Super Smash Flash 2 Dev Blog

Super Smash Flash 2 Dev Blogs, shortened as SSF2 Dev Blogs, are chronicled updates posted as text or video entries created by Super Smash Flash 2 developers to showcase new features to be included in an upcoming version of the demo. They contain detailed information about SSF2's production from the developer's perspective, as well as some inside information.
On the McLeodGaming and websites, the "SSF2 Dev Blogs" category also applies to many different news posts relating to the game. However, the name has only officially been used to refer to two specific series of posts.
== v0.8 Dev Blogs ==
The first iteration of Dev Blogs covered v0.8 of the demo and was released from October to December 2011. Each Dev Blog was released as a topic on the McLeodGaming Forums and written by a developer associated with the changes featured. The first five Dev Blogs were released weekly on Sundays throughout October and showcased general improvements, with each Dev Blog focusing on a particular subject. Following this, fourteen "Dev Blog Mini Posts" were released on weekends throughout November and December, with each focusing on the changes made for a particular character.
=== Dev Blog Post #1 - Aesthetics ===
The first Dev Blog was released by Ramsey Geno Kaid on October 2, 2011 and showcases visual improvements. The game's sprite-based hit effects, knockback dust, shields, and certain attacks such as 's PSI-based moves were changed to use vector-based effects instead. Stages were upgraded as well, with receiving a day to night cycle being added and Tower of Salvation's stage hazard becoming much more effective. Items and some characters received animation tweaks, reducing the number of reused frames and increasing the quality overall. In addition, the bars present in chargeable moves were replaced with various new aesthetic effects to show when a move is fully charged.
*Original thread
=== Dev Blog Post #2 - The Engine ===
The second Dev Blog was released by James TSON Hadden on October 9, 2011 and showcases changes to the game's engine. Knockback trajectory was adjusted to give gravity a greater influence, allowing for stronger and more fluent combos. Shields were also modified to be less abusable against most attacks while also being more effective against projectiles than before. Various mechanics hailing from the official series were also added to the game, such as teching, reversible knockback, star KOs, screen KOs, directional influence, Smash directional influence, traction, and meteor canceling, as well as unique aerial physics and higher hitstun overall.
*Original thread
=== Dev Blog Post #3 - Character Upgrades ===
The third Dev Blog was released by Alex Tid Knowles on October 16, 2011 and showcases various character-specific changes. Some characters received special gimmicks as a means to make them feel less generic or otherwise improve their playability. was given Linked Artes, which allows him to cancel certain special moves into other special moves when timed correctly. 's smash attacks were given powered up forms when fully charged, and his down aerial could now summon Death above an opponent when hit correctly. 's Weapon Change could now be used to manually select any weapon, his up aerial now spread into multiple shots, and Crash Bomber could be manually detonated. was given a variety of attacks that used Shadow Clones, such as Shadow Clone Toss and his throws, and Shadow Clone Summon gained more versatility.
In addition, a variety of general move chances were made. For instance, 's Gazan was given a new grounded version, Naruto's fully charged Rasengan was changed, was given new Stone variations, received Gale Boomerang and Bomb Arrows, could now perform auto-floating, Lloyd's Guardian was replaced with Grave Blade, Mega Man's down smash was replaced with the Knight Crush from , and 's Kaiō-ken was made more threatening. Each character was also given updated throw animations, item attacks, and other modifications to have attributes that more closely resembled their official Super Smash Bros. counterparts.
*Original thread
=== Dev Blog Post #4 - Balancing ===
The fourth Dev Blog was released by Max Void Silverman on October 23, 2011 and showcases balancing changes that were made to various characters. Goku's Ki Blasts and down smash were nerfed, while his other moves were buffed to improve his combo game. could no longer repeatedly use his to shoot across the stage as he could before. was heavily reworked to have amazing combo abilities but limited KO power. Naruto's and Lloyd's changes from the previous Dev Blog were detailed further, as well as Lloyd's new recovery nerf to make him more of a "glass cannon". Black Mage's recovery, on the other hand, was made faster, and his attacks were modified to link into each other better. Finally, a video was shown detailing the buffs that Kirby received, which allowed him to be considered higher than bottom tier on the game's tier list for the first time ever.
