Smash Bros. Melee was "too difficult"

By Fred Dutton Published 8 December, 2010

Nintendo picks apart its classic fighter.

Nintendo's classic GameCube scrapper Super Smash Bros. Melee was "too difficult", according to the game's creator, and any future title in the series will not be aimed at the same hardcore crowd.

Masahiro Sakurai told Famitsu (translated by 1Up), "I had created Smash Bros. to be my response to how hardcore-exclusive the fighting game genre had become over the years. But why did I target it so squarely toward people well-versed in videogames, then?

"That's why I tried to aim for more of a happy medium with Brawl's play balance," he explained of the excellent 2008 Wii follow-up.

"There are three Smash Bros. games out now," he continued, "but even if I ever had a chance at another one, I doubt we'll ever see one that's as geared toward hardcore gamers as Melee was.

"Melee fans who played deep into the game without any problems might have trouble understanding this, but Melee was just too difficult."

"If we want new people from this generation of gamers to come in, then we need it accessible, simple, and playable by anyone. You can't let yourself get preoccupied with nothing but gameplay and balance details.

"That's where the core of the Smash Bros. concept lies, not on doggedly keeping the game the way it was before," he concluded.

While he might have overdone it with the difficulty curve, Sakurai went on to explain that he's still a big fan of his 2001 masterpiece.

"Melee is the sharpest game in the series. It's pretty speedy all around and asks a lot of your coordination skills. Fans of the first Smash Bros. got into it quickly, and it just felt really good to play."

Sakurai also revealed a little about the effect the game's intense development period had on him.

"On a personal level, Melee had an extremely grueling development cycle. Some of my other games did, too, but Melee sticks out far ahead of the pack in my mind.

"I worked on that game for 13 months straight, after all, without a single Sunday or holiday off that whole time. During parts of it, I was living a really destructive lifestyle - I'd work for over 40 hours in a row, then go back home to sleep for four."

Next up from Sakurai is Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS, due some time next year.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • layleeloo #1 1 year ago

    To be great at it was as nails as Virtua Fighter games

  • wizlon #2 1 year ago

    I would love a 3DS version Smash Bros.

  • Dave_McCoy #3 1 year ago

    @wizlon

    A 3DS version would be very cool. Perfect for smashing them in and out of the screen.

  • RedSparrows #4 1 year ago

    I loved Melee.

  • Rajin #5 1 year ago

    Melee was more or less perfect imho. I loved it and played to death. The Wii version on the other hand......

  • Cid #6 1 year ago

    I'm confused. Smash Brothers has always been known as an "easy to pick up, difficult to master" sort of game. It's as deep as you want it to be.

    Everyone's happy, so why not keep it that way?

    Also, not wanting to make the game super hardcore is one thing, but balance is important at any level of play. To stop caring about that is just laziness.

  • Futaba #7 1 year ago

    Fuck off Nintendo, stop babying your new favoured 'casual' crowd. Melee is one of my favourite games of all time, don't come out and say it's flawed like this when it's not. Adventure mode, classic and all-star all had difficulty settings from Very Easy to Very Hard, are they really saying the easiest mode was 'too difficult'? Sigh, gamers these days...

    ---
    "There are three Smash Bros. games out now," he continued, "but even if I ever had a chance at another one, I doubt we'll ever see one that's as geared toward hardcore gamers as Melee was."
    ---

    Not trying to start a console flame war here, but it's statements like that which justify selling my Wii.

    @Rajin

    Totally agree.
    Edited by Futaba at 08/12/10 @ 21:01

  • JoeGBallad #8 1 year ago

    All the smash bros. games are great. The first is like a dream come true, Melee is a pitch perfect versus game that requires playforming and fighting skills, and Brawl is the best middleground between hardcore fighter and great party game you can get. Together they form a consistent, high quality package, with each one emphasising it's own aspect of what makes the experience so great. While I'm a little sad there won't be another game as 'hardcore' as Melee, I'm grateful that such a game exists.

  • ISmoke #9 1 year ago

    SSB:M ate alot of my gamecube gaming time. Spent countless hours unlocking every character and even more hours beating my friends with Young Link.

    For some reason it was the only fighting game I've ever enjoyed. Wouldn't of said it was hard though. Apart from getting Falcon (think you had to do the challenge of killing 100 enemies without dying)

  • originaljohn #10 1 year ago

    I love melee, but I really liked the content brawl had to. So I guess you can say I'm really happy with both games

  • infernox1 #11 1 year ago

    it didnt feel difficult to me, however when i got my cousin and sister to play it, they struggled. my sister is definitely a casual gamer but my cousin plays cod 24/7.

  • CrispyXUK64 #12 1 year ago

    @Cid, he's referring to the single player, which was a hard game.

  • caesar_ #13 1 year ago

    Melee is so much more rewarding than Brawl. In Brawl they nerfed Captain Falcon, who the fuck does that?


    FALCON PAWNCH

  • excelexcel #14 1 year ago

    Futaba if you read the article he was talking about how fast and precise Melee was to play, not its difficulty levels. I loved Melee myself but Brawl was fantastic too but putting aside Brawls huge content, Melee was the better fighter

  • Cid #15 1 year ago

    @Crispy

    I got the impression he was talking about everything.

    Also, get on Brawl sometime. 8)

  • ISmoke #16 1 year ago

    @caesar_
    That actually made my laugh. I never really got on with Cpt Falcon though. I always used the same characters though.
    Young Link, Zelda/Sheik, Pichu, Kirby and if i just wanted to humiliate who i was playing against i'd use either Nes, Mr Game and Watch or the Ice Climbers.

  • caesar_ #17 1 year ago

    @ISmoke Nice. Captain Falcon was my fave cos of his electric knee of doom and that intercepting stomp he had. So satisfying to combo those together.

    Ahh the memories of being 13 and wired on fizzy drinks with a couple of friends playing Melee until 5am. Must've clocked up 2000hrs or something insane, we never really stopped playing it. Infact when I get back from Uni I'm going to hit him up for a smash.

  • Futaba #18 1 year ago

    @excelexcel

    What would they class as easy then, the wiimote+nunchuck control system? Call me old-fashioned, but I didn't like that control method on Brawl. I ended up using the GC controller, the setup was practically the same as Melee. I'm not sure he could be talking about how the actual game feels while playing, Brawl didn't feel too entirely different to Melee (though something about it made me dislike it).
    Edited by Futaba at 08/12/10 @ 20:58

  • sonicyoda #19 1 year ago

    Sakurai you crazy.

    Been a while since I played some Smash Bros. I should give it a spin tonight.

  • InfiniteFury #20 1 year ago

    'If your mother can't play it, it's not a good game'

    Thanks Nintendo. For everything.

  • FenderMaster #21 1 year ago

    SSBM was by far the better game, Nintendo hates skil, with the exception of the Mario titles, but gamers, and especially fighting game fans love depth, skill and strategy. A Street Fighter approach where you can jump in and play casually, or if you want, play a hardcore game, then you have the option. SSBM could be played on many levels, SSBB cannot...

  • RobotRocker #22 1 year ago

    Melee was always terrible as a hardcore fighter. The diluted and hilariously stale 1v1, Final Destination concept is also laughable.

    Get over yourselves.

  • goatjugsoup #23 1 year ago

    melee was the only one i didnt get to play from the series (i missed out on getting a gamecube), but i find it hard to believe it could have been that difficult. still as long as they make another one (the sooner the better) i'll be cool with it

  • Climhazzard #24 1 year ago

    One of my all time fave gamecube games, wouldn't change it for the world. The difficulty made it so much of a challenge that i kept playing. Fantastic stuff.

  • gameboyjustin #25 1 year ago

    Melee might've been deep as hell, but that's what makes it a heck of a lot more fun than brawl. I remember how beautiful it was watching pros playing it at a competitive level; made it seem almost like a work of art

  • Lusterpurge #26 1 year ago

    As hyped up that everyone was for Brawl, the game came and went while most Super Smash Bros players still play Melee. To anyone who has spent time playing Melee and Brawl, it is obvious that Sakurai's not talking about how difficult single player is. He is talking about control and balance of the game mechanics, which shifted radically towards the shallower side in Brawl.

    I'll accept that Nintendo will never make games like Melee or F-Zero GX again, but it saddens me.

  • Razorus #27 1 year ago

    "If we want new people from this generation of gamers to come in, then we need it accessible, simple, and playable by anyone."

