Satoru Iwata Responsible For Melee Shipping On Time

[TewnLeenk]

In a recent interview with Japanese gaming site 4gamer, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata revealed that he had a huge hands-on role with the debugging and fine-tuning of Super Smash Bros. Melee.

In this passage from the full interview, Iwata reveals that back when he was the General Manager of Corporate Planning at Nintendo, he did the debugging for Melee even though it wasn't part of his job description.


IWATA: ...my actual last work on programming happened when I was working as the General Manager of Corporate Planning at Nintendo. Something happened and the GameCube version of Super Smash Bros. didn't look like it was going to make its release date, so I sort of did a code review for it (laughs).

4GAMER: No matter how you look at it, that's not the job of the General Manager of Corporate Planning, is it? (laughs)

IWATA: Yes, it isn't really, is it? (laughs) At the time, I went to HAL Laboratories in Yamanashi and was the acting head of debugging. So, I did the code review, fixed some bugs, read the code and fixed more bugs, read the long bug report from Nintendo, figured out where the problem was, and got people to fix those... all in all, I spent about three weeks like that. And, because of that, the game made it out on time.

4GAMER: So you even did the debugging yourself!

IWATA: And that was the last time that I worked as an engineer "in the field". I was right there, sitting by programmers, in the trenches, reading code together, finding the bugs, and fixing them together.


Iwata actually started his career as a programmer for Nintendo / HAL Laboratory and eventually worked his way up to the position he's in today. The man deserves some respect for putting in serious work to get this game ready for launch. Please understand.

The full interview was translated by the nice people over at NeoGaf and is available to read there.


TewnLeenk is a new writer for Smashboards and thinks Iwata is a cool guy. Follow and talk to him about stuff on Twitter @TewnLeenk.

 

[Yams Everywhere]

Iwata, you da real MVP.

 

[Dodongo]

Iwata is such a god-tier programmer

 

[KenboCalrissian]

I'd like to personally thank Iwata for giving us the black hole.

 

[Satan-]

We should stop worshipping Sakurai and worship Iwata now.

All hail the king~

 

[freezy]

interesting is that if Sakurai turned down Iwata's offer to make Brawl in 2005, Iwata would have developed it himself by porting Melee to Wii and adding online play (but I guess ultimately they also would have added more features or characters). Everything would be different ^^. So maybe something like this happens when Sakurai doesn't wan't to make another Smash game.

Iwata: Well, I had considered what I would do if you turned me down and decided that I would need to take the existing Smash Bros. title, Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube, and try to make it Wi-Fi capable while preserving as much balanced game play as possible in the event you didn’t want to get involved. Maybe it’s more appropriate to say that I realized we wouldn’t be able to add any new elements to the game without your help and I think I said as much when we discussed it at the hotel. It wasn’t right, but you might even say I used it as a threat of sorts.

http:// iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/ssbb/0/1

 

[Pikmin1211]

Let's hope Iwata makes smash 5 then

 

[KenboCalrissian]

Let's hope Iwata makes smash 5 then

Or at least picks up balance patches since Sakurai doesn't want to...

 

[SonicCynics]

Shoutouts to Iwata~

 

[PokÉmblem]

I grew up with brawl but I gotta say Iwata knows exactly what we want and he makes it happen. I hope that he's president for a long time!

 

[Spire]

Iwata is such a god-tier programmer

I see you.

 

[Aguki90]

Iwata is the Real Man. He soooo Handsome Man, that he Battle Reggie with his body beyond ready in the E3 Video and Beat him even he was sick and that was not is Final Form. Iwata is Top tier in Smash.

Ok, the sick part was true and that was the reason he only he not come to E3, he was really really sick.
But.is OK now
Iwata is the Man. Keep up the good work. (He even programed Balloon Fight that how God-tier he is.)

 

[Forever 9]

Iwata doh :3

 

[RoA_Zam]

If you didn't already worship our lord and savior based iwata then i have one thing to say to you:

 

[PokÉmblem]

If you didn't already worship our lord and savior based iwata then i have one thing to say to you:

I love your username and the post. lol

 

[MasterF0x]

 

[NGUY (guitarstage)]

always tought that iwata was a gebius and now i see the reason why

 

[SchAlternate]

Saaaaay, if Wavedashing was originally a bug that was discovered during development but was left in the game because they thought no one was really going to exploit it for useful purposes (oh, how wrong they were)... and now we're revealed that Iwata was responsible for the debugging...

Then that means Iwata is to thank/blame for the competitive Smash Bros community.

Screw Sakurai, all hail emperor Iwata!

 

[ARBITER WARPIG]

Iwata: Sakurai, I am going to give the fans what they want whether you like it or not. Please understand.

