Sakurai had decided on all the characeters who would be in the game by July 7th, 2005

[iluvnintendo1983]

Apparently, during the game conference in San Francisco...Sakurai said that he had already decided on every character who would be playable in the game by July 7th, 2005. Sonic the Hedgehog is the ONLY exception...and wasn't added to the roster until sometime in 2007. Even though I've gotten over the 35 character roster, this news makes me sad, because all the characters that people speculated getting in the game never even had the slightest bit of a chance, because Sakurai had already decided on the final roster more then two years ago. In fact, isn't July 2005 before he even got the character poll results in?

 

[M.K]

That can't be true, why would he program Mewtwo/Plusle and Minun/Forbidden Seven without finishing them?

 

[WoodyDave]

That can't be true, why would he program Mewtwo/Plusle and Minun/Forbidden Seven without finishing them?

To make rumors fly so people make 10000 threads about them

 

[iluvnintendo1983]

In the interview, he mentioned characters he cut from the roster. So, those must be the cut characters he was talking about.

 

[Chaosblade77]

That can't be true, why would he program Mewtwo/Plusle and Minun/Forbidden Seven without finishing them?

It's possible he decided not to add them at a later point. Additionally, he couldn't get the rights to an unnamed Nintendo character, and that data is not even on the disk.

Can only wonder...

 

[The Director]

Everybody thought Krystal, Geno and Ridley were shoe-ins (coughcoughyoukopandacoughcough) and we speculated day after day...and the choice had been made years ago...LOLZORZ

 

[•Col•]

In the interview, he mentioned characters he cut from the roster. So, those must be the cut characters he was talking about.

What interview? ._.

 

[Metallic_Igloo]

I'm not surprised it's been a while, two years seems a lot, but there's a lot in a character. They have to decide almost when they start making the game, Otherwise they get into a problem of priority. If they just put in all the veterans and then start putting in other characters, they might've had more stages made for a character and then they wouldn't put a character in. They wouldn't have it as balanced. They need to decide what characters seem possible and then plan movesets, stages, SSE, and other game modes around them. People shouldn't be mad that one character takes another's spot, it doesn't work that way.

 

[iluvnintendo1983]

What interview? ._.

At the conference in San Francisco. I guess it wasn't really an interview...Sakurai was speaking at the conference.

 

[PrettyGoodYear]

Is there a transcript? Anything he mentioned?

 

[hippochinfat!!]

OH MY GAWD HE PUT LUCARIO IN MORE THEN A YEAR BEFORE DIAMOND AND PEARL CAME OUT IN JAPAN!!!

l

 

[Arteen]

At the conference in San Francisco. I guess it wasn't really an interview...Sakurai was speaking at the conference.

How would you even know what he said? Source?

Also, from the old Dojo:
"So, I decided to become director. And as of May, 2005, I was the only member of the new Smash Bros. development team."
" In the meantime, I presented and adjusted my design document, and connected with the creators of the required characters. It's the type of game design that cannot be completed without the cooperation of others."
So in October of 2005, Nintendo's newest office opened. And it was established solely so that we could create the new Smash Bros."

Do you seriously believe that he decided the roster before he even had his team situated?

 

[PrettyGoodYear]

How would you even know what he said? Source?

Also, from the old Dojo:
"So, I decided to become director. And as of May, 2005, I was the only member of the new Smash Bros. development team."
" In the meantime, I presented and adjusted my design document, and connected with the creators of the required characters. It's the type of game design that cannot be completed without the cooperation of others."
So in October of 2005, Nintendo's newest office opened. And it was established solely so that we could create the new Smash Bros."

Do you seriously believe that he decided the roster before he even had his team situated?

I can believe that, but I still want a transcript, video, anything...

 

[Chaosblade77]

My only question would be where that specific date came from. I have read (on numerous sources) that he had the roster ready, save for Sonic, before they were done with the planning stages of the game.

And you can get summary links from various threads in this board. Search GCD and you should come up with some topics.

 

[Joshua368]

While I'm not sure if that's the exact date, it's pretty obvious that characters are something that would be done VERY early in development. The only people who should be surprised are those who have no idea how video game development works.

 

[Arteen]

While I'm not sure if that's the exact date, it's pretty obvious that characters are something that would be done VERY early in development. The only people who should be surprised are those who have no idea how video game development works.

I'm somewhat familiar with the process, but I wouldn't expect the director to decide something like that only one-and-a-half months after being handed the project out of the blue, before a studio was set up, considering Sakurai was more-or-less handed a group of developers to work on the game. Also, remember Melee? Weren't those clone characters decided after the main cast was decided? I recall Sakurai stating something along those lines.

 

[bluekitsune13]

If that's true, then we should all be a lot more thankful for Sonic.

 

[WaterToFire]

This means Sakurai now has no excuse for the presence of clones.

 

[Darkslash]

This means Sakurai now has no excuse for the presence of clones.

There are no clones.....................They are just Luigified. The only character that comes closest to a clone is Toon Link and he's not much of a clone either.

 

[Black/Light]

Link to a site that says this. . .

Really, I wouldn't even make a thread saying this unless I had the link for all people to look at. . . .

 

[Quaalude]

OH MY GAWD HE PUT LUCARIO IN MORE THEN A YEAR BEFORE DIAMOND AND PEARL CAME OUT IN JAPAN!!!

l

Wasn't there a movie with Lucario?

 

[hippochinfat!!]

Wasn't there a movie with Lucario?

NOT UNTIL LATER!!!! ZOMG SHOCKING

l

 

[PanzerOceania]

OH MY GAWD HE PUT LUCARIO IN MORE THEN A YEAR BEFORE DIAMOND AND PEARL CAME OUT IN JAPAN!!!

l

Awesome post :D

I think that there pretty much proves mistranslation/ flat out lie.

 

[super-7]

i guess that explains why krystal and ridley werent in..
because sakurai had already picked the chars
before everybody started hyping them up and they became
ultra popular..but w.e i still appreciate the roster and the game
thank u sakurai

 

[WaffleGuyPerson]

Hmmm, Lucario, now that's interesting. Maybe Sakurai went over to Taijiri and asked, "Do you want Mewtwo back, or that new Pokemon in?" Speaking of which, does anyone remember when Lucario was revealed (Not SSBB, I mean the actual pokemon)? I think it was in CoroCoro or something.

 

[Kittah4]

There are no clones.....................They are just Luigified. The only character that comes closest to a clone is Toon Link and he's not much of a clone either.

He had 2-ish years to think up unique final smashes for the space animals (he had the final smash idea from the beggining, from SMASH 64!!) and got nothin?

He gave Mario his pitiful squirt gun but denied Luigi his character-strengthening vacuum?

And worst of all, Ganondorf still shares more than half a dozen moves with someone from a completely different series. I think Falco got more unique moves to seperate from Fox than G-Dork did.

With all the talent he tapped, it's really kinda sad there's not more distinctiveness.

 

[IGN Forums]

not a brilliant thread!!

 

[super-7]

not a brilliant thread!!

go back to ign then

 

[Darkslash]

He had 2-ish years to think up unique final smashes for the space animals (he had the final smash idea from the beggining, from SMASH 64!!) and got nothin?

He gave Mario his pitiful squirt gun but denied Luigi his character-strengthening vacuum?

And worst of all, Ganondorf still shares more than half a dozen moves with someone from a completely different series. I think Falco got more unique moves to seperate from Fox than G-Dork did.

With all the talent he tapped, it's really kinda sad there's not more distinctiveness.

Hmm well Final Smashes are a Last Resort kinda thing. Even though I love Landmasters, Wolf having one doesn't make sense.And the Problem with Wolf is that he has never been out of the Wolfen in any game yet. And at least it explains why he uses a landmaster to avoid confusion. The F.L.U.D.D Is not pitiful. Its perfect for Edge Guarding becuase of it's knock back. Ganondorf still uses Hand to hand combat to make him look more like a Beast which fights with brute strength with magic.

 

[Magmar's Wrath]

Hmm well Final Smashes are a Last Resort kinda thing. Even though I love Landmasters, Wolf having one doesn't make sense.And the Problem with Wolf is that he has never been out of the Wolfen in any game yet. And at least it explains why he uses a landmaster to avoid confusion. The F.L.U.D.D Is not pitiful. Its perfect for Edge Guarding becuase of it's knock back. Ganondorf still uses Hand to hand combat to make him look more like a Beast which fights with brute strength with magic.

I agree with you most of those points, but I still think Ganondorf should have been redone completely. I mean, it's not a game-destroying point, it's just something many people would have been much more happy with.

