The Team Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl [Grab Bag] 

Iwata recruiting Sakurai like he's Nick Fury is hilarious.

Hearing about the development side of such monumental games is always fascinating

5:09 I love how the team is presented like the Brawl characters in that iconic cutscene.

Imagine being surprised by your own game's announcement

This story is actually crazy. We may think Mr. Iwata forced a step on the franchise, but in retrospect it's a step that leads to a leap we now know.

This sentence about Sakurai not currently knowing who could take the reins of Smash hit me a bit, and I hope he does not feel trapped in this series much, knowing how varied he likes his projects to be. But if I was him, I would not be too worried. Just on the Nintendo side, successors rise eventually: from Miyamoto to Koizumi for Mario, from Miyamoto to Aonuma to Fujibayashi for Zelda, from Sakurai to Kumazaki for Kirby... Someone could come out eventually to take something like Smash, and even if it does not have a certain Sakurai touch, it could still turn out very good!

Man, hearing this story makes me miss Mr. Iwata. What a great individual he was.

Just wanted to chime in and say 5:08 is genius on the editors' part, and made me burst out in laughter. I think not enough credit is given to them with how nicely these videos flow, so well done!

I've heard this story a million times before, but now being told by Sakurai himself in one of his videos is just incredible. Even though I knew it was real, it feels like a legend coming true.

And just like that, Sakurai said it again “anyone who thinks can take the throne, then be my guest.” Also, the fact Iwata and Sakurai had a “I am putting together a special team” moment is just too unreal.

Of course Sakurai of all people can just casually namedrop Eiji Aonuma 😂

I remember making a stage called "King DeeDeedee's revenge" in the stage builder, after absolutely losing horribly against my cousins as king DeeDeedee, it would eventually become one of my favorite childhood moments, along with many more just from the game alone, so thank you Sakurai, for not only making this franchise, introducing me to many obscure Nintendo characters, but for also making my childhood a good one :)

Iwata told Sakurai to make Super Smash Bros. Ultimate before he died, He would be very proud of the game success The fact that Nintendo mentioned Iwata in the credit scene of the Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sakurai mentioning him is proof that Nintendo still cares about his legacy and never died with him.

It's something I'd never considered... Since Sakurai's been freelance for the last three Smash games and assembled original teams each time, there's nobody else with his experience on the series. Most studios have people in the wing who can take up directorial roles, but it makes sense that wouldn't be the case for Smash.

Bless the video editor for making the Brawl intro with the staff

Mr. Iwata was like: "I'm here to talk to you about The Brawl Initiative"

I'm really proud to say that Brawl was my introduction to the series and the whole Nintendo world. I remember spending hours on the Wii in the Nintendo Channel watching all the trailers and tutorials from the game, you can't imagine the joy when I finally bought the game! Thanks for your work!

Idk why but I just got the thought of Sakurai announcing a new smash in the works on this channel and then it turns into like, weekly development vlogs with interviews and more, would be cool but could never happen

I love how he made the dev team coming together analogous to the fighters in Brawl coming together lol.

Always great to hear about the development side of games from Masahiro Sakurai.

it's always interesting/funny to find out when creators etc. find out about projects they're supposed to be apart of when the audience finds out. I've seen it in music. RIP Iwata, you were/are a real one. Game Arts also was part of the lunar series (RIP Working desgins)!

That's cool that you pitched the character design to each person individually

The recreation on the Brawl Opening at 5:09 makes me want a Smash Bros but with the Dev Team's Miis

I'm not done the video yet, but I picked up on something around 3:30-3:35 that kind of blew me away and made me sit for a moment. Sakurai reads this incredibly flattering and emotional quote from Eiji Aonuma talking about how amazing and incredible he is and that Smash Bros wouldn't be worth making without him and it's just so sweet and touching I'm sitting here thinking "wow, I'd be in tears right now" but no. That's not how Sakurai internalizes it. There's no "awww he really likes me" moment or thought process at all - he just immediately goes to the mindset of "he's right, this is my duty". Sakurai has the heart of of hero and I'm just so blown away by him with every video.

