In the latest installment of Famitsu Weekly, there were several creators who were interviewed together. Masahiro Sakurai, and Tetsuya Nomura were paired together. They discussed several topics such as working on Cloud in Smash, the New Challenger Illustration and what they thought of each other.
The interview was translated by Source Gaming, and was released in two parts.
The first part deals exclusively with Cloud in Smash Bros.
In the second part, Nomura discusses how he agonized over the New Challenger Illustration. He didn't finish it until very late, and wasn't aware that he could've included characters that weren't in Smash Bros.Sakurai: But I’ve actually only talked to Mr. Nomura just once, that first time. After that, I was generally free to do whatever I wanted. There was general editorial supervision going on, of course, especially on the graphics side–to get Cloud looking as right as possible was tough. It took some time for us to discover how to present Cloud with a Smash touch.
Nomura: Actually, if you look carefully at Cloud’s clothing, you’ll see it’s not the original version, but a version that comes from the PSP game Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
Nomura: In my head, I had the image of Cloud and Link clashing swords from the very beginning, but I didn’t have anything else. So, I ended up agonizing over who to include while I was drawing. What I really wanted was to have a lot of characters on both sides, to convey the feel of a face-off, but Cloud was the only character on the Final Fantasy side, which was a problem (laughs). Normally I don’t draw multiple Clouds in one drawing, but just this once, I drew another Cloud in a different outfit.
Since Nomura and Sakurai both develop action games, the interviewer asked if they had any hangups. Nomura and Sakurai stated the following:
Nomura: For me, it’s “as long as it feels good, it’s fine.” To tell you the truth, I’m not very good at action games. I think it’s good to make games for people like me, where they can play without getting frustrated and have fun.
For the full interview, check out part one and part two.Sakurai: Well, if I had to list them, I could bring up 100 or 200 points, so…(laughs). For now, I’ll say “don’t forget about the beginners.” For the record, I’m actually relatively good at video games (laughs).
Translations like these take time, and the Smash community, as a whole, benefits from them. If you enjoy these translations, please consider donating to the Source Gaming Patreon.
PushDustIn would love to see a Nomura x Sakurai cat game. Follow PushDustIn on Twitter for more information, straight from the source.
Last edited: