It’s not usually big news when a game developer updates their social media feed, but when you’re Super Smash Bros.Ā Director Masahiro Sakurai, people take notice when you adjust your Twitter. That’s what happened on December 27th, 2020, when Sakurai reached the one-year mark of posting daily photos from the development ofĀ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
In 2019, the saga began when Sakurai announced that once per day, he’d post an image that he used during the Super Smash Bros. team’s daily internal meetings on his Twitter feed. The move seemed a bit like a “365 project,” an exercise common among photographers and artists to create or produce a photo or work on a daily basis for a year. This was the first picture he used:
ćć¹ććć©SPćć®éēŗäøćē§ćÆćć¼ć å ć«å ¬éććę„å ±ć§1ę„1ęćéēŗäøē»åćäøćē¶ćć¦ćć¾ććććć£ćØē¶ćć¦ćć¾ćć
ćć®ē»åćććć1ę„1ęććć°ććć®éć©ć³ćć ć§ć¢ććććććØęćć¾ććę®å½±ć«ćÆćććć°ēØę©č½ćä½æć£ć¦ććå “åćććć¾ććććå®¹čµ¦ć!! pic.twitter.com/IGXO9E3DbG— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) December 27, 2019
Since then, barring holidays, Sakurai has dutifully uploaded new screens. The pictures, taken in “photo mode” style and enabled byĀ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s debug mode and development tools, featured a wide range of subjects and compositions. And now that rhythm is going to change slightly. In the latest tweet, Sakurai announced that after the holiday break, he’d be moving to a five-day-a-week schedule. In a follow-up tweet, Sakurai reasoned that the change was partly due to a dwindling stock of usable photos. Not every in-development shot is suitable for public consumption, though he still has at more than 100 worth putting up.
To commemorate this frankly quite minor ripple in the ongoing life ofĀ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, we’ve trawled through the feed over the past year and selected a few of our favorite posts for your enjoyment.
Some were anodyne development tests for the game, such as this lineup of Joker’s various color options.
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) December 27, 2019
Some were more artfully presented, like this shot of theĀ Dragon QuestĀ characters raising their weapons together.
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) January 10, 2020
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) April 4, 2020
Others were funny or clever references, such as this parody of Daigo parrying Justin at EVO 2004.
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) January 26, 2020
Or this celebration ofĀ Yoshi’s Island‘s 1995 release anniversary.
1995幓ć®ććććć¹ć¼ćć¼ććŖćŖ ćØćć·ć¼ć¢ć¤ć©ć³ććēŗ売!! pic.twitter.com/q7zZ9twq34
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) August 5, 2020
Still others were just surreal compositions made in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like this haunting two-picture post from February.
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) February 12, 2020
Some were real flexes, showing off stage or character details from the game that would otherwise be invisible to the players.
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) March 6, 2020
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) March 12, 2020
— ę”äŗ ęæå / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) December 4, 2020
Whatever the case, the shots showed offĀ Super Smash Bros. UltimateĀ in its best light, treating onlookers to a glimpse of just how much content is in the game, and engaging fans as well.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is immediately available on the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo announced the addition ofĀ Final Fantasy VII‘s Sephiroth to the roster at the 2020 Game Awards.
Published: Dec 27, 2020 11:01 am