June 8, 2021|

Filed under: Featured, Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Translation

Sakurai’s E3 2001 Report

Brando here with a translation from the official Melee website. The original Japanese page is here. Thanks to PushDustIn for checking!

E3 Report

Page last updated 8 June 2001

This is E3, the world’s largest trade show for games and electronic entertainment devices.

It’s said that success or failure during the year-end shopping season is linked to the amount of attention received here.

And here, people will play the new Smash game for the first time ever.

The LA Convention Center and I.

I wasn’t part of the exhibition staff so I had it relatively easy, but I did take care of some supporting tasks. For example, I was making adjustments to the game until the day before, I brought the game ROM to the convention center directly from the airport, and I explained various things about Smash to the booth staff that would be helping attendees.

The stillness before opening…

Five minutes after opening. Whoa.

There was a long line of people waiting to try and win a Game Boy Advance by roulette*.

Honestly, that was probably the most popular attraction.

*Translator’s Note: It was a one-in-ten chance, according to this firsthand account from Nintendo World Report: https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/1876/a-tale-of-three-e3s-e3-2001-the-planet-and-the-cube

A puppet Mario was making announcements. On the third day, Wario took his place.

But of course, there was a great deal of interest in the Gamecube area.

Nintendo’s booth occupied the largest space out of all the companies in attendance.

Luigi’s Mansion, Pikmin, and Smash were playable, across 13 demo machines on the show floor plus 2 more backstage.

I think these three titles had the largest number of demo machines per title out of all the games at E3.

It was kinda like this…

Though the wall of people makes it impossible to tell.

There was music from a variety of video games playing in the event hall, but Smash Bros. tracks from Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, F-Zero, Pokemon, and others were used in abundance.

Smash was probably the perfect game for this kind of show.

Nintendo characters appeared on the overhead screens. Smash was used a lot here as well.

On the wall above the demo machines, there was also a demo video on display.

We worked hard to create this video, but unfortunately it couldn’t be seen clearly and the sound wasn’t audible. There were still an awful lot of people capturing it on camera though.

Cameras pointed upwards.

In Smash, four people can battle at once, so three-minute rounds should keep guests flowing through at a good pace, while still letting them play a decent amount… At least, that’s how it was supposed to be. But, there were some guests who waited in line and still couldn’t get their hands on it.

Well, let’s check out the people who are playing it.

I was relieved to find that Smash really is enjoyed by many people around the world.

There weren’t too many Japanese people there, but there were a lot of people who had clearly played (and really gotten into) the previous game.

Players didn’t seem to have much trouble adjusting to the new controller either.

A scene from one of the battles. How have they already mastered new techniques that haven’t even been revealed yet?

However, pleeeeease stop beating the snot out of people who have obviously never played before!

My apologies to the beginners out there.

I actually wanted players to experience the single-player and other modes as well, but due to the large crowds, pretty much all of the demo machines became used for multiplayer VS battles.

There was originally only one machine for 4-player use (plus two more backstage), so I requested to get more controllers available for the second and third days.

A backstage room. It felt like an underground fight club.

On the second day, there were some players who used their characters so well that it made me think, “You’ve really been playing this game a lot, haven’t you?”

Although, character abilities and properties will go through some drastic changes from here.

A replica of the Gamecube logo.

I had fun walking around and checking out the other parts of E3 this year, but I got worn out faster than I usually do, maybe due to overwork.

(After walking around for a while I found myself having to sit down and rest a lot.)

However, when I see people playing Smash, it fills me with motivation.

I saw all sorts of people who had never played before yelling in excitement and laughing at mishaps, getting surprised by new stages and characters, mastering various techniques, and having a good time.

I feel lucky to be making this game.

Smash has no borders.

I think it’s easy to misunderstand the design of Smash, so to be honest, I was worried about how the game would be received outside of Japan.

But when I heard from people of all backgrounds about how much they played the previous game, or when I asked players how they felt about Smash, their answers hit me right in the heart. Those moments were really meaningful.

These 3 days gave me a renewed determination to keep doing my best, for all of these people.