and it should have been an obvious one.
Crap characters and crap reasoning.
Even the Cut Clones from Brawl didn’t feel like such exact copies as the three they added.
GTFO Doctor Mario was my main in Melee and Lucas was a character most of us (including yourself) didn’t even know.
Dr. Mario: Clone. Lucas: Clone. Get over it. Those characters are lazy.
Lucas was hardly a clone…
You were saying? Lucas only has minor variations from Ness, like one or two of them but that’s it. It’s like saying Dr. Mario is different because he wears a jacket, uses the old favorite Down B Marinado move or launches pills instead of fireballs which both acts the same way regardless of how “different” you people think it looks and feels. It’s the same shit as every COD/EA Sports game in existence: Minor variations of each other using the same formula.
Are you seriously comparing Lucas and Ness based off of those moves alone? Majority of his aerials and tilts are different. They only share similar B moves (if you REALLY want to include PK Freeze too), a smash attack and about two or three aerials/tilts. People say the same about Falco, Wolf and Fox. You might as well compare Luigi to Mario if they’re comparing a few moves.
Dont even try to DC that shit. lol I’m not slow or interested.
All I’m saying, is that it’s a poor comparison. I can easily make a video of any two “similar-like” characters, use only the four-five moves, and you’d call them a clone. Some moves are similar no doubt about it, but overall, his original moves outweigh his clone moves. Even then, his Side, Down and Neutral B all work differently than Ness’s.
And I hate how morons say Mewtwo is a clone of Lucario when Mewtwo came first, has some differences in moveset like that up smash move, basic attack and his grab/toss animation behavior he had in Melee and the fact that Lucario merely replaced him, not cloned either way.
New generation of inbreeds…
They don’t know anything about nothing…
I hope they keep most of Mewtwo’s old moveset intact because even his old moveset is different in a few areas from Lucario. Only change the recovery move (like making him teleport or levitate up/side shortly) so idiots wouldn’t immediately say his move mimics Lucario’s. His Shadow Ball charging/firing should stay the same because most fighting characters
Here’s Mewtwo’s differences:
* Basic Attack has a continuance variation that damages players and slightly forces them away upon close contact. Lucario only hits 3 times as Smash Bros.’s gameplay standard.
* Side attack move hits opponents with his tail at a certain range giving a credible defense. Lucario doesn’t even though he has a tail.
* Mewtwo’s grab/tossing animation and damage is different. Lucario just forces players off a little quickly. Mewtwo actually tosses the bastards with force that makes the move feel more satisfyingly powerful than Lucario’s plus his forward side toss allows Mewtwo to shoot multiple Shadow Balls at his target in midair.
* Mewtwo’s running or “levitating” speed feels faster than Lucario.
* Mewtwo can jump higher and “boost” levitate for a moment making him harder to reach in midair.
* Mewtwo can fucking teleport..kinda similar to Zelda’s. Oh and guess what? Lucario’s CAN’T. XP
* Mewtwo can shoot a short range Psybeam from his eyes that puts opponents into a daze.
So tell me this Lucario fanboys if you’re reading this or have the stomach to do so. Can Lucario do any of that shit himself? lol Nope and it only proves one thing: Mewtwo was the first and very special to the minds of Smash Bros. fans. The only new thing I hope for Mewtwo is he should have a counter move of his own like using “Detect” by having his eye glow in a star shape and when opponents touch him, he can stop, lift and then toss them backwards/forward/upward randomly with his psychic power and as for his Final Smash, he could have one of the three options: Adapt Lucario’s old Final Smash from Brawl where he shoots a beam from the air, transform into his Y Mega form to enhance his special attack damage or his X Mega form for his physical attacks.
