Hey guys, Sutamen here with another translation from Sakurai’s book, 桜井正博ゲームについて思うことDX. This article goes way back to E3 2006, when Brawl was first revealed.

Everyone here at Source Gaming has been keeping busy with the new DLC content, and there are some big projects in the works, so stay tuned! Thanks to CraneZeroYonSan, PushDustIn, and MaskedMan for translation assistance.

To see additional translations, click on the “translation” tag below, or “Smash Translations” on top of the page.

Solid Snake Joins the Brawl! (June 9, 2006) When Nintendo announced Super Smash Brothers Brawl, fans were astonished most of all by the news that Solid Snake (from the Metal Gear Solid series) would be joining the battle.

Solid Snake: the protagonist of the Metal Gear Solid series. A soldier who specializes in sneaking missions. In Brawl, Snake gets his Sneaking Suit from Metal Gear Solid 2, and his looks from Metal Gear Solid 3.

Even though it was E3, it was a huge surprise and the crowd went nuts. Right from the start, when we showed the video, the cheers in the theater were deafening! I wish you could have heard them.

A character from an outside company was joining the Smash roster, previously comprised only of Nintendo characters! If Snake was in, then perhaps other outside characters could be included too. But while the barrier was indeed broken, that didn’t mean that anyone and everyone would be added to Smash as well.

Snake’s inclusion began when Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima came to me around the time Melee was being completed, and asked, “Please put Snake in!” That was the real trigger that started everything. However, we couldn’t bring Snake into the world of Smash Bros. with just Mr. Kojima’s and my wishes. We needed the cooperation of both Nintendo and Konami, and the approval of other people involved in order to make it happen.

Said plainly, Snake in Smash Bros. would have to be able to do things he couldn’t normally do. For example, in the Metal Gear Solid games, Snake doesn’t jump. He doesn’t have Smash attacks, and there are no midair battles. However, it wouldn’t be Smash Bros without those elements, so we developed certain moves just for him. Also, we could incorporate heavy weapons like bombs and rocket launchers as jokes, but things like knives, automatic weapons, and realistic guns were off-limits. Since this also affected the other characters, even though I decided on Snake myself, I needed to receive permission from their original creators.

Heavy Weapons: Even though they have explosive effects, they are not too violent or realistic, and the weapons still stay true to their original designs.

Other characters have also received this treatment for the sake of the game. Fox normally pilots aircraft; he doesn’t become a fiery blaze or zoom through the air. The “Falcon Punch” also makes you think, “Huh? Where did that come from?” (although it does appear in the last episode of the F-ZERO anime…) For the Smash Bros. games, I partly exaggerate and modify things using my imagination. That is, there are moments when I need to slightly remove characters from their original game’s world and rules. For this reason, the above treatment becomes necessary. And after all, the characters are really figurines.

Kojima Productions was tremendously helpful. I thought, “They’re very tight-knit, and that’s the team’s strength.” They were definitely enthusiastic about including Snake in the game.

Smash Bros. is the work of many people, and it uses characters beloved by many fans. That’s why I have to be careful, but on the other hand I also have to make many bold decisions. At the same time, many people are understanding of how I work.

Going back to what I was saying earlier about including other companies’ characters — it’s not my intent to arbitrarily increase the number of third-party representatives. To live up to the series’ standards, I can’t do anything too extreme. But, since Smash is such a rare “festival” of a game, I want to continue to build excitement so that everybody enjoys it. The release date is still far away, but I will keep working hard.

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Looking back on Super Smash Brothers Brawl (2008)

Famitsu Interviewer: In the latest Weekly Famitsu’s Smash Bros. Brawl article, there’s an interview where you talked about your thoughts regarding things like the lyrics to the main theme, but now that I think about it, you’ve already talked about such things in detail here.

Sakurai: I did, didn’t I. (Laughs) In that sense, Smash Bros. Brawl information is always revealed in this column, isn’t it?

Interviewer: I’m thankful for that. (Laughs)

Sakurai: This has been written about before, but in 2006 on the day before E3, at Nintendo’s presentation, Brawl was not mentioned. The next day, after E3 opened, we gathered hundreds of reporters in a private theater and played the video for them. Personally, I wanted to do it in the spacious Kodak Theater, same as Nintendo’s presentation, so that the cheering would be unbelievable…

Famitsu: Right, I see. You personally would have felt much better about it.

Sakurai: But, it’s not like there wasn’t much cheering. Each time a character appeared, there was a big uproar. However, Snake’s appearance was particularly remarkable.

Looking back on Snake in Brawl (2008)

Sakurai: At the time of the presentation, I was waiting in the back of the hall. As I nervously watched the screen, my heart was pounding. Interviewer: That video surprised everyone. I thought, “Is it over?”, but then that familiar codec sound played, and Snake appeared! Sakurai: It was like “WOOOOOO!” (Laughs)

Interviewer: The editorial department was in an uproar.

Sakurai: That’s good to hear. Though, even if there is a sequel, we probably won’t see a surprise of that magnitude again. Because we included Snake, no matter who appears next, the players’ amazement will be slightly tempered, I think.

Interviewer: But even so, for a sequel, there will be endless requests from fans to add certain characters, won’t there?

Sakurai: Yeah, people would probably be glad to see various characters appear… But generally, it will still be mainly Nintendo characters.

Interviewer: Was Mr. Kojima glad that you included Snake?

Sakurai: Yes, he was very appreciative. He played as Snake in the finished game and said, “I really enjoyed that.” Since the fans have also responded well, putting in Snake and Sonic was well worth the effort.