Is not really about uniqueness persay, it’s moreso these characters are essentially husks with no real personality or huge design elements We don’t necessarily expect anything out of them nor have they’ve undergone redesigns in any massive way. They can just exist as is because there’s really nothing more to them.
Most other companies would see the reception of Game&Watch and Steve and try to do even more the next time without considering the overall balance needed to keep the style coherent. We need more people to practice constraint in media when something eye-catching develops.
@@Alphasoldier I remembered how in Brawl's first trailer, Mario, Link, Pikachu and Kirby went from Melee to Brawl graphics wise. I always loved how Kirby was the one who had the smallest changes and made a face like "Wait? That's all for me?" You can't enhance perfection.
This is a really great way to show people not only WHY clashing styles can look weird, but also how to circumvent that clashing from happening in the first place. I mean, a prime example of changing proportions is Olimar, like, the guy grew several feet taller to join the fight. It's videos like this that give me more love for Smash as a series. I could listen to Sakurai talk about every minor detail change on every character if he wanted to.
It's really cool hearing Sakurai talk about this, I'm sure this is just a very small list of examples of the hundreds of adjustments they had to make in order to make all the characters look like they can interact with each other in a believable way. Not just each other, but ALSO look like they don't clash too badly with any given stage, too. It's honestly kind of a miracle and a testament to Sakurai's direction and the dev team's skill that they were able to pull this off so well and so convincingly. Seeing Kirby fight Solid Snake inside a Mario Maker level (with varying tilesets) SHOULD just look wrong, but it works, and that's incredible.
The fact that the Smash Bros team both changed the way that certain characters' eyelids function and the fact that they specifically had to get permission for this goes to show that there is so, so, so much detail in this series which is taken for granted by just about everyone.
Good to know one of the questions you need to ask when developing one of the most ambitious titles in gaming history is "What if Donkey Kong was real?"
I think one of the problems of the Playstation brawl was exactly that. They translate the characters carbon copy from theirs respective games, so you have a contrast when seeing them all together.
It was called Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, not Playstation Brawl. But I think it should be called something like that, the name it has is too long.
@@amosdeguzman9980I guess the word brawl just came to mind because of Nickelodeon *All Star* brawl’s similar name. You are right though, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale is quite a handful to say
The thing I find most fascinating is that Steve is just so distinctly designed in his source material that changing him in any of these ways would make him an entirely different character and the Smash team knew this and explicitly made him stand out *more* than most characters it’s very impressive.
I always liked how Peach and Daisy's dresses looked in Smash, they're more detailed and look like actual dresses. I always wanted to see a Mario game use those designs.
when SNK did SNK v Capcom they adapted their SNK look towards the Capcom characters and vice versa, which was interesting to see between the clash of styles. I personally like the Capcom "cartoony" look over the more "realistic" SNK look.
Toon Link had one of the biggest glow-ups from Brawl to Smash 4. The realistic details made him look drab before, but Smash 4’s vibrant colors perfected it.
What I love about Smash Bros is the consistency and details of the designs. It's true that I felt just how polished the game is when you share details and change things like proportions to make them look more fit in.
Can't believe he made this entire video without a single mention of Snake. THE embodiment of the purely realistic character that really shouldn't fit in a mostly cartoonish game, and yet does here.
In Brawl it's clear that they made the cartoony characters more realistic so that they fit better along the realistic ones like Snake and the Zelda characters whose designs are taken from Twilight Princess, in Smash 4 and Ultimate they struck a balance by making cartoony characters a bit more realistic and realistic characters a bit more cartoony. Also It's funny how Samus in Other M looks very plastic and glossy while in Smash the suit actually looks more metallic and with scratches.
I still love to this day the great details that Sakurai has put into the characters, faithful to their sagas! they look so cool and nice to see at first sight ❤
I loved how much thought was put into handling the contrast between the cartoony and realistic-looking characters in Smash, by unifying the artstyle while staying mostly true to their original design. I know there were certain crossover games that might've looked better if they tried something like that.
I remember there was a time when I wished that Olimar's design in Brawl would become his standard design for whenever he showed up again in the Pikmin series. After thinking about it for a while though, I thought of how the game is most often played with the camera zoomed out so that the player can react to what's around them, and the small details on his suit would've gone largely unnoticed were it to be used there.
A unified artstyle definitely does wonders to make a full game look cohesive, so these tips are very much appreciated. If you want to look at examples of a lack of unified artstyle, look no further than the vast majority of MUGEN "fullgames". MUGEN being a highly customizable fighting game engine, people will often collect characters and stages from around the whole wide web and slap them together under a rough "theme" to create "fullgames", but since most of those fighters and stages look so visually different, they end up feeling like a mess visually (and to play, too, since it's rare for a fullgame author to specifically look for characters using the same gameplay style; unless THEY'RE the ones making the characters in the first place).
When Smash started to introduce 3rd party characters, that’s when things started to get exciting. It’s cool seeing all these different characters in one game!
@@GiraPrimalnah you correct, cloud was never on a Nintendo console but because of square Enid and Nintendo being pals cloud was among the 3rd party characters.
@@GiraPrimal wrong. Final Fantasy, the franchise Cloud comes from, was literally born on Nintendo. Cloud appeared on GBA, DS and 3DS before joining, in between Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy appearences. He always had chances
Tbh I'd totally be down for an hour long video of Mr. Sakurai dedicated to just show/ explain all those small changes and details for all the characters. I just absolutely love such things.
I love it when Mr. Sakurai shows us footage from Smash Bros Ultimate. It warms my heart to see this game still being discussed and after more than 4 years after its release ❤
Hello Mr.sakurai I have been playing smash for years now with my friends and we still enjoy the game , thank you for being amazing and passionate about what you have been doing for us 😊
Bayonetta's reduced height in Smash definitely still stood out to me. She is 60% legs in her original design after all and changing that will become apparent really quickly. It's not a big deal though, especially if it has a purpose like this.
This is an interesting video considering how other cross-overs try to handle the visual differences in their character designs. Some try to unify while others really lean into the differences- I'd like to see someone make a deep dive into various cross-overs, how they designed their graphics and what worked and what didn't.
Why not make his limbs look like rubber hoses? They do have a specific texture to them. And the lighting on the cup itself, on the liquid inside and the straw could totally be realistic too. It'd look like a cool old school toy or figurine or something.
@@OccuredJakub12 maybe all his black body parts as rubber hose, and his legs have pants with a socks texture but slightly knee ripped so you can partially see the rubber hose underneath, and he has a beach short.
This is something I never would have considered, but now that it's pointed out, I cannot help but say thanks to the entire team of artists and collaborators. Art team gets a thank you for making these changes so well that it's invisible during gameplay. Collaborators get a big thank you for allowing the artists to make the necessary changes. It must have been a real feat to figure out what steps to take to get everyone looking like they belong in the same game.
Idk if any other artist can relate to working with another artist on something and both your styles are universes apart. This video is a good start to bridge that
I love this insight but I think I still love to death the saturated colours and DK/Yoshi expressions of games like the original Smash bros. There is a lot of charm in them specially for a kid.
One game that comes to mind instantly is Capcom vs. SNK 2. Despite being one of the most celebrated fighting games in history, it will always be notable for using Morrigan's heavily dated sprite in a game where everyone else's art is much more refined.
One of the most interesting parts about a character getting into smash was see how their design would be modernized with extra details. Hair is the most noticeable change in fidelity to me, with characters like Joker and Sora
Super Mario: Cartoon Donkey Kong: Cartoon Zelda: Realistic with an Animesque Touch. Metroid: Realistic Yoshi: Cartoon Kirby: Cartoon with an Animesque Touch Star Fox: Cartoon with a Realistic Touch Pokémon: Animesque with a Realistic Touch. Mother: Cartoon with an Animesque Touch. F-Zero: Comic Book with a Realistic Touch. Ice Climbers: Cartoon Fire Emblem: Animesque with a Realistic Touch Game & Watch: It's a calculator Kid Icarus: Animesque with a Cartoonish Touch Wario: Cartoon Metal Gear: Realistic Pikmin: Cartoon with a Realistic Touch R.O.B.: Realistic (for Obvious reasons) Sonic The Hedgehog: Cartoon with an Animesque Touch Animal Crossing: Cartoon Mega Man: Animesque Wii Fit: Realistic Punch-Out!!: Comic Book with a Cartoonish Touch Pac-Man: Cartoonish Xenoblade: Animesque with a Realistic Touch. Duck Hunt: Cartoon Street Fighter: Animesque with a Realistic Touch Final Fantasy: Realistic with an Animesque Touch. Bayonetta: Realistic with a Comic Book Touch. Splatoon: Animesque with a Cartoonish Touch. Castlevania: Dark fantasy alternating between realistic and Animesque with some painting influences. Persona: Animesque Dragon Quest: Animesque with a Cartoonish Touch. Banjo-Kazooie: Cartoon Fatal Fury / KOF: Animesque with a Realistic Touch ARMS: Comic Book with a Cartoonish Touch. Minecraft: Retraux of the Indie Kind. Tekken: Realistic with an Animesque Touch. Kingdom Hearts: Cartoon-Anime Hybrid.
That's so cool that you used Sonic as an example alongside Samus. I really understood how it worked. I'm a Sonic main in Smash so getting a little more information on the character's design was something I really enjoyed. Other than that, My original main is Mario but I also play with Pikachu as well.
It would probably never happen given the amount of rights-holder confidentiality that it'd get tied up in, but I've always wanted a Smash Bros artbook that shows concept art and revisions, and really gets into the development history of Smash - much like the books for Splatoon. The effort that goes into redesigning all of these characters and tweaking their visuals is astounding - especially when you get into characters like the Ice Climbers who were barely anything more than a few dozen pixels and a drawing in a manual. Again, fully understand there's little chance of it happening - but if there WAS a chance, I'd empty my bank account to see such a book.