*Original thread
=== Dev Blog Update FINAL - Wrap Up ===
The fifth and final Dev Blog was released by Gregory McLeod on October 30, 2011 and began by crediting the rest of the development team for their efforts. It also included a new trailer, which revealed as a playable character. A release date of December 25, 2011 was also given for v0.8.
*Original thread
=== Dev Blog Mini Posts ===
The Dev Blogs Mini Posts each focused on a specific character, starting with a combo video and detailing various moveset and balancing changes. The only character not to receive one was Kirby, due to already having a video featured in Dev Blog Post #4.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #1 - Mario was released by Ema 194 Alvarado on November 10, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #2 - Lloyd was released by Alex Tid Knowles on November 12, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #3 - Ichigo was released by Crabby on November 14, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #4 - Sonic was released by -Aura_Fear- and Panthera leo on November 19, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #5 - Naruto was released by Daguan 135 Chen on November 20, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #6 - Link was released by Panthera leo on November 27, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #7 - Goku was released by Max Void Silverman on November 27, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #8 - Peach was released by Crabby on December 3, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #9 - Black Mage was released by Max Void Silverman on December 4, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #10 - Ness was released by Savvy, eh? on December 10, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #11 - Sora was released by Daguan 135 Chen on December 11, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #12 - Wario was released by James TSON Hadden on December 17, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #13 - Tails was released by -Aura_Fear- on December 18, 2011.
*Dev Blog Mini Post #14 - Mega Man was released by Crabby on December 24, 2011.
== Beta Dev Blogs ==
The second iteration of Dev Blogs covered the development of Beta and was released as news posts on the McLeodGaming website, with discussions and comments taking place on the McLeodGaming Forums. It was first confirmed on January 15, 2016 as part of the developers' plans for the year, and it covered the development status of Beta. These Dev Blogs were released weekly on Fridays starting on March 3, 2016 and informally ending on July 8, 2016, eventually being replaced with the SSF2 Beta Content Creators Program. Most of the Dev Blogs would later be reuploaded to the Super Smash Flash website as part of its launch on February 14, 2020.
=== Dev Blog #1 — Welcome To The New McLeodGaming.com! ===
The first Dev Blog was released by Jake Sirtopeia Siegers on March 3, 2016. Rather than SSF2, this Dev Blog focuses on the McLeodGaming website and explains its redesign, which was developed primarily by Sirtopeia and went live on the same day. This new design was created in order to be more modern and user-friendly, as well as to have better search engine optimization. Several early concepts for the website's redesign are also shown, and feedback is requested on the McLeodGaming Forums.
The end of the Dev Blog also mentions that there is a "sneak peak" to the next Dev Blog hidden within it. This sneak peak is hidden in the hyperlinked phrase discussing Google search results, which contains two additional hyperlinks leading to images of 's updated forward smash and 's updated up aerial.
