These translations are based off of Sakurai's responses to fan email that used to be posted periodically on the official Japanese Super Smash Bros. website, they can be found here,
http://www.smashbros.com/jp/toukou/bn/list.html
My personal translation notes and/or thoughts are generally within the [ ].
Disclaimer: To avoid further debates on exactly what is said, as usual I don’t try to make the English sound coherent, rather so you all can see how/why/what I’ve translated and come to the decision for yourselves.
By the way, the Japanese title for this is Super Smash Brothers X, instead of Brawl.
Highlights:
#31-40: Non-Nintendo characters added into the game MUST have appeared on a Nintendo platform. The tentative number of non-Nintendo characters to be added is 1-2.
#71-80: The speed of the game will be "moderated." Unclear whether this means slower or faster, but slower is more likely.
#71-80: Every character's ability is being refined from the very beginning in order to allow "more freedom" in aerial combat.
#81-90: Not all characters will return.
#121-130: Just like in SSB and SSBM, in SSBB some attacks will be weaker than others on purpose.
#141-150: If they add online functionality to the game (they are still working out technical difficulties), they do not plan to add a ranking system to online battles.
#161-170: "This time, we'd like to stress easiness over the small details of combat, so overall it might become somewhat easier."
#171-180: Now that Smash is world-renowned, they don't want to include characters only popular in Japan. However, due to the success of the Fire Emblem characters, they still may.
#251-260: Sakurai will make Snake (and all other guest, i.e. 3rd party, characters) into an unlockable character. Sakurai will also eventually reveal all the secret characters (most likely what he did when melee was released: give details on a single starting character every week until release, then after release, give details on one secret character every week until they've all been done).
Full Story:
#1-10: Congratulating someone for getting married and having a kid due to a Melee tourny.
#11-20: Talking about the high calibur of his team, and how they will try their best to please people around the world with SSBB.
#21-30: "Annoying, right? But its so cute, isn't it?" Sakurai is just responding to an email talking about the Nintendog from the trailer.
#31-40: Sakurai starts by saying there wont be any manga characters. Then he begins talking about other companies characters to appear in the game. Among other things, Sakurai says that the character MUST have appeared on a Nintendo platform before. And to literally translate the last sentence (keep in mind this is in reference to the characters from other companies): "Anyways, at most we'll add another 1-2 characters [after Snake], maybe?"
Sakurai said it as a question, so it could still change. But now we at least have a ballpark of how many non-Nintendo chars will be added.
#41-50: Sakurai says that he thinks the new song (featured in the trailer) is very fitting, and there are already arrangements (I assume he means people hired) for the rest of the songs.
#51-60: Sakurai's witty response to an email suggesting Smash Bros should be featured in the Olympics.
#61-70: Its actually funny, the email Sakurai responds to actually was asking for Toad, but randomly interchanged Toad’s Japanese name with Pinochio’s Japanese name (he reversed the order of one symbol by accident several times). So Sakurai just made fun of him a little bit in this response.
#71-80: This was my very first translation of Sakurai’s stuff. I took a look at my old translation, and looked at the Japanese again. But I decided that my old translation is more or less good enough, because Sakurai was unusually straightforward about what he said. Here is the abbreviated version:
Sakurai said in response to a person complaining that SSBM is too fast: "Don't worry, the speed of the game will "be moderated" a little bit. When I asked "Could we allow more freedom in the aerial battles?" Everyone on my team agreed, so we are refining every character's ability from the very beginning"
Which personally leads me to believe that the changed dynamics of air combat will change the speed of the game (and since air combat is naturally a bit slower than land combat, as more of the game focuses in the air, the speed would be altered).
#81-90: Ah yes, my big translation. This is the translation that started this all. I cut down the original post a bit because it was so long:
After my initial quick translation that I posted on GameFAQs, I was bombarded with people shouting "LIAR! NOT TRUE! STFU TROLLER!" so I decided to post a full translation.
"In order to prove you naysayers wrong, here is a full, nearly exact, translation of what he said. My own personal commentary is provided in the [ ].
DISCLAIMER: Sakurai uses very ambiguous language in his response. So try not to nitpick the English in this passage too much.
"Sorry. I'm not very smart but I can't tell a lie so I'm just going to write it.
As for the previous game's characters, some of them will disappear. Definitely.
For the last game, we struggled to assemble 26 characters. We tried really hard and unintentionally reached that number.
But, although you'll see characters from the last game, this time, on a significant scale [Yes, this is exact], they will be remade. It is this sort of thing [This sentence is slang, so there really isn't a good English translation for it].
For argument's sake, no matter how much staff there is, with just manpower we can’t just put in everything, and as my own job [read: workload] does not decrease, there is a limit.
But, the consumer’s desired things to be included [There really isn’t a good English equivalent for that word] are weeeeell understood. You will be [he doesn’t give a subject to the sentence, so I’m using ‘you’] happy regarding the adapted characters moving around on different stages as well [The email he is responding to complained about how there are only 3 stages from SSB that are stages in SSBM, so I guess this infers that there wont be a whole lot of previous stages].
So, we will once again struggle to create characters. I cannot promise you anything other than that.”
And that is exactly what Sakurai said. Hope you guys enjoy the info ^_^ "
#91-100: Sakurai is just being modest about the trailer. Nothing important.
#101-110: Now he’s being modest about his own intelligence, and reflecting on how he wishes he could do stuff like lose on purpose to help other people. Yeah, Sakurai has an odd sense of humor.
