Super Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai has explained the importance of leadership when deciding how to position fighters in the Smash Ultimate trailers.
In a new Famitsu column translated by industry specialists PushDustIn and Robert Sephazon, Sakurai revealed how position is important when creating new fighters like ARMS Min Min.
For example, in ARMS, players use A to control Min Min’s left arm and B for his right, but it is invested in Smash Ultimate. However, when the fighter was first designed, the control scheme matched.
According to Sakurai, the team changed it because many fighters are right-handed and in boxing or other combat sports, it is natural to have your left foot forward.
Many fighters are right-handed, and for those fighters, it is natural to have the left foot forward. There are a lot of reasons for this. As an example, in boxing, the left punch is for fast punches and the right one is for heavy pursuits. pic.twitter.com/rZ6N0SiTWv
– PushDustIn (@PushDustIn) July 29, 2020
“For Min Min, when he is in his inactive posture, his left foot is in front as well as his left arm,” PushDustIn translated for the game director. “From the initial design plan, Min Min was able to change her arm using Her Special Attack (button B). Therefore, she would have changed the ARM that was originally in front.”
As with boxing, it didn’t make much sense for the most powerful punch to be from his left hand, so it was reversed.
Direction is something Sakurai always takes into consideration when designing new Challenger Focus trailers, position on stage, and how characters are first shown to the audience.
Sakurai often has to consider “direction”. For example, when designing plans for the Challenger Approaching trailers, the position on the stage and how the characters will stand when they first appear are important elements to consider. pic.twitter.com/M8NSNgUUys
– PushDustIn (@PushDustIn) July 29, 2020
For Sakurai, these are all “important elements to consider”. An example given by the 49-year-old man was for Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 and how it would be added to Smash. In the game, the former first-class SOLDIER faced the right side, toward the audience.
After imagining how Cloud would stay if his stance changed, Sakurai spoke to Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura and informed him of his vision and got the green light to go ahead and make the change.
“There are a variety of body movements when considering fighting techniques,” Sephazon translated. Interestingly, there is no set rule for characters that have two elements at once.
Sakurai imagined what the game would look like if it turned, and how Cloud would stay. After imagining it, consulting with Tetsuya Nomura and informing her of her vision, Sakurai received her authorization to change her original posture. pic.twitter.com/Na36FFIprq
– Robert Sephazon (@Sephazon) July 29, 2020
According to Sakurai, his reason for this is to explain the “reason” behind the movements and positions of the fighters.
One thing seems to be crystal clear: It takes a lot of effort to make sure something as simple as a battle pose gets the proper treatment from game developers before it’s implemented in Smash.
With five more DLC characters to come in Fighters Pass Volume 2, it will be interesting to see if any of them break the traditional mold and standard that Sakurai has set.
