Sakurai is for me the real successor of Iwata-san. If Iwata-san was still alive (fuck, I'm crying now), I'm pretty sure he would be doing something like this channel, or even appearing here... I miss him so much...
To think Sakurai still had footage of the prototype is mind blowing. We had no idea how the characters moved. This is massive for people, thanks Sakurai!
Still had footage? Brother, he still has the *_prototype._* Did you see how clear (for a prototype from a game from that time) that footage and audio was?
Sakurai saying “Please take a look” with a big smile knowing what he was about to do gave me a big smile too. The man definitely knows how to excite an audience!
FINALLY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS Never seen footage of Smash Bros original prototype, thank you Sakurai!! Also that RC Robot game looks freaking dope, I wish he could bring that back someday
it just hit me how people like sakurai have some of the most insane lost media gems just sitting in their hard drive. it was great hearing the history of smash bros from sakurai himself for a change!
I think about that all the time with my favourite musicians. They and/or their record labels sit on gold mines of otherwise "lost" music. Some musicians are particularly egregious about this, such as Beck. In fact, he had several unreleased albums burnt down in Universal Studios' fire of 2008, so they'll never see the light of day whether I like it or not.
The story of Sakurai technically unwittingly going behind Nintendo's back to make the Super Smash Bros. prototype never fails to amuse me. For those unfamiliar, Nintendo higher-ups weren't originally a fan of using Nintendo characters, but Iwata believed they'd be convinced once they saw a prototype using Nintendo IP, so he didn't tell Sakurai they disapproved, and they continued work on the prototype using Nintendo characters. From humble beginnings!
But the prototype was shown in this video. It was called Dragon King: Something and did not have any Nintendo characters in it. Did you watch the video?
@@Trimint123 I think I can remember I saw a video of Dragon King footage like back in 2019 but idk if my heads is playing me tricks now. It's currently 3:54 A.M in my place and I can't sleep so yeah, I might be getting crazy due to lack of sleep TwT
This guy really just showed a whole minute and a half of never before seen footage of an ancient Lost Media piece searched by many people for YEARS and just moved on like it was nothing lmao i love this man so much
Man, seeing all of this behind-the-scenes footage and documents is _insane_ from a historic/preservation perspective. It's wild listening to Sakurai talk about how he came up with the basic ideas behind what Smash would represent way back in '96, especially now that we've seen "platform fighters" grow into a genre all its own. Like...Sakurai _invented_ platform fighters and we get to hear him talk about it like this. Incredible.
AKSHUALLY there was a fighting game released befofe Smash Bros that had people foghting from a 2D view where characters ran around large arenas with various gimmicks and blasted each othef apart with various weapon items that spawned onto the arena. This was a late 1994 game by Namco, and while ot was very obscure Sakurai has shown he knows almost EVERY game ever, so he might have taken inspiration from it... but he's never spoken of it that I know, and Smash Bros is WAY more melee-focused than the firearms-focused Outfoxies, so he definitely became the trendsetter, and possibly did it without influence... but he wasn't the first inventor here.
@@juanrodriguez9971 We are lucky enough to have gotten this much media in the first place, playable protos is a leap I think is still too far for developers (specially Nintendo). We will get there though, companies are slowly becoming candid about stuff from behind the scenes.
Seeing the Dragon King footage actually in motion was crazy. With how tall and slender those models were, I can absolutely see how many of the moves shown ended up being an amazing basis for Captain Falcon. Great video!
That Dragon King demo is probably the most interesting bit of Behind the Scenes I've seen in a long time. It's honestly interesting to think how far it's come, especially since it's got most fundamentals that Smash would later have. It's kind of tragic that a lot of projects were canned during that period, especially the N64DD projects and that Mother 3 was being developed at the time. It's interesting to think what would've happened if HAL kept to other projects at the time, but considering how hectic the overall development cycle for the N64 was at the time, I think everything turned out for the best on the whole.
Projects get canceled constantly in the game industry. You just don't know about them. Similarly tons of features and ideas get cut from games all the time people don't know about. And the games industry keeps it that way on purpose. Because when gamers learn what was cut, they get upset. Cyberpunk is a good example of that. Past the buggy release people are often really upset about the cut features. I'm not, because I know that kind of thing is absolutely normal. Their mistake wasn't cutting the features, it was being too open with their plans with the customer and letting them know about features that were not for sure finalized yet. Because gamers do not understand game development. Source: I've been video game QA for years, though I knew most of this before then even.
@@Ralathar44 I miss how pre release media used to consist of wonky early builds because developers and publishers didn't give it a second thought, it's what gave birth to the prototype video games community. Gamers who became enamored with this area of gaming became preservationists, thanks to their efforts publishers are beginning to share and archive vital video game history. Will a new generation be inspired to document development history without seeing the cut content (or sometimes entire games) they didn't get to play? What's left in a release build is usually quite limited. Ideally publishers should be working with the public to preserve this material, Nintendo is known to have lost parts of their records despite having one of the better track records for preservation.
I’m sure the CGI artists like me are LOVING that he referenced Softimage. Anyone who doesn’t know, it was one of the first, if not THE first 3D program to really get an intuitive and artistic workflow more than the incredibly technical approach that was used for a while. It was eventually discontinued when it was bought out by the major competitor. It has been used for TONS of 90s and 2000s shows, games, and movies and while many programs now like Maya and Blender have adopted many of its features and have likely even surpassed it at this point, plenty of people remember it fondly and miss it A TON
@@protocetid well that too. SGI was very common back then, but I was merely referring to Softimage itself Also, older Blender although functional and 3D modeling, was NOT intuitive to many. Of course plenty still trudged through and learned it, but it wasn’t as intuitive for a long time compared to others on the market. Of course now things have changed though and it’s incredible
@@professorhazard yup! And tbf others can now as well but for a time it was cool to see that versatility It could make the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park to these stick figures in the Smash Prototype, to tbh 95% of n64 games, to Jar Jar Binks and the CGI of the controversial Star Wars special editions and even the Legos in the Lego Movie(maybe the last major production to use it I think)
Ah, this is the one I've been waiting for. After working on so many videos that detailed the history of Super Smash Bros. and the original prototype of "Dragon King," it's very exciting to see Mr. Sakurai himself discuss it, let alone show gameplay of the prototype! Thank you Mr. Sakurai for helping game preservation and documentation, and thank you for finally explaining everything directly to the audience!
I recall an interview where Sakurai said that part of his beginner-friendly approach to Smash (i.e. elements of improvisation, deemphasis on command inputs) was his experience playing King of Fighters '95 at arcades: he played the game so much, and got so good at it, that he ended up accidentally beating his less-experienced opponents to the point that they couldn't even play the game.
3:55 This speaks to me on a deep personal level. Sakurai and their team gets it. They know the players level of rage and frustration in that single moment and it can't be understated enough.
Sakurai especially gets it bc he's done this before. He's said on his column he once destroyed someone in a fighting game at an arcade. When he looked around the cabinet, he saw his opponent was someone who was a beginner and didn't have much game experience in general. iirc, he was afraid a moment like that would discourage people from trying the game again and he kept that in mind when making Smash Bros., which is why it's so accessible.
"Characters like this often have the greatest potential for those that put in the effort". That Yoshi bio was spot on right from the beginning. And man did it take a lot of effort. Congratulations on the win Amsa!!
Agreed, on top of that, I love that I can pick any of the now 80+ characters and not have to relearn how to play the damn game each time. The inputs are all the same, so it's just the outcome that changes and not the method.
@@VonFirflirch Yes! Traditional fighting games are honestly terrible for new players and gatherings since it relies on you having practiced a lot with at least one character to know their moveset for one. That's great for competitive fine, but for the average player, it's off-putting. I like Sakurai's approach to trying to give players more options to play how they want.
Absolutely love Sakurai’s point at 3:33. Before fighting game devs figured out things like damage scale or combo breakers, combos straight up broke fighting games. They remained prevalent for looking cool, but in a way probably contributed to fighting games becoming so niche. It just seems silly that an attacker’s reward for one good read is eliminating half of the victim’s health bar (or more). There’s little/no opportunity for comebacks/reactions: it is essentially the first hit that determines the win, like many COD-like braindead online shooters today. Props to Sakurai for dropping knowledge like this. Something looking cool/hype =/= good game design.
The simple directional inputs for a variety of attacks also reminds me of how Sakurai handled Kirby's abilities in Kirby Super Star. The game introduced movesets to the series which would later finally return in more recent Kirby 2D games. Also it's cool how this was Sakurai's other passionate creation he wanted to make. RIP 🙏 to Iwata who helped.
Smash 64 is a very special game to me. my older cousin would play this game with me when we were kids, he was like an older brother to me. he'd be about 5 years older than me today, I miss him
It's honestly incredible that the "Dragon King" prototype is still out there and new footage was recorded for this series. Also, when talking about complicated button inputs, I was legit thinking of Geese's "pretzel-stick" Raging Storm when Sakurai just showed it on screen lol
It's incredible to watch the footage of the Dragon King prototype and recognize how much they incorporated it into Smash. For example, one of the fighters in Dragon King uses Captain Falcon's chain of punches when you tap the A button, along with his aerial Up + A (backflip kick). Really cool to see!
Pretty sure that the whole moveset from the Dragon King fighters went to Captain Falcon. Because before this he was never playable in anything outside of his car in his games. So technically Sakurai self made one of most iconic characters of the franchise himself.
That dragon king footage is incredible!! It’s so nice to finally see it. Also it’s funny seeing that name get used. It’s a literal translation of the city, it’s interesting that it stuck around.
This game sounds like a thing some random Nintendo fan would turn into a flash game,but now that Nintendo turned it into a actual first party game and turned it into one of the biggest franchise that Nintendo has to offer makes it wholesome that the concept now gets to shine and I am very grateful for it 😊
@@craigmoon2121 AYE! Super smash bros. for 3DS should be noted for being the first portable version of the series(That and adding Smash Run which could of been better but was a cool new mode!!!) So can’t wait for him to go over it
@@craigmoon2121 Given this is a series about development insights I wouldn't count anything out by taste. I think there would be a LOT to hear about the transition from Brawl on the Wii to simultaneous development on two consoles
KOF and SNK fighters were some of Sakurai's primary motivations for coming up with Smash to begin with. He wanted to create a fighter that was easy to get into, but with enough depth and staying power to keep people hooked.
That is sakurai's greatest strength we see through these videos, as a big fighting game fan he knows how important inputs are but he really takes the shoes of the players, and what is fun for a player immediately.
@@skeith804 this. Given all the crazy choices people like to talk about on twitter and the like, its clear that the snk fighter (could have been anyone of the 4 guys on the trailer) was 100% HIS pick, the one HE wanted in.
Seeing lost footage of prototypes is something I wish more devs did. I wish Nintendo did that more too. This is the preservation of history as well as how the industry grew over the years. Seeing stuff that didn’t make the cut is just as important as stuff that did.
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 True! A little bit beside the point here, but true. Although I only recall the GSC Kanto problem an example, off the top of my head. Either way, Iwata's work and contribution was unquestionably impressive.
@@laggalot1012 He also had to redone the whole combat coding for Pokémon to make it work, which was firstly seen in Pokémon Stadium Zero (the first Pokémon Stadium in Japan. The international PokéStadium1 was Japanese PokéStadium2). I know its beside the point, but I wanted to point it out haha. I love Iwata, to be frank.
When he revealed the prototype I got excited. Who would say that we can finally see the gameplay footage from the beta after too many years, thanks Sakurai.
