After a massive undertaking in the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros., director Sakurai doesn’t believe he’ll be involved in future games of the series.
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai is leaning away from making any future games in the series. After a successful launch for both the 3DS and Wii U versions this year, Sakurai reflects on the series as one that has grown so much but also caused him stress.
In an interview with Game Informer, and according to CVG, Sakurai notes the amount of effort needed in development to make Super Smash Bros. what it is has made a scope that goes “far beyond the sale price,” he said. “In terms of scope, and in terms of sheer number of characters, we went beyond our limits long ago.”
The new Super Smash Bros. has 50 character slots on the roster, the largest in the series. Sakurai also knows that if developers cut the number of characters in future games, players would complain.
Sakurai said this does not mean there will not be more Super Smash Bros. games in the future, as he thought Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl would both be the last. However, he does not think there is another Smash game in him.
“You could say that all the effort in the past to stretch out, keep pushing myself, and provide all these extra merits wound up tightening the noose around my neck in the future,” he said. “That may seem like it contradicts my personal desire to keep giving gamers as much as I can, but I don’t see an easy answer for it. And yet, despite that, I also have trouble picturing someone else taking my place and providing all this value-added content without me.”
Sakurai worked long days during development for Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U six days a week, often doing a lot of the work himself despite an arm injury.
Super Smash Bros for 3DS launched October 3, while Super Smash Bros. for Wii U launched November 21.
Source: Game Informer via CVG
