Not really. But for several weeks after the release of the <em>Super Smash Brothers: Brawl</em> trailer, Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Smash Brothers 64 and Melee who has returned to direct Brawl, updated the Japanese version of the <em>Super Smash Brothers Dojo</em> (the game’s official site) with weekly updates and responses to emails from Japanese gamers. Despite promises to keep English-speaking gamers informed, the English version of the Dojo has not included any of these updates.
Luckily for us, there are people who can speak more than one language. A member of our forums who uses the handle “SamuraiPanda” has kept us all up-to-date on what Sakurai has been telling Japanese-speaking gamers. And now that Sakurai’s updates have stopped for a while (so that he can work on the game), I figured I would update here with what information we have learned from Sakurai’s updates. All of these translations are completely credited to SamuraiPanda, who took extra time to make sure all of his updates were accurate. All of the following is what Masahiro Sakurai has been telling Japanese gamers, with SamuraiPanda’s or my own comments thrown in where noted, as Sakurai is understandably vague in many of his updates.
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First off, there will be very little-to-no updates concerning Brawl until sometime in 2007, when the game exists in a more complete form. To me, E3 2007 would seem like a good time, but it could easily be before that time, depending on when they plan to release the game. The only release date we have so far is “2007,” and it could be released any time within that year.
Next, any more non-Nintendo characters that will appear in the game (such as Solid Snake) MUST have appeared on a Nintendo platform before. So for those who want Master Chief in the game, sorry. Also, there will only be 1 or 2 more third party additions to the game, as Sakurai wants the roster to still be mostly Nintendo characters. However, when he said “1 to 2″ more non-Nintendo characters, he worded it as a question, so that number could go up a little. But now we know around how much third party penetration Brawl will have. Additionally, no manga characters (such as Dragonball Z characters, or Naruto) will appear in the game.
The speed of the game will be “moderated,” and it was also mentioned in another update that “easiness” will be stressed in Brawl over the “finer details of combat.” What does this mean for us? Well, that the game will probably be a little easier to play.
Sort of related to the above entry, every single character is going to be reworked, to allow for more freedom in aerial battles, among other things. The exact quote from Sakurai is that “When I asked ‘Could we allow more freedom in the aerial battles?’ Everyone on my team agreed, so we are refining every character’s ability from the very beginning.”
Sakurai mentions that the song used for the trailer (<a href="http://www.smashbros.com/en/music/mp3/main_theme.mp3">Right-click and Save As</a>) is very fitting, and arrangements have already been made for the rest of the music in the game (SamuraiPanda muses that he means that people have already been hired to do the music). The theme for the trailer was composed by renowned Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, however, it is unclear if he will doing any more music for the game.
Some of the biggest news for the game has been revealed, as Sakurai has said that some characters from Melee will NOT be returning, “Definitely.” Which characters will be removed, and what process will be used for deciding which characters have a chance of staying in? Your guess is as good as anyone’s. My guess is that several of the clones will be getting the ax, for just being too similar to their counterparts (Pichu comes to mind). That said, I don’t think all of the clones will be removed, but rather, some of them will be remade (as mentioned earlier) to make them a completely, or at least mostly, different character, in the way that Luigi was changed in Melee to not be a clone of Mario as he was in Smash 64, despite them still having a couple of similar moves. Sakurai has said that, “on a significant scale,” the characters from Melee will be remade, so don’t lost hope for Falco of Ganondorf just yet.
Sakurai reveals that, at least at the moment, a DS version of Smash is not in development (or at the very least, he is not helming one and therefor doesn’t know about it). He says waiting for a DS Smash won’t help anything, and that for now people should look forward to Brawl on the Wii. So while there isn’t a DS version in the works now (or at least not one Sakurai knows about), that doesn’t mean there won’t be one in the future.
Sakurai mentions that not all attacks can be superstrong, and that some attacks are weaker than others on purpose. He says that the best players are those who are able to utilize all of their character’s attacks, and not just a few good ones.
He goes on to say that there are many high hurdles they would have to overcome to get the game online. They are definitely trying, but it is obviously proving more difficult than simply adding Wi-Fi functionality to the game. He also says that, if online play IS included, a running list of who is winning the most matches or playing the best, etc., is not planned to be added. So don’t expect to be able to beat a bunch of people and be considered the best player based on some kind of leaderboard. Wins and losses, etc., are planned to be recorded, but for now, they are not planned to be displayed anywhere.
Sakurai mentions that, because Smash is popular throughout the entire world, he can’t simply include characters that are only popular in Japan. He then kind of contradicts himself and says it ended up working fine with Marth in Roy. He says that a black man once thanked Sakurai for making Roy just for him. Take that for what you will.
Sakurai then talks about the voice actors for Metaknight and Pit. He mentions that the Japanese voice actor for Pit is the same actor who does the voice of Conan from <em>Detective Conan</em> (<em>Case Closed</em> in the USA).
