After Smash Bros. was first released in Japan in 1999, players flocked to the game's website, where Masahiro Sakurai posted survey results, game tips, and even answered players' emails. There are reams of emails left from this period that offer a fascinating, funny, and even touching look at nascent Smash Bros. culture. In this episode, Sean, Gigi, and Bridget look over some of these early surveys and conversations Sakurai had with fans. From speculation over a sequel to parents asking for advice on how to defeat their kids, and even a bit of unrelated Goldeneye advice, these classic emails are an amazing archive of gaming history. (And of course, people have tons requests for characters they want to see join Smash Bros., because some things never change.)

Thank you to Source Gaming and PushDustin for the translations of these emails. And thank you to Gigi as well for the translation she was able to do on the spot.

Questions or comments about the show? You can email us at mail@kirbyconversations.com and we may read your letter on a future episode.

Kirby Conversations is part of the Sound Stone Podcast Network, a collective of independent podcasters covering video game history. We are a founding show alongside Pixels and Polygons and Flashback 64, and we encourage you to check out those shows as well!

Please enter our giveaway with this link to win a $200 video game shopping spree, all four volumes of Darren Hupke's 32-Bit Library, and more!

Join us online:

Kirby Conversations

Bluesky: @kirbyconversations.bsky.social

IG: @kirbyconversations

Sound Stone

Bluesky: @soundstone.network

Bridget

Bluesky: @kabulaqueen.bsky.social

Sean Douglass

Bluesky: @seandouglass.bsky.social

Ky "Captain Dangerous" Parker

IG: @captaindangerous

Gigi

Carrd link

Our opening music is by Megan Kelz (https://diamondthorns.bandcamp.com) and arranged by Duncan "PixelTea" Smith (https://duncansmith.carrd.co/).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back with more listener questions this week, including some of the trickiest questions we've gotten so far. What are the hardest Kirby games to speedrun or 100%? What are our top three favorite Kirby games? And what our top three favorite games overall? There's some tough ranking to be made in this episode, and we appreciate listeners giving us some deep questions to chew on (or perhaps just inhale and swallow whole).

Questions or comments about the show? You can email us at mail@kirbyconversations.com and we may read your letter on a future episode.

We are proud to announce that Kirby Conversations is now a part of the Sound Stone Podcast Network, a collective of independent podcasters covering video game history. We are a founding show alongside Pixels and Polygons and Flashback 64, and we encourage you to check out those shows as well!

(Also, since we know of some parents who listen to Kirby Conversations with young children, please note that other shows you find on Sound Stone will cover games of all kinds that may or may not always be a perfect fit for younger kids. Just thought we should probably mention that.)

Join us online:

Kirby Conversations

Bluesky: @kirbyconversations.bsky.social

IG: @kirbyconversations

Sound Stone

Bluesky: @soundstone.network

Bridget

Bluesky: @kabulaqueen.bsky.social

Sean Douglass

Bluesky: @seandouglass.bsky.social

Ky "Captain Dangerous" Parker

IG: @captaindangerous

Gigi

Carrd link

Our opening music is by Megan Kelz (https://diamondthorns.bandcamp.com) and arranged by Duncan "PixelTea" Smith (https://duncansmith.carrd.co/).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How well does the original Super Smash Bros. hold up today? Who better to help us answer that question than our friends Gooey and McKenna of Flashback 64, the chronological Nintendo 64 podcast. Together we reflect on the game's development history (did you know one early idea for it was to make all the characters dogs?) and our own history with the game, which continues to be one most of us return to again and again. Despite the slowness and certain technological limitations compared to other entries, it turns out there's still a lot to love about the game—and we can't wait to play it online when it finally joins the Switch's Nintendo 64 library.

Questions or comments about the show? You can email us at mail@kirbyconversations.com and we may read your letter on a future episode.

Listen to our guests Gooey and McKenna on their podcast Flashback 64: https://flashback64pod.podbean.com/. (Since we know of some parents who listen to Kirby Conversations with their children, please note that Flashback 64 is more for older listeners.)

We will also now be uploading a version of Kirby Conversations to YouTube. Subscribe to us, and you can expect select episodes to be posted there a few days after they release in the podcast feed.

Join us online:

Kirby Conversations

Bluesky: @kirbyconversations.bsky.social

IG: @kirbyconversations

Bridget

Bluesky: @kabulaqueen.bsky.social

Sean Douglass

Bluesky: @seandouglass.bsky.social

Ky "Captain Dangerous" Parker

IG: @captaindangerous

Gigi

Carrd link

Our opening music is by Megan Kelz (https://diamondthorns.bandcamp.com) and arranged by Duncan "PixelTea" Smith (https://duncansmith.carrd.co/).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.