What’s in Store for the Future of Nintendo’s Biggest Fighting Game?
Sakurai recently gave his thoughts and experiences on developing Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Ultimate’s final update just came out last week marking the end of an era for Nintendo’s titular fighting series.
Sakurai shared his experiences working on the game during an interview via E-mail. He also gave his thoughts on what’s in store for the future of the series. He touched on a lot of subjects regarding developing DLC fighters, roster sizes and his newfound free time.
In regards to developing DLC fighters, Sakurai mentioned how much work is put into the process. “You may have already noticed, but DLC fighters tend to be more uniquely made compared to standard fighters on the roster,” Sakurai said. “Fans are paying extra for these additional characters, so we tell ourselves that we need to strive and do our best to deliver content that is more than worthy.”
Development on Super Smash Bros Ultimate began sometime around 2016. Sakurai and his team have been hard at work since then developing about a dozen DLC fighters and even more updates. Now that the game has finished getting updated, Sakurai can take a much-needed break. “I have more free time now than I’ve probably ever had since I started working in game development,” Sakurai said.
Finally, Sakurai gave his opinions on how the next installment should be handled. “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.” He said that in the past, splitting the vision amongst multiple people didn’t work out. “This would be a challenge for the future and something that needs to be discussed with Nintendo.”