Iconic Masahiro Sakurai Explains Why It's Called Smash Bros

Legendary Former Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Had a Hand in Forming Smash Bros

In an episode of his YouTube video series, Sakurai explained that Smash Bros got its name because the fighting game series was basically about "friends who were settling little disagreements." The late Satoru Iwata, former Nintendo president, also had a hand in forming the name of Super Smash Bros, according to Sakurai.

"Mr. Iwata also had a part in coming up with the name Super Smash Bros. We had team members suggest a bunch of possible names and words we might use," Sakurai detailed in his video. They then held a meeting with Mother/Earthbound series creator Mr. Shigesato Itoi to finalize the series' title. Sakurai added, "Mr. Iwata is the one who picked out the 'brothers' part. His reasoning was that, even though the characters weren't brothers at all, using the word added the nuance that they weren't simply fighting—they were friends who were settling a little disagreement!"

In addition to the Smash Bros. lore, Sakurai shared how he first met Iwata as well as other fond memories of the former Nintendo president. According to Sakurai, Iwata personally helped with programming the code for the Super Smash Bros. prototype, then called Dragon King: The Fighting Game for the Nintendo 64.