Man I remember seeing the commercial for this together with my siblings and we were all blown away at what we were looking at! The game that started it all! And actual footage of the prototype fighting game too! To think how it started and what it turned into, truly amazing!
Who imagined which that Dragon King demo would ended up on one of the best fighting games franchises of the game industry? Simply amazing to know and think about. Very inspiring! Thank you, master Sakurai.
Smash 64 introduced me to a variety of new series when I was a young child and I played it with my auntie back in the early 2000s. Thanks Mr Sakurai for the good memories!
Was waiting for this, since Dragon King was already well known and there was potential for Sakurai to elaborate more on it. Can't wait for the Melee development video as well.
Wow, people are going crazy to see actual footage of the prototype. Shows how little we actually knew about the thing. Can't wait for Melee, personally.
What a nice video. Sakurai is breaking down those complex and lengthy processes with such ease and charme, the man is truly a legend. And the part where he mentioned Iwata was really wholesome, when you think where both of their careers took them and how early Iwata had to leave us.
The fact that Mr. Sakurai showed us the early prototype for Smash Bros. is really incredible to see. It's cool to see actual footage of the game where we were left with just screenshots of.
Most important, the madman still has the prototype, that's unheard for most japanese developers, god knows what unnanounced ttles he has in his collection.
I've been playing Smash Bros. since it released on N64. Back then, seeing Ness as a character blew my mind. I was the only one of my friends who knew him, but they all played Earthbound after seeing Ness in action. Fast forward to Ultimate and Joker's inclusion introduced me to Persona, which is one of my absolute favorite titles now. Not to mention Terry, Cloud, Sephiroth, Kazuya, and many more of my all time favorite characters being represented. Imagine if the sales team had won the argument and Smash Bros. had never existed... what a dark world that'd be for gamers.
Seeing gameplay footage of the Smash 64 prototype was amazing. It's a highlight of the channel for me so far, along with seeing Sakurai's posed figure sheets for Ultimate.
A simple little concept and prototype, but the very beginning of what became one of the best fighting game series of all time. It became what it did thanks to innovation and risks being taken, something that is rarely seen with video game (or really any type of media) developers these days. What more can I say, other than "Wow! Incredible!"
i can never be grateful enough for the creation of smash bros, it's by far my favorite fighting game, and one of my favorite franchises to ever exist... it has brought endless fun to my life, and i can't thank you enough, sakurai-san. どうもありがとうございます!
One of my favorite games growing up and it's aged beautifully. Sign of a great designer is that each Smash game feels unique when playing, each with their own charms.
I remember seeing this game many times at the local video/game rental store as a child. It blew my mind that so many familiar faces were on the cover. I was only allowed to rent games when my parents were busy during the weekend, so when the next opportunity to pick a game came up, I already knew I wanted to play it. At first I was disappointed. I hadn't played many fighting games, as I was a little young to play violent games and in general they didn't appeal to me. I didn't understand it was a fighting game, and I thought the game would allow me to move in full 3d, not just display 3d characters. I didn't understand game genre, and thought all games should aim for full 3d worlds. However, I quickly discovered it was very fun to play with my siblings. We didn't have the game manual, which happened a lot with rental games. So we didn't know about smash moves at first. I remember noticing I would accidently do these weird moves with my character, and eventually figured out I had to slam the stick in a specific timing to get the move to work. I lorded the secret knowledge over my siblings for a while before finally telling them. Eventually we had to take the game back, but we were able to purchase it 2nd hand and it is still one of my favorite games to this day.
If anyone is interested in looking into old history of "Smash-like" fighting games, there was a game in 1990 made by Technos Japan Corp. named Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku which took a slew of characters from their Kunio-kun /River CIty Ransom series of games and pitted them against each other in a few competitive events, including a final event where everyone fought free-for-all (up to 4 players) in a last-man-standing type of match and allowed the players pick up and use or throw weapons at other players. It was created on the existing tech used in the first Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari or River City Ransom and so it plays like a beat-'em-up game in the same vein as the aforementioned games. Technos also made another game using a different engine based on the same property, Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu, in 1992 and that was a pure fighting game instead of being event-based like Koushinkyoku was. This game lets you customize your character and move-set and features numerous stages/arenas with different elevations and sometimes contraptions or traps (electric barriers, conveyer belts, spikes, mines(!) etc.) that can be used against other players. There are no weapons but there are a few pickup types that spawn when defeating an opponent with varying effects, good or bad, when picked up by a player. The story mode is played co-operatively but the Battle Mode is a free-for-all match for up to 4 players. If you have even a passing interest in old 8-bit games and also like Smash Bros. I would recommend checking these out, especially with other players. There was also an old arcade game called Outfoxies that has some Smash-like traits to it as well, but I'm not as familiar with it.
Increasing knockback with damage is such an elegant solution to the combo problem Sakurai described. You become harder to combo the more the opponent hits you, but your opponent is still rewarded for their effort by gaining ground towards victory. Also, increased knockback during the mid-game resets neutral, allowing the losing player to attempt a comeback. Looking at it like this, the rage mechanic makes sense. It doesn't "reward losing" as much as it keeps the ability to win within the loser's grasp.
The combo part actually has a lot of strategy involved in it, you can go for oki, a reset, a combo for damage, corner carry or a side switch. The combo you choose to do or the way you get hit and the type of hit you get to confirm into a combo has a lot of depth and strategy
@@AardappelGames also the attack that connects is what determines the combo its nothing like dbfz where the combo system is so open you can always route into a specific sequence(not saying this approach is bad)
I love it when Mr Sakurai talks Smash Bros! You can really feel the passion he has for the project. In the future if you do release a whole video on projects that don't proceed or dealing with projects that fall through then feel free to dig into the archive and share some never before seen high quality Mother 3 64DD footage. Can you imagine?
