• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Smash Ultimate: FP2 was originally gonna have 5 characters, a chance meeting at an award show between Sakurai & a Disney exec led to Sora getting in

Reader mode
TheGamingNewsGuy

TheGamingNewsGuy

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 5, 2017
31,465
The translation of the recent Sakurai column in Famitsucame out and it includes quite a intresting detail on how Sora got into Super Smash Bros Ultimate in the first place, basically one day at a certain award venue, Sakurai had the chance to meet with a Disney representative. The Disney Representive then said it would be great if Sora could get in and it eventually lead to negoitations being made regarding Sora being in Smash Bros.

This is strangly quite similar to how the orginal Kingdom Hearts was created as Square Enix game producer, Shinji Hashimoto had a change meeting with an Disney Executive in an elevator which allowed him to pitch the idea directly to Disney. The elevator pitch eventually turned into meetings regarding the possibilty of a Square Enix and Disney Crossover.

I just find it funny that in both times - it involves a famous Japanese Devloper/Producer having a chance encouter with a Disney member which would eventually lead to negoitations between companies.

You can read the translated article here:

 
Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,299
Houston, TX
​


And as discovered by MondoMega & Regulus Tera, this chance meeting likely happened at TGS 2019 & correlated with a management shift at Disney Japan.
MondoMega said:
I think it's pretty easy to lock it down to TGS 2019.

Sakurai was there, Ultimate won GOTY during the awards show; Disney were present, KHIII ReMind was showcased during the event and the base game won an Excellence Award during the same awards show. Lines up fairly well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Regulus Tera said:
Scarpone left Disney Japan by September 12th 2019. TGS 2019 was held on September 14th and 15th. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...s-disney-exec-head-new-japan-offices-1238913/
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So yeah, the stars aligned on this one, just as it did for Kingdom Hearts itself.

Source: Famitsu (Translated by PushDustIn & Kody NOKOLO on Twitter)
 
OP
OP
TheGamingNewsGuy

TheGamingNewsGuy

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 5, 2017
31,465
_zoipi said:
Wasn't that like, an urban myth because of how random and seemingly unapproachable it seemed the original idea of mixing Final Fanatsy and Disney?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nope it actually happened

www.ign.com

TGS 2004: Tetsuya Nomura Q&A - IGN

If you've played Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, then you've played a game from Square Enix super star Tetsuya Nomura. A character designer and director, Nomura has become the most well known name at the company since the days of Final Fantasy father Hironobu Sakaguchi. Nomura is probably a...
www.ign.com www.ign.com
 
Dr. Feel Good

Dr. Feel Good

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,996
As someone who has never been invested in the KH franchise, as an outsider it seems extremely odd that what likely will be the magnum opus for the Nintendo universe was ultimately end capped with what I deem to be more or less a Sony mascot.
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987
by sheer luck. Sakurai probably mentioned how Sora topped the poll and that was enough to convince them of the meeting
 
Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,299
Houston, TX
antispin said:
This game is a miracle
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
A miracle unless you're a Black person, of course. I can respect how much was accomplished with this game, but it's unfortunate that it'll forever have a big-ass asterisk next to the "Celebration of Gaming" moniker (outside of being mostly focused on Japanese gaming).
 
Calamari41

Calamari41

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,097
Pretty lucky that the Disney exec from the original Kingdom Hearts elevator pitch knew enough about videogames to understand the significance of the players involved on the VG side. If Hashimoto had gotten the wrong guy, the response could have been "what, like a Mickey Mouse Pokey-mans? Get away from me."

Though if they shared a building it's likely that it wasn't totally random, I would imagine they knew each other and their work at least to some extent.
 

Slacker247

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,063
Dr. Feel Good said:
As someone who has never been invested in the KH franchise, as an outsider it seems extremely odd that what likely will be the magnum opus for the Nintendo universe was ultimately end capped with what I deem to be more or less a Sony mascot.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'd usually agree, but I feel Sora is a bit bigger than that for whatever reason, whereas someone like Kazuya is still very much seen as a Sony thing, even though he too is on other platforms (and Cloud too).
 
clockstrikes

clockstrikes

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,560
Calamari41 said:
Pretty lucky that the Disney exec from the original Kingdom Hearts elevator pitch knew enough about videogames to understand the significance of the players involved on the VG side. If Hashimoto had gotten the wrong guy, the response could have been "what, like a Mickey Mouse Pokey-mans? Get away from me."

Though if they shared a building it's likely that it wasn't totally random, I would imagine they knew each other and their work at least to some extent.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Iirc talks between Square and Disney regarding a potential collaboration had already been underway prior to the elevator meeting. That was just when they decided to actually move forward with it.
 
