Nintendo stamps on SSBB date talk

By Robert Purchese Published 26 February, 2008

"Pure speculation and guesswork."

Nintendo Europe has jumped on the head of suggestions that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be out here in autumn.

"No date has been announced," reiterated the Nintendo spokesperson. "Therefore everything currently doing the rounds online is pure speculation and guesswork."

The platform holder was responding to furore whipped up by US boss Reggie Fils-Aime at GDC last week.

He said the European version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl had been moved out of a spring release window because of all the localisation needed for the various different languages.

Some reporters misinterpreted this to mean "fall" or autumn, but have since corrected themselves.

"Reggie did tell me (and the other media present) that the release had been pushed out of the winter/spring timeframe due to the amount of localisation required to get the game up and running all the various European languages," clarified Shane Bettenhausen, editor of EGM.

"But Reggie did not say when Europeans will get Smash Bros., just that it would be at a later date than the US."

Those of you in the USA will be able to buy Super Smash Bros. Brawl from 9th March, although that's a Sunday and new releases normally show up on Tuesday.

Japanese magazine Famitsu gave Super Smash Bros. Brawl 40/40, which is 10/10 from four reviewers. Super Mario Galaxy only managed 38/40.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • brainbird #1 4 years ago

    There would be no speculation if you ANNOUNCED IT ALREADY!

  • asphaltcowboy #2 4 years ago

    " Nintendo stamps on SSBB date talk"

    Rather that waste all this time and effort telling us when it isn't going to be out, here's an idea:


    JUST TELL US WHEN IT'S F*CKING COMING OUT ALREADY!

  • viper_h #3 4 years ago

    Winter then.

  • JonFE #4 4 years ago

    If NoE want to avoid "pure speculation and guesswork" all they have to do is announce an official date. Easy solution, no?

  • jonsaan #5 4 years ago

    Nintendo in stating the bleeding obvious shocker. Personally I can't see what all the fuss is about, the last SB game was gash.

  • gingerlink #6 4 years ago

    localisation needed for the various language?

    WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU GOT TO TRANSLATE?!?!?!

  • speedjack #7 4 years ago

    Nintendos crapness with all things European never ceases to amaze.

    The 'Star/Points' store is the icing on the turd, and frankly an insult to its loyal customers.

    Anyone tried to use it ?

    Anyone ever manged to get more than 100 points ?

    Anyone ???
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 11:32

  • the_dudefather #8 4 years ago

    montrez-moi vos mouvements!

    there, its done, now release the game!

  • spazmo #9 4 years ago

    I love, i say i love ma Wiikey. SSBB for me in 2 weeks.

  • DonnieDarko333 #10 4 years ago

    Just announce a date then and then there wouldn't be any speculation!

    Typical NOE, keep us guessing for years and when we finally do get it, another huge hit comes out in America which we wait another 9 months for....pathetic.

    NOE get with the times! AND STOP USING TRANSLATION AS A WAY OF GETTING OUT OF THINGS!

  • knocker #11 4 years ago

    What a bunch of cunts.

    Really overdoing the localisation thing aren't they. It's a known development effort - the amount of text is known, the time it takes is known - and it's not exactly a f'ing RPG.

    Unless The entire works of Tolstoy are a surprise unlockable character.

    (I'm hoping that the date isn't slipping enormously - just NOE being childishly desperate to capture a bit of the limelight by an nouncing the date themselves)

  • pikemon #12 4 years ago

    i herd u liek gamecube controller with ur ssbb

  • Kyle #13 4 years ago

    Ghey.

  • CallousB #14 4 years ago

    Can't say i mind waiting to be honest. I'm more than happy to be getting Wii Fit and Mario Kart earlier than the US. It's unsurprising Smash Bros was pushed behind Mario Kart over here as it's not half as popular in Europe.

  • sharpfish #15 4 years ago

    smash bros is shit anyway. Gamecube version was all hype and no fun unless random jumping/bashing is your thing.

    Wii continues to underwhelm.

