{"id":36513,"date":"2024-09-04T19:52:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T10:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=36513"},"modified":"2024-09-04T19:52:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T10:52:54","slug":"super-smash-bros-was-playtested-in-a-way-thats-not-possible-today-sakurai-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/super-smash-bros-was-playtested-in-a-way-thats-not-possible-today-sakurai-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Smash Bros was playtested in a way that&#8217;s not possible today, Sakurai reveals\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Masahiro Sakurai recently revealed that Hal Laboratory used to playtest games in a very effective way that is not easy to do nowadays.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking in the latest episode of his YouTube series, &#8220;Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games&#8221;, the Super Smash Bros and Kirby creator explained that having elementary school children play test games was a great way of getting feedback. \u201cWe\u2019d have the dev team\u2019s children, relatives and their friends come in and play the game during development.\u201d Sakurai explains, adding that they created a fun, party-like atmosphere in the office so that it would feel more like a gaming session with friends rather than a test.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"671\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-001.jpg\" alt=\"Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games elementary schooler play testers illustration\" class=\"wp-image-36515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-001.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-001-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-001-768x429.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Games like Kirby and Super Smash Bros are, after all, family games made to appeal to children, so having real elementary schoolers test the games made sense. Sakurai explains that the children\u2019s honest reactions as they played the game ended up giving the dev team lots of useful feedback. Just by watching how kids reacted to the game, the team could see what worked and what needed changing. Seeing kids having fun playing their game really helped motivate the devs too, Sakurai notes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One memory that stuck with Masahiro Sakurai was when they had some elementary school kids playtesting the first Super Smash Bros. game, released in 1998. One kid let out a delighted yell of \u201cWow, look how far he flew!\u201d when his Falcon Punch made the opponent go flying across the screen. \u201cCome to think of it, that kid might have been the first member of the public to land a Falcon Punch!\u201d Sakurai muses.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"672\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-002.jpg\" alt=\"Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Super Smash Bros play testing first Falcon Punch\" class=\"wp-image-36516\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-002.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-002-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240904-36513-002-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although such honest reactions from children are valuable to developers of games aimed at a young audience, it is not easy to arrange such playtests today. Sakurai cites greater concerns about game information leaks in the age of social media, plus modern child safety measures that make it harder to casually arrange such a playtest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The full episode can be watched on <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/aACUZ769djE?si=_2GoI4QpEdLsVD5S\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube<\/a> with English subtitles.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The game creator reveals a highly effective playtesting method that Hal Laboratory used in the 1990s on games such as Super Smash Bros on N64<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":36519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-36513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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