I was SO hoping for that energy attack he always has that he and Link keep passing back and forth until it finally hits one of them. That would have been FUN!

***

Edit: Oh, but Wolf has been out of his Wolfen once. In Star Fox: Assault, he was one of the playable characters in the multi-plater game, where you could fight Arwing, Landmaster, or on foot. So Wolf was able to travel on foot and via Landmaster.

 

[Darkslash]

I agree with you most of those points, but I still think Ganondorf should have been redone completely. I mean, it's not a game-destroying point, it's just something many people would have been much more happy with.

I was SO hoping for that energy attack he always has that he and Link keep passing back and forth until it finally hits one of them. That would have been FUN!

Well turns out that Ganondorf is a actually joke

Sakurai made his sword taunt around this message

"Ganondorf got the sword but I'm only gonna let him show it too you ha ha"

 

[Banjodorf]

That can't be true, why would he program Mewtwo/Plusle and Minun/Forbidden Seven without finishing them?

It is true. Whos to say he hadnt programmed them into the games code in sometime in 2005, and then decided they didnt work?

It is funny to see that all the while we were speculating, Sakurai was probably visting these boards and laughing at us, saying "Ahaha!, look at them...speculating away...they dont realize that in another two years, half of them will be...very.....DISAPPOINTED!!!"

"Isnt that right....Geno...."


Anyway, for some reason, this news makes me happy, I have absolutely no idea why..

 

[iluvnintendo1983]

This is where I heard about Sakurai saying all characters were decided before July 7th, 2005:

http://krystalarchive.dwightdesign.com/2008/02/22/brawl-session/#comments

This guy who runs this Krystal fan site got to go to the conference in San Francisco and was there to hear Sakurai speak.

 

[Senshuu]

It makes sense. You can't get far in a game like this without having your character list solid first. Especially considering the SSE.

 

[AIM0001]

JULY 2005? Uhhhh I thought I just read a thread that said the roster was decided in 2006 not 2005. Sonic add on was right, it is 2007.

Dont believe me go to the GDC 2008 Sakuari thread...No link needed,it's on the first page and will probably remain there gor awhile

 

[Lord Viper]

It's just about impossable that he desided the characters that soon. Maybe around 2006 or so but not 2005. If that's the fact, then explain how Lucario got in at 2005 when D/P was released around 2006 in Japan and 2007 in the US, or maybe Sonic, the reason for the delay?

 

[2007]

I heard that the first pokemon concept was Rhydon. That aside, we saw Lucario long before diamond and pearl (or I did at least)
The only thing that I find really hilarious about all of this are the characters that people thought were guarenteed to be in--whcih weren't.
Krystal woulda been okay.
Ridley? didn't care?
Geno--didn't want
Megaman-gun 2 head. Thank you Sakurai for nto including him.

My only disappointment was that he condemned Dr. Mario and Roy.
=2007=

 

[ChronoBound]

I am actually planning on designing Smash 4.... on paper. This project will take me a year or two to complete, so I need to draft up my roster ASAP. I have already decided on most of the characters in the roster, and even the number (around 50-55). People who know my work know how much I go into detail. I am planning on crafting movesets for all the newcomers I have planned as well as very detailed reasoning for their spot on the roster, as well as a list of new Assist Trophies (with descriptions), Pokemon (with descriptions), a list of music tracks, a list of trophies,a detailed descriptions of the new stages, new gamemodes, new gameplay mechanics, as well as plot to the game's adventure mode. It is my most ambitious project yet, and I hope you all enjoy it when it sees completion.

I really want to make a topic that relays my progess on this project. There will be a lot of text when it is done (well over 100 hundred pages on a typing program with a size 12 text, perhaps going to 200). However, I don't want to be marked for being off-topic, so would it be okay to post such a topic here (in regards to the progress of it)? I am trying to be as fair as possible in regards to roster representation, and although I won't be able to please everyone, I will do my absolute best to make as many people as possible happy.

 

[ConeZone]

thats crazy, over 2 years ago, that is just crazy

 

[Thinkaman]

JULY 2005? Uhhhh I thought I just read a thread that said the roster was decided in 2006 not 2005. Sonic add on was right, it is 2007.

Dont believe me go to the GDC 2008 Sakuari thread...No link needed,it's on the first page and will probably remain there gor awhile

The characters were all programmed in (in some state) by the end of 2006. (Except as we all know Sonic) July 2005 was the design document.