Mewtwo = Lucario clone..MY ASS! lol Get this in your heads fools: Dr. Mario is a clone. Lucas is a clone. Ganondorf unfortunately is still a fucking clone for 3 games straight (3DS is a split from SSB4 on Wii U so technically there’s no “5th” SSB). Lucina is a clone. Dark Pit…shouldn’t even exist in the game (like Wii Fit) plus he’s a clone of Pit which reminds me, Pit already has a “Dark Pit” recolor available anyway and DP also copied Zelda’s final smash..how cheap. lol
Personally they should give Mewtwo something else than Psybeam, it was rather useless overall in my opinion…
As long as it helps for that split moment, then I say keep it. That or replace it with that counter move I mentioned.
still should of made him an alt.
Shame they didn’t have time to split Alph up as well.
Usually I hate clones but I’m okay with Dr. Mario because of the down-B move.
Yup, mario’s Down B sucks so much ass.
You mean Pikachu’s. That damn thunder…
Which is avoidable and can be blocked by platforms.
Yea supposedly fludd is great for edge guarding, but I’m not the type of fighter who sits at the edge trying to get cheap quick kills, I actually go and fight people.
Lol edge guarding isn’t cheap. You fight people and when their energy is at 90+ you edge guard. That’s called a good stragety.
What’s cheap is running from people on times matches and spamming. I wish online for glory was all stock…not just one on one…
I’m talking about people who run to the edge as soon as the match starts and only try doing that. I’ve never been killed by fludd, I just think it’s pretty useless. But yea all I play is spammers and runners, and I hate how they made for glory two stock as well. And that every board is final destination style. Why can’t we just pick what board we want or what what items in for fun, or set our stock number, or turn off the clock? I don’t even play for glory 1 on 1 much cause the matches are too quick.
Make Dr. Mario as an alternate costumer and restore Mario’s own down B tornado move. Problem solved.
Black Pit? Mean Dark Pit. Also Sakurai YOU STILL HAVEN’T SAID WHY WOLF WAS CUT!
He’s called Black Pit in Japan.
That was the nickname of an old girlfriend.
Hahaha omg! Poor girl.
Because all the Wolf’s moves became custom moves for Fox, one of his side special is even named Wolf Flash. The same applies to Lucas, his moves became customs for Ness.
Kinda ironic to find people wanting Wolf back, because as long as I remember, he was one of the most hated newcomers in Brawl because of being a clone (back in thodse day, people still didn’t created a definiton for semi-clone). Same goes for Roy from Melee, I can easily say that people hate Lucina so much because she isn’t Roy.
I dont think anyone was like ohhh back alley dr. Mario I hope they include him as a character.
Yea I never thought that lol or the other one
Lucas was less of a clone than the three in SSB4. And Wolf is barely a clone of Fox. I honestly would have kept them in instead. All three of the clones would have been alts anyways, so technically, we would have more characters in the game.
And gameplay wise and in my own opinion, Alph was arguably the best (or second best) option for a clone split. He would have utilized Rock Pikmin and had a bigger emphasis on Winged Pikmin (rather than just his Up B) in trade for Whites and Purples as they are absent from Pikmin 3’s story mode. Sadly, Pikmin suffers from probably being the least popular of the clones’ games and as such, least iconic.
I would place, in order of best clone split options to worst as follows:
Doctor Mario–Alph–Lucina–Dark Pit
Alph is an alternate colour not a clone, and Dark Pit is still awesome.
I hope they make masked ddd as a clone next smash :p
So basically taking one move away from doctor mario and making him heavier and stronger is a very big difference? Psh piss off sakurai. He should have been a costume same as dark pit. He was just lazy to make other characters to fit those spaces. King K. Rool should have been a character since Melee.
Lazy? He worked his as off with all of Team Sora and the Bandai Namco team to get that game out on time.
The same time he made Dark Pit playable as he made Dark Samus an assist trophy, DS had enough time to be programmed as a playable character at the same time.
Dark Pit is playable because he is MILES more popular that Dark Samus, or any secondary Metroid character for that matter (Metroid is a franchise that never got any other characters so popular than the original trio of Samus, Ridley and Mother Brain).
