The Tanooki is pleased to welcome our newest writer, Drew, to the Tanooki family. Drew will be gracing our front page with his weekly Nintendo banter and analysis. Welcome, Drew!

Like many west coast Nintendo diehards, I find myself lingering around my computer come midnight. I type in the URL for the Super Smash Bros. Brawl development blog with geeky anticipation of what bit of nostalgia Masahiro Sakurai has in store for me. Brawl’s director and the personality behind the nightly updates, Sakurai has evolved from a mere name in the end-of-game credits — indistinguishably Japanese to my American eyes — to someone I feel like I nearly know since the blog debuted in May. Best of all, the guy seems to share my love of video games. Who else would describe the music accompanying the Brawl’s Yoshi’s Story-themed stage with “It’s enough to make a guy cry at the end”?

That’s the power of blogs, I guess.

In any case, I know I’m not the only one tuning in on a regular basis. Each morning, I sometimes check my Google Reader account to see just which gaming blog managed to re-post the new Brawl info first. It doesn’t surprise me that the Sakurai’s blog proved such a hit; those stoked on Nintendo nostalgia of Smash Bros. needed no prodding to look forward to the series’ Wii installment, and most people have a natural curiosity into the work in progress at any work-in-progress. The way I see it, the Brawl blog works like those holes cut into the wooden walls surrounding a construction site. As you walk by, you look, and if you happen to pass every day, you can’t help but be a little impressed when the thing you’ve been watching begins to look more and more like its end result.

The success of Sakurai’s postings — judging off what American gaming blogs have done with them, at least — makes me think that this might set a precedent for future high-profile games in development. What better way to sustain the interest in an upcoming title than to slowly leak tidbits over the months leading up to its release?

That point, however, marks something that has come to concern me in light of Brawl’s drop date being pushed from December 3 to February 10. How will this supposedly unplanned delay affect the blog-built hype? If the game truly was intended to be played by American gamers on December 3, then shouldn’t the blogging have been planned to stretch only to then and not through the beginning of February? And, perhaps most importantly, won’t Nintendo blow its whole wad by then?

Already, Sakurai let slip that Sonic would joining Brawl — only days before the announcement of the delay, no less, making Sonic the good news that helped balance the crushing blow of two additional months of waiting. Sonic being playable is pretty huge, and perhaps big enough that it would have better been saved as a giant megaton to be dropped in the days before the game hit shelves. Not only is that secret out, but also now Sakurai has a full three months to fill with info and, one would hope, further announcements that can set the blogs a-blazin’. (I admit I’m as happy as anyone that King Dedede is playable. But Dedede, you are no Sonic the Hedgehog.)

Is there enough yet-to-be-spilled to last until February? If so, that’s good and bad news for fans like me. The good: The final product may well be chock-a-block with playable fighters I’m hoping for. (Lip, Midna, and Takamaru, here we come.) The bad: There’s something to be said for the element of surprise. Perhaps few video game companies are better than Nintendo at keeping secrets under wraps until the last possible minutes — don’t forget how late in Super Smash Bros. Melee’s development it was before we found out that Zelda could transform into Sheik — but I nearly feel that I’d like Brawl even more in the long run if more was saved until the big unveiling.

By the time we American gamers finally hold Super Smash Bros. Brawl in our grubby little hands, Sakurai’s blog will be damn near nine months old. That’s a baby right there. And though I can’t say I’m not addicting to the thrill of popping in every night and seeing whether a new fighter has been announced, I’m just hoping the Nintendo higher-ups have planned this down to the last detail, in true Nintendo fashion, and that we’ll all be thoroughly entertained through February and still have a blast of surprise when the game hits.

Oh, and that we’ll finally figure out what “Heroes always arrive late” means.

Drew writes about Mario-related matters at Coin Heaven and pop culture minutiae at Back of the Cereal Box.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS