Help: This interview I think is pretty short. It's real easy to read through. However, I found this one amusing in so many levels that I took the liberty to highlight some points. The
RED ones are revelations as usual. The
GREEN ones are now however lines I found interesting. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, just read the parts with highlights. Those parts are usually interesting.
Like Making Two Distinct Games
Iwata
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, there were some big developments for solo play.
Sakurai
Whoops! (laughs) Maybe I did go a bit overboard.
Iwata
It’s just that Smash Bros. has always been played as a fighting game and I didn’t think it would be possible to make the single-player Adventure Mode a primary form of game play. However, I was impressed by how well it turned out. Can you talk about why you were set on developing an Adventure Mode and how you got there?
Sakurai
Well, as I discussed earlier, a fundamental idea at the start of development was that this would be the last Smash Bros. title, and that, ultimately, there would be few opportunities for Nintendo characters and major, well-known characters to gather in the same place.
Iwata
So this too was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event, where you had to treasure every encounter.
Sakurai
Right. Blessed with such an opportunity, I tried to think of ways we could enable players to more thoroughly enjoy such a rare all-star lineup and, in the end, I pulled a power play. To put it simply,
the Adventure Mode is like a stand-alone title offered in the same package. In terms of development work as well, it was like making two distinct games. Iwata
So, what it shares with the multiplayer mode are the character data and programming for basic movements. Everything else is different, right?
Sakurai
Right. We had to change the basic game systems for the two modes. Also, even though character movements are pretty much the same,
we made adjustments to things like the speed at which characters run for the Adventure Mode.
Iwata
Well, I can’t help but ask…what possessed you do to all this?
Sakurai
(laughs)
Iwata
(laughs)
Sakurai
I don’t know if I can accurately express my feeling but, I mean, Smash Bros. has received high marks from all over for the fighting pleasure it provides and I felt that merely refining what was already there was too simple and would preclude changes. Don’t get me wrong though,
the fighting is more advanced than before.
Iwata
The fighting part being fun is already a given, and if development focused solely on fighting, all people could comment on would have been things like which characters are stronger this time.
Sakurai
Exactly. If we did that, things will just shift more to the extreme. Also, I didn’t feel like players wanted us to change the nature of Smash Bros. fighting style, or change the game to a 3D fighting game.
Iwata
Right. The appeal of Smash Bros. is that anyone can take a controller, readily pick up the fundamentals and, within a span of ten minutes,
a beginner can sit down and get loud with a pro and enjoy some exciting game play. There’s no reason to change this, right?
Sakurai
Right. That’s why we didn’t fixate on fighting alone, but delved into a new area of development by placing emphasis on the Adventure Mode.
Need for a StoryIwata
So, can you tell me about the Adventure Mode’s…actually, please tell me the title of the Adventure Mode.
Sakurai
Sure. The Adventure Mode is called The Subspace Emissary.
Iwata
Can you tell me more about the development process for The Subspace Emissary?
Sakurai
Well, first of all, the number of players that wanted a storyline in Smash Bros. Brawl was not few. Generally speaking, this is a feature you won’t find in the games I design, but players were looking for more from the storyline. Because Smash Bros. brings together so many different characters though, developing a conventional storyline was going to be impossible.
Iwata
Each character comes from their own world, and
there’s no end to their different restrictions and limitations.
Sakurai
Right. Not only do they come from their own worlds, but an even more basic problem was the fact that it
felt really strange to put someone like Mario and Link together in the same frame.
Iwata
Ah, I see.
Sakurai
The feel of the characters are different and, more importantly, it
felt wrong to put characters with different head to body ratios side-by-side. It’s not so bad in a high action environment like the Melee where everyone is moving all at once, but when I was writing the project plan document, I didn’t think it would be possible to make them look good together in a serious movie sequence.
Iwata
So you thought about giving up the idea.
Sakurai
Right. Iwata
But then you decided to bring in a storyline.
Sakurai
Right. The impetus for my decision was the side-scrolling mode in Smash Bros. Melee and I had been thinking about improving this feature from the beginning of planning. Then, while thinking about how I might make the side-scrolling mode more interesting for our players,
I decided it was absolutely necessary to incorporate a sense of suspense to urge players on. Iwata
Because the suspense of what happens next is what drives players most when playing a side-scrolling action game.