 

[LancerStaff]

Saaaaay, if Wavedashing was originally a bug that was discovered during development but was left in the game because they thought no one was really going to exploit it for useful purposes (oh, how wrong they were)... and now we're revealed that Iwata was responsible for the debugging...

Then that means Iwata is to thank/blame for the competitive Smash Bros community.

Screw Sakurai, all hail emperor Iwata!

I think have to blame them for not exploring Wavedashing instead of Iwata just leaving it in.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

I did some research after reading this on reddit, and found something interesting. Smash has a lot of things that should be credited to sakurai, but a lot of this gameplay choices are actually reflected in the games HAL Laboratories makes.

Like overall guard in smash games works like kirby games (notable to me, Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe). Smash bros platforming controls also heavily align with Kirby games inputs (also in the games Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe).

The overall flow Sakurai has in his games compared to HAL Laboratories games is similar, but also very different. HAL's Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe had ability move sets that were noticeably unique inputs for different attacks. Games Sakurai directed on without HAL seemed to focus more on extremely simple controls (more in Kid Icarus Uprising case than any others, mainly because the only other ones he made was a puzzle game and he posed oversight over Kirby the amazing mirror).

The differences in smash bros that HAL was included on and that Sakurai had most reign on I can point out. HAL worked with Sakurai on the original smash 64 and melee. HAL, according to an article on Famitsu, only gave Sakurai's new team for brawl the code and development environment from melee. Other than that, HAL wasn't involved with Brawl's development.

When you compare the gameplay shown in HAL's recent closest thing to a fighting game, Kirby Fighter for the 3ds, to Sakurai's a Brawl, Kirby Fighters looks closer to melee's concepts. Kirby Fighters even involves in-place air dodging and directional air dodging (although kirby isn't helpless afterwards).

 

[LancerStaff]

I did some research after reading this on reddit, and found something interesting. Smash has a lot of things that should be credited to sakurai, but a lot of this gameplay choices are actually reflected in the games HAL Laboratories makes.

Like overall guard in smash games works like kirby games (notable to me, Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe). Smash bros platforming controls also heavily align with Kirby games inputs (also in the games Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe).

The overall flow Sakurai has in his games compared to HAL Laboratories games is similar, but also very different. HAL's Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe had ability move sets that were noticeably unique inputs for different attacks. Games Sakurai directed on without HAL seemed to focus more on extremely simple controls (more in Kid Icarus Uprising case than any others, mainly because the only other ones he made was a puzzle game and he posed oversight over Kirby the amazing mirror).

The differences in smash bros that HAL was included on and that Sakurai had most reign on I can point out. HAL worked with Sakurai on the original smash 64 and melee. HAL, according to an article on Famitsu, only gave Sakurai's new team for brawl the code and development environment from melee. Other than that, HAL wasn't involved with Brawl's development.

When you compare the gameplay shown in HAL's recent closest thing to a fighting game, Kirby Fighter for the 3ds, to Sakurai's a Brawl, Kirby Fighters looks closer to melee's concepts. Kirby Fighters even involves in-place air dodging and directional air dodging (although kirby isn't helpless afterwards).

Hate to break it to ya, but the only reason Kirby Fighter's defense was so weak was because most abilities lacked anti-air and grab abilities. And the "multi-directional" airdodge is basically Brawl's airdodge but goes in a straight line depending on your momentum with a stop at the end. It doesn't resemble Melee anymore then it does any other Smash to be honest.

 

[KenboCalrissian]

I did some research after reading this on reddit, and found something interesting. Smash has a lot of things that should be credited to sakurai, but a lot of this gameplay choices are actually reflected in the games HAL Laboratories makes.

Like overall guard in smash games works like kirby games (notable to me, Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe). Smash bros platforming controls also heavily align with Kirby games inputs (also in the games Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe).

The overall flow Sakurai has in his games compared to HAL Laboratories games is similar, but also very different. HAL's Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Triple Deluxe had ability move sets that were noticeably unique inputs for different attacks. Games Sakurai directed on without HAL seemed to focus more on extremely simple controls (more in Kid Icarus Uprising case than any others, mainly because the only other ones he made was a puzzle game and he posed oversight over Kirby the amazing mirror).

The differences in smash bros that HAL was included on and that Sakurai had most reign on I can point out. HAL worked with Sakurai on the original smash 64 and melee. HAL, according to an article on Famitsu, only gave Sakurai's new team for brawl the code and development environment from melee. Other than that, HAL wasn't involved with Brawl's development.

When you compare the gameplay shown in HAL's recent closest thing to a fighting game, Kirby Fighter for the 3ds, to Sakurai's a Brawl, Kirby Fighters looks closer to melee's concepts. Kirby Fighters even involves in-place air dodging and directional air dodging (although kirby isn't helpless afterwards).

There are a ton of correlations between Kirby Super Star and Melee character movesets. Even some of Master Hand's moves come directly from Bongo Bongo.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

Hate to break it to ya, but the only reason Kirby Fighter's defense was so weak was because most abilities lacked anti-air and grab abilities. And the "multi-directional" airdodge is basically Brawl's airdodge but goes in a straight line depending on your momentum with a stop at the end. It doesn't resemble Melee anymore then it does any other Smash to be honest.

I think I did have an error with multi-directional air dodge. When I look closer, it seems like its only in place with a little momentum following it. And I was more talking about HAL's potential influence on smash than how close kirby fighter's defense or offense is to melee. Other than the spot dodge, the mechanics don't look like brawl or smash 4's pace. But it does look somewhat like n64 and melee. The movement comparisons are definitely there.

 

[MarioMeteor]

There are a ton of correlations between Kirby Super Star and Melee character movesets. Even some of Master Hand's moves come directly from Bongo Bongo.

Master and Crazy Hand are originally from Amazing Mirror. And I'm pretty sure Bongo Bongo is a Zelda character. You must be thinking of Wham Bam Rock.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

Master and Crazy Hand are originally from Amazing Mirror. And I'm pretty sure Bongo Bongo is a Zelda character. You must be thinking of Wham Bam Rock.

Amazing mirror came out after melee (melee 2001 amazing mirror 2004), so it didn't come for mirror. Its speculated to take some move inspiration from Eyerok, Wham Bam Rock, Andross, and Bongo Bongo.

 

[LancerStaff]

I think I did have an error with multi-directional air dodge. When I look closer, it seems like its only in place with a little momentum following it. And I was more talking about HAL's potential influence on smash than how close kirby fighter's defense or offense is to melee. Other than the spot dodge, the mechanics don't look like brawl or smash 4's pace. But it does look somewhat like n64 and melee. The movement comparisons are definitely there.

Not really, no. I've played like 30 hours of the cheesy little minigame and it's sequel with my friends (who are good at Smash BTW) and it's nothing like when we play Melee casually (well, I did back in the day) or with Wavedashing and the like. It's mostly projectile spam and the rouge Parasol.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

Not really, no. I've played like 30 hours of the cheesy little minigame and it's sequel with my friends (who are good at Smash BTW) and it's nothing like when we play Melee casually (well, I did back in the day) or with Wavedashing and the like. It's mostly projectile spam and the rouge Parasol.

I'm not talking about wave dashing and stuff. And again, I'm talking about many titles HAL put out. The control over movement in 64 and melee more aligned with HAL's kirby games (the ones with and without sakurai), or a better description, 64 and melee play with HAL's kirby platformer sensitivity. Brawl and Smash 4 more restrict prior smash title's platformer controls and traditional platformer controls.

 

[LancerStaff]

I'm not talking about wave dashing and stuff. And again, I'm talking about many titles HAL put out. The control over movement in 64 and melee more aligned with HAL's kirby games (the ones with and without sakurai), or a better description, 64 and melee play with HAL's kirby platformer sensitivity. Brawl and Smash 4 more restrict prior smash title's platformer controls and traditional platformer controls.

No way in hell SSB64 or even Melee were as precise as KSS, especially at casual levels. Melee was really hard to control actually.

 

[KenboCalrissian]

Master and Crazy Hand are originally from Amazing Mirror. And I'm pretty sure Bongo Bongo is a Zelda character. You must be thinking of Wham Bam Rock.

You're right. I mix up their names all the time!

 

[Macdaddy53156]

No way in hell SSB64 or even Melee were as precise as KSS, especially at casual levels. Melee was really hard to control actually.

SSB64 and Melee both play like precise platformers. Definitely more so than Brawl or N64.

 

[LancerStaff]

SSB64 and Melee both play like precise platformers. Definitely more so than Brawl or N64.

Yeah, no. In most platformers endlag practically isn't a thing for starters. Most platformers let you actually have control over your jumps instead of all or almost nothing, don't require obtuse commands and/or lag for things as simple as taking a step back and turning around again, and then finally most platformers are PvE instead of PvP. 8-bit Megaman runs circles around Melee Fox.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

Yeah, no. In most platformers endlag practically isn't a thing for starters. Most platformers let you actually have control over your jumps instead of all or almost nothing, don't require obtuse commands and/or lag for things as simple as taking a step back and turning around again, and then finally most platformers are PvE instead of PvP. 8-bit Megaman runs circles around Melee Fox.

Remember the meaning of the term 'like'. Smash is a hodgepodge of many titles, not limited to the platformer tropes. It is also a type of 2d fighter, so having lag on some animations doesn't disqualify it's platformer qualities. Also Kirby, a platformer, has a turnaround animation.

 

[LancerStaff]

Remember the meaning of the term 'like'. Smash is a hodgepodge of many titles, not limited to the platformer tropes. It is also a type of 2d fighter, so having lag on some animations doesn't disqualify it's platformer qualities. Also Kirby, a platformer, has a turnaround animation.

Did I say Kirby was a precise platformer? Although it's still a thousand times more precise then any SSB ever. Even cheesy Kirby Fighters.

Let's start again. Melee isn't as precise as damn near any platformer, KF included. Melee has a passing resemblance to KF, but at high or low levels it isn't as precise in either terms of simplicity or execution no matter how you slice it. If anything, the combined simplicity and execution of SSB4 closer resembles it.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

Did I say Kirby was a precise platformer? Although it's still a thousand times more precise then any SSB ever. Even cheesy Kirby Fighters.

Let's start again. Melee isn't as precise as damn near any platformer, KF included. Melee has a passing resemblance to KF, but at high or low levels it isn't as precise in either terms of simplicity or execution no matter how you slice it. If anything, the combined simplicity and execution of SSB4 closer resembles it.

If it is to be less rude to your definition of 'precise platformer', I'll redefine to simply a platformer. Its design probably relates closer to a kirby platformers than any other platformer. And again, smash is not limited to just platformer, so the amount of precision needed to fit into your definition of a platformer is trivial. Statement was derailed. Melee and 64 seem more in line with HAL's platform kirby games than games Sakurai put out independent of HAL, platform game or otherwise.

 

[LancerStaff]

If it is to be less rude to your definition of 'precise platformer', I'll redefine to simply a platformer. Its design probably relates closer to a kirby platformers than any other platformer. And again, smash is not limited to just platformer, so the amount of precision needed to fit into your definition of a platformer is trivial. Statement was derailed. Melee and 64 seem more in line with HAL's platform kirby games than games Sakurai put out independent of HAL, platform game or otherwise.

Still pretty derailed, dude. This all started from you saying KF resembled Melee over all other Smash games, and that's not the case conceptually or in play.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

Still pretty derailed, dude. This all started from you saying KF resembled Melee over all other Smash games, and that's not the case conceptually or in play.

If I give you the KF argument, can you help in this conversation by discussing the other kirby platformers relation to 64 and melee. I pointed out other things other than KF.

 

[LancerStaff]

If I give you the KF argument, can you help in this conversation by discussing the other kirby platformers relation to 64 and melee. I pointed out other things other than KF.

They're just as similar to 64 and Melee as 4 and Brawl. Most Sakurai-less, non-spin-off Kirby games are actually further from SSB then the new two. The Dark Matter trilogy namely. The sudden change came with KSSU, which Sakurai was indirectly a huge part of. RtDL was essentially KSS 2 mechanically. I don't see a single kirby game more "smashy" then KSS besides TD, which was just because of KF.

Honestly, I fail to see one good reason why Kirby is more like Melee then Brawl. Might do you good to name one of these mechanics that resembles Melee over Brawl. No, not the airdodge we just discussed, please.

 

[κomıc]

Further proof the game was rushed out to launch and reason why in general it doesn't hold well compared to other games at the time.

 

[Macdaddy53156]

They're just as similar to 64 and Melee as 4 and Brawl. Most Sakurai-less, non-spin-off Kirby games are actually further from SSB then the new two. The Dark Matter trilogy namely. The sudden change came with KSSU, which Sakurai was indirectly a huge part of. RtDL was essentially KSS 2 mechanically. I don't see a single kirby game more "smashy" then KSS besides TD, which was just because of KF.

Honestly, I fail to see one good reason why Kirby is more like Melee then Brawl. Might do you good to name one of these mechanics that resembles Melee over Brawl. No, not the airdodge we just discussed, please.

**** I messed up this conversation. I made a more developed argument on reddit then started arguing the wrong thing here. What I wanted to say is that some smash qualities were inherent to different parties involved. HAL involved smash games' gameplay matched more with post HAL games (mostly Kirby Super Star Ultra, Squeak Squad, and Kirby Triple Deluxe). Solo-Sakurai smash games' gameplay did not act like the prior 2 smash games. And the games Sakurai made independent of HAL (aside from smash) post-HAL does not have traits matching up with things that made melee and 64 good. The fact that Sakurai didn't make any other platformer after his time at HAL (excluding brawl and smash 4) sets off a few bells.