Odds and Ends of Supervising [Graphics]

[@realbartsimpson]

I really enjoyed the "find the enderman" minigame, though I wasn't very good at it.

[@LightsJusticeZ]

I failed all of them lol.

[@SquackSpencer]

@@LightsJusticeZ Not only I faled all of them, even with Sakurai-san pointing out where the Enderman is at level 5, I still didn`t find it. Guess he just teleported away...

[@laggalot1012]

"Thank you - and I'm sorry!" Hah, I can imagine. Mr. Sakurai clearly has a very keen eye for detail, I bet his feedback was more than a few times met with a sense of "is that really necessary?" or something along those lines. I, for one, don't think I'd have ever considered the majority of these things as being something needing further adjustment. But that's why I'm not a game director, I suppose. Still, the team did a heck of a job on it all, so props to them!

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

Yeah one great example from my perspective is the moon on the ridges one for the Mishima Dojo vs the brightening of the Aegis alt color. My eyes couldn't tell the difference really in the before/after of the Mishima one while being someone who's played the crap out of Xenoblade, having a slightly too dark green on the alt would have BOTHERED me.

[@dearthofdoohickeys4703]

@@Triforce_of_Doom this comment made me think of female Byleth’s alt color where she has green hair. The shade of green is different then the original game, and imo in Smash she looks WAY better. I always thought her hair looked sickly before. Now that I see how crazy detail focused he is I’m convinced it’s not an accident. He must have intentionally improved on it, and I’m so glad he did.

[@Nu_Merick]

personally all the adjustments were for the better, im sure the designers werent mad about his changes. sakurai doesnt strike me as an asshole generic activision corporate d-bag when asking for changes, he seems polite about nearly everything lol

[@laggalot1012]

@@Nu_Merick Oh, no I don't mean to insinuate anything like that. But as the "and I'm sorry!" implies, the feedback probably must've felt like nagging every so often, or Mr. Sakurai at least felt it may have come off that way. Obviously that's just the work dynamic he has with his team and I'm sure there's plenty of mutual respect, but it seems almost inevitable that it got annoying for some of the people involved at least a few times. He's just joking about it a little. It's just a natural reaction to which we humans are inclined. I'm sure you've experienced it yourself at some point, even in an otherwise perfectly friendly and respectful environment.

[@Gabo2oo]

I felt like that when learning he even personally checks very small stuff like the event thumbnails. You'd expect something like that could be left to the actual visual designers themselves. But then again when you create so many things for one single project you tend to do stuff on auto-mode, so having a keen external eye supervising is bound to help.

[@lordpent]

Videos like this have shown what I feel many games derivative of Smash lack: an exceptional level of visual clarity. Smash is fun because it's easy to understand- you always know what just happened and why, even with how chaotic it can be. I hope more developers learn to make their own games as readable as Smash.

[@tcg2717]

And this is exactly why the games are good. Such attention to the smallest of details.

[@johnsimon8457]

I never considered “What makes an interesting looking blade slash trail?” but if you have to look at them all day and you have a wide variety of characters with a wide variety of weapons, you get sense of what is right or wrong. I suppose this extra sense is built up over decades continuously iterating on Smash.

[@extremmefan7305]

This is fascinating, seeing how the supervisor role works and how much care Sakurai asks to have in every single small detail in the game, even retouching pictures by himself to get his point across. That's some good dedication. The one that strikes me the most is Pyra's trail, given how often sis plays her. The trail in the images definitely lacked a bit of oomph, and I'm glad that little detail was fine-tuned to look as great as it does ingame.

[@mmking9999]

Even the tiniest details don't go untouched. I bet Sakurai was also responsible for this Guile assist trophy detail: Sometimes, instead of a flash kick, Guile will do a jump Forward attack. The reason why this happens is because there wasn't enough of a charge to do the flash kick!

[@Darockam]

That's a really neat detail! Also the Alucard assist trophy cannot randomly appear in Wii Fit's stage because of the mirrors :D

[@ultimaxkom8728]

I love it when Sakurai touch my tiniest details.

[@myy1008]

what@@ultimaxkom8728

[@mifaro2255]

I messed with it in the training mode, guile has a random chance of doing it while you are outside of his Sonic Boom range and his flash kick range but just close enough. That's why he'll try to jump to catch you. If you are close to him, he'll always flash kick. He can also empty jump.

