Sakurai Discusses The World of Light and Smash Ultimate

Note: Do not repost the full translation. Please use the first two paragraphs, link to this translation, and credit Source Gaming. The following is a selection from Famitsu. This translation is for fan use only, and may not accurately reflect the opinions of Masahiro Sakurai. If you enjoyed this article, I would strongly encourage you to support Sakurai by buying his books. 

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This column will be published just before the release of Smash Bros. Ultimate, so I’ll go into a little detail about what we’ve already revealed and the background behind it!

The Smashing Life

I stopped by while Yoiko was filming an episode of The Smashing Life. Seeing as I’m such a huge fan of Game Center CX, I was thrilled that they were willing to talk about Smash! The show itself was pretty funny, too. The whole presentation will be broken up into a few episodes, so I hope you enjoy the show.

The Main Theme

The main theme you’ve heard in various iterations actually has lyrics. I struggle with the main theme every time, but I realized that if I wanted to surpass the main theme from Smash for, I knew we couldn’t do the exact same thing. That’s why I decided early on to use the power of song.

Our vocalist was Erina Koga–and she was only a 17-year-old amateur at the time of recording! The composer, Hideki Sakamoto, recommended her to me. She was featured on a televised singing contest and hearing her ageless voice was the deciding factor. Despite the difficult key, she handled the song beautifully. I look forward to what she will do in the future.

Why Kirby Survived

All the fighters perish at once in “World of Light,” but there wouldn’t be much of a story if one of them didn’t survive. So why did I choose Kirby? “It must be because you created the Kirby series!” …I thought you might say that. But from a game design perspective, and based on process of elimination, Kirby was the obvious choice.

We needed a solid, convincing reason for why said character could outrun Galeem. All fighters possessing “normal” abilities were immediately disqualified. Given that its assault enveloped the ends of the galaxy, only a vehicle that could defy the laws of physics would work. Even short-distance teleportation wouldn’t be enough.

Some of you may have forgotten, but Kirby’s Warp Star has been able to, y’know, warp since his very first game. That alone made him a pretty solid contender. The only other two fighters that could have survived would have been Bayonetta or Palutena. That said, Bayonetta’s enemies from Purgatorio (a hellish other world) were turned into Spirits, so it wouldn’t have made sense for her to escape. Other divine beings like Hades were also turned into Spirits, so there was no way Palutena could have survived, too.

Plus, it would have been difficult to use Bayonetta or Palutena as the starting character. The first character players try has to be simple and easy to use. As you may have seen in The Smashing Life, Kirby was voted as the character they should play first. I really had no other choice than Kirby.

Reading Backward…?

“If you read World of Light (Tomoshibi/Bika no Hoshi) backward, it reads Kirby of the Stars (Hoshi no Kabi)”…but it’s just a coincidence. I noticed it, of course, but it’s not like I wanted to write a story about Kirby. It’s just that he’s the first character you play as. Feel free to switch to a different fighter whenever you see fit.

Advanced Spirit:

When players boot up Smash Ultimate for the first time, they will receive one Advanced Spirit. Seeing which character is selected out of all the Spirits is part of the fun.

Patch First

We will distribute our first update on launch day. Players who purchased the digital version don’t need to worry, but players who purchased the physical version should apply this day-one patch before you play. This will also prevent your replays from going off-track. By the way, if you save your replays as videos, you can keep them forever, but note that they take up a lot of space!

Speaking of which, I don’t have any space left in this column, so I hope you enjoy the game!

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