The Super Smash Bros. franchise has come a long way since its inception. The latest entry in the series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, features a roster of 86 characters, mostly thanks to its “Everyone Is Here” theme.
Although Super Smash Bros. started as a celebration of Nintendo, it would eventually become a commemoration of gaming in general. As such, many third parties are now selectable within the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster.
Of course, the very first third party guest, Snake from Konami’s Metal Gear, took everybody by surprise when he was announced for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, it turns out that character’s creator, Hideo Kojima, actually made the request to have Snake join the battle during the development cycle of Super Smash Bros. Melee.
“But at that time, we were already deep in development and I was thinking that we weren’t going to be able to get him in there. I told him that it was too bad he hadn’t brought it up earlier, and that was the end of the story.” — Masahiro Sakurai
According to Masahiro Sakurai, Kojima “practically begged” him to make Snake a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Since Kojima was a good friend of Sakurai’s, the request ended up sticking with him, but he didn’t think it was possible at the time.
“Actually what really brought about the Snake character goes back to a conversation I had back when I was developing Super Smash Bros. for GameCube, when Hideo Kojima contacted me and practically begged me to put Snake in the game,” said Sakurai according to a translation by Source Gaming. “But at that time, we were already deep in development and I was thinking that we weren’t going to be able to get him in there. I told him that it was too bad he hadn’t brought it up earlier, and that was the end of the story.”
Later, Kojima was asked about why he “practically begged” Sakurai to put Snake into Smash. Apparently, it was his son that wanted to see one of Kojima’s creations in Super Smash Bros., a game the father and son enjoyed playing together.
“My child likes Super Smash Bros., so we play it a lot together,” said Kojima to a group of interviewers at The Art of Videogames exhibit (via Engadget). “And he told me that there’s no character that you made in that game.”
“My child likes Super Smash Bros., so we play it a lot together. And he told me that there’s no character that you made in that game.” — Hideo Kojima on asking Sakurai to add Snake to Smash
Although it should be mentioned that Kojima also saw other merits in having Snake participate in Super Smash Bros. He figured that this would be a good way to introduce the character to fans that were otherwise unfamiliar with Metal Gear.
“As you know, we did make Twin Snakes, but generally speaking, there hasn’t been a lot of Metal Gear on Nintendo platforms,” continued Kojima. “So from that perspective, I thought it was a good way to expose younger people to this character, Snake.”
This wasn’t the sort of request that Sakurai simply could’ve fulfilled by working a little harder. The development cycle of Super Smash Bros. Melee was particularly harsh on Sakurai’s health as he was devoting everything he had to its completion as he envisioned it.
Indeed, Sakurai had actually worked 13 months straight without a single day off for Super Smash Bros. Melee. He’d work 40 hours, take a four hour nap, then wake up to continue working for the next 40 hours. Needless to say, the experience resulted in Sakurai collapsing suddenly, then he was taken to the hospital.
“When this project came up, because I had been in contact with him back then, we re-initiated talks and decided to put Snake into the game.” — Masahiro Sakurai
Though it’s never been outright stated, there have been implications that if there was ever a sequel to Super Smash Bros. Melee, Sakurai would add Snake to that game. A few years later, Sakurai was asked to oversee the Super Smash Bros. project for the Wii.
Sakurai apparently remembered the request that his friend made of him during the development of the previous iteration. With that in mind, Sakurai sought out Kojima to see if that request was still on the table.
“When this project came up, because I had been in contact with him back then, we re-initiated talks and decided to put Snake into the game,” stated Sakurai.
After Snake was revealed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it paved the way for other guest characters later in the series, including Sonic the Hedgehog, who was also coincidentally requested of Sakurai (by Yuji Naka) during the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee.
What’s interesting about these occurrences is that they marked some of the few times in which Sakurai would promise that a character would appear in a future entry of Super Smash Bros. (that we know of).
At this point, we’re awaiting the Switch 2 Direct that’s been scheduled for next week on April 2. Could a new Super Smash Bros. entry be announced during this upcoming presentation?
It turns out that Masahiro Sakurai has been working on a secret game project since April 2022. In other words, he’s been working on this game for nearly three years now, but it hasn’t even been revealed yet.
Assuming another Super Smash Bros. is on the horizon, we could see a number of characters that were previously considered added to the roster in the same manner that Snake was. We’ll just have to see how things play out from here.
Source: Event Hubs
