This is a translation of the foreword Sakurai wrote on the original Smash 64 website that he personally maintained. It’s quite interesting, in my opinion. Check it out!
The purpose of this website is to offer some interesting knowledge and information about some deep topics for the game “Super Smash Bros.”
I’ve received a lot of compliments and positive reviews about this game from many customers, and I’m very happy. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I think I’ve left the gates that guard this game wide open.
As a result, I think that your initial impressions will be that it’s an easy game.
However, the good part of Smash Bros. is that people who learn quickly will be able to effortlessly understand and enjoy the game, while even sharper people will be able to easily dig into the hidden, deeper strategies and play passionately.
(I’m often impressed by the creativity of these people)
However, unless the user works hard on his own, it’s difficult to see those good parts.
It seems there are many people who have a narrow or prejudiced view when they haven’t played the game (or have barely touched it).
And, despite the fact that I left the gates to the game wide open, I do think that playing the game and not noticing these hidden elements is a bit of a shame.
So, I thought that what I should do after releasing this game was to make it possible for people who need it to learn information, find new ways to play, or understand techniques, and so I made this website.
To make it easy to understand, I included a lot of screenshots.
As a result the site may be a little slow at times, so please forgive me.
Also, I might be doing something inefficient or idiotic, but it’s my first time making a website, so please forgive me.
Please look at it with an eye for the long-term.
I made this site so that everybody could learn something from it– the people who say “I’ve never even heard of Smash Bros.,” or for those who can boast “I’ve put in at least 100 hours of versus mode,” or those who complain “I can’t beat 10 seconds in Break the Targets!”– so it’s possible that there are some points where it’s a little too hardcore.
So, if there are parts that you don’t really understand, I ask that you skip the confusing parts– in moderation, of course.
If you grasp how to read and understand it, I don’t think they’re boring…
Also, if you can, I’d like you to share this site with other people who play Smash Bros.
If possible, give them the chance to interact with it directly.
This is really just a free guidebook, so to speak.
I would like as many Smash players to see it as possible.
(Well, it may be too hard for little kids…)
Also, I’m not trying to increase the sales of this game by maintaining this website, so please don’t expect it to act as customer support or anything like that.
By the way, when something is denoted by a capital “F,” that stands for “frame” (1/60th of a second).
Footnotes
1. I went for a fairly literal translation that still gets most of the meaning across metaphorically, but in case it wasn’t clear he’s saying that he believes he made the barrier to entry/threshold quite low.
2. He writes “heavy,” but here he means “slow” or “laggy” in terms of the website being slow to load.
- Sakurai’s Internal Smash for Wii U/3DS Development Notes - June 23, 2017
- Kirby’s Development Secrets - April 19, 2017
- Sakurai Discusses His Game Design Philosophy In a Podcast [2002] - March 28, 2017
It’s so interesting to look back on the old websites and columns, because Sakurai has changed so much over the course of Smash. For example, he says that L-canceling was put into Smash 64 as a useful tool for experienced players, which is something he is very much against today.