And also, Samus has a Dark Samus alternate color, and Dark Pit came from a game made by Sakurai, I’m impressed how people were naive enough to forget Sakurai’s own characters besides the ones from the Kirby series.
Yeah. That makes sense. A character thats so “original” that looks EXACTLY like the protagonist and brand new for its first game after how many years..20+ since GB outing while Dark Samus aka Metroid Prime had 3 games that are highly acclaimed and revolutionized itself in 3D so marvelously and actually has characteristics and moveset of its own, isn’t suitable for Smash?
You make as much sense in that comment as Ubisoft’s stupid ass “30FPS on PC/PS4/X1” excuse; IT DOESN’T WORK.
Still, Dark Pit managed to become more popular than Dark Samus because of one single reason: PERSONALITY!! What kind of personality does have a mutated metroid that copies Samus’ form? In the Kid Icarus context, Dark Pit has a strong and acid language, trust nobody, he is proud of depending nobody, is moved by his own instincts? Does Dark Samus have anything of this? Heck, even Shadow The Hedgehog is a better character than Dark Samus, the lack of any personality and carisma is the major problem with ANY secondary character in Metroid.
Personality? Its a fucking copy/paste of Pit. lol SA-X from Metroid Fusion is what you call a “Copied Samus” without a character or soul because X are single-minded predators. Dark Samus actually has a backstory, purpose and personality since its mutation from Prime 1 ending (which it made it happen to save its own life from self-destruction of Phazon overload)
I played Kid Icarus Uprising from beggining to end, and talking DP is a copy/paste of Pit is just invalid.
Can you tell me another popular Metroid character besides the main trio and Dark Samus?
Rundas, Adam, Kraid, Metroid Queen, Nightmare, Space Pirates, I see plenty of fan favorite characters there. Care to try to shit on Metroid again? lol
FUCK ADAM!! I hate this moron so much because Other M’s authorization gimmick, this thing completely killed the Metroid feeling of that game.
Kraid? Yeah, valid. But the rest is just… meh. Queen Metroid would be a cool assist trophy.
Actually the Space Pirate is a recurring figure in Metroid verse as often as Ridley, completely forgot these fellas.
WTF said anything about THAT POS game or Adam of that game? I meant his portrayal in Fusion which is a lot better than..Other M…
Still the same fucking character.
SA-X is. Dark Samus, not entirely. Dark Pit is a fan made recolor made official because Uprising lacks a true rival for Pit. lol
Dark Pit follows the Nintendo trend. (Dark Samus, Dark Link, Dark Mario) At least Dark Link is an alt color.
What trend? A hibernating franchise for over 20 years?
A trend of recolored, unoriginal characters.
Another scrub that believes blindly that a Smash Bros. character is a thing that is picked and placed with the hand in the game.
I don’t mind Dr. Mario because he kept Mario’s original moveset from the 64/Melee. Didn’t he?
Yup, but trust me, Mario is a lot better than he was in any previous Smash for that matter. And just like in Melee, Dr. Mario lacks of speed and range, compensating these things with power.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m older now, or because of my personal life the way it is, or what? But I’m just not really feeling it with this new Smash Bros. for Wii U. I can’t get into it. And I don’t really care much about trying to get good at it. I never have any desire to continue playing it. To be fair, I have been feeling similar ways towards nearly all games these days. I wish I could go back to being a kid. When my video game passion was relentless and unstoppable.
Sounds like your getting old. I feel the same with 90% of the FPS’s that are released…but not with smaaaaaash! Lol :)
Um… Project M was able to do that. There’s no excuse.
And since when a mere hack is parameter for any kind of comparison?
I mean, I also would prefer alternate costumes, but comparing a mere fanwork like Project M with an official fresh product is pretty forced, in my opinion.
Melee’s Dr. Mario was BADASS! He was even more popular than Mario in the competitive scene, it’s reasonable that Dr. Mario has a fanbase (in fact, even Pichu had a small fanbase) and Sakurai wanted to do something to them.