It would be wise if Sakurai began grooming a successor or two to take the reins eventually, allowing Sakurai to act in an advisory role so a new generation can lead the series...

im so glad sakurai has gotten to the point in his career that he can talk about all of this like a legend in and of itself, theres a reason hes the game designer i look up to!

Gigachad right here! This story is a real epic one, its crazy! Should deserve one of the crucial and important video game storys in history.

I LOVE THIS VIDEO LOL

Rest in peace Mr. Iwata

This story almost made me cry, Iwata truly IS a great man, even though he doesn't walk among us anymore.

It still feels weird to imagine the future after Super Smash Bros Ultimate honestly.

It really is pretty wild to think that a game as massive as Brawl only had about 4 months of pre-production, from June 2005 to October 2005. Just about a 3rd of a year to assemble a development team, come up with most of the game design, and presumably begin creating early drafts of the story for Subspace is a pretty short time to get all of that done.

The thumbnail made me shed tears... Thank you Mr. Iwata.

This story hits differently with Sakurai telling it directly to us. He is very proud of his team and the results.

I like the cute art and animation when Sakurai is being asked to make a new Smash game. He’s such an interesting guy towards many of us, the fans and his dev team! 😅

Loved seeing the thumbnail of Iwata in this cute SD form and how his legacy still carries on to this day. 😭

Sakurai, train a successor! I love the shot of the dev staff on the cliff from the intro. That's such a great touch! Props to the animators!

Smash Bros. is just an overall massively important game franchise period. It isn't just the gameplay itself, it's also the way it brings people all over the world together, introducing them to franchises through character moves and abilities, as well as all the content that's not in the main gameplay loop. Take Lucas for example. At the time of launch, I don't think as many people knew about him until Brawl released. Melee was what put Fire Emblem on my radar. Smash Bros. is the ultimate collab.

I think a lot of people are of the same mindset: that even if Sakurai were to return to Smash Bros., they would MUCH rather see him make something else first.

I also agree with Iwata's vision. So probably the most logical thing to do would, in fact, be Iwata's "plan B". _- "Release the last game again, but with new characters and features, keeping the rest unchanged"_ Much like they're doing with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I suppose. "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe" or something

Masahiro "Literally Couldn't Make This Game Without Me" Sakurai

The art and editing for this video is absolutely top-notch!

I'll say that no matter what, I'll always respect Sakurai as a creator and how he chooses to apply the teachings Iwata gave him. In regards to Smash though, my worst nightmare would be Sakurai feeling confined to be the only one to head a Smash project, especially since developing these games requires a lot. In my heart, I would always love to have another Smash game, but if it came down to it, I think having Ultimate be the final entry would be perfectly fine. It's brought so much to us from release until now, and I have trouble imagining how it would go if you constantly tried to replicate that every time. I think ultimately the decision to continue lies in Sakurai's hands, and whether or not he wants to put the series to rest for the sake of newer projects is a decision I'll support either way.

I think an interesting topic Sakurai can delve into is FPS games. For example, in a Famitsu column, Sakurai brought up how the appeal for that genre is that it makes the gamer feel immersed.

This man is so cool. I have always loved smash since that very first commercial with the mascots fighting in an open field. Pikachu and Mario in the same game! All of it culminating in Sora shaking hands with Mario is still my favorite moment in gaming history. I don’t think we will ever have another Smash game as special as this one.

I really enjoy these. Thank you for taking the time for all of us.

I'll be happy to see whatever you produce in the future. Whether it's Smash Bros., or something else - there's a core identity to your games that just makes it so fun. And thanks to this video series, we get a better understanding of just what makes that identity!

