Report: Kojima feels Smash Bros. Brawl "very complete"
by Kyle Orland 
{ Apr 27th 2007 at 12:15PM }
The next game in the Super Smash Bros. saga may be ready sooner than later. At a recent gathering of Japanese game developers, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima reportedly got a chance to play a version of the game with Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai. According to Kojima Productions podcastee Ryan Payton, Kojima later said the game was "a lot of fun" and "already feels very complete." How complete? "You guys could put it out right now and it could sell millions of copies," Kojima reportedly said.Nintendo has been characteristically stingy with details about the highly-anticipated game, releasing no new information since a trailer last November. Could this be a sign the game will indeed make the 2007 release date promised way back at the last E3? Here's hoping.
[Via 1PStart]
Listen - Kojima Productions podcast (Smash Bros. discussion starts around 11 minute mark)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
nate @ Apr 27th 2007 12:22PM
better be out by summer then
dude @ Apr 27th 2007 12:23PM
omg smash *drools*
bout to go play N64 smash right now.
Anth @ Apr 27th 2007 12:23PM
Metal Gear Solid is to PS3
As Halo is to XBox360
as Super Smash Bros. is to Wii.
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 27th 2007 12:27PM
I am so tempted to go out and finally buy Super Smash Bros Melee. I only rented it a few times but it's enjoyable every time. I know I should wait for SSBB but Melee is such a good game. If it really is complete now, they should spend the time to polish the game, add new characters, and balance everything. I wish for so many characters including Sonic, MegaMan, and maybe some Baten Kaitos or Xenosaga characters.
brian @ Apr 27th 2007 12:32PM
No wonder "1 million copies" all the god dam hype about it.
Kite @ Apr 27th 2007 12:33PM
You have a gamecube, but no super smash bros melee?
get...melee...
Seriously, its fun, even with brawl still 'far' on the horizon :D
And if you get bored you could try the black hole glitch :p
Kelvin @ Apr 27th 2007 12:33PM
Does it use the wiimote or not is what I would really like to know.
Also its very nice to see another developer praising someone else's product though they do have some affiliation. I know Kojima is not the first, but I respect him for it none the less.
Devre @ Apr 27th 2007 12:35PM
Out of the big three games coming to Wii, this was the one I was expecting to be delayed into 2008. But now... Could Nintendo really release all three this fall and have the best holiday season ever, ever? Though I do wonder what the controls are. Can't wait for more info?
Ken @ Apr 27th 2007 12:35PM
I personally HATE fighting games. (The only games I get angry at... because the computer f'in cheats all the time.... right...)
But SSB is an amazingly balanced series. A noob can't go in and beat the hell out of a vet (unlike what I can do in Capcom vs SNK on the Dreamcast, and most every fighting game).
I think that's one big thing about this game, that appeals to me. Since you can dodge, counter, shield, and all the other stuff. It keeps you on your toes.
I love playing against a good player... nothing beats a 25 minute brawl, you know?
s256 @ Apr 27th 2007 12:35PM
Namco published Xenosaga, so I would assume they have all rights to it.
The characters wouldn't fit in Smash because they've never been on a Nintendo console. :p
Baten Kaitos, though? I think THAT would be really cool. Even though Namco published that one too, so they'd have to work something out as far as that's concerned.
Alex @ Apr 27th 2007 12:36PM
More tidbit:
A Sakurai quote; "The topics that have come up from time to time in column- Me going into solitary to write the design document, founding my own company, Sora Ltd., moving, and getting sick from overworking were all related to my development of the new Smash Bros. game." So no ownder the game is almost complete, he's been wroknig his ass off. His company, Sora Ltd. have also announced two games in development, but nothing, not even what system they are for, are revealed yet.
Also, there's a rumor that we can expect a new trailer of Brawl next month with yet another character unveiled, most likely at this year's revamped E3. Will it be Sonic? Or KOS-MOS from Xenosaga?!
Kelvin @ Apr 27th 2007 12:38PM
"Super smash bros is overated, its the most basic fighting games ever created, all you do is repetitive one button combos, I have played better party fighting games (will not insert name of them here___) and this game just pales in comparison too Powerstone"
Just to get the ball rolling :D
Alex @ Apr 27th 2007 12:38PM
Also, a quote from IGN; "Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, has said the company is developing 124 games for Wii and DS and that the next batch of Nintendo games will be released in "late summer".
