Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2018
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Dec 8, 2021 · Now that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch is finally complete, creator Masahiro Sakurai discusses the future of the franchise and whether he’ll still be involved moving forward.
Nov 21, 2018 · As the release of the biggest entry to date looms, we had a chance to ask series co-creator and director Masahiro Sakurai about the creation of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and how he views the franchise nearly two decades after the first game launched on Nintendo 64.
- —To Start Things Off, Please Share Your History in The Game Industry Up to now.
- —Really? You Got Right to Work on Kirby?
- —What Was Your Next game?
- —Was There A Lot of Pressure?
- —When Did It Take Concrete Shape then?
- —Did You Run Into Any Problems with Getting Permission For The Characters?
- —What Were Some of The Challenges You Faced During The Development?
- —Do You Think Smash Bros. Appeals to A Younger Age Group?
- —Was It A Struggle Balancing All The Different Characters?
- —Have You Had Any Thoughts About A Sequel?
Sakurai: I joined HAL Laboratory when I was 19, and soon after I was hired, I created the planning docs for Kirby’s Dream Land.
Sakurai: Before Kirby, I had been working for several months on a different Game Boy game, where I created enemy movement patterns and the movement for the player character.1Actually, the original plan had been for HAL Laboratory to publish Kirby’s Dream Land on our own. But when we went to take prospective orders for Kirby, the demand was tiny: a ...
Sakurai: Next I made the Famicom version of Kirby. We added Kirby’s “copy” ability for that game. The idea was that this system would allow both beginners and veterans to enjoy themselves; new players could have a good time just inhaling and exhaling enemies, while for advanced players, the copy abilities would broaden the scope of the gameplay its...
Sakurai: It was definitely very challenging, but I didn’t feel pressured. My thinking was, I’m just going to do my work the very best I can. (laughs) After that, I worked on Kirby Super Deluxe (Kirby Super Star) for the Super Famicom.
Sakurai: It was after we showed the game to Miyamoto himself, in person. We thought if we asked him outright if we could use Nintendo characters he would probably say no. So we did our own research and finished (to an extent at least) four Nintendo characters, then we showed him a four-player fight with those characters: “Now what do you think of t...
Sakurai: The first person I asked for permission was Shigesato Itoi. Next was Shigeru Miyamoto. When he saw our work he said, “Hey, you’ve got Mario down pretty good!” The Pokemon characters took the longest to get permission, because their image is tightly supervised. I broached the subject with Pokemon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara, but th...
Sakurai: For many people, the words “a fighting game with Nintendo characters” makes them think of something cheap and tawdry. Our biggest challenge was issue was overcoming that preconception, or misunderstanding. A cloud like that hanging over your game can really affect the way it’s received. Of course, now that Smash Bros. is popular, you’d be ...
Sakurai: No, I wouldn’t say that—at least judging from what I saw at the most recent tournament. The “height gap” between players was funny: you had adults playing matches with kids half their size. Of course the core players are middle school and elementary age, but I’ve seen kids as young as 3 and adults over 30. I would say Smash’s uniqueness li...
Sakurai: We had the HAL debug team do test matches, and more or less based the balancing off those results. People have been telling me at this last tournament that Ness and Kirby are too strong, though. The thing is though, take Ness’ PK Thunder ability, for instance… in a 4-player game it’s extremely effective. But in a 2-player battle situation ...
Sakurai: If we make a sequel to Super Smash Bros… yeah, I’m honestly unsure about what we should change. If we add a new elements to the gameplay, there’s always a chance fans won’t like it. Plus adding new mechanics would only make things that much more complicated–and there are probably people out there who believe the simplicity of Smash Bros. i...
Join Masahiro Sakurai, director of several Kirby games and the Super Smash Bros. series, as he reflects on his work in the games industry and offers insightful and easy-to-understand advice...
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Jan 3, 2019 · In late December, Famitsu published on its online site a very lengthy interview with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Director Masahiro Sakurai. In it, Sakurai went back over the game's...
Nov 2, 2021 · Famitsu held an interview with Masahiro Sakurai, asking the game creator about the future of Super Smash Bros. series after Ultimate.
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Aug 29, 2021 · In the latest episode of Harada's Bar, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai spoke about how Kid Icarus: Uprising started out life on the Nintendo 3DS. At the time, Nintendo's...
