Sakurai's Final Famitsu Article: Part One

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After 18 years, Sakurai's bi-weekly columns for Famitsu have come to an end. Source Gaming founder and ex-owner PushDustIn (along with fellow translator Kody NOKOLO) have provided a translation for Sakurai's final Famitsu column. You can check out the full thread here:

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Main highlights:​

Sakurai starts things by talking about his well-being as well as Sora from Kingdom Hearts:

• The most peaceful for time for Sakurai is in-between projects as he can do what he likes. He's even thinking about taking a trip.
• When asked about the ballot, Sakurai states that Sora quickly became the most requested character.
• Sora mainly fights in the air so that he can stay true to the Kingdom Hearts series while also being more unique, as none of the other DLC characters don't really prioritize aerial combat.
• Aerial smash attacks were considered for Ultimate at one point, though it was dropped for being too complicated. Sakurai didn't want to disrupt the balance of Ultimate being both for casuals and hardcore players, as people of the latter category will use more aerials.
• Sakurai was in charge of Sora's reveal trailer and came up with the plan in 90 minutes after reading Disney's guidelines.
• In Sora's trailer, Mario was originally going to swing a keyblade to open the door. This was changed to him just throwing the burning object and the door being opened by the keyblade itself, as only keyblade users like Sora can properly wield them.

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In addition to the recently released Sora, Sakurai also talked more about the previous DLC characters for Ultimate. We've divided his thoughts on each character individually:

Fighters Pass 1:

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• Joker
  • Working on Joker was difficult for Sakurai as the base game had just being finished and the team had to decide on how to work on DLC characters.
  • The inclusion of Arsene into Joker's moveset also doubled the work load.
• Hero
  • Hero was originally not going to have a voice. However, this changed when Hero was given a voice in Dragon Quest XI S. From there, Sakurai worked with Square Enix to give all of the other Hero alts official voices and names.
• Banjo
  • Banjo was the most voted for character in the ballot after Sora.
  • His trailer was based off K. Rool's, which was very helpful for the team as it was much cheaper due to the high cost of trailers.
• Terry
  • The trailer was created by Bandai Namco, while the person in charge of Terry's trailer had previously worked on the 1986 Namco game Genpei Toma Den.
  • Sakurai's goal was to make the coolest Terry Bogard ever.
  • Younger fans may have not known who Terry was, but what was important for Sakurai was that they could understand Terry through Smash.
• Byleth
  • Development on Byleth started before Three Houses was even released. It took Sakurai a long time to get through the game even with a developer build.
  • Sakurai played Three Houses in top secret. He couldn't bring the game home and employees weren't allowed to see his screen.

Fighters Pass 2:

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• Min Min
  • Spring Man was an assist trophy as he couldn't make it into the base game.
  • To make a character in Smash feel like they were from ARMS, Sakurai felt that long arms were key.
• Steve
  • Adding the code for blocks on each stage was tough and took a lot of time.
  • One issue came with Enderman, who would often blend into the background. Sakurai actually quizzed his staff by showing them screenshots and telling them to guess where Enderman was.
• Sephiroth
  • Sephiroth's appearance in the Advent Children movie was an important base for Sephiroth in Smash.
  • Sakurai was concerned about the reach of Sephiroth's sword, but figured it would be ok especially given Min Min's reach. Balancing in general was a concern, however Sakurai wanted to Sephiroth to leave a strong impression.
• Pyra/Mythra
  • Sakurai wanted Rex to appear alongside Pyra/Mythra in battle, however this couldn't happen due to hardware limitations. Pyra/Mythra's detailed costumes pushed the limit of the game being able to run at 60 fps.
  • If Sakurai had to pick between only Pyra or Mythra being playable, he would've went with Pyra.
  • Other Xenoblade 2 rep ideas that were considered by Sakurai:
    • Rex by himself
    • Rex with Pyra appearing at times
    • Pyra by herself
    • Pyra with Rex appearing at times
• Kazuya
  • Sakurai states that if the fighter were not Kazuya with his devil gene, Tekken could not work in Smash.
  • Regarding Heihachi, Sakurai says that he had little to no up-B options (with Sakurai even wondering if it would just be nothing). Sakurai then states that he is glad he settled with Kazuya.

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Sakurai continues by talking about the development of Ultimate more:

• The Sakurai Presents video format for DLC characters started with Hero. Nintendo came up with the idea and it was the standard going forward as the Joker Presentation cost a lot of money and time to create.
• Regarding toning down characters for balancing, Sakurai thought it'd be best to add weaknesses to characters rather than eliminate their strong points. Doing the latter would make the character less unique.
• Sakurai states: "There’s no right way to play Smash, just play how you want and have fun!” Smash is catered towards a wide range of players, so its important to try the game out different types of scenarios.

