Smash director Masahiro Sakurai has surprised fans with roster choices before, but none were crazier than the debut of Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Despite immense popularity, his chances of joining in the series were regarded as slim due to never having appeared on a Nintendo console.
Sakurai recently had the opportunity to sit down with Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura to discuss the process of integrating Cloud into the Smash system, touching on topics like their interactions with each other, creating a moveset, and more.
While Cloud is perhaps one of the most recognizable aspects of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy brand, very little micromanaging went into his Smash development.
“I’ve actually only talked to Mr. Nomura just once. After that, I was generally free to do whatever I wanted,” Sakurai explained, according to translations by Source Gaming. “There was general editorial supervision going on, of course, especially on the graphics side–to get Cloud looking as right as possible was tough. It took some time for us to discover how to present Cloud with a Smash touch.”
Sakurai would go on to say later in the discussion that not having an extra layer of direction from Square Enix saved them a lot of trouble in the long run. For his part, Nomura said empathy for their position was his chief reason for not being more involved. “I’m also working hard on a project that handles many characters, so I try not to give orders like that. I’m always fighting against those restrictions.”
This is just a small part of their conversation, so be sure to follow the links below for more.