KtotheRoc

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
56,622
A chance encounter between a game developer and a Disney executive led to a historic collaboration...

giphy.gif
 
Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,757
Dr. Feel Good said:
As someone who has never been invested in the KH franchise, as an outsider it seems extremely odd that what likely will be the magnum opus for the Nintendo universe was ultimately end capped with what I deem to be more or less a Sony mascot.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I get why you say that but KH hasn't been exclusive to Sony platforms since what, 2005? 2007? It has been on mobile, DS, PSP, 3DS, iOS, and is now on switch and Xbox so yeah I get it but I mean, Snake is in Smash Bros along with Sonic.
 
KtotheRoc

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
56,622
A chance encounter between a game developer and a Disney executive led to a historic collaboration...

giphy.gif
 
Viale

Viale

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,615
bonesawisready5 said:
I get why you say that but KH hasn't been exclusive to Sony platforms since what, 2005? 2007? It has been on mobile, DS, PSP, 3DS, iOS, and is now on switch and Xbox so yeah I get it but I mean, Snake is in Smash Bros along with Sonic.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


2004 with the release of chain of memories on GBA actually. Some people like to say they don't count as much, but anyone who's played the Nintendo entries knows they're incredibly important.
 
Cantaim

Cantaim

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,323
The Stussining
Viale said:
2004 with the release of chain of memories on GBA actually. Some people like to say they don't count as much, but anyone who's played the Nintendo entries knows they're incredibly important.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
yea if there's one thing I can say about kingdom hearts. It's that the portable entries make the handheld games crucial to the story. Chain of Memories, Birth by sleep, and Dream Drop Distance all gotta be played if you want to know what the hell is happening story wise.
 
antispin

antispin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,780
Neoxon said:
A miracle unless you're a Black person, of course. I can respect how much was accomplished with this game, but it's unfortunate that it'll forever have a big-ass asterisk next to the "Celebration of Gaming" moniker (outside of being mostly focused on Japanese gaming).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sadly true.
 
Deepwater

Deepwater

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,349
Calamari41 said:
Pretty lucky that the Disney exec from the original Kingdom Hearts elevator pitch knew enough about videogames to understand the significance of the players involved on the VG side. If Hashimoto had gotten the wrong guy, the response could have been "what, like a Mickey Mouse Pokey-mans? Get away from me."

Though if they shared a building it's likely that it wasn't totally random, I would imagine they knew each other and their work at least to some extent.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Disney has a long (and troubled) history with video game development. At that point and time that was their "license everything out to 3rd parties and make dollars on the pennies" era (which when you think about hasn't changed much). The only thing remarkable about it is the crossover nature of KH rather a straight up licensed game based exclusively on a single IP. They got out of developing video games internally because as a company they didn't know how to make them but they recognized the profit was in licensing. Not strange at all.
 
Majunior

Majunior

Member
Jun 20, 2019
1,189
User Warned: dismissing concerns about representation.
Neoxon said:
A miracle unless you're a Black person, of course. I can respect how much was accomplished with this game, but it's unfortunate that it'll forever have a big-ass asterisk next to the "Celebration of Gaming" moniker (outside of being mostly focused on Japanese gaming).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nah I still think it's a miracle.
 
Dr. Feel Good

Dr. Feel Good

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,996
bonesawisready5 said:
I get why you say that but KH hasn't been exclusive to Sony platforms since what, 2005? 2007? It has been on mobile, DS, PSP, 3DS, iOS, and is now on switch and Xbox so yeah I get it but I mean, Snake is in Smash Bros along with Sonic.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
  • Snake's first three games were on Nintendo platforms and not to mention Snake was unveiled in 2006, two years after Nintendo received the Twin Snakes remake exclusive on GameCube.
  • Similar to the unveil timing of 2006, Sonic at largely transitioned over to Nintendo as its primary platform (that changed over time, starting with Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006) but Adventure, Adventure 2, Rush, all the GBA titles (which were the only good ones at the time), the Collection series, etc. were all home on Nintendo consoles. And then of course not to mention the simply rivalry of Mario vs. Sonic which spawned the partnership for the Olympic titles.
Sora and Kingdom Hearts do not strike me at all as a Nintendo friendly series. But hey, maybe that will change now, given the ports.
 
DatManOvaDer

DatManOvaDer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,850
Dr. Feel Good said:
Yeah plenty of franchises half assed spin-off titles to Game Boy and DS back then, I wouldn't give them much credit for doing so when the mega blockbusters were exclusive to PlayStation.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There are no spinoffs lol. Each game is important. Also KH is on almost everything at this point and it's been like that for quite some time
 
Poltergust

Poltergust

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,821
Orlando, FL
Dr. Feel Good said:
  • Snake's first three games were on Nintendo platforms and not to mention Snake was unveiled in 2006, two years after Nintendo received the Twin Snakes remake exclusive on GameCube.
  • Similar to the unveil timing of 2006, Sonic at largely transitioned over to Nintendo as its primary platform (that changed over time, starting with Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006) but Adventure, Adventure 2, Rush, all the GBA titles (which were the only good ones at the time), the Collection series, etc. were all home on Nintendo consoles. And then of course not to mention the simply rivalry of Mario vs. Sonic which spawned the partnership for the Olympic titles.
Sora and Kingdom Hearts do not strike me at all as a Nintendo friendly series. But hey, maybe that will change now, given the ports.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I have no idea what you mean by "Nintendo friendly series" since a whole bunch of plot-important games were initially released exclusively on Nintendo platforms.

