In Masahiro Sakurai’s latest Youtube video, he detailed how story leaks for the Super Smash Bros Brawl Subspace Emissary mode led his team to stop making mid-gameplay story cutscenes for later games. He then detailed how this led to the creation of the fighter reveal trailers for games like SSBU and what went into making them.
Sakurai began by explaining how the character-focused story cutscenes in the Super Smash Bros Brawl Subspace Emissary mode were intended to showcase individual fighters, as well as serve as a reward for story progress. However, due to them being shared online before the game launched, Sakurai’s team decided to stop making them, leading to less of a focus on story in later games.
Instead, the team decided to focus on creating introductory movies intended to be shared, rather than ones tied to story progress. This led to the creation of the fighter reveal trailers for games like SSBU. Sakurai detailed the development process for these videos. He also linked to two Nintendo articles showcasing the fighter reveal trailers themselves, along with his own brief comments.
You can watch the full video below:
Some of Sakurai’s other videos have shown off some of the rare memorabilia he has collected over his career, as well as detailing the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and how it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Super Smash Bros Brawl is available on the Nintendo Wii.