#111-120: Sakurai is thanking this guy for sending him an email from Korea (I guess no American sent a Japanese email). And Sakurai also says that there is no helping dreaming about a DS version of SSBB, but right now people should look forward to the Wii version that they are working so hard on.
Sounds like he doesn’t want to say for sure that there won’t eventually be a DS version…
#121-130: Sakurai is saying that they can’t make all of the attacks for each character really strong. And Sakurai goes on to say that the best people always use all of the different attacks for the character, and because they use everything they score much higher.
So yes, some attacks are weaker than others on purpose.
#131-140: “Yes! More than people only wanting to win, we want people to want to have fun in the game. Of course, there are times where the opposite is true, too.”
Take that for what you will, it could mean nothing, but you never know.
#141-150: Sakurai says that to be able to put online battles in the game, there are many high hurdles they must overcome. And if they are able to overcome these hurdles, Sakurai states (verbatim) " 'The winner is great [Also read as celebrated, famous, etc.]' kind of system is not planned to be added."
I'm assuming Sakurai means he's just going to add basic online functionality to the game. He also says his reason is to keep the game fun for the same reasons that melee was fun, or something along those lines. This doesn't mean that wins/losses won't be recorded, but we probably wont be seeing any rankings.
#151-160: This update is simply informing the sender of the email that the Wii can also use 4 GC controllers. Stuff we already know.
#161-170: Upon careful consideration, I decided that my original translation was as accurate as can be. So here it is: "This time, we'd like to stress easiness over the small details of combat, so overall it might become somewhat easier."
#171-180: In this update, Sakurai basically just says that since Smash Bros is popular throughout the world, he can't just use characters that are only popular in Japan. But then he brings up that it worked for the Fire Emblem characters. Once, a black man (yes, he said that) thanked Sakurai for creating Roy just for him.
Another typically cryptic response doesn't necessarily tell us if he will/won't include obscure Japanese characters, but given the general tone of his response, I'm leaning heavily towards no.
#181-190: All Sakurai was talking about were the voice actors for Metaknight and Pit. For you anime fans out there, Pit's Japanese voice actor also plays Conan from Detective Conan (Case Closed in the US I think).
#191-200: Sakurai is simply saying that there is ALOT of time before the game is done, and the staff will work their hardest. I think he also says that while he has a fever (could just be an expression) he will try his best to provide updates.
#201-210: Sakurai says in response to an email asking only for well-known characters (like Mario, Link, etc.) to appear in SSBB, "Asking only for popular characters to appear in Smash...doesn't get me excited"
#211-220: "The game isn't even finished and you already want to know the ending?" Another response where Sakurai is just being funny and playing around.
#221-230: Sakurai said that since you are able to do so many things with the Wiimote, maybe he might add a prank-like function [read: easter egg/CORRECTION: A better translation would be "gimmick-like function," maybe think about the C-Stick's inessential function to SSBM] to the game with the Wiimote.
#231-240: The smash Snake will not use his knife or his pistol [read: guns]. Instead, weapons like his grenade and rocket launcher are being worked on, and it is planned that he will use them. Sakurai reasons that while in Japan, using a survival knife and using a sword are very similar, it is not the same in other parts of the world. In order to allow more people to play this game [read: to not get a T for Teen rating] they will balance it for all countries. Apparently, they also had this reasoning when they created Fox's blaster.
#241-250: This was a rather odd statement by Sakurai. If I'm not mistaken, then I believe he said that this time, only Metaknight will have a Rock [read: Rock as in type of music] version of Kirby's Dance song.
One of the great SWF admins, McFox, clarified this translation in what I think is the closest interpretation: "Well,
this is Kirby's victory dance song. I assume that means that when Metaknight wins, a Rockish version of this song will play, instead of Kirby's standard theme."
#251-260: Sakurai in response to an email asking that everything be unlocked as a default = "Well... that is a tough question. As long as the internet exists, all secrets will be revealed quickly. Sometimes even before the game comes out, even. Secret characters are one of the fun parts of Smash. Although you don't want to find out until the very end, I guess [literally: 'after all,' so there is no doubt in this statement] I'll reveal them. Again, just like "Smash fist" [literally: 'Sumabura ken,' the name of the Japanese SSBM site?] I can't just hold these characters back. "
The rest isn't too important. Except the last sentence. Sakurai says that having Snake as a hidden character rather than be part of the starting line-up is more fitting for a guest character.
#261-270: Sakurai doesn't say much besides that Link doesn't have any catchphrases, and having a Link that talks would be odd. Thats...it.
#271-280: Sakurai simply reminisces about Kirby's copy ability. The only important Smash info is the last sentence, "I guess I have no choice but to make a Snake copy, too. Should it be a bandana? Or perhaps a beard?"
#281-290: To finish off the updates, Sakurai responds to an email from the wife of the very first emailer he responded to. After a simple congrats, he starts talking about how the poll has closed. Sakurai says there were alot of submissions that they recieved, and he apoligizes for the many ideas that they can't implement. The only new info is this statement, "We will create this game with balance in mind."
That looks like its the end of the line for now. Probably no more updates on the Japanese site... which means this thread is going to grow some mold until there is anything new (and it'll probably have an English site update too). I want to personally express my gratitude to Smash World Forums' admins and users for being so supportive, its because of all of you that I decided to keep this thread alive.
Thanks.
SamuraiPanda's Translation Thread UPDATED: 11/1
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