    For me, this sums up Nintendo's policy towards the market over the last three years or so perfectly. In their (admirable) quest to gain new support, and a wider audience, they are absolutely forgetting or at least not catering to the needs of the hardcore crowd.
    Melee was perfect. I thought Brawl was more complex simply because it had more stuff in it but I didn't create it, so what do I know?
    Future Smash Bros games should continue the trend of being easy to access and difficult to master. It's a near-perfect balance between those concepts and also between being a party-like game and a really fun fighting game.

    Also, plus one to anyone who said 3DS version. For. The. Win.

  • RoaringPanda #28 1 year ago

    @RobotRocker you sound shit

  • RobotRocker #29 1 year ago

    you sound shit

    Such a beautifully constructed riposte, I shall slink off in defeat for the mighty RoaringPanda, A Beacon of wit and subtlety has bested me.

    No really. Smash is pretty awful as a hardcore fighter. "Pro" play consists of dashing around like a moron and constantly poking till there is an opening while using none of the extranious systems like items or using any of the interesting levels. There is no excitement.

    Guilty Gear players have never banned Faust despite one of his super moves being completely based on luck. Street Fighter matches can end with the tiniest of margins because the game decided one move will have priority on the other. Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is the original luck game, choosing your characters can be a massive gamble and its like high stakes poker on crystal meth. A single lucky move can turn the tide of a money match. Its that minor bit of luck that could make for a real match that makes all these so exciting.

    "Pro" Smash has everything thats exciting about fighting games stripped away from it. Its dull, its miserable and even the rather balanced items in the game are discarded because it upsets the "Purity".

    Smash to me is summed up by that "Wombo Combo" video where two kids try to make a smash version of the infamous Yipes MvC2 video. Its shallow, forced and a pale imitation of the real thing.
    Edited by RobotRocker at 09/12/10 @ 00:27

  • Lusterpurge #30 1 year ago

    @RobotRocker you still sound shit

    But seriously, I think you are approaching SSB as a "hardcore" 2D fighting game when it is really different. It was not designed to be played competitively but that doesn't mean that you can't. 2D arcade fighting games are designed around pro players which is why Sakurai felt he needed to make Super Smash Bros in the first place. You may think it's silly to play on Final Destination with no items, Fox only, but some people don't. If they can play competitively, then all the more power to them.

  • jamhead #31 1 year ago

    "If we want new people from this generation of gamers to come in, then we need it accessible, simple, and playable by anyone."

    Fine. No need to bork the games your existing fanbase love in the process though. You can't please everyone all the time. Just give the casuals their own new games that meet their needs. Next: Metroid on rails with auto targetting!

  • Tonne #32 1 year ago

    Melee is still the single greatest fighting game i have ever played.

    its one of a kind,

  • AcidSnake #33 1 year ago

    I'll accept that Nintendo will never make games like Melee or F-Zero GX again, but it saddens me.

    They didn't make GX, Sega did...And I'm still hoping for a new F-Zero iteration...
    I mean they still owe us Pikmin, Starfox and F-Zero...By law...

  • Toothball #34 1 year ago

    @RobotRocker

    I always thought terrain and items were an important factor in any Smash Bros match as your character of choice. If you're playing one-on-one on a flat level with nothing else switched on, I figured you'd be better off playing some other fighting game.

  • LazyDan #35 1 year ago

    I completely agree with him - I always felt this. I loved (and still love) the original N64 game, and I really love Brawl, but Melee never felt right. Like he said, it was too fast and too precise, far too close to the hardcore fighting games (that I personally dislike) that Smash Bros was meant to be the antidote for. It's not surprising that the people who like those games will forever place Melee as the best in the series, and that's fine, but personally I'm happy it's going to stick to the more accessible formula. Just like Mario Kart isn't Gran Turismo, Smash Bros shouldn't be Marvel vs Capcom.

  • SlackMaster #36 1 year ago

    I loved Melee but not Brawl so much... Melee had all the best game modes and extras, but with brawl something was missing and I really disliked the Subspace Emissaries mode.

    Although it got you playing lots of different characters that mode just wasn't fun. I found as well for some reason that characters unlocked a lot quicker in Melee than brawl with a few exceptions.

    By the time I'd unlocked Sonic in Brawl I'd lost interest and I still haven't unlocked Snake.