I think it’s safe to say that every gamer has wanted to work as a tester at one point or the other. The idea of getting paid to play video games is too sweet a notion to pass up. However, it may not be all it’s cracked up to be!
In a recent interview, director Masahiro Sakurai called the complexities of getting a game like Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS ready to ship “astronomical.” Revealing something as seemingly mundane as debugging the sound is actually an intercontinental endeavor, he states it’s “…done both domestically and overseas, so for a game like Smash Bros. , several hundred people are employed. So, debugging alone becomes a huge project. So much so that one of the biggest reasons for the separate release dates for the 3DS and Wii U versions was so that we could shift the debugging periods.”
While it might seem pretty straight forward, a fighter like Smash Bros. provides a ton of variables. With the multitudes of different power-ups, unique character attacks and stage elements, the varying sound combinations could literally total into the 1,000s! Sakurai explains this is where the testing process can get bogged down, saying, “…every pattern must be tried, but such a task would be impossible no matter how many decades or centuries you take.”
The Wii U version of the game will be available this holiday season, with the 3DS edition launching in October.