3:47 Love how you mentioned this, sir! Been playing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter for a while with my nephew, but he always beats me up so easily! He's too fast clicking buttons and I can barely do anything as well. When we play Smash Bros, though, I have my chances to spotlight and defeat him for once, using improvisation rather than clicking everything
As someone who wants to get into Fighting game development, I found this enlightening sheerly because I love when developers ask the question of how to get out of a combo. And Smash remains one of the most interesting takes on it.
![Too Much is Just Right [Animation]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zNBKzLzDKtM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Too Much is Just Right [Animation]](/img/tr.png)
![Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [Game Concepts]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RDrNWAHaKfI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Super Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U [Game Concepts]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DeLrIXCOUw0/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Team Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl [Grab Bag]](/img/n.gif)
The man just showed some obscure lost media footage like is no big deal, truly an absolute legend
Fucking madman
He truly is one of the best Nintendo developers of all time.
@Quickman 26 I enjoy seeing fellow Just Dance fans comment on different things :)
@@quickman2663 Especially impressive considering he has never actually worked at Nintendo.
Yeah, I was stunned after seeing that footage. Pretty cool.
Also respect to iwata for putting his free time helping you in programming what a great person he was
Sakurai is for me the real successor of Iwata-san. If Iwata-san was still alive (fuck, I'm crying now), I'm pretty sure he would be doing something like this channel, or even appearing here... I miss him so much...
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 same
@@leroiarouf1142 hug me, brother, while we remember Iwata-san 😢
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 No, he wouln't, because he would be a president.
He wasn't putting his free time, wtf? He was a producer in that game lmao
To think Sakurai still had footage of the prototype is mind blowing. We had no idea how the characters moved. This is massive for people, thanks Sakurai!
Still had footage? Brother, he still has the *_prototype._* Did you see how clear (for a prototype from a game from that time) that footage and audio was?
@@Braxeo of course he has it, most devs protect those things with their heart
@@PabloTheDinamic No they don't, losing source code is quite common in the industry, and especially in Japan.
@@somebonehead yeah, Konami knows all about that!
@@somebonehead Apparently Sakurai is the exception, that prototype footage looks crispy af, no way that was recorded in mid 90s
Sakurai saying “Please take a look” with a big smile knowing what he was about to do gave me a big smile too. The man definitely knows how to excite an audience!
He seems like a fun guy
Reminds me of what Iwata would say!
HOLY CRAP, HE ACTUALLY SHOWED THE PROTOTYPE
THIS NEEDS TO BE KNOWN BY EVERYONE
Our very first look footage of the Prototype.😄
I WAS ALSO SHOOK WHEN HE ACTUALLY SHOWED IT
@@Brods11 nah that prototype footage has been out there for nearly as long as youtube has been around
@@LilT2o00 but only screens shots
Bro, I got hyped af when he showed actual footage of Dragon King.
I’ve only of seen the images of the prototype.
FINALLY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
Never seen footage of Smash Bros original prototype, thank you Sakurai!!
Also that RC Robot game looks freaking dope, I wish he could bring that back someday
It seems they made that game, Star Fox Guard.
@@Nekotaku_TV That's what I was thinking. The concept instantly reminded me of that game
@@Nekotaku_TV To me, it looked like a cross between Chibi-Robo and Star Fox Guard.
It looked kinda like Chibi Robo
:)
Dude just drops Dragon King footage casually lmao
This is incredible
Ikr!!!
Sup Cran?
DidYouKnowGaming and other gaming historians are having a field day
@@ArceoInfinity Indeed!!!
I...looked for this prototype for a year...and...he just...he posted it.
it just hit me how people like sakurai have some of the most insane lost media gems just sitting in their hard drive. it was great hearing the history of smash bros from sakurai himself for a change!
I think about that all the time with my favourite musicians. They and/or their record labels sit on gold mines of otherwise "lost" music. Some musicians are particularly egregious about this, such as Beck. In fact, he had several unreleased albums burnt down in Universal Studios' fire of 2008, so they'll never see the light of day whether I like it or not.
The story of Sakurai technically unwittingly going behind Nintendo's back to make the Super Smash Bros. prototype never fails to amuse me. For those unfamiliar, Nintendo higher-ups weren't originally a fan of using Nintendo characters, but Iwata believed they'd be convinced once they saw a prototype using Nintendo IP, so he didn't tell Sakurai they disapproved, and they continued work on the prototype using Nintendo characters. From humble beginnings!
god bless iwata
Sakurai and Iwata were the perfect duo
Crazy to think that if it wasn't for that the series could've never been made
ee err
But the prototype was shown in this video. It was called Dragon King: Something and did not have any Nintendo characters in it. Did you watch the video?
"Yoshi is an unorthodox, unique fighter. Characters like this often have the greatest potential for those willing to put in the effort. "
GG Amsa.
Based
My immediate thought when I saw that panel.
He's also one of the best characters in Smash 64
I thought the exact same thing when I saw that part
The game that started it all.
Also, holy shit. The gameplay footage of the prototype!?
Some of that gameplay has been floating around the internet for years tho
@@gabematamoros0707 Well, only photos for it existed, and that's mostly true.
@@gabematamoros0707 pictures, not actual videos
This is a big surprise for smash history
@@Trimint123 I think I can remember I saw a video of Dragon King footage like back in 2019 but idk if my heads is playing me tricks now. It's currently 3:54 A.M in my place and I can't sleep so yeah, I might be getting crazy due to lack of sleep TwT
This guy really just showed a whole minute and a half of never before seen footage of an ancient Lost Media piece searched by many people for YEARS and just moved on like it was nothing lmao i love this man so much
Man, seeing all of this behind-the-scenes footage and documents is _insane_ from a historic/preservation perspective. It's wild listening to Sakurai talk about how he came up with the basic ideas behind what Smash would represent way back in '96, especially now that we've seen "platform fighters" grow into a genre all its own. Like...Sakurai _invented_ platform fighters and we get to hear him talk about it like this. Incredible.
Imagine if he shared the prototype for everyone to play it, I don't know if he would need to finish some things but it could be great nonetheless
AKSHUALLY there was a fighting game released befofe Smash Bros that had people foghting from a 2D view where characters ran around large arenas with various gimmicks and blasted each othef apart with various weapon items that spawned onto the arena.
This was a late 1994 game by Namco, and while ot was very obscure Sakurai has shown he knows almost EVERY game ever, so he might have taken inspiration from it... but he's never spoken of it that I know, and Smash Bros is WAY more melee-focused than the firearms-focused Outfoxies, so he definitely became the trendsetter, and possibly did it without influence... but he wasn't the first inventor here.
@@juanrodriguez9971 We are lucky enough to have gotten this much media in the first place, playable protos is a leap I think is still too far for developers (specially Nintendo). We will get there though, companies are slowly becoming candid about stuff from behind the scenes.
@@goranisacson2502 well now you know
Seeing the Dragon King footage actually in motion was crazy. With how tall and slender those models were, I can absolutely see how many of the moves shown ended up being an amazing basis for Captain Falcon. Great video!
It looks like they split a few ideas and gave them to other characters too, like Earthquake
It's just that what did you base it on to create his movements if he can barely be seen?
That Dragon King demo is probably the most interesting bit of Behind the Scenes I've seen in a long time. It's honestly interesting to think how far it's come, especially since it's got most fundamentals that Smash would later have.
It's kind of tragic that a lot of projects were canned during that period, especially the N64DD projects and that Mother 3 was being developed at the time. It's interesting to think what would've happened if HAL kept to other projects at the time, but considering how hectic the overall development cycle for the N64 was at the time, I think everything turned out for the best on the whole.
Shigesato Itoi TH-cam channel please to see those M3 protos
Projects get canceled constantly in the game industry. You just don't know about them. Similarly tons of features and ideas get cut from games all the time people don't know about. And the games industry keeps it that way on purpose. Because when gamers learn what was cut, they get upset. Cyberpunk is a good example of that. Past the buggy release people are often really upset about the cut features. I'm not, because I know that kind of thing is absolutely normal. Their mistake wasn't cutting the features, it was being too open with their plans with the customer and letting them know about features that were not for sure finalized yet. Because gamers do not understand game development. Source: I've been video game QA for years, though I knew most of this before then even.
@@Ralathar44 I miss how pre release media used to consist of wonky early builds because developers and publishers didn't give it a second thought, it's what gave birth to the prototype video games community. Gamers who became enamored with this area of gaming became preservationists, thanks to their efforts publishers are beginning to share and archive vital video game history. Will a new generation be inspired to document development history without seeing the cut content (or sometimes entire games) they didn't get to play? What's left in a release build is usually quite limited. Ideally publishers should be working with the public to preserve this material, Nintendo is known to have lost parts of their records despite having one of the better track records for preservation.
It reminds me of Pepsiman.
I’m sure the CGI artists like me are LOVING that he referenced Softimage.
Anyone who doesn’t know, it was one of the first, if not THE first 3D program to really get an intuitive and artistic workflow more than the incredibly technical approach that was used for a while. It was eventually discontinued when it was bought out by the major competitor.
It has been used for TONS of 90s and 2000s shows, games, and movies and while many programs now like Maya and Blender have adopted many of its features and have likely even surpassed it at this point, plenty of people remember it fondly and miss it A TON
Blender was an early CGI program for SGI machines too, it was later made open source.
@@protocetid well that too.
SGI was very common back then, but I was merely referring to Softimage itself
Also, older Blender although functional and 3D modeling, was NOT intuitive to many. Of course plenty still trudged through and learned it, but it wasn’t as intuitive for a long time compared to others on the market.
Of course now things have changed though and it’s incredible
It could do anything, from worlds made of checkerboards to floating spheres!
@@professorhazard yup! And tbf others can now as well but for a time it was cool to see that versatility
It could make the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park to these stick figures in the Smash Prototype, to tbh 95% of n64 games, to Jar Jar Binks and the CGI of the controversial Star Wars special editions and even the Legos in the Lego Movie(maybe the last major production to use it I think)
I never used since I started to work on 3d later on 3dmax studio is good to know about the roots
Ah, this is the one I've been waiting for. After working on so many videos that detailed the history of Super Smash Bros. and the original prototype of "Dragon King," it's very exciting to see Mr. Sakurai himself discuss it, let alone show gameplay of the prototype! Thank you Mr. Sakurai for helping game preservation and documentation, and thank you for finally explaining everything directly to the audience!
Is this the first video of his that you’ve commented on?
Thank you so much for sharing that prototype footage of Dragon King! WOW!
He's is just GOATED Roger!
I recall an interview where Sakurai said that part of his beginner-friendly approach to Smash (i.e. elements of improvisation, deemphasis on command inputs) was his experience playing King of Fighters '95 at arcades: he played the game so much, and got so good at it, that he ended up accidentally beating his less-experienced opponents to the point that they couldn't even play the game.
Terry bogard smash direct is thw source
So in the scene with the arcade machines, Sakurai was the dude on the right? Lol
I won but at what cost
it takes a special person to go "wow, i just WRECKED them! this is a problem."
Imagine being so good at a game that you decide to make your own game where you can't curbstomp everyone as hard
3:55 This speaks to me on a deep personal level. Sakurai and their team gets it. They know the players level of rage and frustration in that single moment and it can't be understated enough.
Sakurai especially gets it bc he's done this before. He's said on his column he once destroyed someone in a fighting game at an arcade. When he looked around the cabinet, he saw his opponent was someone who was a beginner and didn't have much game experience in general. iirc, he was afraid a moment like that would discourage people from trying the game again and he kept that in mind when making Smash Bros., which is why it's so accessible.
The importance of ux research and design
I experienced this exact thing. And it was in Melee, of all games.
Sounds like Marvel vs Capcom to me. "Touch of death" is so annoying in that game.
