Iwata Asks
Iwata Asks is a section of wii.com where late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata interviewed various Nintendo staff members concerning upcoming or current Nintendo games. The article on Super Smash Bros Brawl is particularly special as Masahiro Sakurai is not actually a staff member of Nintendo.
Since being revealed on the Dojo, volumes of Iwata Asks were updated every weekday, in a manner similar to that of the Dojo itself. Throughout the interview, Sakurai frequently added video clips and pictures from a report he made back in the first stages of Brawl's development on what Sakurai wanted Brawl to be.
Contents
Volume 1: E3 2005: A beginning
Iwata first introduces Sakurai, who he is and proceeds with the interview, discussing the very beginning of Brawl's development, starting from E3 2005, attempting to find a staff and betting on success.
Volume 2: For first time Gamers
Sakurai details that he is creating Brawl as if it would be the last Smash Bros. game in the series, and details his great concern on trying to make Brawl very accessible to first time gamers.
Sakurai talks about his plans for Brawl's online features and notes the similarities to Nintendo's WFC service which had not yet been fully created at the time. Sakurai goes over all the online features of Brawl, providing videos of each.
Volume 4: The Subspace Emissary
Sakurai discusses the Subspace Emissary, and its development. He reveals that he went to Kazushige Nojima, who had created stories for games like Final Fantasy VII.
Volume 5: Plethora of new Features
Sakurai discusses Final Smashes, Assist Trophies, stickers and trophies. Sakurai explains that Assist Trophies as a way for him to include characters that many people would know, but wouldn't fit in as fighting characters, like a Nintendog or an Animal Crosser.
Volume 6: All-Star Music
Sakurai expose the great quantity of music the game includes, how did he get it and how it was to work with a lot of musics.
Volume 7: Once in a Lifetime Experience
He talks about Sonic and Snake, how Nintendo received the idea of third party characters, the original game before the inclusion of Nintendo characters, and the experience of playing Smash Bros. for new and older gamers.
