Capcom producer messes with our heads

Show of hands: what is the most disappointing thing about Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Most people point immediately to characters they wish were in the game. Most of those characters are owned by Capcom.

And one of those characters is Phoenix Wright, popular from the Nintendo DS Ace Attorney series.

I’ll admit, I am a huge Phoenix Wright fan, so this bit of news is much more inflated for me.  However, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Producer Ryota Niitsuma did the teasing all on his own by recently noting that Phoenix Wright was originally included in the upcoming fighter, as Kotaku reports.  Why was he pulled?  He explains:

“Because Phoenix Wright only has one move, ‘Objection!’, we struggled. We designed a move for him: when he says objection, the actual writing attacks the opponent. However, ‘objection’ in Japanese is ‘igiari’ – it’s four characters, whereas ‘objection’ becomes ten [sic. It's nine, actually.] When we localize, the balance of the game gets destroyed because the move becomes bigger. There’d be no way of avoiding it! We had to remove him for these reason. In the future, it is one of our aims to get him in.”

As a Phoenix Wright fan, I object to this form of game design logic.  I always pictured Phoenix Wright’s “Objection!” attack as being more like Captain Falcon’s “Falcon Punch,” except, you know, with Phoenix pointing.  Why should the change in letters affect the change in the game?  It seems like the designers were fixated on using the word “Objection!” as a form of attack itself, and in so doing, they constrained their design creatively.  The “Objection!” graphic could certainly just be cosmetic, and not actually affecting the gameplay at all.

To throw more weight into the argument, Niitsuma claiming that Phoenix only has “one move” is, hopefully, an example of bad translation.  After all, Phoenix Wright, as a lawyer, is a dynamic individual.  He could throw a mean magatama, or shout “Hold it!” while throwing the opponent across the room.  In a blue suit.  How is that not cool?

What is not cool is him not being included for, we can only assume, limited design purposes.  At least Niitsuma says he hopes that Phoenix Wright will make an appearance in a future game.

Pokemon Trainer just wishes he were Phoenix Wright.

Capcom vs. Nintendo

Niitsuma poses another interesting idea, which brought up the whole Smash Bros. train of thought.  According to Nintendo Everything, Niitsuma told NGamer Magazine that he was keen on the idea of Capcom characters taking on Nintendo characters in a game someday.

“As you know, we like our Capcom Vs series – we have quite a few: SNK, Marvel, Tatsunoko,” he notes.  ”An interesting idea would be Capcom Vs Nintendo. Capcom wins!”  Well, hold on there, Niitsuma.  We’re not so sure Capcom would win, would they?

Could Ryu’s Hadouken cut through Mario’s fireball?  Who has a better arm cannon, Mega Man or Samus?

The real question here is which style the game would be made in: Smash Bros. style or Street Fighter-style?  The possibilities here are endless, and we have Niitsuma to thank for bringing it all up.