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Source Gaming - Sakurai on Smash 64: A Phenomenon Is Born

LiteralGrill

Smokin' Hot~
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
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5,976
Location
Wisconsin
Delving into the mind of Sakurai through digging into translations is common work for the awesome folks at Source Gaming. This time they came together to discuss the landscape that brought about the beginning of the great series we know and love: Smash 64. Learn about what it took for this game to come to life and the thought process of its creator in this wonderful article of which has a small preview below.

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Humble Beginnings

The year was 1997, a crucial time period for Nintendo. In the wake of the successful releases of the NES and SNES, which had dominated the market, Nintendo for the first time faced the prospect of equally daunting and powerful domestic competitors in its market in the form of SEGA and Sony. Their answer to the competition was the Nintendo 64. Masahiro Sakurai, a game director at HAL Laboratories, at the time most famous for creating the Kirby series, would be tasked with developing and presenting several game prototypes for the new console. The first was for an action-adventure game that would never see the day of light. The second was the seed that would eventually blossom into one of the most beloved franchises of all time: Super Smash Bros.


The title page of the project proposal document that would eventually become Super Smash Bros. Note in the top left that it’s for the Nintendo 64. Published in “Think About the Video Games.”

By October 1996, the project plan for what would become Super Smash Bros.was completed. It was just a prototype, a binder of looseleaf papers and a featureless, pared-down demo. It was tentatively titled “Four-play Simultaneous Face-off No-Damage Battle Royale Fight.”

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Want to see the rest of the article? Be sure to check it out over at Source Gaming. While you're there consider supporting Source Gaming's efforts on Patreon as they provide all of these amazing translations and articles absolutely free.

SmashCapps always loves all of the articles from Source Gaming as they are incredibly high quality and interesting work. To keep up with his own writing adventures follow him on Twitter.
 
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Raize

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jun 25, 2015
Messages
32
"Four-play Simultaneous Face-off No-Damage Battle Royale Fight"=best name ever
 

SpandexBullets

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Feb 1, 2015
Messages
452
NNID
thespandex
Pretty much like Smash 4?
Smash 4's cast feels much more simplistic and straight forward than Melee's or Brawl's, but the competitive potential is still there.

Also no one mention Melee.
 

Saikyoshi

Smash Master
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
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3,921
Location
Being petty
NNID
KarmaPilcrow
3DS FC
0344-9771-0514
A4FCEDB4-F739-41F7-9848-651DA5DB2313.JPG


Woohoo, more prototype stages revealed!
To Stage Builder I go.
 

Phoenix502

Smash Ace
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
706
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Chipley, FL
NNID
Phoenix502
3DS FC
4811-6967-8095
Probably Nintendo beating some sense into him about casualness.
or at the very least someone from nintendo sharing the wrong pool of testimonies in terms of opinions toward Smash. too many folks these days play games that any shmuck can just jump into instantly...

at least with fighting games, especially Smash, you need to know what you're doing to get anywhere, and while Smash is simple by fighting game control standards, it's still not something you can just jump into without either watching the "How to play" video or glancing at the manual.
 

koopahermit

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
29
Location
Some Suburb, Minnesota
“I wanted to create a game that was simple, like a “back to the roots” kind of game. Simple, but the more you play, the more you put into it, the more you come to understand its depth, that kind of game.”

Well that philosophy died quickly...
 

SwisshySwaash

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
83
Location
Hyrule
Pretty much like Smash 4?
Smash 4's cast feels much more simplistic and straight forward than Melee's or Brawl's, but the competitive potential is still there.

Also no one mention Melee.
How is smash 4 more simplistic? There are 50+ characers, many of them clones, compared to SSB64's 10. Also, Nnintendo went out of their way to make smash 4 as non-competitive as possible using forgiving ledge mechanics, drastically decreased hit stun, and less movement options where as in 64 a good player could jv6 you with no sweat. I don't see your point at all.
 
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