  • Darren #16 4 years ago

    Nintendo are bloody useless... if the game was due for imminent release then they'd surely have announced the date by now so that in turn suggests that the game is not going to arrive any time soon in Europe. I mean they've announced the release date of Mario Kart Wii in Europe is 25th April or something so logically Super Smash Bros. Brawl isn't going to come out before then. My money is on June 2008 or later.

  • Darren #17 4 years ago

    @speedjack - "Nintendos crapness with all things European never ceases to amaze.

    The 'Star/Points' store is the icing on the turd, and frankly an insult to its loyal customers.

    Anyone tried to use it ?

    Anyone ever manged to get more than 100 points ?

    Anyone ???"

    I totally agree. I've been trying for weeks to get some points but there's never any left. It's utterly tedious to expect people to keep constantly returning to pick up points so I emailed Nintendo about it several weeks back, telling them as much. And, hey, what a surprise, they've not responded. /rolls eyes

  • bitesize #18 4 years ago

    ^ i've managed to get a couple of thousand points out of it, you just have to keep trying...


    smash bros is shit anyway. Gamecube version was all hype and no fun unless random jumping/bashing is your thing.

    i think maybe what's happened here is that you're shit at it, so have decided the game is crap. if all you do is "random jumping/bashing" then you're not gonna get much out of it... try learning how to play it properly...
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 12:55

  • Solty #19 4 years ago

    @ sharpfish

    Smash Bros. is maybe THE only fighting game where button mashers will never win against experienced players.

    You suck.
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 12:58

  • Artemus #20 4 years ago

    "various European languages"

    Sorry but that excuse doesn't fly with this game. This isn't an RPG.

  • hybridial #21 4 years ago

    @ Solty.

    No, false, sorry. Not that I'm saying Smash Bros isn't fun though, it is. But clearly you've never played several really good fighters and played any experts on them.

    When you've played someone from China online at KoF 98, then you can talk >_>

  • Muddtallica #22 4 years ago

    sharpfish: You know, I've found that most videogame systems ARE underwhelming when you take it upon yourself to label their most acclaimed games "shit" for no good reason whatsoever.

    As for the Brawl Euro release circus, at this point I've ceased to even be bothered about how late the game gets here; I'd just like to know for sure. I know translation takes time - and Smash Bros has more text than you think, when you take into account several hundred pages worth of Trophy Mode descriptions - but for God's sake, Nintendo, you've been making games for nearly thirty years, so you should know enough about how long it takes to at least give us a tentative, vague idea of when to expect it. If you're so fussed about "stamping out" the "speculation and guesswork", why not at least give us a bloody MONTH, at the very least?

  • Darren #23 4 years ago

    I honestly don't know why Nintendo don't just release the English versions of their games in the US and UK simultaneously and then let the rest of Europe wait for their multiple language versions. Why should we wait when we already speak the same language as the Yanks?

  • asphaltcowboy #24 4 years ago

    What I would like to know (besides when the f*ck it's out) is why they don't start translating it BEFORE it's finished!

  • Ares #25 4 years ago

    @ hybridial:

    You're right, but players need to become highly proficient before they can handle the unpredictable attacks of a button-basher. In Smash Bros. you simply shield, or run, or jump out of the way. It's so simple. And any player with even a couple of months experience should dispatch a bushon-basher with near impunity. Whereas a similarly experienced Soul Calibur player, for example, could still get thrashed by the random assault of a button-basher.

    Re. Release Date. I'm happy as long as they release it as soon as possible. If they've done the localisation work, and they've pressed the discs, then they better not withhold it because of hardware supply issues.

  • Ares #26 4 years ago

    "What I would like to know (besides when the f*ck it's out) is why they don't start translating it BEFORE it's finished!"

    +1

    I suppose it would require a tad more care and coordination across divisions. God forbid that they waste a few minutes translating something that gets cut from the finished game.

  • Darren #27 4 years ago

    Well Microsoft and other third-party publishers frequently release their Xbox 360 games near simultaneously in the US and Europe (bar RPGs understandly) so there is no excuse for Nintendo not doing likewise given that most of their games rarely feature much text and even fewer have voice-acting. Jesus, just imagine if every Nintendo game had voice-acting, we'd be waiting years for games to reach Europe not months. It's 2008 now, Nintendo, not 1996... get your act together FFS!!!