[@legoboy7107]

@@ultimaxkom8728 Ayo? 🤨

[@Doktario_Mystario]

2:20 seeing Sakurai turning his vid in a "Level Up" style hide & seek minigame was hillarious

[@ARDIZsq]

I could listen to Sakurai talk about graphics and details for hours. I sincerely hope we get more videos like this in the future.

[@BigKlingy]

6:07 The sheer detail that goes into these stages boggles my mind sometimes, especially as they're hard to notice while you're focused on fighting.

[@nixel1324]

A lot of the time, if they're hard to notice, they're doing it right. An overlooked detail might seem like a waste, but it's much better than a glaring error. And with millions of players, any error will be glaring to at least _some._

[@juneru2]

This level of polish is what's greatly appreciated in Smash. For a game in which characters can get very small when the camera's zoomed out, it really does help when characters have increased contrast, or more clear silhouettes.

[@AegisZentix]

Pyras got an award winning smile

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

Smash being a "mere" 2.5D "party" arena fighter with "simple" controls is one of the biggest deceptions ever; it is genuinely one of the hardest serieses to develop for. Few things make that clear like this video does, it covering visibility issues, animation/gameplay matching, play balance and faithfulness to the original games as requiring plenty of tweaking of the various interplaying elements, and in a way that makes it obvious they're merely the iceberg's very peak. Hats off to Sakurai and his crews over the years.

[@RedUmbre]

Videos like this show just how involved and hard working Sakurai is. I'm blown away with just how scrutinous he is and how good he is at animation and graphic design.

[@phdbot4483]

I admire the immense attention to detail. It really shows how much Sakurai wanted his games to be the best they can be. ^^

[@Radar_of_the_Stars]

the reason your games are so good is because of you and your team's attention to detail

[@MeLlamoJonathan]

its crazy how this man went frame by frame to put in the tiniest tweaks and details. mad respect

[@ExploDjinn]

A lot of this stuff is subtle enough that I wouldn't normally notice. It really shows his dedication.

[@jackchong5324]

Just insane the amount of detail you put into Smash Bros Ultimate. Once again, THANK YOU Mr. Sakurai!!!

[@legacytag]

I know for legal reasons you can't, but i genuinely would love to see these early builds in action with the debug UI... This is the kind of stuff I love in gaming

[@TriforceZard]

The amount of detail and care that goes into the game, especially the fighters, is incredible!

[@dragonfruitreal]

this is by far the most interesting video on this channel so far i love seeing all the little details that were touched up and the effect that even the smallest adjustments have on the overall look of the game

[@durrclips746]

When its 4pm on a Friday and Sakurai-sensai hits you with a "can you raise warios socks half an inch"

[@cirecrux]

His eye for detail is insane...

[@Arkounay]

I didn't think mr Sakurai worked so hard on so many details, I appreciate the game and the person even more now 🤩👍

[@WinspearUltima]

It’s great to see cloud and sephiroth in this video again because they are my favourites

[@litplay41]

This is so helpful and super fun to learn about. Thank you Sakurai!

[@thecunninlynguist]

These seem like pretty reasonable requests. Just little suggests. One of my older supervisors was hands on like that as well. I want that toy plane he used to describe the highwind

[@Stefinater]

Quality control like that goes a long way Yeah that little Galaga fighter is pretty cool lol

[@allegedlyfalse6779]

Geez: I have more respect for you than ever on being a game director. It can't be easy supervising all of this and giving as much care as you do.

[@Manimal14]

There's just so many little details that we never notice in this game

[@Nekotaku_TV]

Love this. Another display of the amazing detail of Smash and dedication of Sakurai.

[@Schimnesthai]

What's needed for the work to reach the objective as best as it can, you have always done a great job and here it shows.

[@ninjoe4889]

Love all the Pyra/Mythra content!

[@ToddBlackToddTalk]

Sakurai looks at EVERYTHING and tries to make sure that EVERYTHING looks and plays right. That's dedication of the highest order.

[@awesomecats]

Awesome getting to see all this. Thanks for your hard work!

