'Super Smash Bros. 4' News: Masahiro Sakurai Explains Longer Wait Time For Wii U Version

For those fans wondering why "Super Smash Bros." for Wii U and 3DS have different release dates you don't have to wonder anymore. The titles director, Masahiro Sakurai recently revealed in his Famitsu column via Kotaku that the complexity of "Super Smash Bros." is the primary cause of the dual release dates.

"Checking is done both domestically and overseas, so for a game like Smash Bros., several hundred people are employed," said Sakurai. "So, debugging alone becomes a huge project. So much so that one of the biggest reasons for the separate release dates for the 3DS and Wii U versions was so that we could shift the debugging periods."

Sakurai, his team and Nintendo want to avoid post-launch patches, which is often seen in a number of games released today. They would rather finalize the title as much as possible not to hinder a players gameplay by needing to update weeks or even days after purchasing.

"In a previous Smash Bros., we found a bug during the debugging process where if fighter A hits item B and fighters C and D are simultaneously affected, the game would freeze," said Sakurai. "Considering not only the different fighters, but items, stages, color settings, play rules, and game modes, the number of varying combinations are astronomical. In order to properly debug, every pattern must be tried, but such a task would be impossible no matter how many decades or centuries you take."

He continued saying, "There are many reasons why a game's release date will be delayed, but eight or nine times out of ten, it's usually because a bug couldn't be fixed in time. But it's better than releasing a product like that."

Sakurai and his team are still working furiously to finish the Wii U version which is expected to launch sometime Holiday 2014.