So SSBB could really be possible? Or by that, he probably means more Mario games (i.e. Party 8, and Strikers?)
taj @ Apr 27th 2007 12:41PM
hmmm idunno...even though they said it could sell a mill copies right now, hopefully they are taking this time to make sure the online part of the game will be awesome
Fatass of Kickassness @ Apr 27th 2007 12:44PM
Everyone who is skeptical about the controls, don't worry, its already been confirmed that this game uses the Gamecube controller and a near-same control scheme as Melee. No Wii-remote involved.
REUYL @ Apr 27th 2007 12:53PM
Now make it online, PLZ.
Leshrac @ Apr 27th 2007 1:01PM
Let's hope they're prepping this for a surprise summer release in the probable absence of Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. They could definitely use a smash-hit (no pun intended).
-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com
TwilightKnight @ Apr 27th 2007 1:02PM
Don't forget that this entire game will also have orchestrated music in Latin AND from what we have already (the trailer music) will be composed by Nobou Uematsu!
http://www.smashbros.com/en/music/index.html
If the entire game had music like that I will cry a little...
And who knows what sort of third party characters will show up. It is also happy to see Kojima being close to the development that is using one of his characters. I wonder what the stage he designed will look like...
MosquitoControl @ Apr 27th 2007 1:13PM
Finally something worth playing on the Wii?
I mean, my Wii has gotten use, but only to play the old Smash Brothers...
Todd @ Apr 27th 2007 1:16PM
Better also have unlockable Sonic, dammit!
LeDiva @ Apr 27th 2007 1:19PM
> "You guys could put it out right now and it could
> sell millions of copies," Kojima reportedly said.
Well, to be fair, they could put out a disc that does nothing but play the trailer on loop and sell a couple million copies.
BPM @ Apr 27th 2007 1:32PM
#10 s256:
"Namco published Xenosaga, so I would assume they have all rights to it.
The characters wouldn't fit in Smash because they've never been on a Nintendo console. :p"
Incorrect. There is the Japanese-only Xenosaga I&II for the DS.
Raikage @ Apr 27th 2007 1:40PM
Ahh the biggest reason I want a Wii....
I know it's not going to happen but wouldn't it be amazing if Ratchet and Clank were in it. I think they fit in with the rest of the crowd, or even Jack and Daxter. Since we have Snake, why don't we throw in a little Master Chief?
Earl @ Apr 27th 2007 1:42PM
I can't wait for this release either. People think the Wii is hard to find now, just wait until all the great Nintendo titles drop.
Erik @ Apr 27th 2007 1:54PM
:X I really don't want to know what the characters will be, so I'll be so pleasantly surprised once I unlock them, just like I did with Melee. Of course, I can't just stop checking up on joystiq every day.
What a dilemma :P.
Jonathan Tran @ Apr 27th 2007 1:59PM
If it is revealed that Sonic is in this game, this will by far be one of the fastest selling games ever made. Mark my words, Sonic = 100 million copies sold
Paul Gale @ Apr 27th 2007 1:59PM
Any mentioning of Super Smash Bros. Brawl these days is great by me. Hearing Sakurai and Kojima talk about it, and how it feels very complete, gives me hope that it might possibly come out on July 7th, 2007. 07-07-07 is just the coolest day...heh, and my birthday. I still expect it to be a November title, but getting it early would be nice.
Todd @ Apr 27th 2007 2:00PM
I'd be pretty thrilled if they keep the line up from Melee. Fighting as Ganon or Bowser was pretty cool.
Joshua @ Apr 27th 2007 2:12PM
SSB Melee is the best game on the GameCube, including Twilight Princess.
With all this hype, Brawl MUST blow it away.
samfish @ Apr 27th 2007 2:16PM
If Sonic is in it, he had better not be locked. Ditto ANY other 3rd party characters.
The only 3rd party characters I'd really like to see Are Sonic, Mega Man and Simon Belmont.
I also hope they put Wiimote controls in there. They'll probably HAVE to by default, anyway, since the CC didn't come included with the Wii (biggest mistake on Nintendo's part, IMO)
I can see flicking the Wiimote upwards to jump working rather nicely, actually.