"Normally only their pupils close, but for Smash Bros, we got permission to make their eyelids close instead." _Nobody_ in the Smash community has any clue how much work goes into making these games so great. Who would even think about something like this? Who would even assume Sakurai would have to ask Nintendo permission to use Yoshi's eyelids as eyelids? This level of detail and burocracy is beyond our dumb little comprehension.
All the people knocking Sakurai for this in the comments...I'm glad ya'll are not directing the art direction for games. They'd be an over-saturated visual mess with everything clashing & competing for your focus, like PlayStation All-Stars, or some other smash clones which couldn't get this right (or some M.U.G.E.N shit). Sakurai is a professional who knows what he is doing, it's all purposeful. A bunch of you want to just see "pretty colors" but that comes with a price (visual clarity, focus, and cohesiveness). Lot of people who have no clue about these concepts having strong opinions.
Brawl was kinda ugly. Along with Twilight Princess it was the closest Nintendo got to falling into the "real is brown" aesthetic that plagued the other consoles.
I have to wonder how Alear’s design would change if they were in Smash. FE Engage’s art style is extra colorful, and you can see the difference between it and Smash when you compare the Emblems to their Smash counterparts.
To steal a quote I once heard from a video describing the design of Kingdom Hearts. "You have to put Tigger and Sephiroth in same picture and make it work."
This is another minor thing i never thought about. It is one of those aspects of game design especially in crossovers that you don't think about much but when it is pointed out you go oh that actually makes alot of sense.
I feel like these videos are such a treasure. It's almost like Sakurai is training the next generation of video game developers, whether they be indie developers or larger studios. ^^ Learning very much and very appreciated!!
Yes more Smash! I love Brawl's graphics the most because of the more realistic look. It's amazing how many different styles were fit together in Smash.
Well, this definitely explains why characters such as DK, K Rool, and Bowser feel more animalistic than their original counterparts which were more characterised. In a realistic environment they would look more beastly, but would it still feel out of place for them to retain their original voices instead of the growls and grunts the Smash games gave them? Either way, I still love the cohesive design approach the Smash series has always strived for, epsecially with Ultimate, it's like the perfect blend of the grittier realism from Brawl mixed in with the more brighter and simplified look of Smash 4.
I find it interesting Sakurai brought up changing the way Yoshi closes his eyes to unify the overall art style but for Greninja in Ultimate they kept it as it was in the Pokémon games
Without all this consideration, Smash Bros. would end up looking like one of those fan-games which rip artwork directly from various sprite sheets and mash things together. I find it especially funny when a single character ends up using sprites from different games in a series (like their run animation is from one game but their jump pose is from another).
I'm glad he finally lightened up in Ultimate. Always bugged me that he's so much sterner in Smash Bros than the "yahoo! yippee!" characterisation elsewhere.
@@alexpotts6520 idk, when he walks, he gives off the vibe of a thug that you owe money. If you want a look yourself, I recommend the Piranha plant reveal trailer at around 15 seconds. There's a great shot of him walking for a second where he just looks SO angry.
@@alexpotts6520what are you talking about?? Mario has always been serious and determined in most of his artwork, especially 2000s stuff Stop making up nonsense
Another fantastic video from Sakurai! I love it when we got more insight into the making of Smash, especially these details about adapting characters into a unified style. Another thing to point out is Sakurai mentions working with Nintendo and other companies to get approval for the adjustments, which only goes to show how amazing it is that this game exists. :)
They did have to make modifications for both. Steve’s textures have different brightness values from the original Minecraft ones to account for the different lighting engine despite otherwise being exactly the same (as the old and more iconic Steve design with the smile/beard). G&W’s walking and running animations are completely different from how a real G&W game would work, so that it would be readable in a fighting game setting while still retaining the feel of those systems.
This would be an excellent topic to expand on and show us more examples. It was a very interesting video! I noticed back in the melee days the jean design showing on Mario and the stitching on Link's tunic, but I never realized that was deliberate for the art style of the game.
Every time I see Smash Bayonetta, I just go "man we're lucky to be on the timeline where Smash Ultimate exists." I can't even imagine the meeting where Sakurai and his team are in a room with Nintendo, and when Reggie asks "OK, so who's the last DLC fighter?" "Well sir, we've decided that Bayonetta is a good fit..." "You mean the sexy witch librarian whose shoes are guns? And that only speaks in double entendre?" "Yes, Reggie-san. Smash is a game for good boys and girls, and we can justify Bayonetta being in it by doing (insert fictional reasons)....Miyamoto-san said it was OK." "He did? Let me call him and confirm that, that surprises me" "No, he's uh...on vacation, he said not to bother him. But I promise you, he said Bayonetta is allowed in Smash. Scout's honor." And here were are, what a time to be alive. You can make Cloud, Sonic, Bayonetta, and Yoshi all fight in an officially sanctioned game.
Honestly, something about seeing cartoony characters receiving just a little bit more detail is something I love about the art direction of the Super Smash Bros. series. Peach and Daisy in particular really benefit from this if you ask me, atleast as far as their dresses are concerned; I straight up prefer how they look here over how they look in the Super Mario series!
