Some former Nintendo employees claim that despite the large fan demand for it, a Super Smash Bros. Melee HD port will "never happen" in the future. This statement was given by the duo of Kit and Krysta, former hosts of Nintendo Minute, a web series produced by Nintendo of America. Nowadays, Kit and Krysta recount their experiences working at Nintendo on their own channel. One of their latest stories reveals why the seminal GameCube classic Super Smash Bros. Melee will never get ported.
Super Smash Bros. Melee is considered by some to be the ground-breaking entry of the franchise and the apex of Nintendo's library. With gameplay mechanics that provide an easy-to-learn but high skill ceiling, it appeals to the competitive crowd. It is one of the games trapped on the Nintendo GameCube, with many fans keeping its spirit alive through tournaments and emulated play. Despite the fervent demand for a Melee re-release, Kit and Krysta explain it's also part of the reason why it won't happen.
In the 58th episode of their podcast, a question was asked by flapjack626 regarding a remaster of Melee to the two former employees (46:45 timestamp for the VOD). Both Kit and Krysta agree that it "makes a lot of sense" before bluntly claiming that it'll likely "never happen." Krysta elaborates on this, stating that whenever the game was brought up, there would be a "tense feeling" in the room. She states that there are a lot of negative connotations surrounding Super Smash Bros. Melee, especially when it has an active emulation scene, which Nintendo has historically not been a huge fan of.
Another point that Kit brings up for why an HD remaster of Super Smash Bros. Melee will likely never happen is due to the community itself. He notes that even if one area of the game is changed, then players will rebel against it. They both reason that the competitive fans will want to preserve it exactly as how it was twenty years ago, with Krysta chiming in that any efforts likely won't please the volatile fanbase and would just cause more problems. Krysta even recalls how talking about Melee inside Nintendo was a nightmare, and that the company would rather sweep it under the rug instead, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being more accessible anyways.
Kit then talks about how Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai would likely try to get involved in such a project, and that the director's perfectionist mindset would be at odds with both Nintendo's hypothetical efforts to port it with a third-party studio, or the aforementioned unappeasable fanbase. They both reason the idea of remastering Melee is a lose-lose situation and is best to never be mentioned, as even discussing it was causing both of them incredible stress.
Super Smash Bros. Melee is available on the Nintendo GameCube.