In the latest of an ongoing series of discussions between Sakurai and Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata, Sakurai explained that the Nojima's original vision for the story was very different from the final product.

"It went something like this... 'Some of the characters are on a bus on the way to the stadium. Samus is there. Donkey Kong is there and Snake is watching the bus from afar,'" Sakurai said of Nojima's original scenario.

"I had envisioned a more serious tone for the story. Something with some misfortune like a single character escaping total annihilation of his squadron and then fighting back while rounding up his allies. Ultimately, we worked together and successfully organized our ideas into the storyline for The Subspace Emissary."

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is shaping up to be one of the most high-profile collaborative efforts in recent history, with famed Lunar and Grandia developer Game Arts revealed as handling the bulk of the title's development, and celebrated game musicians including the composer of Final Fantasy VII and other Final Fantasy titles, Nobuo Uematsu, among many others, pitching in on the score.