Masahiro Sakurai: 'I Can't Imagine a Smash Bros. Title Without Me' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 August 2023 / 4,396 Views
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai in a new video published on his YouTube channel discussed the future the franchise.
"For an ongoing game series, not using the original development studio and instead assembling a new team around a freelance director is an extremely rare occurrence," said Sakurai.
"The question now is, what happens next time? I mean whatever comes after Smash Bros. Ultimate. One option would be to separate the series from the original creator. But for now, at least, I can’t really imagine a Smash Bros. title without me."
He added, "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 reins.
"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. For my part, I’d like to keep working with Nintendo however I’m able."
Super Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo's most popular franchises with all the games combined having sold over 72 million units worldwide through March 2023. The best-selling entry in the series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, has sold over 31 million units.
Thanks, VideoGamesChronicle.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I would love to see him work on other titles, but I cant really see a more passionate guy taking over Smash.
Uh oh.... when someone starts thinking they are "irreplaceable" it's time to replace them...
Sakurai has been saying this for so long...I'm curious as to why he hasn't gone out of his way to train up young talent so as to take lead following retirement? Weak leadership is what this quote reads to me...which isn't surprising coming from the guy who has seemingly taken all the credit for producing smash bros. Never once have I heard him express gratitude nor acknowledge for his teams' hard-work in successfully capturing his vision.
Nintendo Members of the Board: We can
If Sakurai drags his feet too long or only wants a small Smash project, I could see them riding out Ultimate for another platform. They can do to Ultimate what was done to Mario Kart 8: all DLC included, some new characters and locations, some QOL or new features. That way you can make the roster even bigger without cutting anyone. if Smash gets a standard sequel or a reboot, there are going to be roster cuts.
I thought he said some time ago that he wants to make something different and not another Smash Bros. game...
There will of course be another Smash next gen, regardless of who spearheads the game. My question is what it could possibly be like. I can't imagine just sticking to the same formula after the aptly named Ultimate. Whoever ends up in charge of Smash next gen (and obviously it'll be a late gen title since they clearly haven't even started planning for it yet) is gonna have to go in some sort of new direction with the series, while still keeping current fans excited.
I just hope they don't break the tradition of keeping non-gaming characters out of Smash Bros. Sora's Mickey key chain doesn't count.
I guess. Never really thought about non-gaming characters. But sure, I don't really care one way or the other though, cool characters are cool characters. I just want fewer but more unique characters. Don't need so many fire emblem sword swingers and different versions of the same character or numerous similar characters. The roster size was already crazy in Ultimate, no reason to try to top that, so I think going with fewer and more unique options for characters is the way to go at this point.
I just wanna see a new vision to separate the future Smash from the Melee thru Ultimate smash era (the original was good but sorta felt like a prototype of what the series would be starting with Melee, though that may be just due to power difference between N64 and the rest).
Totally new art style, maybe keep a classic battle mode but then beyond that have the main work on the game be something totally new. Or it'd be cool if they just made Ultimate a feature of Nintendo Online starting next gen, to always keep that Ultimate version of classic Smash bros available to everyone - and promote more Nintendo online memberships - and then that'd allow future Smash Bros games to completely leave the current formula and strike out with something totally new, though I just can't imagine what it'd be haha. Maybe do something heretical like ditch the 2D fighting and have massive brawls in 3D arenas? I dunno. All I know is I feel like there isn't much point in just doing another regular Smash cuz that formula feels like it reached its pinnacle and finished its journey with Ultimate.
Then so much for anyone new ever getting in Smash again. Won't happen without a new game which may not happen without Sakurai. -_-
Of course it will. They wont just stop making them. Thats like saying there will never be a Mario game again without Miyamoto.
Well hopefully his successor would be someone who won't shoehorn in non-gaming characters. So sick of people asking for Goku, especially since there are already plenty of Dragon Ball fighting games.
Im sure he will still be a producer or something. I dont think he can let it go completely.
Nah. Give me all characters from everywhere. Next Smash I want to see Donald Duck vs Marie Curie.
That's ridiculous. XD Besides, we have MUGEN. It's open source and anyone can make anyone fight each other there. That's how I've seen Galvatron fight Venom.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate DX confirmed for Switch 2?
It's looking about 50/50. Sakurai could come back for a completely new Smash that releases between Q4 2025 - Q1 2027. Smash games have never taken 3 years or longer so far (excluding DLC that is worked on after launch). if a Smash game launches in the window I mentioned, Ultimate DX is pretty pointless unless Ultimate's successor is a reboot.
