It’s not often you see a number of video gaming legends in the same room at once. Besides Summer of Sonic, of course (hi Naka-san, Hoshino-san, Senoue-san and Iizuka-san!). But that’s exactly what happened in Japan last night, as Super Smash Bros Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai threw a party for all of the musicians he collaborated with on the crossover project.
And if you paw through some of the amazing photos from that evening, Sonic fans will definitely recognise some familiar SEGA faces. Among those, Sonic sound director Jun Senoue and Sonic Forces composer Tomoya Ohtani can be seen chilling with Sakurai-san.
#スマブラSP #SEGA pic.twitter.com/chp9vEvwbw
— Tomoya Ohtani / 大谷 智哉 (@Ohtanitter) February 1, 2019
As well as assisting with the arrangements for Sonic-related tracks included in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Ohtani-san is credited with crafting a remix of Bomb Rush Blush from Splatoon and Senoue-san worked on a special Mega Man 4 medley.
本日のスマブラ音楽家の集いにて、右から高田雅史さん（1970年8月2日生まれ）桜井政博さん（1970年8月3日生まれ）そして僕（1970年8月2日生まれ）。ここまで誕生日が近いのも珍しいこともあり、顔を合わせるたびに3人で記念撮影をしてしまいます。今回はメインテーマを担当した坂本さんの撮影でした。 pic.twitter.com/giHM0Wlnlx
— crush40 (@crush40) February 1, 2019
Senoue-san also shared a photo from the event, alongside Sakurai who the composer says he almost shares a birthday with! What are the odds!
Sakurai-san obviously knows how to create an insanely good video game, but it turns out he’s also a dab hand at throwing parties too. The photo below, shared on his Twitter account, illustrates the sheer amount of hard work and collaboration that went into producing Super Smash Bros Ultimate’s ~900 or so music tracks.
きょうは、スマブラSP参加音楽家さんの集い。
スゴい出席率と顔ぶれでした。みなさんおつかれさまでした！ pic.twitter.com/QsBUuj0Wo5— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) February 1, 2019
And apparently the group of composers in the photo doesn’t even fully represent the entire number of people who helped collaborate with Sakurai! Just goes to show how incredible a project the Nintendo cross-over brawler truly is.
Well done guys, you’ve all deserved a very long rest!
Uh hello, also left out SEGA vocalist LEGEND Takenobu Mitsuyoshi?
Yeah for real. I had to figure out which one was Ohtani and Senoue, but Mitsuyoshi-san stole the picture with his revved up attitude. His F-ZERO Medley was one of the best songs in Ultimate, i love this man!