Sakurai
Right. With older games, players were thrown into the game without any particular objective. With games nowadays though, you just can’t do that, leading me to the conclusion that we couldn’t have a game without a storyline. With Smash Bros., however, there are way too many characters and the game is made without a main character. Therefore, I had a really hard time figuring out how we might establish a storyline.
Iwata
I see.
Sakurai
At that point,
I decided to ask Kazushige Nojima-san to help us since he had composed the scenarios for titles like Final Fantasy VII.
Iwata
Wow, asking the person who crafted scenarios for Final Fantasy to write one for Smash Bros. is a pretty big deal.
Sakurai
I know! (laughs) I didn’t ask him to write everything from scratch though. I explained the world of Smash Bros. and its characters and then asked for his help. The first storyline he came up with, however, wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.
Iwata
It was different than what you had envisioned.
Sakurai
Right. It wasn’t bad at all and had its own appeal, but it was a bit different than what I had envisioned it would be. It went something like this…
"Some of the characters are on a bus on the way to the stadium. Samus is there. Donkey Kong is there and Snake is watching the bus from afar." It was like that. (laughs) I had envisioned a more serious tone for the story. Something with some misfortune like a single character escaping total annihilation of his squadron and then fighting back while rounding up his allies. Ultimately, we worked together and successfully organized our ideas into the storyline for The Subspace Emissary.
Iwata
In other words, you came up with a storyline that neither of you could have produced on your own.
Sakurai
Right. That’s something you might say about this entire game.
This project is the result of people coming together and talents colliding. If we took one person and replaced them with another, the project would have definitely been different. That’s another reason the project was only possible this time around.
Good for Beginners TooIwata
I suspect The Subspace Emissary might be a good place for Smash Bros. beginners to learn the ABC’s.
Sakurai
I think you’re right. The objective is clear since there’s a storyline and, if you have someone to play with, you can make progress as a team.
Iwata
The Co-op mode, in other words.
Sakurai
Right. Co-op. Fundamentally, two characters take the field in Adventure Mode and battle side-by-side through the stages. The level of difficulty can also be adjusted which means it’s good for beginners too.
Iwata
How many levels of difficulty are there?
Sakurai
Five. Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard and Intense.
Intense, however, was made mostly for the curious, and Very Hard can be considered the highest level of play for standard playing purposes. By the way, the level of difficulty can also be adjusted for other modes of play and not just for The Subspace Emissary.
Iwata
That means beginners can start with Easy then. Fundamentally, Smash Bros. is designed to make different things happen simply by pressing random buttons, so some amazing things can happen without even trying. This makes it easy for beginners to get involved.
Sakurai
Which reminds me,
Shogo Sakai-san did some test play the other day and cleared The Subspace Emissary on the Easy setting. Iwata
You mean the same Shogo Sakai-san from HAL Laboratory who was in charge of music for Smash Bros. Brawl? I’m guessing the reason you bring him up is because
he’s so bad at gaming.
Sakurai
Right.
He’s absolutely hopeless. (laughs)
Iwata
Sakai-san is another fellow who has a long history of designing games with us. Not only is he a talented musician, but he also acts as our Beginner Guinea Pig. He’s helped us out quite a lot.
Sakurai
I’m afraid
he is so bad that no one can officially ask him to even become a game-testing Guinea Pig, though. (laughs)
Iwata
Did you make a point of asking him to help out this time around?
Sakurai
Not really. He just happened to be around when I needed him and played the game for several days. It was then that our hopeless Sakai-san cleared the Easy level.
Iwata
That’s very reassuring considering our efforts to make the game readily accessible to new players.
Sakurai
Exactly. After beating it, Sakai-san said he finally understood how people get so addicted to gaming. (laughs)
Iwata
What’s he talking about? He’s been making games for twenty years.
Sakurai
Well, he’s played very few action games. He told me that
he had been stuck in many places, but when he was taking a shower, he would think "it might just work if I try this." Iwata
So that’s what he meant when he said he finally understood how gamers feel.
Sakurai
Right. That means The Subspace Emissary should be okay for unskilled gamers too. Of course that doesn’t mean that it’s not challenging, but Sakai-san is living proof.
(To be continued)
My comment: I actually like the info presented. It's nice that the character speed was adjusted for this mode. The second thing I like most is that there would be problem-solving in SSE. It wouldn't just be go forward. There are levels where you can get stuck at. But that makes it so interesting! I can't wait anymore, I want to try SSE out!
