Sakurai Is Treating Super Smash Bros. Ultimate As His Last Game

All Nintendo fans around the world are waiting patiently for the highly anticipated Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that was announced at E3 last week. However, during post-reveal interviews, Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the series, hinted that it could be his final Super Smash Bros game.

During the E3 interviews, Sakurai asked fans to enjoy the newest iteration in the series as he’s currently unsure whether the series will continue with him, or if it will continue at all. He states “The Smash series may continue in the future, but I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to pull this off, so I really hope you’ll enjoy this iteration of the game.”

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Although this might seem grave for any Smash or Nintendo fan, there’s probably not much to be concerned about. Sakurai has said the same exact things after directing the WiiU/3DS games and even after finishing Super Smash Bros Brawl all the way back for the Wii.

Relating to the WiiU games, “I can’t positively declare there won’t be another Smash Bros. game. However, as for myself, I do not think there will be, I think we’ve made two games that, if you enjoy playing them, will keep you entertained for years to come. After all, this isn’t the k ind of series where we can release sequel after sequel. I hope you will find something you will like in these two titles and play them in a way that brings you maximum enjoyment.”

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Since Super Smash Bros Brawl Sakurai has had the mindset that every iteration of the game would be a directorial last for him, however, Nintendo and Nintendo fans probably have an entirely different viewpoint, as Sakurai’s work is still to be considered of high-quality.

There were also legitimate concerns raised about his health during the development of the WiiU/3DS games, he has said that during the development of those games it was the only focus in his life. He dropped everything else, only going home to sleep after which he would immediately return to work. In the recent interviews, he has said that he’s living a healthier schedule now, only working 50 hours a week and even takes two days off work.

Although it is possible that Sakurai wants to work on other projects than Smash, it’s quite unlikely that the Smash series will stop, and if there will be another Smash game, Sakurai will most likely want to direct it. When he was asked to direct Super Smash Bros Brawl, Iwata told him if he didn’t want to do it they would just get somebody else on the project which was unacceptable for Sakurai.

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