Highlights
- Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai wanted a scroll wheel feature for the Nintendo GameCube controller.
- Sakurai has been sharing anecdotes about his own career and design principles through his YouTube channel.
- The rumored Nintendo Switch successor may include a similar scroll wheel feature that Sakurai proposed for the GameCube controller.
Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai describes how he wanted a scroll wheel feature for the Nintendo GameCube controller, which is a feature that may appear with the rumored Nintendo Switch successor system. The legendary game creator has worked with Nintendo for quite a long time, even after he became a freelance game developer separated from the publisher. While Sakurai is "semi-retired" nowadays, the Super Smash Bros. director has been offering his insights about the gaming industry through his YouTube channel, "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games."
A lot of Sakurai's videos feature anecdotes about his own career and the design principles that went into past games he worked on. These include various Nintendo games, such as how Sakurai created the reveal trailers for the Super Smash Bros. series or his time developing Kirby games at HAL Laboratory. His latest video includes an anecdote during the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and how he proposed an idea for the Nintendo GameCube controller.
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In Sakurai's new video "I Want to Choose Fast!" he starts by stating that sometimes Nintendo would occasionally ask for his opinion while the company was working on new hardware, even asking for functionality suggestions. One feature that has been at the forefront of Sakurai's mind ever since the Nintendo GameCube's development was the ability to include a scroll wheel, or jog dial, as it was called in his initial design proposal. It would have replaced the L or R button, with the ability to scroll with this wheel making it easier to select commands in a menu. This was designed after a computer mouse's scroll wheel, based on a desire to get to his choice quickly.
This, interestingly enough, is very similar to a feature rumored for Nintendo Switch's successor. According to this rumor, there was a gaming controller that was found in a Nintendo R&D staff member's luggage by a TSA agent that had scrolling wheels. These wheels were positioned near the trigger buttons, described as being similar to a computer mouse. This feature sounds exactly what Sakurai had proposed back during the GameCube's development, and was a feature that he kept pushing for due to its navigation convenience.
The features of the rumored Switch successor console are still only spread through rumor and speculation, and this is a pretty big coincidence between a proposed feature from when Sakurai worked on Super Smash Bros. Melee. It's unlikely that Sakurai would know about Nintendo's upcoming plans, considering he is focusing on his YouTube channel. If Nintendo's next console ends up including this feature, Sakurai may feel vindicated about its implementation.
Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros is a Nintendo-exclusive 3D action fighting and brawling game starring a roster of beloved Nintendo and third-party characters. Taking place across a plethora of arenas, players duke it out in real-time as their favorite characters.
