Well, it’s finally happened.
Beloved Undertale skeleton Sans has come to Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
No, he’s not a wholly original character in his own right, being simply a costume for
the Mii Gunner fighter, but that’s beside the point.
Everyone’s favourite character from Undertale is now playable in Smash Brothers.
Sorry Undyne.
Toby Fox’s journey from amateur developer to Nintendo collaborator is incredible.
We’ve previously detailed how Toby made his first game, Undertale, and the first chapter
of its successor, Deltarune.
But how exactly did Toby’s work in Game Maker Studio lead to his inclusion in one
of gaming’s most celebrated fighting games?
Believe it or not, this is all thanks, to you.
Provided you’re a fan of Sans, that is.
If you don’t like Undertale, don’t worry, this isn’t your fault.
But also, why don’t you like Undertale?
And why are you watching this video?
In April of 2015, before Undertale had even been released, Nintendo asked fans to submit
suggestions for characters to be included within Super Smash Brothers.
Requests began flooding in, with Western fans particularly demanding characters like Ridley,
King K Rool, and Banjo-Kazooie.
So, that seems to have worked out nicely.
Apparently I was the only person gunning for Alex Kidd.
When, in September of the same year, Undertale released, fans began to wonder whether Toby
Fox’s love letter to Earthbound could also feature in Smash Brothers in some way.
It took a few years for this movement to really gain traction, but slowly, the meme spread
far and wide.
Nintendo fans in their thousands began calling out for the inclusion of Sans in the game.
Meanwhile, Toby Fox was living his best life.
In January of 2018, while in Tokyo, Toby got to meet Shigesato Itoi, the creator of Earthbound.
Shigesato is a very famous creator in Japan, having worked on a variety of different successful
media projects beyond Earthbound, so he could almost be forgiven for overlooking a game
like Undertale.
Not so, though.
According to Toby: “Today when I was walking around Tokyo,
I happened to find a Hobonichi event (Shigesato Itoi’s company).
Then, I happened to meet Shigesato Itoi (MOTHER's creator).
He told everyone I was an awesome game designer.
I’m happy...
This world is made of strange coincidences, huh”
Toby also got the chance to spend time with none other than Masahiro Sakurai, who invited
him to his house.
According to Toby, this was an intimate affair.
There was no translator, so their conversations weren’t stiff and disjointed thanks to the
inclusion an intermediary.
This did, however, mean that Toby had to do his best to use his own broken Japanese to
try and communicate with Masahiro.
The pair played Smash Brothers, and Masahiro was very impressed at just how good Toby was
at the game – he was among the best players that had been invited into Masahiro’s home.
They played over and over, letting the computer choose random characters for them to play
each round.
Half the time, Masahiro won.
Half the time Toby won.
They were fairly evenly matched, and Masahiro even suspected that Toby might be just a little
better at the game, at least picking random characters.
(Masahiro failed to comment on what happened when they each picked their main fighter.
We can only speculate at who might have destroyed whom.)
When their time together was over, Masahiro personally drove Toby home.
As they travelled, they listened to a CD of music from Super Smash Brothers, and they
laughed and joked.
Toby decided to name Masahiro’s car “The Batmobile”, which, sure, why not?
It’s canon now: Masahiro Sakurai drives the Batmobile and listens to Smash Brothers
music at every available moment.
Quite aside from anything, this certainly does show just how much he cares about his
game, that he’s so absorbed by it even during what is theoretically his time off.
But, then, work-life balance has never been his strong suit.
It was presumably following their time together that Toby was invited to compose a new arrangement
of Megalovania for Smash Brothers, but this wasn’t all he was asked to do.
Game Freak, another orbital Nintendo company, was working on their brand new original game,
Little Town Hero.
If you’re wondering why Game Freak doesn’t have more resources to pour into modelling
every single Pokemon for Sword and Shield, bear in mind that they’re also trying to
reinvent the roleplaying game genre with this nifty looking title.
Little Town Hero is apparently what would happen if Majora’s Mask was a turn-based
roleplaying game, in which you explore a small community, make friends with various people,
help them with their problems, and then use their loyalty to hurl them against monsters
that get in your way.
Just like how real friendships work!
With development on Little Town Hero and Pokemon Sword and Shield running concurrently, Game
Freak needed to expand and to work with new creators.
Additional artists and developers were hired, but to give Little Town Hero a distinct feel
from their other work, the studio decided to hire an outside composer for the bulk of
the game’s music.
That composer was Toby Fox.
Speaking about his experience working on the game, Toby said that it was an honour to be
involved.
Toby initially composed the music, and it was then arranged for by veteran Game Freak
composer Hitomi Sato, best known for his work on Pokemon Black and White.
Said Toby: “Though it was a very small team, I felt
a lot of passion from the people working on it.
I'm looking forward to finally trying the game myself and seeing how it turned out!”
Toby’s journey over the past few years has been incredible.
He made a small passion project that he didn’t expect anyone would really care much about,
but after it blew up on Kickstarter and then wide release, he’s gone from strength to
strength.
Now, his character and music has been included in Super Smash Brothers, and he’s been able
to compose music for the guys who make Pokemon games.
The moral of the story is that you never know where your passion project might take you.
You might not end up with the success that Toby Fox has achieved, but your own personal
development goals are no less valid.
Make things you can be proud of.
Develop talents that make you happy.
Learn, grow, and most importantly, stay determined.