@@SilverScizor753 iirc? what the frick does that mean?
HOLY HELL! Actual Dragon King footage! Damn, the story behind its development and passion is still legendary to this day.
"Characters like this often have the greatest potential for those that put in the effort". That Yoshi bio was spot on right from the beginning. And man did it take a lot of effort. Congratulations on the win Amsa!!
Woah. I was absolutely NOT expecting proper gameplay of the prototype. This is definitely fantastic to see!
I always loved how simple the controls are compared to other fighting games
Agreed, on top of that, I love that I can pick any of the now 80+ characters and not have to relearn how to play the damn game each time. The inputs are all the same, so it's just the outcome that changes and not the method.
@@VonFirflirch Exactly 👌
@@VonFirflirch Yes! Traditional fighting games are honestly terrible for new players and gatherings since it relies on you having practiced a lot with at least one character to know their moveset for one. That's great for competitive fine, but for the average player, it's off-putting. I like Sakurai's approach to trying to give players more options to play how they want.
@@TayoEXE I think Street Fighter 6 is about to change the standard for both competitive and casual players of fighting games tbh.
@@VonFirflirch Ehh, there are definitely fighters in Smash Ultimate that make people feel like they're relearning the game.
Seeing actual moving footage of Dragon King is so surreal after hearing about it for so many years.
Ikr, is so amazing!!!
3:33 Dang, these are the exact reasons I gravitated towards the Smash Bros. series.
Funny how those are the exact reasons I gravitated toward Kid Icarus Uprising. Over Smash Bros.
So glad I stayed up tonight and got blessed with this. Thank you Mr Sakurai and everyone at 8-4!
Same, was about to sleep some minutes ago!!!
Absolutely love Sakurai’s point at 3:33. Before fighting game devs figured out things like damage scale or combo breakers, combos straight up broke fighting games. They remained prevalent for looking cool, but in a way probably contributed to fighting games becoming so niche.
It just seems silly that an attacker’s reward for one good read is eliminating half of the victim’s health bar (or more). There’s little/no opportunity for comebacks/reactions: it is essentially the first hit that determines the win, like many COD-like braindead online shooters today.
Props to Sakurai for dropping knowledge like this. Something looking cool/hype =/= good game design.
What an incredibly bad take.
the mention of mother 3 for N64DD was a huge jumpscare.
oOoOoOoOo mOtHeR 3333 fOr n64DdDdDdDd oOoOoOoOo
The simple directional inputs for a variety of attacks also reminds me of how Sakurai handled Kirby's abilities in Kirby Super Star. The game introduced movesets to the series which would later finally return in more recent Kirby 2D games. Also it's cool how this was Sakurai's other passionate creation he wanted to make. RIP 🙏 to Iwata who helped.
Smash 64 is a very special game to me. my older cousin would play this game with me when we were kids, he was like an older brother to me. he'd be about 5 years older than me today, I miss him
It was the very first Smash game I’ve ever played. I’m hoping that game will be re-released for N64 Switch Online in future.🤞🏼
What happened?
@@MK8MasterJunjie Uh, nothing happened
@@Brods11 I was talking to the OP. Not you.
@@MK8MasterJunjie …oookay then?
It's honestly incredible that the "Dragon King" prototype is still out there and new footage was recorded for this series.
Also, when talking about complicated button inputs, I was legit thinking of Geese's "pretzel-stick" Raging Storm when Sakurai just showed it on screen lol
HOLY COW, FOOTAGE OF DRAGON KING?? THIS IS INSANE!!! THANK YOU MR SAKURAI!!!!
It's incredible to watch the footage of the Dragon King prototype and recognize how much they incorporated it into Smash. For example, one of the fighters in Dragon King uses Captain Falcon's chain of punches when you tap the A button, along with his aerial Up + A (backflip kick). Really cool to see!
Pretty sure that the whole moveset from the Dragon King fighters went to Captain Falcon. Because before this he was never playable in anything outside of his car in his games. So technically Sakurai self made one of most iconic characters of the franchise himself.
In fact they based them on them to create their movements since since Falcon is a racing driver they had no idea what movements to give him.
That dragon king footage is incredible!! It’s so nice to finally see it. Also it’s funny seeing that name get used. It’s a literal translation of the city, it’s interesting that it stuck around.
I love how Sakurai casually shows the input for Geese’s Raging Storm.
Both of the super complicated inputs he showed come from SNK games, so I think there's a pattern there...
yeah Street Fighter inputs were never that hard, but then again SNK wasn't super popular in the US.
It’s amazing how fluid the characters moved in the initial prototype. All they were missing were skins, really. 👏🏻 👏🏻
This game sounds like a thing some random Nintendo fan would turn into a flash game,but now that Nintendo turned it into a actual first party game and turned it into one of the biggest franchise that Nintendo has to offer makes it wholesome that the concept now gets to shine and I am very grateful for it 😊
I can't be the only one who misses the specific "Board the Platforms" and unique "Break the Targets!" I played those endlessly when I was a kid
I'm so grateful to Sakurai for making these videos. What a delight it is to see the prototype footage.
I feel like this is the one video we were all waiting for.
That and his talk about designing KID ICARUS: UPRISING!
I'm most excited to see Melee, Brawl, and Ultimate tbh. (Sorry Smash 4, but you can't live up to those 3 :/)
@@craigmoon2121 AYE! Super smash bros. for 3DS should be noted for being the first portable version of the series(That and adding Smash Run which could of been better but was a cool new mode!!!) So can’t wait for him to go over it
@@mr.gamechat4271 Same, been playing a lot of Smash 3DS recently, so, I can't wait!!!
@@craigmoon2121 Given this is a series about development insights I wouldn't count anything out by taste. I think there would be a LOT to hear about the transition from Brawl on the Wii to simultaneous development on two consoles
Respect to Sakurai for knowing about pretzel motions being unnecessarily complex. Whew, that SS2 motion for Haohmaru still traumatizes me...
KOF and SNK fighters were some of Sakurai's primary motivations for coming up with Smash to begin with. He wanted to create a fighter that was easy to get into, but with enough depth and staying power to keep people hooked.
Sakurai's a big nerd about classic fighters. You can tell watching his Terry breakdown for Smash.
That is sakurai's greatest strength we see through these videos, as a big fighting game fan he knows how important inputs are but he really takes the shoes of the players, and what is fun for a player immediately.
"pretzel" lol
@@skeith804 this.
Given all the crazy choices people like to talk about on twitter and the like, its clear that the snk fighter (could have been anyone of the 4 guys on the trailer) was 100% HIS pick, the one HE wanted in.
It's 4am here and we get the next installment of this incredibly hype series? RIP sleep schedule.
Ikr!!!
Same here dude I'm only up now because I have an early shift for work soon. This was a pleasant surprise to wake up to lol
I mean it was 5pm in Japan so…
Why were you up at 4am to begin with? Having a Krabby Patty?
Seeing lost footage of prototypes is something I wish more devs did. I wish Nintendo did that more too. This is the preservation of history as well as how the industry grew over the years. Seeing stuff that didn’t make the cut is just as important as stuff that did.
a friendly reminder to all of the folks out there:
if Mario didn't trip Yoshi, Smash Bros wouldn't have happened
But then they would have all been woefully underprepared for when the Subspace Emmisary showed up! So it's a darn good thing he did.
Galleem and Sora happened all because Mario got a bit uppity
"Fighting game commands were starting to get intense"
*Immediately shows SNK games starting with Raging Storm*
lol yep
It's so cool to finally see gameplay footage of the prototype! Also kudos to sakurai already nailing the concept 3 years ahead of release
Amazing to see how Cap. Falcon's model was based off the original Dragon King fighter mesh - a lot of those moves even look identical.
Mr. Sakurai and Mr. Iwata creating the most popular gaming franchise of all time, they deserved every accolades!
Well, one of. Smash is a fair ways away from the most popular franchise around, though it is certainly popular in its own right.
@@laggalot1012 Well, Iwata did save the most popular franchise of videogames, like twice or so. Yeah, I'm talking about Pokémon.
Not even the first nor last time. Iwata is a legend for real reasons. I miss him so much...
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 True! A little bit beside the point here, but true. Although I only recall the GSC Kanto problem an example, off the top of my head.
Either way, Iwata's work and contribution was unquestionably impressive.
@@laggalot1012 He also had to redone the whole combat coding for Pokémon to make it work, which was firstly seen in Pokémon Stadium Zero (the first Pokémon Stadium in Japan. The international PokéStadium1 was Japanese PokéStadium2).
I know its beside the point, but I wanted to point it out haha. I love Iwata, to be frank.
Sakurai, you are a blessing on the earth, it’s amazing get to peek into the making of these games, thank you for making these videos
When he revealed the prototype I got excited. Who would say that we can finally see the gameplay footage from the beta after too many years, thanks Sakurai.
Coming from smash remix
Man I remember seeing the commercial for this together with my siblings and we were all blown away at what we were looking at! The game that started it all!
And actual footage of the prototype fighting game too! To think how it started and what it turned into, truly amazing!
Who imagined which that Dragon King demo would ended up on one of the best fighting games franchises of the game industry? Simply amazing to know and think about. Very inspiring! Thank you, master Sakurai.
The game series we've been waiting for.
Smash 64 introduced me to a variety of new series when I was a young child and I played it with my auntie back in the early 2000s. Thanks Mr Sakurai for the good memories!
This may be my most anticipated topic on this channel.
Was waiting for this, since Dragon King was already well known and there was potential for Sakurai to elaborate more on it.
Can't wait for the Melee development video as well.
Whoa, it's such a privilege to get to see the prototype for what would become one of my favorite game series of all time.
Oh my god
Melee is next
I await to hear the triumphs and tribulations of what that 13 month development time was like
RIP Iwata 💐
I'm insanely pumped for the melee video.
To all of us, that footage is a piece of video game history. To him, it was Thursday
Wow, people are going crazy to see actual footage of the prototype. Shows how little we actually knew about the thing.
Can't wait for Melee, personally.
OH MY GOD, ITS DRAGON KING, WE SEE FOOTAGE OF IT YESSSSSSSSSS
Amazing to see footage of the dragon king prototype!
What a nice video. Sakurai is breaking down those complex and lengthy processes with such ease and charme, the man is truly a legend. And the part where he mentioned Iwata was really wholesome, when you think where both of their careers took them and how early Iwata had to leave us.
There’s something achingly beautiful about how Battlefield is almost completely unchanged from the quarter-century-old prototype.
I don't want this video to end ❤
Just remember that Sakurai’s decision to add Nintendo characters to a fighting game is the reason we can now play Mario against Steve and Sans
The fact that Mr. Sakurai showed us the early prototype for Smash Bros. is really incredible to see. It's cool to see actual footage of the game where we were left with just screenshots of.
Most important, the madman still has the prototype, that's unheard for most japanese developers, god knows what unnanounced ttles he has in his collection.
I've been playing Smash Bros. since it released on N64. Back then, seeing Ness as a character blew my mind. I was the only one of my friends who knew him, but they all played Earthbound after seeing Ness in action. Fast forward to Ultimate and Joker's inclusion introduced me to Persona, which is one of my absolute favorite titles now. Not to mention Terry, Cloud, Sephiroth, Kazuya, and many more of my all time favorite characters being represented. Imagine if the sales team had won the argument and Smash Bros. had never existed... what a dark world that'd be for gamers.
Seeing gameplay footage of the Smash 64 prototype was amazing.
It's a highlight of the channel for me so far, along with seeing Sakurai's posed figure sheets for Ultimate.
