Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, and the director on every single game in the series, has been famously outspoken against working on any further games in the franchise, citing fatigue at the scale of their development (Sakurai has a crazy work ethic, and famously refuses to delegate), as well as his desire to work on new things. And yet, he always comes back to make a new game in the series.
That said, there has been an air of understanding that Ultimate may actually be his final game. With the untimely passing of Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata a few years ago (Sakurai’s personal friend, whom he often made Smash for out of respect of their friendship), as well as Sakurai’s repeated comments that he does’t see how Ultimate can even be topped, to Ultimate‘s very nature- bringing together almost 20 years of Smash Bros. together into one consolidated package (hence the name), it’s kind of felt like he is getting ready to sign off on the series.
However, in an interview with The Guardian, Sakurai said that he will return to make more Smash Bros. games, should the demand for them be there. “The best way to enjoy video games is to play what other people have made. But at the same time, I have a role. At this point I have been asked to create Smash and so I am doing that, and will continue to do so if the demand is there,” he said.
Given that demand for Smash Bros. will always be there – it is one of the most popular video game franchises of all time – I think he’s just committed himself to making more Smash games till the end of time. Poor Sakurai.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches on Nintendo Switch on December 7.
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