Super Smash Bros. has made a huge name for itself since it launched in 1999. This franchise became one of Nintendo’s most popular to date and a staple in the professional world of esports.
For all its fame there will, of course, be those who will bash it constantly over the years. Nintendo Life did a recent interview with Nintendo of America’s Senior Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen. He spoke about the upcoming title Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, of course, and he also set the record straight on the perception that the Smash series became popular by “accident.”
“The first thing that I would do is rewind a bit and go to the ‘happy accident’ because that is a myth that I want to dispel. Absolutely dispel. Because the assumption is almost that Nintendo didn’t know what it had with Smash Bros. And that actually suggests that Mr. Sakurai didn’t know what he was doing. Whereas very, very specifically, he designed the game even back on the Nintendo 64 and especially on the GameCube, very specifically what we were talking about is a game that anyone can pick up and play, but one that has the incredible layer of depth to it. I mean, we used to play Melee every day at lunch and after work for 10 years. Literally. This went on in the Treehouse for years and years and years. Then we just got too busy.”
Continuing, Trinen said “We had families and all that. It was even over all that time, we continued to improve and grow as players because he specifically designed the game with layer upon layer upon layer of depth. It wasn’t an accident. The game didn’t accidentally become that way. He is a meticulous game designer. Every decision that he makes on the game is a planned decision. So what was the ‘happy accident’ wasn’t that the game was designed that way.”
“The happy accident was that people started to discover it, and that became something that people could then relate to one another through and that they can have fun playing with each other. And that created the bond that gave them the inspiration for the community to build that tournament scene. But I do want to dispel the notion that the game wasn’t designed with that in mind because it very much was.”
Sure, the game is chaotic and seems all over the place, but it is solid when it comes to gameplay, character choice, and its many colorful stages. From what Trinen says a lot of heart and soul went into Smash Bros. from all who were involved, especially longtime game director Masahiro Sakurai.
To discredit all that hard work is wrong. You have it straight from those who are with Nintendo — it became the norm for them to play it on a regular basis just like it did for us. The hype is still very much real and grows as we near release for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Dec 7th, 2018.