>barges in
>shows you obscure media thought to be lost
>elaborates
special thanks to Mr. Iwata for helping make great things happen time and time again.
Dude why is the quality of that footage so good holy shit
That Smash Bros prototype footage is definitely going to be discussed all around the community and I can't wait to see how people react to it!
Sakurai Fighting game iceberg just keeps growing 5:30
i never thought i would hear Zero Divide come out of a sakurai video
Still play this game on my 64 regularly with my family, certified classic
Seeing that prototype footage dragon king of smash in motion is super COOL, its always so interesting learning more of gaming history!
Those videos are a goldmine for everyone, game designers and non GD alike
A simple little concept and prototype, but the very beginning of what became one of the best fighting game series of all time. It became what it did thanks to innovation and risks being taken, something that is rarely seen with video game (or really any type of media) developers these days.
What more can I say, other than "Wow! Incredible!"
i can never be grateful enough for the creation of smash bros, it's by far my favorite fighting game, and one of my favorite franchises to ever exist... it has brought endless fun to my life, and i can't thank you enough, sakurai-san.
どうもありがとうございます!
Jesus the Smash Remix people really recreated every move as much as they could huh
One of my favorite games growing up and it's aged beautifully. Sign of a great designer is that each Smash game feels unique when playing, each with their own charms.
That prototype footage is fascinating.
I remember seeing this game many times at the local video/game rental store as a child. It blew my mind that so many familiar faces were on the cover. I was only allowed to rent games when my parents were busy during the weekend, so when the next opportunity to pick a game came up, I already knew I wanted to play it.
At first I was disappointed. I hadn't played many fighting games, as I was a little young to play violent games and in general they didn't appeal to me. I didn't understand it was a fighting game, and I thought the game would allow me to move in full 3d, not just display 3d characters. I didn't understand game genre, and thought all games should aim for full 3d worlds. However, I quickly discovered it was very fun to play with my siblings.
We didn't have the game manual, which happened a lot with rental games. So we didn't know about smash moves at first. I remember noticing I would accidently do these weird moves with my character, and eventually figured out I had to slam the stick in a specific timing to get the move to work. I lorded the secret knowledge over my siblings for a while before finally telling them. Eventually we had to take the game back, but we were able to purchase it 2nd hand and it is still one of my favorite games to this day.
If anyone is interested in looking into old history of "Smash-like" fighting games, there was a game in 1990 made by Technos Japan Corp. named Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku which took a slew of characters from their Kunio-kun /River CIty Ransom series of games and pitted them against each other in a few competitive events, including a final event where everyone fought free-for-all (up to 4 players) in a last-man-standing type of match and allowed the players pick up and use or throw weapons at other players. It was created on the existing tech used in the first Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari or River City Ransom and so it plays like a beat-'em-up game in the same vein as the aforementioned games.
Technos also made another game using a different engine based on the same property, Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu, in 1992 and that was a pure fighting game instead of being event-based like Koushinkyoku was. This game lets you customize your character and move-set and features numerous stages/arenas with different elevations and sometimes contraptions or traps (electric barriers, conveyer belts, spikes, mines(!) etc.) that can be used against other players. There are no weapons but there are a few pickup types that spawn when defeating an opponent with varying effects, good or bad, when picked up by a player. The story mode is played co-operatively but the Battle Mode is a free-for-all match for up to 4 players.
If you have even a passing interest in old 8-bit games and also like Smash Bros. I would recommend checking these out, especially with other players. There was also an old arcade game called Outfoxies that has some Smash-like traits to it as well, but I'm not as familiar with it.
This was the start of one of the greatest video game franchises of all time! Thank you for the memories and a look at the prototype and backstory.
Wow...after several years of just having one or two screen shots we see legit footage.. thats amazing
Increasing knockback with damage is such an elegant solution to the combo problem Sakurai described. You become harder to combo the more the opponent hits you, but your opponent is still rewarded for their effort by gaining ground towards victory. Also, increased knockback during the mid-game resets neutral, allowing the losing player to attempt a comeback.
Looking at it like this, the rage mechanic makes sense. It doesn't "reward losing" as much as it keeps the ability to win within the loser's grasp.
dude just made me right about so many arguments...
MAN, an 8 minute video by mr Sakurai. This is a great video!
Sakurai at the end of the video: “Oh boy, now we gotta talk about Melee…”
The combo part actually has a lot of strategy involved in it, you can go for oki, a reset, a combo for damage, corner carry or a side switch. The combo you choose to do or the way you get hit and the type of hit you get to confirm into a combo has a lot of depth and strategy
no, check guilty gear strive for example (great game btw) its mostly the same combos over and over again.
@@AardappelGames gatekept by celestial players i see
@@AardappelGames then why do I keep going for resets, hard knockdowns to otg into safe jumps etc..
@@AardappelGames also the attack that connects is what determines the combo its nothing like dbfz where the combo system is so open you can always route into a specific sequence(not saying this approach is bad)
the only youtuber who can use nintendo music freely
I love it when Mr Sakurai talks Smash Bros! You can really feel the passion he has for the project. In the future if you do release a whole video on projects that don't proceed or dealing with projects that fall through then feel free to dig into the archive and share some never before seen high quality Mother 3 64DD footage. Can you imagine?
3:47 Love how you mentioned this, sir! Been playing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter for a while with my nephew, but he always beats me up so easily! He's too fast clicking buttons and I can barely do anything as well. When we play Smash Bros, though, I have my chances to spotlight and defeat him for once, using improvisation rather than clicking everything
3:32 So knockback prevent players from stuck in combos to return to the neutral state and also added position mind game that didn't exist before.
Well, there's knockback in "regular" fighting games as well, it's just that Smash made it way more extreme.
As someone who wants to get into Fighting game development, I found this enlightening sheerly because I love when developers ask the question of how to get out of a combo. And Smash remains one of the most interesting takes on it.