Masahiro Sakurai talks about Super Smash Bros. again. Ultimate on his YouTube channel (what do you know!). This time, the focus is on the crash animations and how it’s more of a collaborative effort than you might expect.
Those who’ve been paying attention to the legendary game designer’s videos over the past two years will be familiar with the importance of silhouettes in the Smash roster, and in today’s update, Sakurai explains how this side image even ties into how the game feels when it comes to hits.
To keep things fun during gameplay, Smash Ultimate’s animators and game designers worked hand-in-hand to find the best place for offensive collisions. Sakurai explains that this is not just a case of lining up the point of impact and reaction, but rather a process of give and take to find what looks and feels best. As Sakurai says:
It’s okay to some extent if the visuals and collision don’t line up, assuming it makes the game more fun, but even with animation positioning turned off, things will start to feel even more broken.
Watching the crash animation in action, it’s interesting to see how bad things look in slow motion. We’re sure the difference is nothing new to those who have studied Smash Ultimate’s attack frames in the past to jump on their opponent, but we’re always ready to hear about the process from Mr. himself. Smash Bros.