Sakurai recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel. Meant as the channel’s final upload, the video also touches on the next project Sakurai and his team at Sora Ltd. 

Sakurai says he initially wrote the proposal for his next project in July 2021, and that though the project had been greenlit by October that year, the plan was to begin development by April of 2022, with time required to “assemble the right team.” As per him, the game started production on time, which means it has been in development for roughly two and a half years at this point. 

Details on what the game is are scarce, as mentioned previously. Whether it will be a new Super Smash Bros. game or something else entirely is, of course, the question on everyone’s mind. If it is the former, it should also be interesting to see what form it takes. 

Either way, in the video, Sakurai stated that the title would be “announced sooner or later”, so hopefully it won’t be too long before we have some more concrete information. 

That’s a question that has been asked more than a few times in recent years, not only by fans and critics, but also by series creator Masahiro Sakurai himself. In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sakurai touched on the topic once again, saying that, at least as things stand right now, it’s hard for him to imagine Smash Bros. continuing without him, since there’s no one available yet who can serve as a suitable replacement- which is something he’s mentioned in the past as well.

“The question is, what happens next time? I mean whatever comes after Smash Bros. Ultimate,” Sakurai said (transcription via Nintendo Everything). “One option would be to separate the series itself from the original creator. But for now, at least, I can’t really imagine a Smash Bros. title without me. You might think that’s a natural stance for someone in my role, but I say so speaking objectively. I feel the same way president Iwata did when we formed the team for Smash Bros. Brawl. At present, we don’t have someone who can simply take the reigns.”

Sakurai went on to muse on what the next Smash Bros. game might look like. After acknowledging that, given the massive popularity and success the series enjoys, it’s fair to assume that there probably will be another new Smash game at some point in the future, he said that it’s hard to nail down right now just what it’ll end up being. According to Sakurai, it’s going to be a while before he and his team can figure out just what comes next for Smash.

“Smash Bros. is a massive, important title for Nintendo, so it’s fair to assume there will be another one at some point, but it’s going to take some work to figure out exactly how to make that happen,” he said. “For my part, I’d like to keep working with Nintendo however I’m able.”

In the past, Sakurai has said a few times that the next Super Smash Bros. game is likely going to have a much smaller roster of fighters than Ultimate did.

How long it’ll be before we hear something concrete about the future of Smash remains to be seen, but with it now having been nearly two years since the release of the last DLC fighter for Ultimate, the apetite for more Smash Bros. is certainly increasing amongst the audiences once more. Either way, as Sakurai himself says, sooner or later, it’s fair to assume that there almost definitely will be a new Smash game at some point in the future.

For a while now, people have wondered what direction Super Smash Bros. will take in the future, and how it will ever be able to live up to the impossibly high standards set by Ultimate. According to series creator and director Masahiro Sakurai though, if there is a new Smash game, it shouldn’t even try to do that.

Speaking in an interview with The Verge, when asked about the future of the series, Sakurai said – echoing similar statements he’s made on multiple occasions in the recent past – that any new Smash game will need to have a smaller roster- though of course, he also acknowledges that the development team will have to figure out whether or not fans will be pleased with that.

“I think we’ve reached the limit, at least in terms of volume of content and fighters,” Sakurai said. “Basically, if I were to have the opportunity to work on another Super Smash Bros. game, that means we would have to shrink the roster, but we need to think about whether fans would be pleased about that.”

Sakurai also went on to say that if he and Nintendo do continue forward with the series, they’ll have to figure out a way to de-emphasize his involvement in it and make it so that it isn’t wholly reliant on a single person’s vision the way it has been up until now. According to Sakurai, that’s crucial for the series’ longevity- this, too, is something he’s spoken about in the past.

“I’ve been doing too much of the work myself, so I’d need to resolve that, too,” he said. “The current Super Smash Bros. has too much of my personality poured into it. In order for a long-time series to continue thriving today, we need to think about eliminating the series’ dependence on just one person’s vision.

“Of course, this is the way it is now because we weren’t successful in splitting the vision between multiple people before. This would be a challenge for the future and something that needs to be discussed with Nintendo, if there were to be a next installment in the Super Smash Bros. series.”

One thing’s for sure- Smash Ultimate has more than enough going on to keep players happy for quite some time to come, so Nintendo probably won’t be rushing to make another new entry in the series anytime soon.

Of course, with the critical and commercial success the fighter has enjoyed, there are always going to be questions about the series’ future. But then again, given the very nature of Smash Ultimate, one also can’t help but wonder- where does the series even go after here?

It seems that’s very much the question on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director and series creator Masahiro Sakurai’s mind as well. Speaking in an interview with Famitsu (via VGC), Sakurai said that he currently has no plans for a sequel. He continued that though he cannot definitively say that Ultimate is the last game in the series, there are also many decisions that need to be made about how to take the series forward without disappointing the fans.

“I’m not thinking about a sequel,” he said. “But I can’t say that this is definitely the last Smash Bros. I need to think about whether we should release another Smash Bros. game at the risk of disappointing the users.”

Meanwhile, Sakurai also said that he’s unsure if the series could continue without him, and said that though there have been attempts at handing it off to someone else in the past, they haven’t worked out (which is an interesting new nugget of information in and of itself).

“I can’t see any way to produce Smash Bros. without me,” he said. “To be honest, I’d like to leave it to someone else, and I’ve actually tried that, but it hasn’t worked out.”

He concluded: “If we’re going to continue with the series, Nintendo and I need to discuss and seriously consider how to make it a success.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Sakurai has talked about life after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Back in 2019, he admitted that if there were to be a new Smash Bros. game in the future, there was no way it would be able to replicate Ultimate’s roster. Meanwhile, a few months later, he said that were no “no guarantees” he would continue making games once support for Smash Ultimate had wrapped up. Read more on that through here.

New Spirits from the Kingdom Hearts series have also been added to the Shop. These include characters like Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Roxas, Terra and Ventus among others. You’ll also be able to find Razewing Ratha from Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin in the Shop and on the Spirit Board.

Check out the full patch notes below for more details. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently available for Nintendo Switch and has seen 12 DLC characters added post-launch including Kazuya from the Tekken series, Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Steve from Minecraft and much more. While Waluigi never got his due, it’s been a crazy run for the crossover fighter.

Ver. 13.0.0

Offline

The following spirits from the Kingdom Hearts series will appear in the Shop on the Vault menu:

• Riku
• Kairi
• Roxas
• Axel
• Xion
• Terra
• Ventus
• Aqua

The following spirits will appear on the Spirit Board and Shop:

• Razewing Ratha

General

The following downloadable content will be usable after purchase:

• Sora Challenger Pack
• Judd Hat
• Octoling Wig
• Doom Slayer Helmet + Armor

Note: You cannot make videos of replays that contain DLC you have not purchased (fighters, stages, music, Mii Fighter costumes, etc.).

• Game-balance adjustments have been made. Please see the details of fixes and changes to fighters.
• Several issues have been fixed to improve gameplay experience.

That means you can expect more new content from Kingdom Hearts as well, including a stage (Rising Falls, with Hollow Bastion visible in the background), and new music added to the game. Game director Masahiro Sakurai has also gone in-depth with how Sora will play, how he will move, what his moveset will be, what his strengths and weaknesses are, his Final Smash, and more. Check out the full presentation below.

Of course, as with all previous DLC releases for the game, this final one will also come with new costumes for the Mii Fighter character. These are Doom Slayer from DOOM (not the way we wanted the Doom Slayer in Smash, but something’s better than nothing), Judd the Cat, and Octoling from Splatoon.

All of this new content will be added to the game on October 18.

As Nintendo and Sakurai have stressed more than a few times, this will be the final DLC fighter to be added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The game launched in December 2018 and has seen regular DLC additions across two separate fighter passes. The second fighter pass has until now brought Min Min from ARMS, Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Steve and Alex from Minecraft, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, and Kazuya Mishima from Tekken.

The sixth and final DLC of the current fighters pass will bring the total number of playable characters in the game to 82.

Along with Challenger Pack 10, which adds 39 songs from the Tekken series, there are new Spirits to acquire from the Shop. These include Heihachi, Nina Williams, King, Kuma and Panda, Yoshimitsu and many more while Sophia and Arthur will appear in the Spirit Board and Shop. New Mii Fighter costumes have also been added including Dante from Devil May Cry, the Dragonborn from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia and Shantae from Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.

Each Mii Fighter costume can be purchased for $0.75 while Challenger Pack 10 costs $5.99 standalone or as part of Fighters Pass Vol. 2 for $29.99. One Challenger Pack remains and will be the last DLC fighter added, as series creator Masahiro Sakurai recently reaffirmed. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months on who it could possibly be.

Among the various Mii Fighter costumes, it seems that only Shantae has something extra with a song from her game added to the “Other” category. All of the new Mii Fighter costumes will arrive tomorrow alongside Challenger Pack 10 which includes Kazuya Mishima from Tekken. They’ll each retail for $0.75, just like previously released costumes.

As for Kazuya, the latest “Mr Sakurai Presents” helped outline all of his different moves. From using the Devil Gene to fire lasers and execute Smash attacks to extensive combos and launchers that can send opponents flying, the Tekken veteran should be an interesting new addition to the roster. Challenger Pack 10 will retail for $5.99 but is also included with Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Only one Challenger Pack remains so stay tuned in the coming months for more details.

When bringing Kazuya into Smash Bros., Sakurai says the team wanted to do more than simply carry him over from Tekken (especially given how different speed and design is for each title). To that end, Kazuya’s main calling card is using the Devil Gene for Smash attacks, Neutrals, and Specials. This includes Devil Blaster, which fires a laser that can hit opponents across the stage; Devil Fist, which will pass through and immobilize a foe briefly; Devil Wings, which can be used to gain additional height or as a rising attack; and Heaven’s Door, which sees Kazuya grabbing his opponent and slamming them down. A fun effect of Heaven’s Door is that slamming an opponent down will also damage any surrounding foes.

If that weren’t enough, Kazuya enters a Rage state at 100 percent health, which multiplies damage by 1.1 and adds a special once-per-stock Rage Drive. The latter essentially turns Heaven’s Door into a more powerful attacks which can send opponents flying. Then there’s his Final Smash, which fires a fan of beams out that hits multiple foes. Of course, be careful not to spam his grapple too much or Kazuya will exit the Rage state.

Of course, the Challenger Pack also adds alternate outfits for Kazuya, a new stage, a whopping 39 songs from the Tekken series and a new Spirits Board for Tekken characters. Challenger Pack 10 will retail for $5.99 and is included with Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Stay tuned for more details on the next major patch as well.