Super Smash Bros. 2012 was officially announced for Wii U and 3DS by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata at the Nintendo Pre-E3 2011 Press Conference.
During the keynote, Iwata specifically mentioned that the game is only in the discussion stage, and actual development on the projects have not technically started.
The reason is because of Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is being developed by Masahiro Sakurai, director of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and is not yet finished. Before work can begin in earnest on the new Super Smash Bros. 2012, Sakurai must finish Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Update: For lots more info visit the “Super Smash Bros Wii U and 3DS Character List”
According to reports, ideas for a new Super Smash Bros. started after Nintendo finishing Brawl and once the 3DS released. Iwata wanted development to start on a new Smash Bros. for the new portable system, but didn’t want to push Sakurai into another Smash development cycle for fear of tiring him out on the series.
So Sakurai started making a game he really wanted to make, a revival of Kid Icarus with Kid Icarus: Uprising for 3DS, in order to take a break from the series. Now that the game is almost finished, Iwata feels it is time for him to get back into development on Smash. But this time, they have the new Wii U home console to consider. The Smash Bros. creator wants to make an HD videogame, as we previously reported, so Sakurai must have been very excited to hear that the Wii U is an HD console.
Given that Nintendo now has two new systems (Wii U and 3DS) Sakurai knew the only way to go was to develop the new Smash Bros. game for both systems, and make them cross-compatible. But he is not the type of developer who wants to simply add new characters and new levels and call it a day, he wants to truly do something new. Typical Nintendo eh.
Sakurai reportedly feels that the 3DS offers a personal experience since it is portable and only one person generally plays on a portable. So one thought process is the idea of customizing and perhaps developing characters on the 3DS, and then transferring them to the larger world of the home console Wii U Smash Bros. to play the game proper.
Either way, the game sounds like it is far off. But considering the selling power of Super Smash Bros., a 2012 release is likely and Nintendo will almost assuredly supercharge development as soon as Kid Icarus: Uprising is finished in order to get the ball rolling on Smash Bros. in time to have the game ready soon after the 2012 launch of the Wii U system. Or maybe even have the game ready at launch.
Are you excited about Super Smash Bros. 2012?
Via IGNUK