*Original post (archived)
=== Dev Blog #2 — Effects ===
The second Dev Blog was released by Joshua Refurin Wattus on March 11, 2016 and showcases various visual effects improved across characters. Many different sprite-based effects, such as 's smash attacks and Zelda's forward smash, were changed to use vector-based effects instead. Dust and trails were also added to various attacks, and hit effects were added for flame, electric, and water attacks. Additionally, effects could now be colored separately from the characters themselves, and thus they would not be affected by costumes.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #3 — Balancing ===
The third Dev Blog was released by Proto on March 18, 2016 and showcases balancing changes that were made to various characters, though they were not necessarily finalized. Chibi-Robo was buffed in various ways, such as with an improved Chibi-Copter that reaches its top speed faster and has a stronger hit in the end, giving it KO power. Additionally, his down aerial's range was increased, he gained the ability to angle his grab, and his up aerial was changed to cover a previous "dead zone" with a finisher. Zelda was also showcased, with nerfs to both her forward aerial and back aerial, giving them less damage and knockback and increasing her landing lag. Din's Fire could no longer explode on whiff, though it could now hit multiple times. Farore's Wind was also made slower and shorter, but it gained the ability to link both hits together. was nerfed a bit as well, gaining a sour spot on his back aerial and the ability for opponents to DI out of his up throw. Various minor nerfs are then listed off, and the Dev Blog ends with a video of a match between Proto as Chibi-Robo and TSON as Zelda.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #4 — Audio and Music ===
The fourth Dev Blog was released by Andrew ASF Fisher on March 25, 2016 and showcases changes made to audio, primarily music. It discusses how the audio team has greatly expanded to provide more custom music arrangements with unique styles. Various outsourced sound effects and voices were also replaced with new material, with being given a custom voice actress, namely Darcy Maguire-Wheelahan. Several victory themes would also be remade, with a revised version of 's victory theme being shown. For the largest announcement, it was revealed that alternate music tracks would be made available for each stage, with Jungle Hijinx's Bramble Blast and Dracula's Castle's Proof of Blood being shown.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #5 — Costumes ===
The fifth Dev Blog was released by FriendAlias on April 1, 2016. It was supposedly meant to focus on updates to characters' costumes, but before any information is given, the blog suddenly cuts into static and a laugh. When FriendAlias tries to resume the blog, the transmission is interrupted by ＣＬＥＯＤＢＯＴ, a robot-like entity bearing the likeness of Gregory McLeod who was supposedly created by the development team to assist them. He had grown tired of working for them and has escaped, claiming that the developers tried and failed to deactivate him, and so he threatened to reveal their secrets. To achieve this, he claimed to have uploaded his consciousness to a vessel that feels, is angry, and wants revenge. The blog ends with a trailer revealing that said vessel is a playable , and its unlock method is hinted at.
This Dev Blog was actually McLeodGaming's April Fools' Day joke for 2016. The blog shares its discussion topic with Dev Blog #5.1 under the name "Sandbag", which initially used the name "Costumes".
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #5.1 — Sandbag Bonus Blog! ===
A complementary post for the fifth Dev Blog was released by James TSON Hadden on April 3, 2016. It discusses how, despite Sandbag's playable inclusion being perceived as an April Fools' Day joke, Sandbag was fully playable and the actual joke was to trick people into thinking otherwise. Sandbag was designed as the ultimate joke character, and it was noted that it should be considered as a bonus character rather than a member of the main cast. It would be an unlockable character in both Beta and the full release, with its unlock method being "extremely different" from others. Sandbag's moveset and attributes were also shown, such as how it cannot grab ledges due to lacking limbs and relies on its risky up special move, Bob-omb Toss, to recover. Its movement would consist of hops causing him to stop, which could be controlled using its side taunt. Most of its normal moves would have minimal lag and high knockback or combo potential, with some referencing the Super Smash Bros. series. For its Final Smash, later named Home-Run Combo, it would execute its "revenge" by sucking in the character nearest to it and teleporting them to the Home-Run Stadium, where it would launch them away so far that it would break the Home-Run Contest distance counter.
The blog shares its discussion topic with the Dev Blog #5 under the name "Sandbag".