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 27th 2007 2:24PM
"Ima Numba 1!" Miyamoto has now reached the #1 position in the Time 100 beating out Colbert. We just need to keep this up for the rest of the week now. Thanks to the people that I should bite the bullet and buy Melee.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1609873,00.html
MosquitoControl @ Apr 27th 2007 2:26PM
I'll say it again - Sonic DOES NOT FIT in this game.
Sonic is about speed. Smash Brothers isn't. It's about being in one place. There isn't enough room for Sonic to do anything. On top of that, Yoshi and Jigglypuff do the exact same thing Sonic would, only with more control than Sonic has ever been shown to have.
Sonic just does not work.
Zertoss @ Apr 27th 2007 2:30PM
"I'll say it again - Sonic DOES NOT FIT in this game."
Never played Sonic Battle, have you?
Luke @ Apr 27th 2007 2:34PM
I betcha it will come out this year
Jonathan Tran @ Apr 27th 2007 2:35PM
@32... what are you talking about? Sonic has homing attacks...
YEs, he's fast, but that can be implemented in different ways. Also, Fox McCloud is "about" flying a plane, yet they put him in the original SSB. They just applied his personality to the game. Pikachu is "about" being an animal in a ball. Pikachu is also supposed to be fast, so he is, but he doesn't just fly off the stage.
Shadow @ Apr 27th 2007 2:45PM
Sonic doesn't fit in this game? Sonic is too much on speed? Have you ever played Smash Brothers Melee? There are quite a few speed characters, and I know some people that are really good at them. Sheik, Fox, and Roy to name a few off the top of my head, are all speed players.
Not to mention that if you used all of the characters realistically from each of their own respective universes this game would be all out of whack(For lack of a better suitable phrase). Imagine Mewtwo with how he's supposed to be. We are all video game nerds, so don't anyone try and tell me you didn't see Metwo Strikes Back(The first American Pokemon movie). If Mewtwo had his full power then you'd be able to send everyone flying off the stage with a single button push. Hell, Mewtwo could use a psychic blast and destroy the whole stage.
My point is that Sonic wouldn't be taken directly from [insert Sonic game] and thrown into the fray with everyone else. If Sonic is going to be used then he will be tweaked and turned into a fighter with his own set of moves.
P.S.
If your theory about the games dynamics about being in one spot were true, then Ganondorf would be the greatest character in Melee. Hands down.
Fatass of Kickassness @ Apr 27th 2007 2:45PM
Seriously, all they would have to do is make a commercial for this game that featured nothing but the two or three third-party characters planned for the game brawling it out and the game would end up selling millions upon millions of copies.
Jonathan Tran @ Apr 27th 2007 2:49PM
I can imagine it now. At some major conference, they announce the new character is none other than
BIG THE CAT.
Or how about Kerrigan from Starcraft?
Fatass of Kickassness @ Apr 27th 2007 2:51PM
To those who say Sonic wouldn't fit, didn't it occur to you that his movement speed could be dumbed down and his 'true speed' could be implemented in some sort of dash move (such as Fox/Falco's >/
MosquitoControl @ Apr 27th 2007 3:08PM
Everything you guys are saying is a weak excuse.
Fox isn't about "flying in a plane." His games involved that, but he he certainly did more.
Pikachu isn't about "being in a ball," he was about fighting, which is what he does.
Sonic is about running in a straight line. Very, very quickly. That's what he does. It's all he's ever done. Yes, you can give him more moves, but Sonic is still a character built around speed. Yes, there are fast characters in SSB, but none that make the world a blur the way Sonic does.
The only way to put him in the game is to completely change what Sonic is. And what would the point of that be? Just pick a better character, there are hundreds out there. Simon Belmont would certainly work, you can give a vampire hunter with a whip lots to do. Megaman would certainly work very well but be unlikely. Bionic Commando? Cecil? Leon? Bubsy? Master Higgins? Cody? Shaq? They all fit in pretty well.
Sonic? He's a hedgehog that moves faster than the eye can see. How much do you want to bend his round peg so it fits into the square hole? It'll just be a Sonic model that has nothing to do with the games he was in.