I wonder how this would compare to something like Kingdom Hearts III having a shader designed for different styles across different worlds, or (not games but) the Spider-Verse movies getting really crazy with art style contrasts. I'd love to see how a game could pull it off like Spider-Verse, but a friend I was talking to about it said that would be really hard on the hardware.
These are legit Sakurai just teaching the world how to make smash brothers so his future protégé can make the next smash game. It's so good to see all of this in such a digestivle format.
The fact that he needs to ask the companies involved in terms of a small design tweak (like Yoshi's eyelids closing) sounds like such a world of headaches
There's a story from the development of Wreck-It Ralph where Nintendo was very specific about the way Bowser should hold his coffee cup in a scene, of all things. That's how using corporate mascots is.
This may seem like niche advice, but as indie game development is maturing, networking is becoming way easier. As a result, crossover events and cameos are starting to become more involved than the occasional easter egg in a level background.
Never really gave this much thought until I saw gameplay for MultiVersus. A lot of those characters look a little weird together, which made me realize what an accomplishment Smash's character design was.
One of my questions I hope you get to talk about soon is about how some characters appearance looks more “censored” (at least according to the fans) than their original appearance… aside of maintaining the age rating system? …I know, someone had to ask. 😅
I do appreciate how the general approach does slightly favor realism. It follows suit with the extreme general detail in modeling, animation and lighting that modern 3D allows, as well as the nerd fantasy of cartoonish characters looking like they would fit as much in the real world as they would in their own worlds. Plus I'm not a fan of pupils closing like eyelids anyway. :
A viable alternative to this is also to whittle down everything to a minimalist design for expediency/prototyping, then iterate the graphics from there in a common, uniformish fashion; while only taking the realistic characters say, 1-2 steps beyond the cartoonish ones at max (setting down the 1:1 expectancy for the sake of cohesion).
![Attack Poses [Animation]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/99gdMDF7V2E/mqdefault.jpg)
![Attack Poses [Animation]](/img/tr.png)
![Odds and Ends of Supervising [Graphics]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wKQ2v9kno9I/mqdefault.jpg)
![Development Secrets of the Original Kirby [Grab Bag]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZUY2AtBD6Sk/mqdefault.jpg)
Making all these unique characters feel like they belong next to each other has always been one of the most impressive parts of Smash's visual design.
They've even got originals like Captain Falcon and Ness!
I love how Steve and Game&Watch does almost none of that, and yet it still works perfectly because their uniqueness is part of what defines them
Is not really about uniqueness persay, it’s moreso these characters are essentially husks with no real personality or huge design elements
We don’t necessarily expect anything out of them nor have they’ve undergone redesigns in any massive way.
They can just exist as is because there’s really nothing more to them.
Most other companies would see the reception of Game&Watch and Steve and try to do even more the next time without considering the overall balance needed to keep the style coherent. We need more people to practice constraint in media when something eye-catching develops.
Amusingly some of my least favourite characters because of how they fit in the least. Just give me that pink puffball.
@@Alphasoldier
I remembered how in Brawl's first trailer, Mario, Link, Pikachu and Kirby went from Melee to Brawl graphics wise. I always loved how Kirby was the one who had the smallest changes and made a face like "Wait? That's all for me?"
You can't enhance perfection.
Yea and the way theyre animated is also very faithful. It'd be so strange seeing G&W move at like 60 fps, or Steve bend his arms/legs for example
This is a really great way to show people not only WHY clashing styles can look weird, but also how to circumvent that clashing from happening in the first place.
I mean, a prime example of changing proportions is Olimar, like, the guy grew several feet taller to join the fight. It's videos like this that give me more love for Smash as a series. I could listen to Sakurai talk about every minor detail change on every character if he wanted to.
It's really cool hearing Sakurai talk about this, I'm sure this is just a very small list of examples of the hundreds of adjustments they had to make in order to make all the characters look like they can interact with each other in a believable way. Not just each other, but ALSO look like they don't clash too badly with any given stage, too. It's honestly kind of a miracle and a testament to Sakurai's direction and the dev team's skill that they were able to pull this off so well and so convincingly. Seeing Kirby fight Solid Snake inside a Mario Maker level (with varying tilesets) SHOULD just look wrong, but it works, and that's incredible.
The fact that the Smash Bros team both changed the way that certain characters' eyelids function and the fact that they specifically had to get permission for this goes to show that there is so, so, so much detail in this series which is taken for granted by just about everyone.
Good to know one of the questions you need to ask when developing one of the most ambitious titles in gaming history is "What if Donkey Kong was real?"
I think one of the problems of the Playstation brawl was exactly that. They translate the characters carbon copy from theirs respective games, so you have a contrast when seeing them all together.
Parappa was the only exception to this... but not the rule.... strange
to be honest i was ok with that
It was called Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, not Playstation Brawl. But I think it should be called something like that, the name it has is too long.
