Recently, the Smash Bros Dojo has opened its doors officially. Though much of the information is not new, updates are guaranteed to be coming every weekday from Masahiro Sakurai himself!
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Unlikely to be the last surprise waiting for us inside a box.
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Most of the information is stuff any fan of the games would know by now – such as how to play or information about the one stage that has been revealed.
However… if you look at “Music” there is a list of composers that is nothing short of formidable. Absolutely amazing.
The list itself gives examples of games the composers worked on, which is helpful for several names I didn’t recognize. Let’s take a look.
The usual suspects:
- Koji Kondo
- Masaaki Iwasaki
- Minako Hamano
- Shogo Sakai
- Toru Minegishi
- Yuka Tsujiyoko
- Hajime Wakai
These are all composers who worked on several Nintendo games in the past or recently worked on big-name Nintendo games. Pretty much guaranteed that some of their work would make it in. Of these, I only recognized Koji Kondo, but several of the others also did a significant amount of work.
The unlikelier ones:
- Akihiro Honda
- Motoi Sakuraba
- Tsukasa Masuko
- Yasunori Mitsuda
- Yoko Shimomura
- Kenji Ito
These are some bigger names; I recognize Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean, Tales of Destiny, Valkyrie Profile), Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger / Cross, Xenogears), Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts), and Kenji Ito (Sa-Ga series, Final Fantasy Adventure). Each of these worked on a game on a Nintendo system at some point, and Akihiro Honda did work on the Metal Gear series – so he’s given since Snake is in the game.
The out-of-the-blue-holy-crap ones:
- Michiko Naruke
- Noriyuki Iwadare
- Yuzo Koshiro
- Masato Kouda
Of these, two have done any work on Nintendo systems to my knowledge: Yuzo Koshiro (Actraiser, Legacy of the Wizard; other, Streets of Rage) and Noriyuki Iwadare (Der Langrisser; other, Lunar, Grandia). Michiko Naruke composed for the Wild ARMs series, which has only seen Sony releases. Masato Kouda did Devil May Cry and some work on Wild ARMs. These are just completely amazing, and I applaud HAL for getting them on board with Smash Bros Brawl.
So now the buzz around the internet: are these names indicative of third-party characters that might turn up? If I get to play as Rody from Wild ARMs, I swear the day Brawl comes out will be the day I buy it (and a Wii, if I don’t have one by then). Crono would be a big fan favorite, though I’m not sure if I want to see a try at a 3-d model of him. Kingdom Hearts characters would be less surprising to see, though Nintendo would have to work out something with Disney for some.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll be keeping an eye on that website. I’m looking forward to seeing more about this game that can recruit so many talented composers. Oh yeah, and something about Melee being a great game, too.
I love Mitsuda.
I don’t know if all these composers signals that lots of 3rd-party characters will be included, but Dante from Devil May Cry would be a good fit. Only he hasn’t appeared on a Nintendo system yet.
I’m more excited for the soundtrack now than the game. I’ve never been a fan of SSB. But with a composer list like this?! I’m reserving that OST.
I wouldn’t say that this is any indication of extra 3rd party characters. These composers don’t own the characters, and the companies that do don’t own the composers.
Sakurai simply hired a great group of high-quality composers for his high-quality, fanservice-centered game.
I’m surprised that these composers are allowed to work with whatever company they want. I guess I’d assumed most of them were actual employees of specific companies.