One email was sent to Sakurai requesting only popular characters such as Mario, and Link, and characters of that nature. Sakurai’s exact response was, “Asking only for popular characters to appear in Smash…doesn’t get me excited.” So that may be an indication that he’s willing to also put in some of the more obscure characters that people wouldn’t automatically think would work in the Smash Brothers series (the Ice Climbers, anyone?).
Sakurai then mentions that, because of the advanced functionality of the Wiimote, some kind of gimmick could be added using the Wiimote. However, the game is still expected to play mainly with Gamecube controllers, not the Wiimote. The fact that the Wii has four Gamecube controller ports is mentioned several times, along with the fact that you shouldn’t throw out your Gamecube controller just yet.
Working together, SamuraiPanda and I figured out the next translation.
Basically, Sakurai says that when Metaknight wins a match, a rock version of Kirby’s victory dance will play, instead of just reusing the same Kirby theme.
One person emails Sakurai requesting that instead of having unlockables, that everything should simply be open form the start. Sakurai says that having secret characters is one of the fun parts of the Smash Brothers series. He says that in this digital age (this is not a direct translation, just my rewording of it), information moves far too quickly to be able to keep all of the characters a secret before the launch of the game. With Melee, in the weeks leading up to the game’s release, a new character was revealed each week. Not every single character was revealed, but some were. He says he wants to keep some characters secret until the “very end,” just as he did with Melee.
Related to the above, he mentions that Solid Snake is more fitting as a unlockable character, seeing as how he is a guest character, rather than being immediately available for play, even though we know he’ll be in the game.
In response to an email about Link, he says that Link has no catchphrases, and a Link that talks would be odd to him.
The second-to-last update has Sakurai talking about Kirby’s copy ability, and the potential that is currently open for Snake: “I guess I have no choice but to make a Snake copy, too. Should it be a bandana? Or perhaps a beard?”
The last update just mentions that the poll is closed (which was only open to Japanese gamers anyway), and more importantly, that “We will create this game with balance in mind.” That probably means that there will be more of an effort to make the glaring differences between the ends of the tier list from Melee less noticeable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And that’s it. As mentioned waaay up at the top of this post, there will be very few more updates until 2007, as Sakurai and his team (named Sora, no relation to the <em>Kingdom Hearts</em> character of the same name) begin the real work on the game. We here at Smashbrawl.com will definitely keep you up-to-date on any and all information that comes out about the game. In the meantime, be sure to check out our forum at www.smashboards.com and take part in the speculation. With over 40,000 members now, our forum has never been more busy, and especially in the Brawl rooms, everyone has their own opinions on which characters, stages, modes, and ideas should be included in the game. The forum is free, so sign up and let us know what you think!
Luckily for us, there are people who can speak more than one language. A member of our forums who uses the handle “SamuraiPanda” has kept us all up-to-date on what Sakurai has been telling Japanese-speaking gamers. And now that Sakurai’s updates have stopped for a while (so that he can work on the game), I figured I would update here with what information we have learned from Sakurai’s updates. All of these translations are completely credited to SamuraiPanda, who took extra time to make sure all of his updates were accurate. All of the following is what Masahiro Sakurai has been telling Japanese gamers, with SamuraiPanda’s or my own comments thrown in where noted, as Sakurai is understandably vague in many of his updates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First off, there will be very little-to-no updates concerning Brawl until sometime in 2007, when the game exists in a more complete form. To me, E3 2007 would seem like a good time, but it could easily be before that time, depending on when they plan to release the game. The only release date we have so far is “2007,” and it could be released any time within that year.
Next, any more non-Nintendo characters that will appear in the game (such as Solid Snake) MUST have appeared on a Nintendo platform before. So for those who want Master Chief in the game, sorry. Also, there will only be 1 or 2 more third party additions to the game, as Sakurai wants the roster to still be mostly Nintendo characters. However, when he said “1 to 2″ more non-Nintendo characters, he worded it as a question, so that number could go up a little. But now we know around how much third party penetration Brawl will have. Additionally, no manga characters (such as Dragonball Z characters, or Naruto) will appear in the game.
The speed of the game will be “moderated,” and it was also mentioned in another update that “easiness” will be stressed in Brawl over the “finer details of combat.” What does this mean for us? Well, that the game will probably be a little easier to play.
Sort of related to the above entry, every single character is going to be reworked, to allow for more freedom in aerial battles, among other things. The exact quote from Sakurai is that “When I asked ‘Could we allow more freedom in the aerial battles?’ Everyone on my team agreed, so we are refining every character’s ability from the very beginning.”
Sakurai mentions that the song used for the trailer (<a href="http://www.smashbros.com/en/music/mp3/main_theme.mp3">Right-click and Save As</a>) is very fitting, and arrangements have already been made for the rest of the music in the game (SamuraiPanda muses that he means that people have already been hired to do the music). The theme for the trailer was composed by renowned Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, however, it is unclear if he will doing any more music for the game.