It wasn’t all that bad honestly, even if I only had the Vita version. I guess I could say that it had its own kind of charm, the contrast was funny.
@@amosdeguzman9980I guess the word brawl just came to mind because of Nickelodeon *All Star* brawl’s similar name. You are right though, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale is quite a handful to say
The thing I find most fascinating is that Steve is just so distinctly designed in his source material that changing him in any of these ways would make him an entirely different character and the Smash team knew this and explicitly made him stand out *more* than most characters it’s very impressive.
I always liked how Peach and Daisy's dresses looked in Smash, they're more detailed and look like actual dresses. I always wanted to see a Mario game use those designs.
when SNK did SNK v Capcom they adapted their SNK look towards the Capcom characters and vice versa, which was interesting to see between the clash of styles. I personally like the Capcom "cartoony" look over the more "realistic" SNK look.
1:25 this point is why I really like Smash Ultimate's style. Makes it very unique.
Seeing Sonic on the thumbnail for a Sakurai video is the most exciting thing
Toon Link had one of the biggest glow-ups from Brawl to Smash 4.
The realistic details made him look drab before, but Smash 4’s vibrant colors perfected it.
I liked the realistic details on him though lol
Being an animator… it’s a hard job but give yourself some praise from their hard work!
What I love about Smash Bros is the consistency and details of the designs. It's true that I felt just how polished the game is when you share details and change things like proportions to make them look more fit in.
So basically Sakurai is saying don't make your crossover fighting game look like Mugen. Got it!😊👍
Can't believe he made this entire video without a single mention of Snake. THE embodiment of the purely realistic character that really shouldn't fit in a mostly cartoonish game, and yet does here.
He fits more in Brawl than in the PS All Star and that one GC smash clone.
@Ikagura you mean Dream Mix TV World fighter?
that one was a weird crossover. 😂
In Brawl it's clear that they made the cartoony characters more realistic so that they fit better along the realistic ones like Snake and the Zelda characters whose designs are taken from Twilight Princess, in Smash 4 and Ultimate they struck a balance by making cartoony characters a bit more realistic and realistic characters a bit more cartoony.
Also It's funny how Samus in Other M looks very plastic and glossy while in Smash the suit actually looks more metallic and with scratches.
I still love to this day the great details that Sakurai has put into the characters, faithful to their sagas! they look so cool and nice to see at first sight ❤
I loved how much thought was put into handling the contrast between the cartoony and realistic-looking characters in Smash, by unifying the artstyle while staying mostly true to their original design. I know there were certain crossover games that might've looked better if they tried something like that.
I remember there was a time when I wished that Olimar's design in Brawl would become his standard design for whenever he showed up again in the Pikmin series. After thinking about it for a while though, I thought of how the game is most often played with the camera zoomed out so that the player can react to what's around them, and the small details on his suit would've gone largely unnoticed were it to be used there.
A unified artstyle definitely does wonders to make a full game look cohesive, so these tips are very much appreciated.
If you want to look at examples of a lack of unified artstyle, look no further than the vast majority of MUGEN "fullgames". MUGEN being a highly customizable fighting game engine, people will often collect characters and stages from around the whole wide web and slap them together under a rough "theme" to create "fullgames", but since most of those fighters and stages look so visually different, they end up feeling like a mess visually (and to play, too, since it's rare for a fullgame author to specifically look for characters using the same gameplay style; unless THEY'RE the ones making the characters in the first place).
Even official crossover games like Capcom vs SNK can suffer from that.
@@ikaguraAn even more egregious example would be Capcom Fighting Jam
When Smash started to introduce 3rd party characters, that’s when things started to get exciting. It’s cool seeing all these different characters in one game!
Any guest is allowed, as long their franchise have games on Nintendo,
@@StarWritterSW That was not true for Cloud at the time, unless I'm missing a spin-off game...?
@@GiraPrimalnah you correct, cloud was never on a Nintendo console but because of square Enid and Nintendo being pals cloud was among the 3rd party characters.
Cloud did appear in Gameboy advanced Kingdom hearts, along with Sora
@@GiraPrimal wrong. Final Fantasy, the franchise Cloud comes from, was literally born on Nintendo. Cloud appeared on GBA, DS and 3DS before joining, in between Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy appearences. He always had chances
Always appreciate how much effect Sakurai puts in his characters.
Sonic mentioned, I’m pleased
Tbh I'd totally be down for an hour long video of Mr. Sakurai dedicated to just show/ explain all those small changes and details for all the characters. I just absolutely love such things.
I love it when Mr. Sakurai shows us footage from Smash Bros Ultimate. It warms my heart to see this game still being discussed and after more than 4 years after its release ❤
Hello Mr.sakurai I have been playing smash for years now with my friends and we still enjoy the game , thank you for being amazing and passionate about what you have been doing for us 😊
3:44 now I want a stock picture photo dude to appear in the next smash just like this
Bayonetta's reduced height in Smash definitely still stood out to me. She is 60% legs in her original design after all and changing that will become apparent really quickly. It's not a big deal though, especially if it has a purpose like this.
