Smash Bros. Creator On Franchise's Future: "I Can't Imagine A Smash Bros. Title Without Me"

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has been a prolific YouTube presence since starting his channel last year, where he speaks about his experiences in game development. The latest update also touched on the past, but this time he also gives some thoughts on the future of his most successful project: Super Smash Bros.

The video tells the story of Sakurai’s involvement in the creation of Super Smash Bros. Brawl–specifically, it shares how Sakurai was unaware of the game until the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced it during Nintendo’s E3 2005 press conference. Sakurai was in the audience for that announcement, and afterward Iwata asked Sakurai to lead the team in his hotel suite.

After sharing the story and speaking about how the development team was assembled, Sakurai spoke about the future of the Smash Bros. franchise, and where he may fall into it. He hypothesizes one option, which would be to hand the series over to another director, but he also has trouble envisioning that future.

“For now, at least, I really can’t imagine a Smash Bros. title without me,” Sakurai says in the video. “I feel the same way President Iwata did when we formed the team for Smash Bros. Brawl. At present, we simply do not have someone who could take the reins.”

He then goes on to say that Smash Bros. is an important title for Nintendo, and it’s “fair to assume” a new game will eventually release–though at this point the video flashes a brief asterisk emphasizing this to be Sakurai’s opinion as of the release of the video. He acknowledges it will “take some work” to make that happen, but he also says, “for my part, I’d like to keep working with Nintendo however I’m able,” as he still is a freelance developer employed outside of Nintendo.

Sakurai’s remarks in this video strike a different tone to when he spoke to The Verge in October 2021, where he said he’d done “too much of the work [him]self” and that Smash Bros. currently has “has too much of [his] personality poured into it.”

“Of course, this is the way it is now because we weren’t successful in splitting the vision between multiple people before,” Sakurai said. “This would be a challenge for the future and something that needs to be discussed with Nintendo, if there were to be a next installment in the Super Smash Bros. series.”

During the final Smash Bros. Ultimate video presentation in the same month, he called the event his “final fighter presentation,” adding that, “It’ll be sad to say farewell, but I hope you all enjoy it.”

The latest title in the Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch.