Radio Silence: How Melee handled hype

In E3 2001, Super Smash Bros. Melee was revealed at E3 and released later that year (similar to what we're dealing with for Super Smash Bros. Switch) - That lead to about six months of speculation. Everyone expected another Super Smash Bros. game on a Nintendo console, but nobody quite expected it that soon. To add to that, a bunch of the information first unlocked was revealed at E3, but, afterwards, the game took a plummet into radio silence. Yet, to this day, it's easily one of the most popular Smash Games - With no hype reveals built around it - Why is that?

It's an interesting case study on hype, where sometimes, building a good game is all that matters. Now, this doesn't apply for every game, especially not in the indie development scene, but, Super Smash Bros. Melee already had two things behind it: A big crossover, and a big publisher.

Some things that generally helped support the radio silence, in this case,

1. Word of Mouth will always beat all.

Can you remember the last time you've been hyped, or even excited for a game to be disappointed? I surely can. Those games, and even good games, typically drop off the surface radar. What separates a popular game from an unpopular one? Word of mouth. The word of mouth with the Super Smash Bros series is pretty popular, but Melee in particular had a lot of word of mouth looming around it's advertising. It was practically the GameCube's big seller. Among any other parts for game advertising, the Word of Mouth is easily powerful.

2. Every reveal was satisfying

Arguably more important thana the points below it, every reveal was satisfying. There was the infamous "You Must Recover" update during Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS had plenty of "worthless screenshots". Now, that's easy to say when the only big debut was really at E3 2001, and then complete radio silence, but, making every reveal push people to really want a game more can be big - Not just for Smash hype, but for any game*

* = Or at least, every reveal at a major convention.

3. The lack of usage of the internet

Nobody quite new what the final roster was until they went through it; there wasn't much internet around, so it took people plenty of matches to unlock the roster or even all the unlockables.

4. The hype period wasn't long and drawn out.

With DLC, that being drawn out might not be so bad, but for the initial game, too long of hype can eventually lead to rolling eyelashes - When you've got just six months, all eyes are easily on you.

5. Short and simple.

A lot of reveals these days often feel long and dreary - While the Nintendo Treehouse and other E3 stream formats are cool, most people don't have the time to watch all of that. Sometimes, some gameplay footage and a trailer is all that's necessary.

While all of these techniques are important and may be able to be utilized, depending on the game in question, it's important to remember the "Less is more" philosophy. If you tell everyone everything about your new book before they even get the chance to read the first page.

Radio Silence is a pretty powerful tool when used correctly - The number one power of marketing for any developer, and what Super Smash Bros. Melee teaches us: The power of word of mouth beats out any other marketing tool.

Author's Note: What do you think of Super Smash Bros. Melee's usage of radio silence? Let us know in the comments below!

 

I remember printing out how to unlock characters for Melee back in the early days of Melee day and thinking: who in the hell is Mr Game and Watch, Marth, and Roy?! That printed list from maybe gamefaqs or some game site revealed that Mewtwo, a character I desperately wanted, was hiding behind a locked door. It was like I was holding Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket.

 

I recall those days doing the same with cheatcode.com. Good times. I do enjoy how we are able to see reveals and gameplay for Brawl and Smash 4, but it also takes away some of the hype and suprise like you stated for Melee and it can be applied to 64. I'm currently debating if I should avoid the E3 presentation and tourney just so I can relieve the glory days of seeing a new roster firsthand. To me, seeing the hype stuff is cool before we get the game, but then actually getting the game and playing them feels somewhat like a letdown to me. I'm still excited to play, but some of my excitement goes away since I already know who will be in the game.

 

I recall those days doing the same with cheatcode.com. Good times. I do enjoy how we are able to see reveals and gameplay for Brawl and Smash 4, but it also takes away some of the hype and suprise like you stated for Melee and it can be applied to 64. I'm currently debating if I should avoid the E3 presentation and tourney just so I can relieve the glory days of seeing a new roster firsthand. To me, seeing the hype stuff is cool before we get the game, but then actually getting the game and playing them feels somewhat like a letdown to me. I'm still excited to play, but some of my excitement goes away since I already know who will be in the game.

I actually feel the same way, not only about Smash but about Pokemon as well. When basically the entire roster of Pokemon was leaked for Sun & Moon, I looked at it and then regretted it once I played the game, because there was no surprises. The same thing happened for Smash a bit and the DLC as well.

 

I literally had this happen to me with Brawl. It was the first game I spoiled for myself without even knowing it at the time. I watch subspace on youtube when it was originally leaked before the game came out. I had no idea that this was going to be in Brawl, I just saw cool nintendo characters on the home page of youtube and clicked the video and began to watch the rest. It took my breath away seeing the gameplay and the cinematics, along with the story.

Fast-forward to Brawl's release it took me until I got to the Fox section where I realized that what I was playing was the same thing that I watched on youtube. I was disappointed to know that but I still played through subspace and it was indeed fun. Only thing missing was the feelings that you get when you are first exposed to the content.

As I said earlier, my mind is currently going back and forth on if I should watch the upcoming invitational tourney. Part of me wants to see it in-case there is another hype event like the Mega Man Final Smash from years ago, I'll never forget that. Every time I see his final smash now, that moment plays in my head.

Yet, I have an urge to approach this game spoiler-free minus the Inklings since they were in the reveal trailer. It's going to be rough buying the game in a store while keeping my eyes from focusing on the box art and the game disc, (probably even the game image on screen when you insert it), until I unlock the whole roster. I've been doing that somewhat with new games that I buy by avoiding the back of the case and the instruction manuals that come included with a game until I beat it or come across all of the game's features.