[@chamster4584]

I am an indie game developer and I need to communicate a lot with artists on things to adjust. Tbh, I would let a lot of these minute adjustments slide. For one, my teammate would take way too many iterations just to fix them. Maybe my feedback was too vague/complicated or his lack of comprehension/skill to pull it off. It is mentally exhausting for both parties and a lot of times I just accept the work without really being satisfied with it. Sometimes this feedback could also make things worse. Once again, could be me or the teammate's fault that the result is less desirable than before. So, unless it is something really obvious or easy to fix, I just avoid nitpicking to avoid time wasting and other problems. Having said that, I really admire Sakurai san and his team for following through with all these adjustments. Good job!

[@HDGamerofficial]

This man’s attention to detail is legendary 👏👏👏 so many things I’ve never even thought about but I have so much respect for him making sure his vision is what we got and it makes this game all the more incredible 👏👏👏

[@nicocchi]

As someone who's often fixing those minor details that are visible to the end user, I'd actually appreciate it a lot if my boss would give a little retouch to the pictures to show exactly how they want it. Very often I have to wing it, and I'm glad the (admittedly small) team I'm on trusts my aesthetic judgment quite a bit, but I'd be lying if I said doing things my way and hoping they turn out alright wasn't a bit uncomfy

[@tbbivi]

yes, big same 🙈

[@Oh-Ben]

In this video: Sakurai single handed explains why hes the only qualified persons to make Smash Broa games.

[@Gamersfirst100]

The eye for detail is astonishing... This truely is a game of passion!

[@gv82089]

The Mishima Dojo stage is one of my favorites, it's so beautiful! (and the music is great too) You guys did a great job on it

[@AxlTheDriverOfTheAegisZX]

3:26 I like when Sakurai has his moments to talk about Pyra and Mythra, it's so nice to see my favorite characters from all Smash in these videos, and Pneuma's artwork is pure art 🔥✨💚 4:30 Pyra smile :3

[@matlotl]

A lot of images with the smash Wii U version of battlefield being used for testing. It would have been nice if we could have gotten it and other previous versions of battlefield and final destination as options in ultimate. Also, pyra has a temporary fighter portrait of hero's silhouette, might suggest that she and mythra were built off of hero as a base.

[@Mene0]

Bruh some of these are crazy. Hard to think of the balance between "is that really necessary" and "that's just why it's so good". I'm reminded of a few stories about Kojima's supervision as well, like the ice melting in MGS2 and such

[@darthangel310]

My dude’s afraid to even talk about Sora.

[@bigmeaty9000]

you don't supervise disney property, disney tells YOU how it will look.

[@TheRealZXXZ]

*Nomura A reminder that Sakurai admitted that Nomura would have been one to scrap everything if something a miss while Disney was easy going.

[@ChrisCarlos64]

Sora is a nightmare. SE and Disney would have to approve everything and I'm sure in many cases SE would have been more trouble. They have those "terms" on their games on how you can stream them so I'm sure they wouldn't be happy with pre-release footage of any kind showing up.

[@Eternal-7]

​@@ChrisCarlos64crazy to think that we got this much SE representation in Smash Bros. to begin with.

[@MrOnepiecem7]

​@@ChrisCarlos64Nomura more like.

[@scass1100]

Up front a lot of this may seem unnecessary, but smash has probably the best visual clarity on character images, attacks, and hit boxes compared to every other fighting game I’ve seen.

[@Brods11]

Excellent and outstanding information of requested fixes for Smash Ultimate!😄👍

[@UnexpectedGamer7]

Something I find fascinating about these videos is that they show how Smash Bros development involves so much more than what the players will naturally focus on. Of course, we all discuss the characters, stages, music, game modes... and it's easy to forget how there are so many other, small details that contribute to Smash Bros being the special game it is. Sakurai and his team have really done a phenomenal job!

[@Poyostar]

It's always nice to see the process behind even the littlest things when it comes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's development. Thanks for showing us these, Mr. Sakurai!

[@FedoraKirb]

It’s stuff like this that makes me want to get into art more, so I can more easily explain details. I like to think I’m a pretty good writer, but the ability to quickly sketch something out must be so convenient for clearly communicating details.

[@mjdevlog]

Insane thinking that this exact video must be also under several supervision from sakurai himself!

[@lionheart4424]

The attention to detail is EXTRAORDINARY! Really shows his years of experience. Loved this video, thank you!