  • smelly #28 4 years ago

    >Nintendos crapness with all things European never ceases to amaze.

    MARIO KART IS COMING OUT IN EUROPE FIRST!!!
    MARIO KART IS COMING OUT IN EUROPE FIRST!!!
    MARIO KART IS COMING OUT IN EUROPE FIRST!!!
    MARIO KART IS COMING OUT IN EUROPE FIRST!!!

    Repeat that every time you feel stupid enough to post the whole "nintendo hates europe" crap on here.

  • smelly #29 4 years ago

    "sharpfish: You know, I've found that most videogame systems ARE underwhelming when you take it upon yourself to label their most acclaimed games "shit" for no good reason whatsoever. "


    I dunno.. I've labeled halo 3 shit.. but i have lots and lots of good reasons for it :-)

  • asphaltcowboy #30 4 years ago

    @smelly - So what if MK is out in Europe first? Bringing one game out before other territories doesn't mean NoE aren't completely shit. Do the Japanese and Americans have a release date for MK? My my! How surprising, of course they do!

    EDIT: In fact, since they seem to be able to get some of their games out in all territories in near-simultaneous fashion (Mario Kart Wii, Mario Galaxy, are there any others?), why can't they do it for all their games?
    Edited by 2 at 26/02/08 @ 16:35

  • Crovax20 #31 4 years ago

    Darren, you speak english, not american english I hope.

    Oh and if they did that, I would import, since they never translate games to dutch. Or they might as well release it here as well, because they aren't translating it for us anyhow...

    I was really suprised when I found out that Ratchet and Clank on the ps3 actually had dutch voice acting and everything. I was even more suprised when I noticed the translations were good, and the voice acting really well done as well!

    Anyways I hate Nintendo. I got a Wii, but Microsoft and Sony treat us Europeans better. Although sony is sucky at times as well (backwards compat, smaller harddrive etc... LAME!)

  • Darren #32 4 years ago

    @Crovax20 - If putting up with American spellings is all it takes to get Nintendo games six months earlier then I'd gladly put up with the odd missing 'u'! Wouldn't you?

  • Darren #33 4 years ago

    @smelly - Mario Kart Wii could be an absolute steaming pile of horse crap so maybe that's the real reason Europe is getting it first? Maybe we'll be beta testing it so Japan and the US get the best version! It wouldn't be the first time that has happened... ;)

  • Muddtallica #34 4 years ago

    smelly: Mario Kart is the exception, not the rule, and you know it; you can count the number of Wii/DS titles that we get early/simultaneously on your fingers. In any case, it doesn't change my point, or the point that asphaltcowboy has since made; the problems with NoE's quality of service runs far deeper than translation delays, it's their lack of effort in customer care and their failure to recognise the importance of communication with consumers.

    I know I ALWAYS bring up WarioWare: Twisted, but the situation with that game's continuing European non-release is nothing less than a total disgrace. I'm willing to accept them not bringing it over because it failed safety regulations, or because they don't think it'll sell any more, or whatever; what isn't acceptable is that they still haven't officially TOLD US ANY OF THIS, instead choosing to quietly shunt the game down and eventually off their release schedules, before condescendingly trying to pretend the game never existed. Unfortunately, rather than being an isolated incident, it's just an extreme example of a pervading attitude towards the European market as an afterthought, worthy of a relatively small amount of effort. Hence NoE's crappy website and rewards scheme that offers none of the exclusive interviews, gifts and videos that their US and Japanese equivalents do. Hence our slow, bordered VC games, which remain unoptimised for no good reason. And hence, to come back to the original point, the fact that we routinely don't even get a release date on games, even first-party flagship titles, until months after the game has actually been released in all the other major territories. Are Nintendo alone in this attitude? No, but that doesn't make it any more acceptable. The occasional consolation gesture like Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and the Mario Kart/Wii Fit dates are all well and good, but it's going to take more than that to convince me that Europe is anything other than Nintendo's lowest priority.

    Oh, and also: I think I understand, by this point, that you don't like Halo 3, but I still don't get how it's relevant at all to my statement.
    Edited by 2 at 26/02/08 @ 18:12

  • smelly #35 4 years ago

    "smelly: Mario Kart is the exception, not the rule, and you know it; "

    Okay.. Wii fit then

    Forgotten about Mario strikers?

    Batallion Wars 2?

    I'm sure there are LOADS of others (cant be arsed to go doing research) which got released earlier in europe than america. Different being americans dont seem to cry like babies about it. Just be happy with the games you have.

    Global releases arent going to happen, they're expensive to do - and if you end up with a flop, more so. Nintendo are very conservative when it comes to spending money so that aint gonna happen. And they're not going to delay a game in the US (to get translated, and go through all the different european countries ratings systems) to release it at the same time in the US and Europe just to stop europeans crying.

    News Flash : When other companies do worldwide launches, they are in effect delaying the game in some territories (say the US) while waiting for it to be ready for the other ones (say europe).

    My take on it - why should americans wait just so europeans can get it at the same time as them (and stop moaning)? It makes obvious business sense to put out your product in territories as an when it's availalble.

    Then obviously you have yearly release schedules (you dont want to release too many games in one territory in the same quarter for financial reasons, so if you have a big game which is ready - released in this quarter in one territory - you hold onto your next big game until the next one)

    Why so impatient? There are plenty of good games to play. Gamers seem to spend their entire time looking forwards to games which are coming as opposed to playing the games they have.

    Remember all the moaning about paper mario delays. .then it arrived.. and no-one cared any more - straight onto moaning about the next thing.

    If you guys spent as much time playing as you did moaning - you'd be happy gamers.
    Edited by 2 at 26/02/08 @ 18:54

  • asphaltcowboy #36 4 years ago

    Why so impatient? There are plenty of good games to play.

    On the Wii? No. I'm going to get Zack & Wiki once I finish Mass Effect, but I've got Strikers, Paper Mario, Galaxy, Sports and Play - what else is there? (I don't have Metroid as I haven't played through the previous 2 games). Mario strikers of course came out in Europe prior to the States because football is considerably more popular.

    Different being americans dont seem to cry like babies about it.

    The reason they don't moan like babies about it, is because although they might get it a few weeks (not 9 months!) later, they always get a date rather than a complete and utter communication shut-out (other than denials of speculation) from the US branch of Nintendo. Why is this? Why is it often months after launch (rather than weeks for the US) that the Europeans get their versions?

    And you still haven't answered why they wouldn't start localisation before the game is finished!!

    I'll give you the answer: it's because they're a useless bunch of idiots.
    Edited by 2 at 26/02/08 @ 19:18

  • Royal Fool #37 4 years ago

    Microsoft and Sony (and other big publishers) will happily push for games launching between regions in a matter of weeks or days. These games undergo pretty much the same localization process as Nintendo's games do... only for some reason they seem to do it much, much faster. Either that or Nintendo finish their translations in roughly the same timeframes but decide to sit on the games because they're stubborn.

    In any case, you can look at most major multi-platform and exclusive games on the PS3 and 360 and see how they often launch simultaneously in different regions. Why doesn't Nintendo do this? SSBB is only the biggest Wii game yet, even bigger than Super Mario Galaxy.

    While Microsoft will push the localization process for a huge RPG like Lost Odyssey (only two weeks between the European and American releases) and Sony traditionally does the same for its own high-profile titles, Nintendo just sits in the corner, treating their customers like shit.

  • smelly #38 4 years ago

    *sigh*

    Whatever.. Nintendo obviously hates you and doesnt want to make money from you.

    Or something equally as retarded.

  • scouserfuller9 #39 4 years ago

    All we're asking NoE is when and you can't even answer that simple question for us! We always seem to get a set of release dates 4 times a year and the Q2 release dates are coming up so if it's not on that list (which I'm expecting) the earliest we'll get it is July. I don't think we'll get it until Autumn/Winter.