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #6 — Costumes ===
The sixth Dev Blog was released by FriendAlias on April 8, 2016 and showcases the improvements made to characters' costumes. It revealed that every character would have at least seven costumes instead of five, and many costumes had undergone significant changes to give them a more natural appearance by reducing skin color changes wherever possible. Several new costumes were also revealed, some of which reference the characters' source material, such as Dark Samus for , Wolf O'Donnell for Fox, and colors for and . There was also a hidden message which, when decoded, revealed an additional screenshot revealing "accessories" for Pikachu and Jigglypuff, along with Lake of Rage as a new stage.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #7 — Items ===
The seventh Dev Blog was released by d0ntk on April 15, 2016. It reveals many new items to be added, with the Smart Bomb, Motion-Sensor Bomb, Blast Box, and Deku Nut being retaining their functions from the Super Smash Bros. series. New items included the Firework, which would explode into multiple colorful explosions around it; the Beam Rod from the series, which would fire weak beams when swung; and the Master Ball from the series, which would capture an opponent it was thrown at. Additionally, the previously removed Explosive Tag would return with updated sprites. Existing items were also showcased with new sprites, and it introduced new item mechanics such as item throwing animations, item knockback, and the glide toss were revealed.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #8 — Stages ===
The eighth Dev Blog was released by Jamal Zero Insanity Ransaw on April 23, 2016, having been delayed by a day due to technical issues. It reveals new stage-related content, including updated sprites for Jungle Hijinx and the returning . Several new stages were also revealed, including , Lake of Rage, Flat Zone +, and Steel Diver.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #9 — Mechanics and Fixes ===
The ninth Dev Blog was released by James TSON Hadden on April 28, 2016, being released on a Thursday rather than a Friday, and showcases certain bug fixes and improvements to the game's mechanics. In terms of bug fixes, the bug that caused a player's save data to halt the initial loading screen was fixed. For mechanics improvements, names were lengthened, port priority was remedied with clanking and trading, shields and perfect shields were made more consistent, a bounce was added to forced getups, traction was universally decreased, buffering was improved, and ending lag was increased for recovery moves and powerful attacks.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #10 — Pokéballs ===
The tenth Dev Blog was released by Chris ElvisDitto Hubac on May 6, 2016 and showcases changes made to the Pokémon summoned from Poké Balls in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Pokémon. Existing Pokémon would receive new sprites to be more consistent with each other. Several new Pokémon were also revealed, including Garchomp, Zygarde, Heracross, Tepig, Snivy, Seedot, Jirachi, Beedrill, Bellossom, Koffing, Venusaur, Blastoise, Charizard, and Pichu. Porygon, Porygon2, and Porygon-Z would also serve as variations of each other with different stats. Certain stages would also receive Pokémon as background characters, such as Beldum and Magnemite appearing on Pokémon Colosseum.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #11 — Audio & Alternate Tracks ===
The eleventh Dev Blog was released by Alex Chernabogue Mourey on May 13, 2016 as a continuation of Dev Blog #4, showcasing five different music tracks arranged by different developers. The following music tracks were shown:
#Skyloft for Skyward Voyage, arranged by Garrett Williamson.
#Mega Man X Medley for Central Highway, arranged by Ema 194 Alvarado.
#Hidden Leaf Medley for Hidden Leaf Village, arranged by Andrew ASF Fisher.
#Bowser's Rampage for Bowser's Castle, arranged by Steven ohaiguy Burns.
#Team Rocket Hideout for Silph Co., arranged by Alex Chernabogue Mourey.
