Masahiro Sakurai continues to impress people and gamers with his various insights into the gaming industry while pulling back the curtain on some of the history of his games. Super Smash Bros is easily the most famous franchise he’s attached to, and for good reason. Every time a new entry is announced, there’s instant hype all around it, as there is speculation about who might be in the game, what new features the next entry will have, and so on. However, in his latest video, he revealed how, at the beginning, the legendary “Dojo” website” was a key reason for the game’s success.
Confused? Well, originally, Super Smash Bros was supposed to be an entirely different fighting game, one with original characters. However, that was scrapped to put in Nintendo characters instead. As Sakurai noted, because the gameplay was much different from current fighting games, some of the title’s more “nuanced” elements were getting lost on gamers and publications. To fix this, he wrote a special “guide” to help magazines plug the game…but they just weren’t seeing its potential.
Thus, Sakurai took matters into his own hands and made the very first “Dojo” website. Do recall that the N64 entry was made during the earliest days of the internet, and Sakurai struggled to make things look good while also providing all the information that he felt would engage gamers.
Thankfully, the tactic worked, and it led to many gamers wanting to play the title, which led to its success. Then, when the sequel on the Gamecube was in development, Sakurai again went and made the Dojo website. He felt this was almost a mistake, as he barely had any time to make the game, let alone the website. Yet, he did it, and he even did “breaking news” bits to ensure that people kept coming back.
That would escalate into the final version of the Dojo for the Wii entry. With help from various Nintendo departments, Sakurai and his team were able to do special updates five days a week during parts of development. They unveiled new characters, stages, items, assist trophies, and so much more! While he doesn’t do that anymore, Sakurai has evolved his approach in trying to “guide gamers” to ensure they know what they need to know for the next entry in the series. You might recall the “Mr. Sakurai Presents” videos, which highlighted the skills of new characters. That was one way he “evolved the premise” of the Dojo.
One can only imagine what he’ll do if he makes another entry for Nintendo’s next system…
