Iwata Asks, part 4: Subspace Emissary mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

If you’ve been closely following the “Iwata Asks” interview conducted by Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata about the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl title, today’s discussion focuses on the game’s single player adventure mode entitled The Subspace Emissary mode. Game concept designer Masahiro Sakurai talks about the stand-alone game mode’s development, as well as the different features included in it.

Check out the rest of the interview in the full article!

Leaving off from yesterday’s discussion on Super Smash Bros. Brawl‘s different online features, this latest installment of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata‘s “Iwata Asks” interview with game concept designer Masahiro Sakurai discusses the game’s single-player adventure mode.

Iwata caught Sakurai off balance when he put his foot forward and asked how a fighting game such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl can have such an engaging single-player mode included as one of the primary modes of play.

Sakurai responded by saying that since he wanted Brawl to feel like it was the final title in the series, he wanted to put everything together into one big bash, so to speak. He further explained it by saying:

[…] I tried to think of ways we could enable players to more thoroughly enjoy such a rare all-star lineup and, in the end, I pulled a power play. To put it simply, the Adventure Mode is like a stand-alone title offered in the same package. In terms of development work as well, it was like making two distinct games.

He had difficulty coming up with plausible ideas on how to throw in different characters from different worlds into one massive storyline. Sakurai even went as far as to ask help from game scenario writer Kazushige Nojima of Final Fantasy 7 fame to help creating the game’s story.

While the first few storyboards weren’t exactly to Sakurai’s liking, in the end they were able to come up with The Subspace Emissary storyline that we’ve seen in previous video previews and story coverages released by the developers.

The single-player adventure mode is set with five difficulty levels and has been plugged as something that gamers from all different skill levels can enjoy. Even the most casual of gamers should get by on the Easy difficulty setting, while the more hardcore and curious gamers will definitely get a kick out of the highest Intense setting.