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That is all that has been translated for the time being, as PushDustIn and Kody NOKOLO will translate the remainder of the column in the upcoming days. You can get the latest updates of both the Sakurai translation and general gaming news by following their Twitter accounts which are linked below.


Credits:
Graphics: @Zerp
Social Media: @Zerp
Special Thanks: PushDustin and Kody NOKOLO for translating the Famitsu article.


Author's Note: What did you think about Sakurai's final column so far? Let us know in the comments below!

 

His trailer was based off K. Rool's, which was very helpful for the team as it was much cheaper due to the high cost of trailers.

Oh god imagine how much of this game’s budget went into the trailers

 

some very interesting bits of info there, some of which we could have guessed. sora being good in the air does make sense, i mean i sure spend a lot of KH combat in the air. B&K being the second most wanted is quite nice to know. the thing about hero's voice he mentioned before. saying that a character from arms needed long arms is a bit like saying the sky is blue. unless he was meaning that as to why he didnt chose mecanica or twintelle. the comment about introducing terry to younger gamers just screams dad making his kids watch his favourite childhood show. also if the version in smash is the coolest terry i dread to think what hes like in his own games. i also note that that is him pretty much saying solo rex could have worked if he wanted to, so thats vindication there. lastly the comment about nothing that would work for a recovery move is rather interesting. considering the number that the going upwards was added in smash or made up entirely what sort of thing would make him say theres nothing thatd work?

 

so yeah a lot of sakurais reasoning is a bit weird as always!
I dont really know how many of you think sakurai is ireplacble?
Because he was already replaced in kirby just took some time to find the right man for the Job!
and yeah it was disneys decision to not let kirby weild a keyblade! still im not agreeing with the Mickey and co are not in cus disney argument!

 

so yeah a lot of sakurais reasoning is a bit weird as always!
I dont really know how many of you think sakurai is ireplacble?
Because he was already replaced in kirby just took some time to find the right man for the Job!
and yeah it was disneys decision to not let kirby weild a keyblade! still im not agreeing with the Mickey and co are not in cus disney argument!

Kirby is a different beast from Smash.


Smash, at this point, has become a massive crossover event that companies are all pining to get their stuff in, because once you're in Smash, you've made it big.


To that end, Sakurai's name carries an extreme amount of weight behind it. Handing off a project like this to a developer who doesn't have the weight or clout behind him like Sakurai could make other companies very nervous about how the end project will turn out or how they'll be represented.

 

Kirby is a different beast from Smash.


Smash, at this point, has become a massive crossover event that companies are all pining to get their stuff in, because once you're in Smash, you've made it big.


To that end, Sakurai's name carries an extreme amount of weight behind it. Handing off a project like this to a developer who doesn't have the weight or clout behind him like Sakurai could make other companies very nervous about how the end project will turn out or how they'll be represented.

True but on a pure gameplay /design Level Sakurai would be easily replaceble maybe sakurai could be the Crossover manager?
I mean you can count all big goofs from skaurai when it comes to representation like:
No modern Kirby
Pretty little Zelda Stuff
Min min having normal Arms
The mario keyblade thing i guess
no rainbow road
Pretty little badguy rep
a music selection that looks like they threw darts at a board and some others!
True it could be worse but i think Sakuari should atleast have less contoll!
Maybe each franchise gets mostly handled by its current main Dev and sakurai gets to suggest things and say no to game breaking stuff!

 

True but on a pure gameplay /design Level Sakurai would be easily replaceble maybe sakurai could be the Crossover manager?
I mean you can count all big goofs from skaurai when it comes to representation like:
No modern Kirby
Pretty little Zelda Stuff
Min min having normal Arms
The mario keyblade thing i guess
no rainbow road
Pretty little badguy rep
a music selection that looks like tey threw darts at a board and some others!
True it could be worse but i think Sakuari should atleast have less contoll!
Maybe each franchise gets mostly handled by its current main Dev and sakurai gets to suggest things and say no to game breaking stuff!

Sakurai already said that they tried to replace him once, and the project was not good in the slightest.

And all those things you listed are either minor complains or personal grievances. And the Disney thing is entirely out of his control, you're not going to argue with a company as difficult as Disney can be when just getting Sora in Smash is a miracle unto itself.



You kind of don't seem to realize how much power a name has behind it. The thing is, pretty much everyone who knows about Smash is probably aware of the name "Masahiro Sakurai", just due to how much of a central figure he is. He's like the Miyamoto or Todd Howard of Smash. Companies, by proxy, are more than willing to work with Sakurai, because, it's Masahiro Sakurai, this guy's huge in the industry. I severely doubt companies like Square Enix would be key to play ball with someone who doesn't have the experience or clout as Sakurai does.

 

Sakurai already said that they tried to replace him once, and the project was not good in the slightest.

And all those things you listed are either minor complains or personal grievances. And the Disney thing is entirely out of his control, you're not going to argue with a company as difficult as Disney can be when just getting Sora in Smash is a miracle unto itself.



You kind of don't seem to realize how much power a name has behind it. The thing is, pretty much everyone who knows about Smash is probably aware of the name "Masahiro Sakurai", just due to how much of a central figure he is. He's like the Miyamoto or Todd Howard of Smash. Companies, by proxy, are more than willing to work with Sakurai, because, it's Masahiro Sakurai, this guy's huge in the industry. I severely doubt companies like Square Enix would be key to play ball with someone who doesn't have the experience or clout as Sakurai does.

As i said he could be in charge of the Crossovers!
i mean even if he would leave smash im sure nobody would notice it just take a look at all people Thanking Sakurai for the newer kirbys!
as long as Sakurai is "officialy" in charge nobody would care who makes the chars and even if they would they could just do it by themselves!
I mean lets say hmm (i guess i have to use him) Vastuu from my game (demo) gets in i rather would be in charge of his moveset than letting sakurai go ham!
(he did remove the Wario shoulderbash after all)

 

As i said he could be in charge of the Crossovers!
i mean even if he would leave smash im sure nobody would notice it just take a look at all people Thanking Sakurai for the newer kirbys!
as long as Sakurai is "officialy" in charge nobody would care who makes the chars and even if they would they could just do it by themselves!
I mean lets say hmm (i guess i have to use him) Vastuu from my game (demo) gets in i rather would be in charge of his moveset than letting sakurai go ham!
(he did remove the Wario shoulderbash after all)

And he brought it back.

And you do know that he probably does show off said companies what he works on, right? Like, I severely doubt that Disney would give him the rights to Sora and not micromanage what he can and cannot use.


Regardless, Sakurai and Smash are tied to the hip. Companies trust him with Smash, and putting someone else at the helm will be a herculean task.

 

Doesn't Nick All Stars have what are basically aerial smash attacks?

I dont really know how many of you think sakurai is ireplacble?

Hero worship pretty much.

 

P

True but on a pure gameplay /design Level Sakurai would be easily replaceble maybe sakurai could be the Crossover manager?
I mean you can count all big goofs from skaurai when it comes to representation like:
No modern Kirby
Pretty little Zelda Stuff
Min min having normal Arms
The mario keyblade thing i guess
no rainbow road
Pretty little badguy rep
a music selection that looks like they threw darts at a board and some others!
True it could be worse but i think Sakuari should atleast have less contoll!
Maybe each franchise gets mostly handled by its current main Dev and sakurai gets to suggest things and say no to game breaking stuff!

Once again Oracle Link missed the point completely and adds another bad take in their take pile.

Like it or not, Sakurai will insist of being involved in any future Smash and will do as long as he is able to. Having worked alongside Japanese people all my life, I am attest that the idea of “working till you die” is something they take seriously.

Anyways, great article as per usual.

 

P


Once again Oracle Link missed the point completely and adds another bad take in their take pile.

Like it or not, Sakurai will insist of being involved in any future Smash and will do as long as he is able to. Having worked alongside Japanese people all my life, I am attest that the idea of “working till you die” is something they take seriously.

Anyways, great article as per usual.

I mean if you guys wouldnt Hyperfocus on anything Controversial i post and instead would give my overwhelming ammount of Nice Cute posts A Chance
you might get less Frustrated! I mean heck i made a friggin Game that you can get for free! but you find it more important to critique a person that has
mental Health Problems!
I think the Problem lies with you guys!

Also i removed a insult!
Edit: also shroob i dont mean you! Our conversation was nice and you dealt amazingly with my annoying Posts!

 

Doesn't Nick All Stars have what are basically aerial smash attacks?

Hero worship pretty much.

It's not hero worship, it's just a fact that his name carries an extreme amount of clout and weight in the industry.


For example, why do you think in other media when people hear something akin to like "The original creator is not involved in the project" be it for a television show, movie, etc, there's an extreme amount of worry to it.


Sakurai's name is frankly an extremely valuable asset for Nintendo despite him not even being an employee there. Other companies would absolutely go dog wild to be involved with THE Masahiro Sakurai, much like they would with say Miyamoto, or Aonuma.


You hand Smash to a developer who hasn't gained an extreme amount of notoriety, corporations are going to be a lot more wary to jump on board with the project despite it being Smash, because they're not working with "the" Masahiro Sakurai, they're working with someone who hasn't proven themselves.


Frankly speaking, if/when Sakurai ever isn't the lead to a future Smash, I pity whoever has to fill his shoes, because they're going to basically be doing a herculean task.

 

Hero worship pretty much.

Sakurai is a legendary developer who delivered all time classics time and time again, his name being involved is a seal of quality that everyone trusts, theres many stories of other parties trusting their characters to him solely because they knew from Sakurai's track record and work that he can deliver quality and respect their stuff. In the past lots of kids hated on him because of petty reasons like not adding a specific character, treating him as a personal enemy since they think they both own and "get" the series for playing it, but failing to realize the amount of vision he poured into smash without which we wouldnt have this series, from Kirby to Kid Icarus to Smash, he delivers and with high prestige, its like getting an ultra-presitigious director to a movie.

This care for quality and the prestige it resulted in after years delivered is also why, when low budged, bad quality studios try to rip off smash, sometimes even stealing entire concepts and movesets instead of just doing their own thing as a real platformer fighter should: it sucks. Because it lacks the quality, intel, effort, talent, organization, previous knowledge and vision that creators like Sakurai bring to the project

Also the aerial move you mentioned was done first by rivals, so another example of an inferior product taking mechanics from superior ones (in this case Rivals is superior) and just doing a worse off thing, you cant just take the outside of a production and reproduce it expecting the same, a lot of effort from core mechanics, to small details, to the feelings they want to replicate in the audience has to go into it, wich is why all Smash games are some of the best videogames ever made on a quality point of view.

 

"Other Xenoblade 2 rep ideas that were considered by Sakurai:"

Wait, didn't Sakurai say that it was Nintendo that chose the DLC characters? Something smells fishy here...

 

"Other Xenoblade 2 rep ideas that were considered by Sakurai:"

Wait, didn't Sakurai say that it was Nintendo that chose the DLC characters? Something smells fishy here...

I mean

Nintendo, "Hey, we want you to represent Xenoblade 2 in the game."



Like, remember how Sakurai talked about both Minecraft and Tekken, by saying that Nintendo had asked him to put the games in Smash directly, not specifically a certain character.


What this says to me is that Nintendo asked him to put XB2 in, but he was given the freedom to choose who would be in from what he was given. Nintendo chose the character by effectively telling him "Put someone from this game/series in."

 

"Other Xenoblade 2 rep ideas that were considered by Sakurai:"

Wait, didn't Sakurai say that it was Nintendo that chose the DLC characters? Something smells fishy here...

yeah what shroob said is about right, you look at all the times he talks about including a character and it seems that nintendo were suggesting games rather than characters. except for sora when sakurai took advantage of the opportunity

 

You know, I kinda wish Joker got a presentation in the style of Hero onwards.

That being said, I'm at least happy knowing AT's were off the table for DLC.

 

"Other Xenoblade 2 rep ideas that were considered by Sakurai:"

Wait, didn't Sakurai say that it was Nintendo that chose the DLC characters? Something smells fishy here...

Yeeeaaaah, I'm about 99% sure he just made up that "Nintendo made me do it" crap just so people wouldn't rage at him for any missteps. Considering the general toxicity of the Smash fanbase, can't say I blame him too much.

 

Yeeeaaaah, I'm about 99% sure he just made up that "Nintendo made me do it" crap just so people wouldn't rage at him for any missteps. Considering the general toxicity of the Smash fanbase, can't say I blame him too much.

I mean, I don't.


We have 2 instances of him flat out telling us that Nintendo approached him to include specific series in Smash, like in the case of Minecraft and Tekken.

 

Sakurai is a legendary developer who delivered all time classics time and time again, his name being involved is a seal of quality that everyone trusts, theres many stories of other parties trusting their characters to him solely because they knew from Sakurai's track record and work that he can deliver quality and respect their stuff. In the past lots of kids hated on him because of petty reasons like not adding a specific character, treating him as a personal enemy since they think they both own and "get" the series for playing it, but failing to realize the amount of vision he poured into smash without which we wouldnt have this series, from Kirby to Kid Icarus to Smash, he delivers and with high prestige, its like getting an ultra-presitigious director to a movie.

This care for quality and the prestige it resulted in after years delivered is also why, when low budged, bad quality studios try to rip off smash, sometimes even stealing entire concepts and movesets instead of just doing their own thing as a real platformer fighter should: it sucks. Because it lacks the quality, intel, effort, talent, organization, previous knowledge and vision that creators like Sakurai bring to the project

Also the aerial move you mentioned was done first by rivals, so another example of an inferior product taking mechanics from superior ones (in this case Rivals is superior) and just doing a worse off thing, you cant just take the outside of a production and reproduce it expecting the same, a lot of effort from core mechanics, to small details, to the feelings they want to replicate in the audience has to go into it, wich is why all Smash games are some of the best videogames ever made on a quality point of view.

Case in point.

 

Case in point.

I mean, yes, there's always going to be people who hold Sakurai to an extreme degree of respect, but at the end of the day, my point from earlier stands.