Heck, even by the most broad definition of "spinoff", KH3D is absolutely not even that.
 
Horohorohoro

Horohorohoro

Member
Jan 28, 2019
6,723
Dr. Feel Good said:
  • Snake's first three games were on Nintendo platforms and not to mention Snake was unveiled in 2006, two years after Nintendo received the Twin Snakes remake exclusive on GameCube.
  • Similar to the unveil timing of 2006, Sonic at largely transitioned over to Nintendo as its primary platform (that changed over time, starting with Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006) but Adventure, Adventure 2, Rush, all the GBA titles (which were the only good ones at the time), the Collection series, etc. were all home on Nintendo consoles. And then of course not to mention the simply rivalry of Mario vs. Sonic which spawned the partnership for the Olympic titles.
Sora and Kingdom Hearts do not strike me at all as a Nintendo friendly series. But hey, maybe that will change now, given the ports.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Kingdom Hearts had 4 games (Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Re:Coded, and Dream Drop Distance) that originally released on Nintendo handhelds first.

Two of those games are still only playable on DS while in the collections available on other consoles they are just cutscene collections.

Also KH doesn't have any spinoffs lmao
 
brain_

brain_

What is a tag? A miserable pile of words.
Member
May 13, 2021
2,345
MO
Dr. Feel Good said:
Yeah plenty of franchises half assed spin-off titles to Game Boy and DS back then, I wouldn't give them much credit for doing so when the mega blockbusters were exclusive to PlayStation.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I wouldn't call it half assed, it's integral to the story of the series. It sets up the entirety of the rest of the saga.
 
HibbySloth

HibbySloth

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,153
Banjo being a front runner is music to my goddamn ears.

So fucking satisfying, especially with all the discourse surrounding Banjo being a "Croc" level franchise that's only popular because enthusiasts told us to like it.

Shit like this is why you don't listen to randos on Twitter that haven't even played the game they're criticizing.
 
Majunior

Majunior

Member
Jun 20, 2019
1,189
Neoxon said:
From a legal standpoint, sure. But from the characters present, between the lack of Black characters & the racist stereotypes present in the game, it still feels like an open wound on an otherwise-great game.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I just don't think your wording was too great there tbh. Even Ultimate had plenty of black characters I wouldn't call it a "miracle" necessarily.
 
Foffy

Foffy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,379
Poltergust said:
I have no idea what you mean by "Nintendo friendly series" since a whole bunch of plot-important games were initially released exclusively on Nintendo platforms.

Heck, even by the most broad definition of "spinoff", KH3D is absolutely not even that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

His point, and I think the KH purists are trying to hit him for it, is that all the mainline numbered games seemed more "fit" on PlayStation platforms. It's only been recently that it's not been the case with those numbered titles. I can see his view as that from an outsider's view from fans of the series. All of the people going "mainline games are on handhelds" are missing what the more casual take here is, where numero uno, dos, and tres were all really only available in full in the PlayStation ecosystem. He even said he didn't play them, and I assure you, people who don't play Kingdom Hearts are most likely to be in his mindset.

Even Joker and Cloud feel like more of "Sony" characters, even if a great deal of games from the Megami Tensei and Final Fantasy actually originated in the Nintendo ecosystem. In their case they're just the most popular characters of series that have a long running history in the Nintendo space.
 
Viale

Viale

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,615
Dr. Feel Good said:
Yes, it's literally the exact same setup as Chain of Memories, it's a bridge between the two main line titles.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Then sure. I'd question how much importance the banjo story has to fans compared to kh, but fair enough. Personally, Chain of memories is almost more important to the greater KH universe than kh1. The second most important character in the series basically has all of their development in CoM after all.


Like going into 2 from 1 feels like you missed an entire game of reveals and development.... because you did.


Other edit: based on later posts, it sounds like you might have been stretching it when I asked you "if it was pivotal to understand later entries"
 
Last edited:
TheDinoman

TheDinoman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,093
Grunty's Revenge wasn't even made by the same team at Rare who made Kazooie and Tooie (led by Gregg Mayles) and it's pretty much non-canonical, despite being an interquel between those two games. It and Banjo-Pilot also weren't released in Japan.

Like Nuts & Bolts (which WAS made by most of the core Banjo team) features tons of callbacks and references to the N64 duology but nothing from the GBA games, and there's a part at the end of the game where Grunty laments that "a three time loser she cannot be." It's clear that Rare wasn't thinking about GR at all during the development of that game.

It's not comparable to Chain of Memories in any shape or form lmao
 
Hikari

Hikari

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,687
Elysium
This all but confirms to me that Sora did not leak. It would be impossible to know this.
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.