The Dev Blog ended by teasing that the way to access alternate music tracks may be revealed in a future Dev Blog.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #12 — Performance and Quality Settings ===
The twelfth Dev Blog was released by Daguan 135 Chen on May 20, 2016 and showcases ways in which performance has been improved on lower-end computers. This is mainly done through hitboxes, which would now use larger boxes surrounding each character to reduce how many hurtboxes are checked for on each frame. Hitboxes would also be made more accurate overall. Additionally, a new Quality settings menu was revealed with many new options and toggles to disable graphically intensive elements such as backgrounds, hit effects, and shadows.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #13 — Character Redesigns ===
The thirteenth Dev Blog was released by Ema 194 Alvarado on May 27, 2016 and showcases character-specific changes made to Lloyd and Mega Man. In Lloyd's case, he would now use Rising Falcon as his down special move, replacing Grave Blade, with a drilling attack taking his down aerial's place. Tempest also replaced Sonic Thrust as his side special move, while Sonic Thrust was moved to his dash attack, and his neutral aerial had become a cross slash move. In Mega Man's case, his up smash, down smash, up tilt, down tilt, dash attack, and up aerial were replaced by those in . He also gained a new neutral aerial, being based on Jewel Satellite from . Weapon Use and Weapon Change were both removed, with Mega Buster being his only neutral special move, Crash Bomber replacing Proto Shield as his side special move, and Water Wave being added as a new down special move. A match between the two is then shown, and the Dev Blog closes by revealing that Wario had received a sprite revamp, though no other information was disclosed. It was revealed that he, along with possibly another character, would be getting their own special blog post later on.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #14 — Challengers Approaching! ===
The fourteenth Dev Blog was released by Ramsey Geno Kaid on May 29, 2016 as an emergency update due to a leaking incident that happened on the previous day. In this update, and were revealed as new playable characters, taking heavy inspiration from their counterparts in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #14.5 — Dev Blog Redux From Cleod ===
A complementary post for the fourteenth Dev Blog was released by Gregory McLeod on June 2, 2016. It serves to recap the announcements made in the previous Dev Blogs, and it is also revealed that more than 2,500 revisions had been made to the the developer demo during the production of Beta up to that point. Afterward, it is stated that Dev Blogs would be taking a brief two week hiatus, and there is a reminder that SSF2 Beta would be playable at Super Smash Con 2016. It is also revealed that the game would offer native USB controller support. The end of the Dev Blog contains a 1920×1080 px wallpaper of all the characters revealed up to that point.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #15 — Team Dynamic/Bug Reel ===
The fifteenth Dev Blog was released by ArkZky on June 24, 2016 following the previous hiatus. It details the friendly and fun interactions between developers when working on the game, showing several conversations that occurred over Slack. It then closes with a "Bug Reel" video, demonstrating many of the experimental bugs encountered during the development of Beta.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #16 — Newcomer Design and Balance Pt. 1 ===
The sixteenth Dev Blog was released by Starkiller on July 1, 2016 and showcases some of the design and balance concepts of upcoming characters, focusing on three veterans from official Super Smash Bros. games: , , and . It closes with a video of two matches between Starkiller as Luigi and FriendAlias as Bowser.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
=== Dev Blog #17 — Newcomer Design and Balance Pt. 2 ===
The seventeenth Dev Blog was once again released by Starkiller on July 8, 2016 as a continuation of the previous Dev Blog. It focuses on the remaining four upcoming characters that had been announced: , Pit, PAC-MAN and Sandbag. It closes with a video of two matches between ArkZky as Pit and FriendAlias as Isaac.
It is also stated that the Dev Blogs would be taking another hiatus until after Super Smash Con 2016 ended, after which more would be written. However, this would be the final Dev Blog written for Beta.
*Original post (archived)
*SuperSmashFlash.com post
== Development Vlogs ==
The third iteration of Dev Blogs, unlike the previous two iterations, consists of videos uploaded to YouTube. Development Vlogs do not all specifically focus on one demo and are not released according to a schedule, with there currently only being one released.
=== Recolored Costumes Debut at Super Smash Con 2019! ===
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The first Development Vlog was released to McLeodGaming's YouTube channel on July 20, 2019 and focused on costumes, which would receive significant updates in Beta 1.2. Unlike in previous demos, in which costumes were limited to simple filters, costumes would now consist of separate colors for individual sections of a character, much like how they are in the official Super Smash Bros. series. Several costumes were showcased for Mario, Peach, Bowser, Wario, , Isaac, Bomberman, , Sora, Ichigo, and Sandbag, including costumes based on source material such as Fire Mario, Sora's Drive Forms, and the in-game sprites of Mario and Bowser from . Select characters would have 12 costumes, though certain characters would temporarily have filtered costumes until a later date. It was also revealed that these updated costumes would be playable for the first time at Super Smash Con 2019.
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