[@TheHylianBatman]

Sakurai's eye for detail is nuts!

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

I love this Mr. Kirby’s dad’s channel

[@Doktario_Mystario]

you assuming Kirby's gender bro? /j

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

@@Doktario_Mystario Yes٫ he is a male creator of Kirby and director of Super Smash Brothers!

[@Doktario_Mystario]

@@TramiNguyen-oi3kp i was talking about Kirby not Sakurai

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

@@Doktario_Mystario why?

[@Doktario_Mystario]

@@TramiNguyen-oi3kp it was a joke (its what /j means) it's supposed to be funny because there are people that take the whole "don't misgender" thing to outragious levels which in this case works because Kirby's gender is never confirmed (in game at least)

[@noirlavender6409]

Thank you again for these solid gold nuggets ♥

[@Prolyfic8]

I don’t know if it’s said already, but you can notice Smash 4’s Battlefield running in a dev. environment of Ultimate in some screenshots. Meaning we also got a first glance of Smash 4’s BF in Ult.

[@coderaven1107]

This was very humbling. In a good way :D Thank Mr. Sakurai!

[@RoxasRamirez]

Lol, we're all very sure Sora went through a lot of changes with graphics/animations but oof. Not sure if he can even talk about it.😅

[@Arcterran]

My boss does this too (Albiet for Web UIs, not gaming!), I actually appreciate this as its easy for us devs to get lost in the weeds as it were. (Though admittedly sometimes we do feel stupid for not considering it or passing us by but hey, that's what team leads are for!). Small details matter and they do all add up in the end!

[@alexisgarza1223]

Muchas gracias por compartir esto con nosotros Sakurai!!😄

[@SoulHeartRS]

Sakurai REALLY likes Pyra, doesn’t he?

[@Game_Hero]

Pyra waifu

[@connordarvall8482]

Now I want to be a supervisor. You can learn a lot about every part of game development that way.

[@raymk]

Sakurai-san is one of those people whose job is to nitpick your work. He's the director, so can't blame him for doing his great job.

[@Alex-95-Gaming]

I love these development videos

[@YoshMaster]

Wow he is incredibly detail-oriented 😮 I guess that’s a great quality in a game director but it can easily become a huge problem is the person isn’t extremely nice in his approach haha…! Good thing he seems likes he knows how to keep people around him happy to compensate 😅

[@mimisaiko]

Recently, Akshon Esports channel upload a video named "Why Is Smash (Melee) The King Of Platform Fighters?" One point the video make is how good, clear, charming and satisfying Smash looks and feels.

[@gonderage]

Imagine: Sakurai said this is a tiny portion. Let's take that as 0.001% of the supervision he's done for the game. I lost count of how many revisions he made in the video and im too lazy to recount, but it was somewhere above 30. If 30-ish revisions are 0.001%, then that means that Sakurai is responsible for 30 * 100,000 = 3,000,000 revisions!!! Insane!!

[@Aperson-62]

I think this goes to show how nitpickyness goes a long way in game development. Even if it annoys people in the process.

[@Doktario_Mystario]

nitpicking only works when it actually impacts the product, internet people nitpicking everything won't do shit AND is annoying to everyone

[@stardragon5849]

​@@Doktario_Mystarioexactly, it's so annoying.

[@b2j135]

Mr. Sakurai is quite the perfectionist lol I love that about him 🥰

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

Sakurai is like the William Wyler of gaming. Delicate, perfectionist, but still with a ton of business savvy.

[@Doktario_Mystario]

who is William Wyler?

[@Sonic09Hedgehog]

​@@Doktario_Mystarioa film director.

[@Doktario_Mystario]

@@Sonic09Hedgehog thanks for explaining

[@PoPo-qp8zq]

4:31 that smile 🥰

[@BeefySmashDoods]

that "find the enderman" had me trippin LOL

[@mjdevlog]

This solidifies that no one could replace sakurai

[@TheMastror]

Sakurai, I love your work and your videos. This is one of my favorite videos. 🤩 Who's your favorite blade in XC2 and why?

[@luk3to]

"And why Pyra?"

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

super amazing sakurai supervision!

