Roster For Next Smash Bros Game Not Growing Much Bigger

By Matt Mann / July 2, 2012

The original Super Smash Bros game on Nintendo 64 only had twelve characters, however with each iteration of the series that number increased dramatically. There was 25 playable characters on the Gamecube version and 36 on the most recent Smash Bros game on the Wii. However, the upcoming Smash Bros game on the Wii U and 3DS may not have much bigger rosters according to game director Masahiro Sakurai. Sakurai had this to say when asked about how big the rosters would be in the next Smash Bros game:

"In terms of quantity, we've probably already reached the limit of what's feasible, I think a change of direction may be what's needed." "It isn't a matter of 'if the next game has 50 characters, that'll be enough,' "There is a certain charm to games that have huge casts of playable characters, but they tend to have issues with game balance and it becomes very difficult to fine-tune each character and have them all feel distinctive."

Basically what Sakurai is saying is, that the more characters you add the more difficult it becomes to make each character fighting ability feel unique. So while the Wii U will give Nintendo all the power they need to increase the next roster of Smash Bros to 60, the game would loose it's distinctive "charm". So if Nintendo is not going to grow the roster for the next Smash Bros game by leaps and bounds as some people were expecting, what new characters do you feel absolutely need to be included in the next Smash Bros game?