Wii U Smash Bros. Updated With More 8-Player Madness
There’s a new update for Super Smash Bros. For Wii U as of today, and it’s free. (It’s also mandatory if you ever plan on playing online again.) The update expands existing battlefields to accommodate eight players, adding a total of 15 extra options for the eight-player battle mode.
The 15 stages include nine in “Normal” form and six in “Omega” form:
Standard
- Mario Circuit (Brawl)
- Pyrosphere
- Norfair
- Luigi’s Mansion
- Lylat Cruise
- Pokémon Stadium 2
- Town and City
- Smashville
- Wii Fit Studio
Omega
- Mario Galaxy
- Mario Circuit (Brawl)
- The Great Cave Offensive
- Lylat Cruise
- Pokémon Stadium 2
- Animal Crossing: Town and City
The series creator, Masahiro Sakurai, is proud of his new game but very worn out from the process of making it, as anyone who had the task of balancing 49 fighters would be. In his bi-weekly column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai answered a fan’s question about the difficulties making Smash with “It was very tough this time around…I doubt I’ll be able to go on making games if it continues like this. But, I consider myself lucky that so many people seem to enjoy [Smash Bros.]”
Sakurai has said in the past he would quit making Smash games due to feeling overworked; he said something similar when Super Smash Bros. Brawl was completed. He has never, however, gone so far as to suggest he’d quit game development altogether. Sakurai knows how to pander to fans and crams his games with crowd-pleasing options and modes. And frankly, he seems to be the only person working at Nintendo right now who honestly cares about the concerns of his fanbase. Hopefully when he rests up he’ll feel more up to returning to work, possibly on a smaller schedule, because I can’t see a Smash Bros. game being developed by anyone else, even Miyamoto.