[@Bugaboo8]

Isn't anyone going to point out Smash for Wii U Battlefield being in the background for a good amount of the screenshots? Because it's really cool!

[@noemisango8478]

Yes, iv'e just notice, and it's really cool.

[@gonderage]

8:54 A sidenote: desaturation does not accurately capture the actual brightness of a color when using RGB colors with additive blending! Our eyes are not equally sensitive to all colors, so we should use a luminosity function (look it up) to find the relative brightness.

[@fillercontent9271]

3:47 smash 4’s battlefield in ultimate omg

[@shawnheatherly]

Such a cool breakdown.

[@ln5321]

Can't argue with the result, but my god, imagine working for Sakurai. It must be a headache.

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

I like all these game development KZbin videos

[@DarkBloodbane]

Thanks for sharing this Mr Sakurai! I never thought he would be so detailed on graphical stuffs which I normally ignore.

[@AlterBridgeJericho]

Sakurai keeps putting Pyra in the thumbnail... she is pretty cute tbf

[@herobrinesbestminion6766]

I'm not an artist, but I can totaly do that.

[@7thNoodle]

I see a lot of mr. Sakurai's work being done on contrast. I don't seem to have an eye for this, as with some examples I had to pause to even understand the differences. How do you develop this skillset? Is it more about talent, and teaching my eyes to look for improvements, like with Sephiroth's sword? or is it more about studying and comparing renders to reference art and learning ways to maintain consistence? It's really interesting to me...

[@Doktario_Mystario]

some talents can only come from instinct, Sakurai being the overworked artist (by choice) that he is, has propably just a higher than average instinct to see these things

[@Moegivesmelife]

There’s of course the natural skill aspect, but this is absolutely a thing you will just get better at the more you do it. I’ve spent lots of hours looking at clips of anime scenes and going through them slowed down and frame by frame. Now I’m able to notice many intricacies instantly and recognize the styles of dozens of different animators. 😄

[@Big-Mic7878]

Had a feel details are important after even if no one sees it at first What actually made me feel better is that it doesn't HAVE to be one to one but it has to be as close to the original as possible Igh you know what this reminds me of Nickelodeon's All-Star Brawl 2 for every License Character that they have they always make sure to stay close to their original designs as much as possible and judging from the results among other things it make quite the first impression I'd say🧐

[@ramaicatseye]

I'm curious about the "Debug UI."

[@NightFore]

I am not play Smash Bros every day but every video remind me of how much this game is a masterpiece.

[@4xzx4]

Whoa, looks like a ton of work!!

[@jedisquidward]

1:58 Nothing feels as reaffirming as knowing that even Sakurai-san himself uses MS Paint from time to time

[@gamejitzu]

Smash 4 Battlefield, honestly my favorite version

[@kratos_pt1121]

Attention to detail!

[@silverrath]

Was expecting Sora after Kazuya in the video, but it makes sense why he's not there lmao

[@NintendoFan7141]

Oh cool, Sakurai also has the Galaga/Galaxian Figma set. I wonder if he got the DX version that came with an extra Fighter to display the Dual Fighter from Galaga.

[@TheMack625]

There's a lot that goes to making Super Smash Bros. look good, huh? As someone who doesn't have any experience in game design/supervision, I like seeing this look behind the scenes.

[@jimbob3332]

Eyyy, the Doomguy Mii costume!

[@ErenTheWarcriminal]

Sakurai San knew what he was doing with that thumbnail

[@corrinflakes9659]

Duh, he wants that pose for Pyra to have a more readable silhouette. I can tell before even watching.

[@ErenTheWarcriminal]

@@corrinflakes9659 oh we readin, we readin

[@hanjjaze]

I clicked because of it

[@TheRealZXXZ]

He really loves Pyra lol

[@hanjjaze]

@@TheRealZXXZ you cant dislike her if you like xenoblade 2

[@NurseValentineSG]

geez, I failed at level 1 find the enderman.

[@invisiiso]

Genuinely thought it would be among the pitch black areas so I immediately started looking there. I was a fool. What a crazy shade...

[@Doktario_Mystario]

for me i couldn't find him in level 5 even though i paused on all of them

[@Saberkun_KM]

Wished he went over Sora's fixes, even just a little...

[@floatingsweetpotato]

so cool that we can learn so much from Mr. Sakurai!