This is an interesting video considering how other cross-overs try to handle the visual differences in their character designs. Some try to unify while others really lean into the differences- I'd like to see someone make a deep dive into various cross-overs, how they designed their graphics and what worked and what didn't.
I can only imagine what you’d do for Cuphead as a fighter, since he’s designed with the rubber hose animation style in mind.
Cuphead is already in the game as a mii costume, and i think it looks decent enough.
you could make some parts like his eyes painted onto his cuphead and animated like the original game, or go the game&watch way
Why not make his limbs look like rubber hoses? They do have a specific texture to them. And the lighting on the cup itself, on the liquid inside and the straw could totally be realistic too. It'd look like a cool old school toy or figurine or something.
@@OccuredJakub12 maybe all his black body parts as rubber hose, and his legs have pants with a socks texture but slightly knee ripped so you can partially see the rubber hose underneath, and he has a beach short.
This is something I never would have considered, but now that it's pointed out, I cannot help but say thanks to the entire team of artists and collaborators. Art team gets a thank you for making these changes so well that it's invisible during gameplay. Collaborators get a big thank you for allowing the artists to make the necessary changes. It must have been a real feat to figure out what steps to take to get everyone looking like they belong in the same game.
we should show this to everyone who try to make "mario on unreal", "zelda on unreal" or stuff like that.
seriously.
Nintendo hire this man!
Idk if any other artist can relate to working with another artist on something and both your styles are universes apart. This video is a good start to bridge that
Honestly, a fight between 3D realistic characters and 2D hand-drawn characters would probably be pretty cool
I love this insight but I think I still love to death the saturated colours and DK/Yoshi expressions of games like the original Smash bros. There is a lot of charm in them specially for a kid.
One game that comes to mind instantly is Capcom vs. SNK 2. Despite being one of the most celebrated fighting games in history, it will always be notable for using Morrigan's heavily dated sprite in a game where everyone else's art is much more refined.
One of the most interesting parts about a character getting into smash was see how their design would be modernized with extra details. Hair is the most noticeable change in fidelity to me, with characters like Joker and Sora
Super Mario: Cartoon
Donkey Kong: Cartoon
Zelda: Realistic with an Animesque Touch.
Metroid: Realistic
Yoshi: Cartoon
Kirby: Cartoon with an Animesque Touch
Star Fox: Cartoon with a Realistic Touch
Pokémon: Animesque with a Realistic Touch.
Mother: Cartoon with an Animesque Touch.
F-Zero: Comic Book with a Realistic Touch.
Ice Climbers: Cartoon
Fire Emblem: Animesque with a Realistic Touch
Game & Watch: It's a calculator
Kid Icarus: Animesque with a Cartoonish Touch
Wario: Cartoon
Metal Gear: Realistic
Pikmin: Cartoon with a Realistic Touch
R.O.B.: Realistic (for Obvious reasons)
Sonic The Hedgehog: Cartoon with an Animesque Touch
Animal Crossing: Cartoon
Mega Man: Animesque
Wii Fit: Realistic
Punch-Out!!: Comic Book with a Cartoonish Touch
Pac-Man: Cartoonish
Xenoblade: Animesque with a Realistic Touch.
Duck Hunt: Cartoon
Street Fighter: Animesque with a Realistic Touch
Final Fantasy: Realistic with an Animesque Touch.
Bayonetta: Realistic with a Comic Book Touch.
Splatoon: Animesque with a Cartoonish Touch.
Castlevania: Dark fantasy alternating between realistic and Animesque with some painting influences.
Persona: Animesque
Dragon Quest: Animesque with a Cartoonish Touch.
Banjo-Kazooie: Cartoon
Fatal Fury / KOF: Animesque with a Realistic Touch
ARMS: Comic Book with a Cartoonish Touch.
Minecraft: Retraux of the Indie Kind.
Tekken: Realistic with an Animesque Touch.
Kingdom Hearts: Cartoon-Anime Hybrid.
That's so cool that you used Sonic as an example alongside Samus. I really understood how it worked. I'm a Sonic main in Smash so getting a little more information on the character's design was something I really enjoyed. Other than that, My original main is Mario but I also play with Pikachu as well.
It would probably never happen given the amount of rights-holder confidentiality that it'd get tied up in, but I've always wanted a Smash Bros artbook that shows concept art and revisions, and really gets into the development history of Smash - much like the books for Splatoon. The effort that goes into redesigning all of these characters and tweaking their visuals is astounding - especially when you get into characters like the Ice Climbers who were barely anything more than a few dozen pixels and a drawing in a manual.
Again, fully understand there's little chance of it happening - but if there WAS a chance, I'd empty my bank account to see such a book.
The artstyle of smash makes the characters fit in the same universe so well
"Normally only their pupils close, but for Smash Bros, we got permission to make their eyelids close instead."
_Nobody_ in the Smash community has any clue how much work goes into making these games so great. Who would even think about something like this? Who would even assume Sakurai would have to ask Nintendo permission to use Yoshi's eyelids as eyelids? This level of detail and burocracy is beyond our dumb little comprehension.
