Talks about Minecraft in the Smash Bros. series began “at least” 5 years ago

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s next DLC fighter news broke Twitter yesterday when Steve from Minecraft was announced.

This character has been requested for a long time and due to the surprise announcement, it might seem like the addition was decided on just recently. But Daniel “Kappische” Kaplan, a former business developer for Mojang, said on Twitter last night that “talks” of bringing Steve to Smash Bros. began “at least” five years ago.

He doesn’t know when exactly “implementation” started, however. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was launched for the Nintendo Switch in December 2018, so Minecraft Steve’s addition was apparently being planned way before the game was launched—possibly around the launch of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii U.

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator himself, talked a little about the start of that conversation in the latest Super Smash Bros. Ultimate announcement.

“Someone from Nintendo will come to my workplace and say… ‘Mr. Sakurai… Surely you can put Minecraft in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?’ while peering at me over their glasses,” Sakurai said. “They make it sound easy. I guess they think this all happens by magic or something. Don’t they know what kind of game Minecraft is? The wizardry required to make it work in this game… It’s impossible.”

“So, I laid it out straight for them. I said, ‘Yes, I can do it,'” he said.

The second Fighters Pass will come with six new characters from 2020 to late 2021, with four more still to be announced and released before next December.

In the words of Sakurai, Minecraft is the best-selling game in the world even after nine years. Smash Bros. fans will finally have their request fulfilled when Steve joins Ultimate later this year.