The latest installment of Masahiro Sakurai’s Famitsu Column has been released, where he reveals his thoughts on the latest addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s DLC roster.

As many of you may know, Byleth received mixed reception upon his/her confirmation as the final character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s first fighter’s pass. Despite the popularity of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, many believed that Fire Emblem was receiving too much representation in Smash, and were not pleased that yet another Swordfighter was being added into the mix.

As it turns out, Sakurai seems to agree or at least “understand” this sentiment, namely that “there are too many FE characters. And there are also too many sword users.”. He also re-confirmed that Nintendo was the one who chose the new fighters, and that he just had to “proceed as is” since his hands were tied.

• The new fighters were not based on my own favorites, they were chosen by Nintendo.
• This time, I’m bringing the experience to play as the main character from a game [Fire Emblem: Three Houses] you can play right now, so I tried to start working when the original game was in development.
• I understand as well. There are too many FE characters. And there are also too many sword users.
• But it has been decided like that, so I just proceed as is. There are other things I must think about more.
• Since there are many sword users, I try to bring tactics exclusive to each of them
  • The three hero relics owned by the house leaders were included as move inputs.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

[UPDATE] @bk2128 has posted a full translation of the column that gives some added context to the above statements. This translation can be found here.