The Super Smash Bros. series pulls overt inspiration from many corners of the video game universe since it brings together characters from various games and series. What you might not have known until now, since its creator only just revealed it, is even the iconic fighting series' damage system comes from a previously existing game. Turns out getting thrown off the screen to die, and the pace at which you fly off being determined by how much damage you have taken, was first used in Kirby's Dream Land.
Kirby and Smash developer Masahiro Sakurai has had a lot more free time on his hands since Smash Ultimate's roster was rendered complete. Sakurai has been using some of that free time to create YouTube videos explaining the thought process behind his many creations, and even revealing a few secrets. In his latest video he talks all things Kirby, flicking through the design documents for the very first game in the series. Documents that prove the Smash damage system was something he dreamed up and implemented years before Smash was even a thing.
“Normally, the screen scrolls with your character at the center. However, if you get hit by an enemy and are sent flying, the screen will stop scrolling... Hm, this sounds familiar,” Sakurai says. “If you get sent flying fully off-screen, you'll lose a life. Wait... Can it be? Yes, these are the same rules as Super Smash Bros. I'd already thought up Smash's damage accrual system when I was making the original Kirby game!”
Sakurai goes on to say that the amount of damage Kirby has accrued in Dream Land also dictates the pace at which he will be sent flying from the screen when hit by an enemy, exactly what happens in Smash. Launching in 1992, Sakurai explains that he came up with that damage system two years prior, so almost a full decade before it was implemented in the very first Smash game. As for why Sakurai recycled a damage system he had used in an entirely different series, that's simple. According to the Kirby creator, he had simply forgotten it already existed in Dream Land.
Handy that the system was still buried in his brain somewhere as if it was gone forever, Smash may well have been a very different game. Its unique take on how damage is accrued and how fighters are eliminated would have arguably been one of the leading reasons it wound up becoming one of Nintendo's biggest hits. That said, the chance to have Pikachu face off against Mario, and Luigi fight Samus has probably been a pretty big selling point. As for the future of Smash, Sakurai previously said if there is ever another game, the roster will need to be smaller.