Game Menus Designed By Sakurai

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I don't really like them aesthetically, but it's cool how most of them are interactive in some way, outside of standard menu selection stuff.

Like in Melee and Brawl, messing around with the c-stick to skew and shake the camera angle, much to the annoyance of some friends. That feature better return in Smash 4 Wii U (and Smash 3DS with The New 3DS).

I remember Meteos let you move the icons around with the touch screen.

Never played Kid Icarus, but it sounds like there some weird functionality there, too.

I don't remember if Kirby Air Ride had one.

Love them. Not a fan of the font used in the Smash 3DS menus though, for some reason.

I never really think about menues, but yeah, I like them. In the "Nintendo realm" Metroid Prime is still my fav, those in Mario Kart are utter boredom. KIU is cool, just a tad messy.

He probably meant Brawl, but the Melee menus are still very similar. Menu shapes, same font, etc.

Its the same series, so eh.

Gorgeous designs, absolutely. But the flow on Smash 3DS was very confusing. I'd expect classic mode to be on the front page, not tucked away under a weird small icon called "games". That's not unreasonable, but it's weird.

Always great!

I actually hate Smash Bros. menu, which is funny, because I absolutely love Kid Icarus' own.

I usually do, but Smash 4 is the exception. Kid Icarus's menus were stunning, though.

EDIT: Beaten with an almost identical opinion, lol

Honestly, I prefer the darker, cooler menus from Smash 64 and Melee:

Smash 3DS menu layout is garbage, btw. Not sure what he was thinking there. Brawl had it right.

I agree, except for the bit about Brawl (although it was definitely better than Smash 3DS).

1 Player, VS., Options, Data - this is sensible, logical categorization.
Smash, Smash Run, Game & More, Challenge, etc. - what the heck does all of this mean?

Not to mention the fact that the menu for Smash 3DS is ugly beyond belief.

Oh wow, it's that old leak image of Melee's roster which turned out to be faker than Chrom in Smash 4.

They just look like menus to me. I don't understand why people obsess over them.

Yikes.
Edit: I can't stop staring at it. This is a UI crime.

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Smash Run is a multiplayer mode.

eh, you spend more time in there doing solo grinding than actual multiplayer since it isn't online.

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.

They're charming but I don't think they really stand too much. I dislike how samey they've been with Brawl -> Kid Icarus -> Smash 4

Smash 4 in particular bugs me on a few fronts. The navigation is awkward(classic mode is under...games & more?) and the challenge icon being a rectangle sticks out.

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Smash for 3DS's menu is a mess. So not exactly.

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The only fault I can give to Smash 3DS menus are the "Games and more" part, so confusing. They should have put Smash/Solo/Minigames/Local Play/Online Play.

Smash 3DS's menu is too confusing. Too many submenus, and the single-player modes are in "Games and more," like they're a minigame or something.

Jotamide

Unconfirmed Member

I liked them all up until Sm4sh. I think they dropped the ball with that one.

I like it. Its at least a pretty unique and, at least to me, instantly recognisable as a Sakurai menu, which I suppose isnt a bad thing.

I will also add I loved how with the KI:U menu, you could drag the options all into each other, that was pretty awesome.

Meteos was so good! You could also move around the menu buttons on the touchscreen, right? Or am I remembering this wrong? That game's perfection.

Smash 3DS' menu is so unbelievably terribly organized (submenus in the wrong places, options hidden far away from related menus). Not to mention Sakurai frequently opts for menu designs that look nice but pressing up/down/left/right might get you to the wrong menu option from one you wanted to get to. It's a pretty unnecessary level of complexity.

So no, I don't think he really understands menu design. Previous Smash games were no different (mostly talking about Brawl here).

EDIT: Oh and they always have a good level of visual inconsistency.

My problem with the Smash 4 menu is the "Challenge" button. It looks so out of place.

Hate them. Would rather have clean, simple, informative menu's like Halo 3/Reach. Perfect UI right there.

He seems to be one of the few devs that realize he's designing for a touch screen and you can use all the real estate for buttons

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I miss Meteos

I like them for the most part but the 3DS Smash Bros. one, where you have to dig to find Classic and All-Star modes, I am really not a fan of.

The menu organization in Smash 3DS is pretty bad. Classic is under "games and more"? Two solo subsections? How far do I have to dig to find trophy rush?

Its the same series, so eh.

I didn't mean Brawl vs Melee, I meant Kirby's Air Ride vs Melee/Brawl.

To straighten things out, I suppose what I meant to say was Smash Bros in general. Upon first seeing the Kirby Air Ride menu I immediately noticed the Smash Bros look to it (this is post-Brawl) but I just compared it to Melee here because KAR and Melee are closer to each in terms of release over KAR and Brawl.

Smash 3DS menus are odd.

It takes 5 menus to reach the trophy store.

*raises hand*

Agreed OP. Filled with personality and color (usually), and they're distinct enough that you'll know that it's Sakurai (or...his wife). Plus, I like the little details and random animations used for the backgrounds and icons.

Only offense I can give is that Smash 3DS's is a bit of a hassle to navigate, and it's a bit bare in comparison to others.

I love the menus, but the last few (Brawl/KI/Smash4) have felt a bit too familiar. Love to see the concept applied to different color themes and layouts.

I like them except Smash 3DS one.

Abominable.

I personally do not like them. They are clunky and take a bit for my brain to understand them. It's like a scatterplot, with all these dots everywhere and I am supposed to click them and they lead to other things.

Hell, I picked up Kid Icarus: Uprising and had no idea how to navigate them. I figured it out but I am used to just standard list. Scroll down and it's good to go.

With Smash 4, it's even weirder how they were set up. I had to ask a friend where was half the modes before realizing most of them are hidden behind the "games & more" button. My brain and me just want simple list, none of this wacky scatterplot stickers.

I'm kind of in the same boat. These are the same menus since SSB on the N64, I understand that it shows his touch but it feels gimicky now.

wut

Always great!

I never really though of it, but there's certainly a style to them. Kirby SS is great, I would move around the game select just to see the corners overlap.

I don't really like the more recent ones. I don't know if it's when his wife started doing them or what, but Brawl, Kid Icarus, Smash 4, Meteos... they just seem sloppy to me.

He seems to be one of the few devs that realize he's designing for a touch screen and you can use all the real estate for buttons

Smash 3DS sure looks like it was designed for a touch screen

OT: People have lauded "his" menu design consistently since after Melee came out on the internet (as far as I remember, anyway), from GAF and other discussion boards to high-profile gaming journalists and more, so no, you're obviously not the only one.

Personally, I feel it's grown a bit stale as a whole. Smash 3DS' menu is particularly poor, though, from the actual design to the cumbersome navigation to the lack of it being on the damned touchscreen, so I've lately been hoping that the Wii U iteration doesn't feel so shitty to use. It's like his wife gave up half an hour after starting to draw it out and just phoned it in, but nobody had the guts to correct its problems for fear of enraging Sakurai.

A lot of people complain about the colors, but I can live with them. It helps me fly quickly through the menus if need be by association, at the very least.

Whoops, double post, my bad!

He's kind of overusing them. They don't feel unique to the game.

I like the look of them, even though they are getting a bit tiresome.

Smash 3DS's is a mess in terms of grouping.
"Games & More" is a really silly place to put like... everything that isn't multiplayer or Smash Run.

Yeah that completely threw me off when I first started the game.

They work well on touch devices, but for a standard controller they aren't very efficient. I do like how Meteos' menu items can be dragged around with the stylus.

I wish all the menus on Nintendo OS's were designed by Sakurai's wife. They are always awesome.

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The three in the OP all kinda look the same, but I do like the design.

How can you say you like the design when there's no design whatsoever.

The menu design in Smash, excluding the character select screen, is worse that the HUD in COD.

I don't find this one much worse than the ones in the OP (ie. I don't find any of them good).

#100

i cant stand the smash 3ds one. Very hard to find things when first starting. couple of my friends thought there was no classic.

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