Sakurai was extremely worried that Smash Bros. Ultimate would leak

Game announcements have been leaking left and right lately. Details about games that have already been revealed, first word on games we didn't even know were coming, and much more. It seems like there are more and more people who are making it their mission to get inside info and share it with gamers around the world.

Masahiro Sakurai is well aware of this, which is why he was petrified that news of Smash Bros. Ultimate would leak. He was desperate to make sure the Nintendo Direct content didn't leak before E3, and went to some extreme measures to keep things secret. The team didn't print out any materials with info on them, nor did they set up any displays for E3 2018. Even the big screen at Nintendo's E3 2018 didn't show a single image until after the Nintendo Direct presentation.

Sakurai feels the reveal had a lot more impact thanks to the info staying secret. The game's focus on bringing back every fighter was kept so secret that even most Nintendo employees didn't know! They found that info out live during the Nintendo Direct.

All this info comes from Sakurai's most recent Famitsu feature, which was translated by the good gang over at Source Gaming.