  • Royal Fool #40 4 years ago

    "Whatever.. Nintendo obviously hates you and doesnt want to make money from you.

    Or something equally as retarded.    "

    You're right, it's pretty retarded to assume that's what people are trying to argue here.

    Nintendo simply doesn't care because they know these games will sell, regardless of how much people complain. That doesn't mean that we'll stop.

    They've been doing business this way for a long time, after all...
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 20:15

  • Muddtallica #41 4 years ago

    smelly: FFS, what kind of flippant cop-out statement is that? You've selectively gutted your opponents' arguments, glibly answered the points you can counter and ignored the points you can't, and then when people call you out on it, you try to disdain the whole debate and decide you're above it all? If you're not prepared to argue a point to the end, why even start the discussion in the first place?

    Nintendo don't "hate" Europe, they just handle it in a slapdash, incompetent manner. Yes, localisation delays and staggered releases can be rationalised from a logistical and business perspective; half-assed consumer care and vague, non-committal PR can't. Until they get it right, people will complain, and why the hell shouldn't they? I love Nintendo as a developer and as a creative team, but as a business they're backwards, stubborn and arrogant, which is part of what lost them their stranglehold of the industry in the first place. Out of necessity they've wised up and progressed a lot in the last few years, so fair play to them, but the fact is that there are some areas in which they still lag far behind, and their attitude towards Europe is certainly one of them.

    PS - smelly - it's clearly just an accidental factual error on your part, and it doesn't really pertain directly to my point, but for the record, Battalion Wars II was released in Europe four months after the US launch, despite having been developed in Britain.
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 20:45

  • smelly #42 4 years ago

    >FFS, what kind of flippant cop-out statement is that?

    It wasnt a cop-out.

    I gave up. I've decided to agree with you.

    Something i'm beginning to learn is that you cant argue logic or common sense against common internet forum opinion. If the masses all say something, then it must be true.


  • Muddtallica #43 4 years ago

    smelly: Yeah, but that's clearly just bullcrap, isn't it? If you can't be bothered arguing any more, then fine, we'll agree to disagree; don't just run away from the discussion with some supercilious little aside. I have no personal stake in any of this, I'm just after a reasoned debate on the subject; if I knew you were just going to reduce it to snide insults, then I wouldn't have wasted my bloody time.

  • smelly #44 4 years ago

    Sorry. But im just beginning to give up trying to have intellegent conversations discussing both sides of the coin.

    Everyone on this thing just all gangs up on me because i happen to have a different opinion to that of the masses.

    Sometimes i get tired of trying to talk sense.

    most of the time people come around to my way of thinking anyhows (remembers when everyone on here was slagging off the xbox and i was sticking up for it, or when everyone was saying the ps3 was doomed, etc etc)

  • Muddtallica #45 4 years ago

    smelly: Perhaps you should consider, then, that people might respond better to your opinions if you weren't simultaneously targeting them with abuse, insult and condescension. I have my opinion, based on my own experience and reasoning, and I don't appreciate being called "stupid", "retarded" or a "crybaby" for it, least not by someone who I've done nothing to offend, and who can be said to have demonstrably cast not only the first stone, but also every single other stone after it. Hell, even now, when you're ostensibly backing down, you're still trying to make patronising insinuations that you're objectively correct, and that I'm an illogical, wrong-headed sheep; if that's what you believe, then you can get stuffed, because you're clearly not worth debating with, and even less worth listening to.

  • firefly #46 4 years ago

    Anybody remember 2004?
    Minish Cap on the GBA got postponed from the US schedules because it conflicted with the DS launch. Not long later they got it (complete with special features not present on the European version) and we were left with several months to go until we got the DS. No sign of any new features on that by way of an apology for the delay.

