Masahiro Sakurai talks about an experience many thought led to Smash (it didn't): Bodying someone in The King of Fighters '95 in front of her partner (2025)

If his actual team was Takuma/Ryo/Terry is unknown. Sakurai is documented to have mained Ryo, & Terry being on his team makes sense given who he chose for Smash decades later. But I figured he would've had Iori on his team rather than Takuma, though I can't really complain. And even if this exact moment didn't lead to Smash's creation, the series still draws so much from SNK's fighting games to the point where Terry is more-or-less the long-lost 13th Smash OG. As for the confirmation of this not leading to Smash's creation, it was mentioned in the description (which I missed initially)...

Masahiro Sakurai said:

Some rumors have suggested that Super Smash Bros. was created as a result of the story I discuss in this episode, but I can confirm that's not the case. This experience had no influence on the concept behind Smash Bros.

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Source: Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games (YouTube)

Platy said:

Aaah it made so much sense Sakurai wanting to create a more casual friendly fighting game after wiping the floor with a cute couple and feeling bad with himself =/

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That said, he does confirm that it was the lady who he absolutely destroyed in KoF.

Sephiroth said:

Put some respect on Takuma.

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Don't worry, we respect Mr. Karate I around these parts.

Platy said:

Aaah it made so much sense Sakurai wanting to create a more casual friendly fighting game after wiping the floor with a cute couple and feeling bad with himself =/

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*creates metaknight and bayonetta*

IntelliHeath said:

So people can finally stopped using those incident being an influence for Smash Bros itself as a fact now.

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Yes

... He clearly used as an inspiration for DRAGON KING xD

Neoxon said:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7rd4-ua2AI​

If his actual team was Takuma/Ryo/Terry is unknown. Sakurai is documented to have mained Ryo, & Terry being on his team makes sense given who he chose for Smash decades later. But I figured he would've had Iori on his team rather than Takuma, though I can't really complain. And even if this exact moment didn't lead to Smash's creation, the series still draws so much from SNK's fighting games to the point where Terry is more-or-less the long-lost 13th Smash OG. As for the confirmation of this not leading to Smash's creation, it was mentioned in the description (which I missed initially)...

Source: Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games (YouTube)

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I think Terry, at least as he is presented in Ultimate, is far too complex to consider him among the original 12. XD

In any case, even if this anecdote didn't directly led to Smash, it's clear that King of Fighters and other SNK fighting games influenced several of Smash mechanics.

Given the above and how being approachable for novice players is one of Smash key design tenets, I guess it's not surprising that things got confounded somewhat and the rumor started that the events of this anecdote were what inspired Sakurai to create Smash.

However Sakurai's MO since Kirby has been to create games that novice players can find approachable, yet with enough depth to be attractive to more experienced players. It's not surprising he applied the same principle when designing a fighting game.

Sephiroth said:

Put some respect on Takuma.

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He did help win an EVO after all.

TheGamingNewsGuy said:

I do legit why Sakurai didn't attempt to get Terry in Brawl or Smash 4

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Probably a less aggressive DLC plan and smaller scope leading to a different thought process for Ultimate which involved an easily dividiable cost for guests.

Imran said:

Probably a less aggressive DLC plan and smaller scope leading to a different thought process for Ultimate which involved an easily dividiable cost for guests.

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I was honestly thinking it was more owed to SNK's rollercoaster of their existence, going in & out of business at various points. But I guess Nintendo & Sakurai dedicated more costs to getting other companies, regardless of how cheap SNK may or may not have been to license.

sir_crocodile said:

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love it

Finally, i don't need to hear another "did you know kof was the genesis for smash so terry's inclusion was obvious". Surely this was pretty obvious from the start (although sakurai definitely seems to be quite online to be aware of this).

TheGamingNewsGuy said:

I do legit why Sakurai didn't attempt to get Terry in Brawl or Smash 4

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Why is this even a surprise? No one is seriously entertaining.....a fatal fury rep over Ryu/Cloud? Or characters like megaman/sonic that were heavily requested for?

rayngiraffe said:

Why is this even a surprise? No one is seriously entertaining.....a fatal fury rep over Ryu/Cloud? Or characters like megaman/sonic that were heavily requested for?

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I wouldn't be surprised if Terry's inclusion was influenced by regional popularity that's was more visible with the big Smash ballot. The fact that SNK's fighters weren't that popular in America doesn't mean that they weren't more visible elsewhere.

That said, I don't think he was a natural early inclusion on the basis of Smash Bros being influenced by King of Fighters, either. A lot of people seem to view Smash's roster selection as purely whimsical because they're not able to view Sakurai's decision-making as coming from a standpoint of somewhat distanced professionalism. We might have seen stuff like Shin Megami Tensei showing up a lot earlier if it was purely reflecting Sakurai's personal tastes, he didn't jump aboard that train with Persona.

Sakurai's villain origin story.

Joking aside I think one of the youtube comments summed it best: While for Sakurai this was some hugely influential moment, for the people on the other side they probably didn't really care and shrugged it off lol.

L Thammy said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Terry's inclusion was influenced by regional popularity that's was more visible with the big Smash ballot. The fact that SNK's fighters weren't that popular in America doesn't mean that they weren't more visible elsewhere.

That said, I don't think he was a natural early inclusion on the basis of Smash Bros being influenced by King of Fighters, either. A lot of people seem to view Smash's roster selection as purely whimsical because they're not able to view Sakurai's decision-making as coming from a standpoint of somewhat distanced professionalism. We might have seen stuff like Shin Megami Tensei showing up a lot earlier if it was purely reflecting Sakurai's personal tastes, he didn't jump aboard that train with Persona.

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My point was moreso about terry even being first in line when stuff like sonic/street fighter/final fantasy haven't been included, but given the man's propensity to highlight characters being wanted without being prompted (the former mentioned a lot of requests for a FF character, Bayonetta being "the most wanted character within reasonable expectations", ultimate's base roster and Banjo/Sora being the key winners of the ballot), i have no doubt that sakurai would have stated if there was a secret contingent of SNK fans who made their voices heard during the ballot. And it's extra telling when he had to play up the "it's more important to be fun, not just recognizable" blurb during the trailer.

Otherwise i more or less agree on the rest of your points. Smash fans overplay sakurai's preferences when he's probably only 1 out of the entire committee who chooses these characters.

rayngiraffe said:

Smash fans overplay sakurai's preferences when he's probably only 1 out of the entire committee who chooses these characters.

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I believe the statement that we have is that it was Nintendo that proposed the DLC characters and Sakurai just rubber stamped them depending on whether or not he felt that he could actually implement them.

L Thammy said:

I believe the statement that we have is that it was Nintendo that proposed the DLC characters and Sakurai just rubber stamped them.

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More accurately based on Sakurai's later comments, Nintendo suggests a game/franchise/company & Sakurai gets to pick the character. For example, Nintendo only wanted an ARMS character. They didn't care who, hence Sakurai & Yabuki going with Min Min.