Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the Smash Bros. franchise, has released a new video looking back on the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Switch.
During the 12-13 minute presentation, Sakurai delves into the copious adjustments and additions required to make Ultimate appeal to both veterans and newcomers, the difficulties faced when dealing with a 16GB Switch cartridge vs a 25GB Wii U disc, and the effects the Covid-19 pandemic had on development for the DLC characters.
Towards the end of the video, Sakurai ponders the prospect of future Smash Bros. titles. While he doesn’t rule out the possibility of another entry to the franchise, he’s admittedly sceptical that the development team would be able to create something that goes beyond Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s scope and ambition:
“As for what comes next for the Smash Bros. series, even I’m not sure. I feel we truly succeeded in making people happy with this game, but now that Smash Bros. has grown to be monstrous in size, I’d say it’s difficult to imagine an increase of this magnitude happening again.
“Every time, we managed to make a game that I had previously thought impossible, so I can’t say for certain there won’t be another, but I do think it would be difficult to push it any further than we have.”
It might seem an obvious conclusion based on the sheer amount of content available in Ultimate, but it’s nice to see Sakurai speak so candidly on the subject. We’d highly recommend watching the full video if you can; it’s a fascinating glimpse into the development of one of the Switch’s finest games.
This isn’t the first time Sakurai has addressed the future of the franchise, either. In a previous video, he discussed his own potential involvement in a new game, stating that “for now at least, I can’t imagine a Smash Bros. title without me”.