Wow thank you so much Sakurai for all of your work and attention to detail to make the games so many of us love

Haven’t watched your videos in sometime! Glad to see you’re still passionate as ever in making your videos. The development of Brawl was very interesting and always made me look back in awe as I look back on the newcomers for the game. You’re a very amazing game developer and your involvement in the Super Smash Bros series shows how well you take at directing big games such as Brawl and even Ultimate! Hope you’re doing well and I wish you the best!

This was an awesome journey and history through all this years, thank you sakurai

That was a wonderful behind the scenes look at the development. Thank you for sharing!

I’m so grateful for him deciding to work on brawl. I have had so much fun making stages, playing with my brothers and friends all night. Thank you for the memories

Thank you, mr. Sakurai. Smash ultimate really made me happy. It's an excelent game that I'd find very difficult to surpass or top. Your attention to detail can be seen everywhere in the game and the overall experience is great. Even if smash ultimate is the last smash, thank you dearly

Thanks for sharing that story of blackmail with us! It was very touching, and one of my favorites!

It's interesting to hear that neither Sakurai nor us know the future of Smash

I loved the animation of the story

Your hard work is appreciated. I really enjoyed brawl back in the day so your work has had a huge impact on me.

Masahiro tells Nintendo if he wants to work with them, not the other way around, that's a power that only few humans got.

Thank you Sakurai for this video. It was really enlightening !

This is such a good video I had to replay so many parts because I was so intrigued

That Video was beautiful. Thank you Mr. Sakurai :)

Imagining where Super Smash Bros would go after _Ultimate_ is difficult to imagine. I don't imagine anything like that would be possible in the future, especially with all of the third party IP. I'm sure there will be more games in the series, but I don't think we'll be able to see such a roster ever again.

i absolutely love the recreation of the cliff scene from brawl

I know other people also pointed this out but Iwata casually recruited Sakurai to form the developers' Avengers for the game lmao

It goes to show how much Iwata trusted Sakurai: wanting him for Smash despite going freelance and his input on the 3DS that he mentioned in the Game Concept of Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Ouch, the story is more intense than I thought. Thanks for sharing this Mr Sakurai!

Thank you for everything that you've done

Just shows the huge amount of respect both Mr.Iwata and Eiji Aonuma had for Sakurai. ❤👍

Mr. Iwata really did chose the right dialogue options with you, Mr. Sakurai. I am really grateful for what you did for the series and I do wish for you to continue working on it, but at the same time, I know you can do more games beyond Smash. No matter what your next project is, I'll definitely look forward to it!

I think this is my favourite Sakurai video! Hearing this whole story from the source is so awesome and quite honestly, it got me emotional to think such an important game for that introduced me to so many franchises over the years might not have been made the way it ended up being made 😊 thank you Sakurai 🙏

And thats exactly the reason why Tabuu controls with chains the master hand, Iwata being Tabuu forcing Sakurai doing Smash Brawl and Sakurai being Master Hand

The "massive game" Sakurai mentions Game Arts having finished is likely Grandia III, originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005.

Brawl was my favorite game growing up. My friends would come over to my house to play after school and we would play for hours. This game allowed me and my friends to make a lot of great memories, so thank you for doing such a great job!

This must be an extremely uncomfortable position to not be able to just rest and be proud of your past work, always being pushed to produce a sequel, knowing that your creation will go on with or without you. But at the same time, this means you produced something of such value that you cannot keep it to yourself, so this is something Mr. Sakurai can be proud of.

Mr sakurai i want yo to say thank you for you HARD work to make the smash series a big one, i still play the 64 and the ultimate version they are all just so good, thank you in the name of all the community

Sakurai - I remember following Smash Bros Dojo when you were developing Brawl. I woke up and checked it every day, and was almost offended when there were not updates, but it holds a special place in my heart. When I turned the game on the first time and heard that swoosh and punching/impact sound, I was giddy and so excited. We all know how much love you put into these games and we all appreciate it. Thank you so much for your work.