Straight facts
All the people knocking Sakurai for this in the comments...I'm glad ya'll are not directing the art direction for games. They'd be an over-saturated visual mess with everything clashing & competing for your focus, like PlayStation All-Stars, or some other smash clones which couldn't get this right (or some M.U.G.E.N shit).
Sakurai is a professional who knows what he is doing, it's all purposeful.
A bunch of you want to just see "pretty colors" but that comes with a price (visual clarity, focus, and cohesiveness). Lot of people who have no clue about these concepts having strong opinions.
People on Reddit who clown on Ultimate's graphical style in comparison to Brawl don't understand how much thought is put into stuff like this.
Brawl was kinda ugly. Along with Twilight Princess it was the closest Nintendo got to falling into the "real is brown" aesthetic that plagued the other consoles.
I have to wonder how Alear’s design would change if they were in Smash. FE Engage’s art style is extra colorful, and you can see the difference between it and Smash when you compare the Emblems to their Smash counterparts.
To steal a quote I once heard from a video describing the design of Kingdom Hearts.
"You have to put Tigger and Sephiroth in same picture and make it work."
It’s cool how a character’s appearance in Smash works as something of reinterpretation in this “middle-ground” art style.
These videos have been a great source of inspiration for my teaching practice. Thanks, sakurai
Sakurai starting off with "Did you know Smash Bros. is a crossover game?" lol
Thanks for sharing Mr Sakurai! I've always wondered how you guys synchronized art styles for SMash games and this answers it.
As a Game Developer in training,for me this video is like a treasure. 💯👏🏻
Thank You!
Excellent points about some Characters having Cartoony Designs and some having Realistic Designs.😄👍
This is another minor thing i never thought about. It is one of those aspects of game design especially in crossovers that you don't think about much but when it is pointed out you go oh that actually makes alot of sense.
I feel like these videos are such a treasure. It's almost like Sakurai is training the next generation of video game developers, whether they be indie developers or larger studios. ^^ Learning very much and very appreciated!!
Ah yes realism and cartoony styles, thanks for the explanation Sakurai
Yes more Smash! I love Brawl's graphics the most because of the more realistic look.
It's amazing how many different styles were fit together in Smash.
Well, this definitely explains why characters such as DK, K Rool, and Bowser feel more animalistic than their original counterparts which were more characterised. In a realistic environment they would look more beastly, but would it still feel out of place for them to retain their original voices instead of the growls and grunts the Smash games gave them?
Either way, I still love the cohesive design approach the Smash series has always strived for, epsecially with Ultimate, it's like the perfect blend of the grittier realism from Brawl mixed in with the more brighter and simplified look of Smash 4.
Brawl was my favorite art style for the series although I like how in WiilU they all looked closer to their in game models.
I find it interesting Sakurai brought up changing the way Yoshi closes his eyes to unify the overall art style but for Greninja in Ultimate they kept it as it was in the Pokémon games
Without all this consideration, Smash Bros. would end up looking like one of those fan-games which rip artwork directly from various sprite sheets and mash things together. I find it especially funny when a single character ends up using sprites from different games in a series (like their run animation is from one game but their jump pose is from another).
this is tough work in fact
so good we see all fighter in best state
This is what Mario originally looked like: 😃
And here he is in Smash Bros. Brawl: 😡
I'm glad he finally lightened up in Ultimate. Always bugged me that he's so much sterner in Smash Bros than the "yahoo! yippee!" characterisation elsewhere.
@@alexpotts6520 idk, when he walks, he gives off the vibe of a thug that you owe money.
If you want a look yourself, I recommend the Piranha plant reveal trailer at around 15 seconds. There's a great shot of him walking for a second where he just looks SO angry.
@@alexpotts6520shut up
@@alexpotts6520what are you talking about??
Mario has always been serious and determined in most of his artwork, especially 2000s stuff
Stop making up nonsense
Delusional take
Mario is not any different in Smash; stop making up nonsense
Another fantastic video from Sakurai! I love it when we got more insight into the making of Smash, especially these details about adapting characters into a unified style. Another thing to point out is Sakurai mentions working with Nintendo and other companies to get approval for the adjustments, which only goes to show how amazing it is that this game exists. :)
It does make me wonder tho why did Sonic become less expressive in later titles after his debut
I love how he didn't bring up Game and Watch and Minecraft
They did have to make modifications for both. Steve’s textures have different brightness values from the original Minecraft ones to account for the different lighting engine despite otherwise being exactly the same (as the old and more iconic Steve design with the smile/beard). G&W’s walking and running animations are completely different from how a real G&W game would work, so that it would be readable in a fighting game setting while still retaining the feel of those systems.
@@dysr ooh I like this explanation
@@dysralso G&W does look a bit different between the different Smash games, so something must be being changed
“Others are more realistic”
*shows Ganon*
Compared to Wario, yes.
