Nintendo has never officially explained why its flagship fighting game is called Super Smash Bros. when a negligible number of the fighters in the game are actually brothers, but now it has.
I've always assumed that “Bros” is in the title because of the series' association with the Mario brothers, but series creator Masuhiro Sakurai revealed the truth in a new episode (timestamped here) of his YouTube channel 'Creating Games'. which concludes with a final video that will be published next week. Sorry for my emotions, but your response makes me miss Satoru Iwata even more.
“Mr. Iwata was also involved in creating the name Super Smash Bros.,” Sakurai said. “We had team members suggest several possible names and words we could use, then held a meeting with [Mother series creator] Mr. Shigesato Itoi was the one who determined what title we wanted to use, and Mr. Iwata was the one who chose the “brothers” part. His reasoning was that, although the characters were not brothers at all, the use of the word added the nuance that they were not simply fighting: they were friends working out a minor disagreement.”
Sakurai spoke of how much Iwata valued one-on-one conversations with his employees and, in a profound admission, said that he was “truly the person who understood me best.” Sakurai also said that he had plans to meet with Iwata in July 2015, the month of his death. “Instead, I received the news that Mr. Iwata had passed away,” Sakurai said.
If you'll excuse me, I'll turn into a puddle of tears.
Get excited with a selection from our list of best changing games.