I really appreciate the openness of this discussion. As much as I want Sakurai to have the freedom not to shackle himself to this series, I know that by the next generation of Nintendo hardware, fans will be begging for another Smash Bros, and it's difficult to imagine something that wouldn't disappoint them if Sakurai wasn't involved. I trust his judgement, and whatever the next title will be, I'm sure it'll be the best it can, given the surrounding situation.

This is one of the coolest episodes yet

Cool stuff I like the backstory. Looking forward to the new one at some point!

Daaaaang that’s a good story. I’m so glad Sakurai is still willing to work with Nintendo, I hope he’s done with smash bros. But only because I hope we get to see a new all original Sakurai game some day. I feel like the series is holding him back a bit honestly. He’s so creative and original and smash bros just is what it is and can’t change a whole lot without upsetting people.

One of my favorite memories as a child was waiting for the midnight launch of Smash Bros Brawl. We all dressed up as the characters, we had a Smash tournament with Melee at our local Game Crazy (it was an old video game store), and we got the game at midnight, got home, and fell asleep playing it at around 3am. Best memory ever of my childhood

It can not be overstated how good the thumbnail is for this video! It's a cartoon depiction of my third favorite story about Masahiro Sakurai!

Sakurai-san words at the end of this video are very heavy knowing that the Switch 2 is getting more closer than we think since devkits rumors started to appear.

The people on the cliff is an awesome reference

so amazing! thank you sakurai! amazing sakurai!

Mr Iwata ❤❤ 🥺🥺🥺

I love watching these videos and learning about the inner workings of game devs. Sakurai you are an amazing man and a hard worker and it's unreal to see you look so good and healthy for your age when I'm sure there's was loads of stress involved in the creation of these games. As for the future of smash I'm not really where it would go after ultimate. My only guess would to be a series reboot, because everyone knows It wont ever match the content SSBU had. Regardless of what happens I think 40 years from now we'll still be playing these games

I love how it’s stated “opinion as of 2023 video” basically saying don’t be upset if he changes his mind.

banger vid as always mr sakurai :)

I really liked the drawings for Satoru Iwata and Eiji Aonuma in this video. Great work by the artist!

This was the most interesting video so far in this channel. I can't imagine how the series will go on without Sakurai, or even if it is necessary to have another smash after Ultimate.

In retrospect, that had to be a humbling and gratifying experience. To have someone you may have looked up to state clearly that they could not see how the series you helped create could continue without you. I would think that's the highest praise from one game dev to another

that was quite mean of iwata to have sprung that on you like that, i didn't know he was capable of such a thing

Thinking about what would the future of Smash after Ultimate is... concerning. At one hand, it's nice to see that the series is going strong, but on the other hand, without the supervisor of the man who invented the series, it's scary how they may went in the future.

It's amazing hearing more about what Iwata's done in the past. His push for Sakurai to make Super Smash Bros Brawl, lead to an incredible game that would gain a following on our love for bringing people together! ^^

I just want you to know all the hard work everyone puts in is extremely appreciated. I'm in my mid-30s now, but I still look back at my days of high school. Just sitting around playing Super Smash Bros with all my school friends. How much fun we all had, and wishing I could go back for one day to spend more time with them all. Games like Smash Bros bring joy to people and create bonds that last a lifetime.

Thank you to all the brawl Smash X team. I have good memories about the game I’ll never ever forget.

the ending of this video has kind of convinced me that we’re going to be waiting a WHILE until the next game, probably the end of the decade if we’re being generous

Ty for giving an insight on how you go on It personally, shows your human side and it’s nice to remind us you are all human … very talented and unique specially on the Nintendo side. Nothing short of a miracle that such a company like Nintendo exists, we gamers won the lottery with you

I don’t think I’ve ever been as hyped for a game as I was with Brawl. I was checking the Dojo site for updates every day at school during my study hall period. It’s wild to know that it almost didn’t happen (at least with Sakurai at the helm)