True but Snake was sitting right there lol@@roskiart8750
Debo decir que agradezco mucho que hayas creado super smash bros es un gran juego, enserio te lo agradezco 😊
This would be an excellent topic to expand on and show us more examples. It was a very interesting video! I noticed back in the melee days the jean design showing on Mario and the stitching on Link's tunic, but I never realized that was deliberate for the art style of the game.
This seems like a very unique kind of challenge you'll find only with certain crossover games or games with a really strange premise.
We saw an example of changing the characters proportions with Snake's butt. It would look strange to have that much dump truck comparatively.
This is really interesting, thank you, Sakurai and the rest of the team working on these! ^^
Every time I see Smash Bayonetta, I just go "man we're lucky to be on the timeline where Smash Ultimate exists."
I can't even imagine the meeting where Sakurai and his team are in a room with Nintendo, and when Reggie asks "OK, so who's the last DLC fighter?"
"Well sir, we've decided that Bayonetta is a good fit..."
"You mean the sexy witch librarian whose shoes are guns? And that only speaks in double entendre?"
"Yes, Reggie-san. Smash is a game for good boys and girls, and we can justify Bayonetta being in it by doing (insert fictional reasons)....Miyamoto-san said it was OK."
"He did? Let me call him and confirm that, that surprises me"
"No, he's uh...on vacation, he said not to bother him. But I promise you, he said Bayonetta is allowed in Smash. Scout's honor."
And here were are, what a time to be alive. You can make Cloud, Sonic, Bayonetta, and Yoshi all fight in an officially sanctioned game.
Amazing vid as always Sakurai
This makes really good sense. I think he is trying to get these characters to stand out well outside of there universes.
They needed permission to make Yoshi's eyelids close...
Honestly, something about seeing cartoony characters receiving just a little bit more detail is something I love about the art direction of the Super Smash Bros. series. Peach and Daisy in particular really benefit from this if you ask me, atleast as far as their dresses are concerned; I straight up prefer how they look here over how they look in the Super Mario series!
First...
Hello Mr. Sakurai.
Notes Taken.
3:43 😂😂😂
Also Zelda SFX.
It’s very strange how many details are needed permission for. Closing eyelids instead of pupils is so weird to have to ask for
The two exceptions to this was fittingly enough- Steve and GameAndWatch
I wonder how this would compare to something like Kingdom Hearts III having a shader designed for different styles across different worlds, or (not games but) the Spider-Verse movies getting really crazy with art style contrasts. I'd love to see how a game could pull it off like Spider-Verse, but a friend I was talking to about it said that would be really hard on the hardware.
thanks for even more amazing advice and information, sakurai!
These are legit Sakurai just teaching the world how to make smash brothers so his future protégé can make the next smash game.
It's so good to see all of this in such a digestivle format.
For me, this was one of the best video so far.
Never forget they replaced black yoshi with gross yarn textured one
I’m shocked that when they talked about tweaking the characters size and proportions, Ridley wasn’t mentioned
tbf ridleys proportions in smash were closer to his original ones in nes metroid, where he was only slightly bigger than samus
Thank you, I feel like a lot of people doing texture work should know these kind of things
The fact that he needs to ask the companies involved in terms of a small design tweak (like Yoshi's eyelids closing) sounds like such a world of headaches
Welcome to the corporate world.
I wonder if he would ever talk about licensing music from other games cause that honestly sounds like a freaking migraine
There's a story from the development of Wreck-It Ralph where Nintendo was very specific about the way Bowser should hold his coffee cup in a scene, of all things. That's how using corporate mascots is.
This may seem like niche advice, but as indie game development is maturing, networking is becoming way easier. As a result, crossover events and cameos are starting to become more involved than the occasional easter egg in a level background.
Never really gave this much thought until I saw gameplay for MultiVersus. A lot of those characters look a little weird together, which made me realize what an accomplishment Smash's character design was.
I can hear Mr Game & Watch crying in the distance
One of my questions I hope you get to talk about soon is about how some characters appearance looks more “censored” (at least according to the fans) than their original appearance… aside of maintaining the age rating system? …I know, someone had to ask. 😅
I do appreciate how the general approach does slightly favor realism. It follows suit with the extreme general detail in modeling, animation and lighting that modern 3D allows, as well as the nerd fantasy of cartoonish characters looking like they would fit as much in the real world as they would in their own worlds. Plus I'm not a fan of pupils closing like eyelids anyway. :
What? No mention of Ridley being too big? :(
But heh, for real, these steps are a nice insight to the visual cohesion process!
A viable alternative to this is also to whittle down everything to a minimalist design for expediency/prototyping, then iterate the graphics from there in a common, uniformish fashion; while only taking the realistic characters say, 1-2 steps beyond the cartoonish ones at max (setting down the 1:1 expectancy for the sake of cohesion).
DeDeDe actually does do that cartoony eyelid thing in his shield break animation
The stock photo fighting a stock illustration felt a little like a RelaxAlax gag
Another amazing video. Thank you very much sensei! :D
They had to get permission to change the way the eyelids work lmao