    Also to everybody who points out that the interest in Paper Mario died when it got released, that's exactly the point we're trying to make. When the game is shiny and new there's no sign of it and so we spend the energy we would be using to rave about it complaining that we can't play it, by the time we can NoE are already messing us around on the release date for the next big game.
    Edited by 1 at 27/02/08 @ 09:31

  • Daymare #47 4 years ago

    If I'm not mistaken (I apologize if I am), smelly lives in USA, so perhaps that's one of the reasons he's being such a smart-ass about Nintendo's undoubtedly crappy treatment of Europe (+1 to everything Muddtallica said on this matter). The other reason, of course, is the fact that he's one of the more (in)famous fanboys around here, so sensible discussion was out of the question:)

  • bitesize #48 4 years ago

    jeez, a lot of uninformed people spouting opinions in this thread (so what's new). the reason translation takes so long, and the reason it can't be done before the game's finished, is that the script is usually the last thing to get locked down in place during a game's development. things are constantly changing during dev time, bits getting cut out, bits getting put in etc - the script needs to be kept fluid so that extra explanations can be given if a crucial bit gets cut out, if something is implemented late that needs explaining etc. only when the script is finalised can translation then be done. even then it's not just a case of "what does this mean in french" - it has to be translated into (usually) 5 or more languages, VO studios contracted to record the localised voices, the localised scripts sent to said studios, sessions arranged, actors auditioned and employed, voices recorded, audio data sent back to the dev team, recordings edited down and finally, implemented in game. there often is overlap, in that there can be sets of data that can be translated + re-recorded before the game's finished, but there's always a delay because the final script is generally only locked down around beta time... as has been said before, the only reason that some publishers manage a simultaneous worldwide release is because they delay everyone else's versions til the european sku's are ready.

    don't know how much all this excuses smash bros mind, i doubt there's a hell of a lot of voice acting in it, but that's generally the reason for long delays for europe...

  • asphaltcowboy #49 4 years ago

    @bitesize:

    That's funny, because a game like Heavenly Sword (with FAR more dialogue) managed to be released simultaneously in Europe and the US in I don't know how many languages, all fully voiced, subtitled and with menus translated as well. Regardless, how much 'script' is there in Smash Bros? It's not like there are long-drawn out cutscenes with story exposition and character development!

    Sorry, there's no excuse!

  • bitesize #50 4 years ago


    yeah, as i said - they'll have held back the US release til all the languages were ready. bet they could have released the US version a couple of months before if they hadn't decided to do the simultaneous release...

    it's not an excuse, it's the actual reason!

  • knocker #51 4 years ago

    @bitesize I'm not so pissed off about the delay. For the reasons you mention there is a greater development effort involved in producing a pan-european game.

    But what gets me is that this must be a known, measurable and plannable (not a real word!) development effort. NOE's failure to announce a date smack of unprofessionalism and a general off-hand attitude to it's customers - rather than a deep hatred . They know this game will sell whatever they do.

  • Nillsens #52 4 years ago

    "You're right, but players need to become highly proficient before they can handle the unpredictable attacks of a button-basher. In Smash Bros. you simply shield, or run, or jump out of the way. It's so simple. And any player with even a couple of months experience should dispatch a bushon-basher with near impunity. Whereas a similarly experienced Soul Calibur player, for example, could still get thrashed by the random assault of a button-basher."

    OH GOD NO YOU DIDN'T

    This made me RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGEEEEEEEEE

  • sneetch #53 4 years ago

    @knocker

    Agreed, it's not like this (or any) release should come as a shock to them. While the US and Japan have generally fairly reliable release dates available months in advance in Europe these games aren't even mentioned on the NOE site until their release is about a week away. Making a big fuss about how it's all just speculation just draws attention to their apparent inability to even give a straight answer on these things.

    I just hope it won't be a repeat of the Super Paper Mario fiasco, it'd be nice to have a reason to plug-in my Wii again, although to be honest this might be an excuse to buy time to fix the "dirty disc problem", I remember there were rumours of fatal crashes with import versions of SPM on PAL Wiis.

    Ya know, I bought a US cube back in the day because I'd been stung on the delay for (and absence of) PAL releases on the N64 but like a fool I believed Nintendos rubbish about better release schedules in Europe this time (possibly just my deluded mind), if I ever buy another Nintendo console it'll be an import.