Sakurai talks about Smash Bros. Ultimate's creation and the future of Smash

The latest video feature from Masahiro Sakurai is here, but this one’s a little special. Rather than another development video giving insight into general aspects of game creation, Sakurai has put together a feature on the work he tackled for Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Not only do we get to learn about the various challenges faced during Smash Bros. Ultimate, we also get to hear a tiny bit about what the future of the Smash series might hold. You can see a bullet point breakdown of the finer points below.

• on the day Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS got its final presentation, Sakurai finished his proposal for Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Sakurai made note of wanting to support VR, and and this was before Nintendo Labo existed
• when considering newcomers, Sakurai referenced the Smash Ballot
• the Smash Ballot received 1.8 million votes
• there were between 70-100 changes for each returning fighter
• Sakurai considers Ultimate somewhere between Melee and Wii U/3DS when it comes to mechanics
• the changes implemented take a lot of work
• Sakurai was impressed with the compression tech used for Smash Bros. Ultimate
• creating another single-player mode like Subspace Emissary for Ultimate would have been too much work on top of everything else
• World of Light resulted from Sakurai wanting to offer something more than repeated vs. matches
• Trophies were cut from the project due to their cost of labor
• Sakurai says its hard to imagine where they’ll go next due to the scope of Ultimate
• that said, Sakurai says he felt every Smash game was an impossible achievement, so who’s to say the next title won’t be one as well