Smash Ultimate’s Sakurai interested in Tekken’s new online improvements
Bandai Namco/NintendoSuper Smash Bros Ultimate creator Masahiro Sakurai was reportedly very interested in Tekken’s newly announced online netcode improvements, according to Game Director Katsuhiro Harada.
During a Twitch stream on September 26, Harada detailed new features coming to Tekken 7 with Season 4, including a Wi-Fi indicator so players know what kind of connection their opponent has.
Season 4 will also have some general netplay enhancements, which should improve the game’s online gameplay drastically.
According to Harada, he recently spoke with Sakurai and claimed that the Smash Bros creator “showed keen interest in our conversation about online features.”
Sakurai apparently even asked Harada if he could use his information about the ratio of Wi-Fi to wired players. This was likely for a column that the Smash boss wrote for the gaming magazine Famitsu back in September.
As Dexerto previously reported, the column, which was translated by Push DustIn and Robert Sephazon, included Sakurai detailing the improvements that were coming to Smash online.
However, he also revealed that, while the team considered roll-back netcode, there were “substantial” side-effects that prevented it from coming to Smash.
NintendoAdditionally, Sakurai briefly commented on the ability to see an opponent’s connection, saying that it’s“not possible to refuse a player based on their connection type.”
While it may not be possible to refuse a match, simply knowing whether your opponent is wired or on Wi-Fi may be something that Sakurai is looking into. Perhaps even in the form of some sort of “preferred opponent” system similar to that of the “preferred ruleset.”
So, even though Smash doesn’t have the same kind of online features that Tekken does, the fact that Sakurai is interested in another game’s capabilities does seem relatively reassuring, especially given the fact that more improvements are on the way.