Shadow @ Apr 27th 2007 3:29PM
MosquitoControl: Are you trapped in 1993? All of your arguments sound like they're coming out of that era. In fact, you remind me of myself from back then when I would try and defend why Mario games were better than Sonic games. Flash forward, Sonic has done a lot. Sonic now has a lot more moves to his repertoire. Off the top of my head I can think of his Homing Attack, Ring Dash, bounce, and others, not only from the games but from the comics and cartoons.
Not to mention that what was said about Fox is right, and in that you have contradicted yourself. You said that they shouldn't put Sonic in because they would have to, in essence, change Sonic to make him fit in the mold of Smash Bros. Have you played any of the Starfox games? Let's be fair here and use the Fox games that are partially landbased: StarFox Adventures and StarFox Assault. In either one of those do you remember having to physically fight with your bare hands? The closest thing is using the rod in Adventures. I also don't recal Fox moving using a lightspeed dash.
Let's face it, the only thing that Smash Fox has in common with regular fox, aside from looks, is his gun. You can shoot people. That's about it. The similarities end there. I mean, come on, look at his triple jump! That's not even possible in the StarFox universe.
Still not convinced? How about Snake? If anything he's the most out of place character we've seen. Nothing from his usual dynamics can be used in Smash Bros. Since we're having to be close to the source material then that means you'll have to stay in the background at all times. Snake will never actually come out to the fight, but rather just sneak in the background and shoot sleeping darts at people. The only time he will get to come out is for boss battles(Master Hand, Giga Bowser, etc.), and he will use a rocket launcher for them.
Lastly, if Smash Link can have his double and triple jump taken away and put into Soul Calibur then there will always be a place for Sonic in Smash Bros.
Almack64 @ Apr 27th 2007 3:49PM
@ #41 Shadow
Thanks it saved me the time of writting a similar rebutal. I hate when people have an argument and contradict themselves in it. I can't knock someone's opinion but if you're going to have one at least make sure your examples line up with your own reasoning, no matter how twisted or off that maybe.
Shagittarius @ Apr 27th 2007 3:56PM
Superman could totaly kick Batman's ass!
Jonathan Tran @ Apr 27th 2007 3:56PM
also, if anyone really thinks Sonic cannot fit, put in Knuckles. gg k thx
Shagittarius @ Apr 27th 2007 3:58PM
Hopefully some of the animal crossing animals make it in there, they could carry fishing poles and text you to death.
Mr Khan @ Apr 27th 2007 4:05PM
Certainly one of the better looking games for Wii so far
I'm kind of disappointed that they're not doing anything to incorporate the Wiimote, but then again, Fighting just isn't a genre that would benefit from the wiimote
I'll probably still play it with the Wiimote (lighter and more freedom), unless they deliberately make it harder to use, a la Fire Emblem: Aketsuki no megami
Zertoss @ Apr 27th 2007 4:23PM
"It'll just be a Sonic model that has nothing to do with the games he was in."
So then you haven't played Sonic Battle.
Ryoga Vee @ Apr 27th 2007 4:53PM
Obviously NO one here but a small few have played Sonic Battle. or seen the Mario Vs. Sonic Vs DBZ flash movies.
If you play Sonic Battle you'll instantly know that Sonic is a fighter through and through.
Zertoss @ Apr 27th 2007 5:06PM
"Obviously NO one here but a small few have played Sonic Battle."
That's a real shame too. Sonic Battle was a pretty good Smash Bros.-style game.
Zertoss @ Apr 27th 2007 5:12PM
I just found some more tidbits I didn't know about along with a few I did via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Smash_Bros._Brawl
"As of 9 June 2006, suggestions were no longer being taken. In Toukoken, the portion on the Japanese site chronicling character and music suggestion updates, Sakurai has stated that some of the characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee may not return. He also states that he may not want to put much emphasis on Japan-only characters, but is not opposed to them entirely, noting the success that the Fire Emblem characters enjoyed internationally thanks to their inclusion in Melee. He also said that third party characters will amount to one or two, excluding Snake.[24] Also, each of the guest characters (including Snake) will be unlockable.[25]"
There's also an entire section dedicated to Sonic's inclusion in the game. To summarize it, there are quotes saying Nintendo wants it to happen, the fans want it to happen, and Sega wants it to happen, followed by NoE's Laurent Fischer stating that "that isn't on the cards at the moment."