Some of the biggest news for the game has been revealed, as Sakurai has said that some characters from Melee will NOT be returning, “Definitely.” Which characters will be removed, and what process will be used for deciding which characters have a chance of staying in? Your guess is as good as anyone’s. My guess is that several of the clones will be getting the ax, for just being too similar to their counterparts (Pichu comes to mind). That said, I don’t think all of the clones will be removed, but rather, some of them will be remade (as mentioned earlier) to make them a completely, or at least mostly, different character, in the way that Luigi was changed in Melee to not be a clone of Mario as he was in Smash 64, despite them still having a couple of similar moves. Sakurai has said that, “on a significant scale,” the characters from Melee will be remade, so don’t lost hope for Falco of Ganondorf just yet.
Sakurai reveals that, at least at the moment, a DS version of Smash is not in development (or at the very least, he is not helming one and therefor doesn’t know about it). He says waiting for a DS Smash won’t help anything, and that for now people should look forward to Brawl on the Wii. So while there isn’t a DS version in the works now (or at least not one Sakurai knows about), that doesn’t mean there won’t be one in the future.
Sakurai mentions that not all attacks can be superstrong, and that some attacks are weaker than others on purpose. He says that the best players are those who are able to utilize all of their character’s attacks, and not just a few good ones.
He goes on to say that there are many high hurdles they would have to overcome to get the game online. They are definitely trying, but it is obviously proving more difficult than simply adding Wi-Fi functionality to the game. He also says that, if online play IS included, a running list of who is winning the most matches or playing the best, etc., is not planned to be added. So don’t expect to be able to beat a bunch of people and be considered the best player based on some kind of leaderboard. Wins and losses, etc., are planned to be recorded, but for now, they are not planned to be displayed anywhere.
Sakurai mentions that, because Smash is popular throughout the entire world, he can’t simply include characters that are only popular in Japan. He then kind of contradicts himself and says it ended up working fine with Marth in Roy. He says that a black man once thanked Sakurai for making Roy just for him. Take that for what you will.
Sakurai then talks about the voice actors for Metaknight and Pit. He mentions that the Japanese voice actor for Pit is the same actor who does the voice of Conan from <em>Detective Conan</em> (<em>Case Closed</em> in the USA).
One email was sent to Sakurai requesting only popular characters such as Mario, and Link, and characters of that nature. Sakurai’s exact response was, “Asking only for popular characters to appear in Smash…doesn’t get me excited.” So that may be an indication that he’s willing to also put in some of the more obscure characters that people wouldn’t automatically think would work in the Smash Brothers series (the Ice Climbers, anyone?).
Sakurai then mentions that, because of the advanced functionality of the Wiimote, some kind of gimmick could be added using the Wiimote. However, the game is still expected to play mainly with Gamecube controllers, not the Wiimote. The fact that the Wii has four Gamecube controller ports is mentioned several times, along with the fact that you shouldn’t throw out your Gamecube controller just yet.
Working together, SamuraiPanda and I figured out the next translation.
Basically, Sakurai says that when Metaknight wins a match, a rock version of Kirby’s victory dance will play, instead of just reusing the same Kirby theme.One person emails Sakurai requesting that instead of having unlockables, that everything should simply be open form the start. Sakurai says that having secret characters is one of the fun parts of the Smash Brothers series. He says that in this digital age (this is not a direct translation, just my rewording of it), information moves far too quickly to be able to keep all of the characters a secret before the launch of the game. With Melee, in the weeks leading up to the game’s release, a new character was revealed each week. Not every single character was revealed, but some were. He says he wants to keep some characters secret until the “very end,” just as he did with Melee.
Related to the above, he mentions that Solid Snake is more fitting as a unlockable character, seeing as how he is a guest character, rather than being immediately available for play, even though we know he’ll be in the game.
In response to an email about Link, he says that Link has no catchphrases, and a Link that talks would be odd to him.
The second-to-last update has Sakurai talking about Kirby’s copy ability, and the potential that is currently open for Snake: “I guess I have no choice but to make a Snake copy, too. Should it be a bandana? Or perhaps a beard?”
The last update just mentions that the poll is closed (which was only open to Japanese gamers anyway), and more importantly, that “We will create this game with balance in mind.” That probably means that there will be more of an effort to make the glaring differences between the ends of the tier list from Melee less noticeable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And that’s it. As mentioned waaay up at the top of this post, there will be very few more updates until 2007, as Sakurai and his team (named Sora, no relation to the <em>Kingdom Hearts</em> character of the same name) begin the real work on the game. We here at Smashbrawl.com will definitely keep you up-to-date on any and all information that comes out about the game. In the meantime, be sure to check out our forum at www.smashboards.com and take part in the speculation. With over 40,000 members now, our forum has never been more busy, and especially in the Brawl rooms, everyone has their own opinions on which characters, stages, modes, and ideas should be included in the game. The forum is free, so sign up and let us know what you think!
