Who actually chooses DLC characters for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate?
Understandably, Nobody involved with the game has provided complete transparency about the
design decisions within the game.
Nobody really wants to take credit – or blame – for these important decisions.
But fans are often eager to figure out where ideas for character inclusions might be coming
from.
It’s fun to speculate about who might be next for inclusion, and what other Nintendo
projects might be on the horizon based on choosing to throw in references to specific
games.
Masahiro Sakurai has previously stated emphatically that he doesn’t get final say over who goes
into Smash Brothers.
But, other voices of authority have instead claimed that Masahiro is in charge of guiding
the series, and of deciding who makes the cut.
In order to make sense of several conflicting reports, let’s look at a few quotes from
official sources, to try to untangle this complicated issue.
At the 2018 Video Game Awards, speaking about the inclusion of Persona 5’s Joker in Smash
Brothers, then president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime stated:
“It’s emblematic of the approach that Mr. Sakurai and the team are taking with the
DLC.
He wants characters that are unique, different, to bring them into the Smash Bros. environment.
So it’s going to be tremendously exciting.
“Mr. Sakurai, he’s not only a student of Nintendo franchises, and obviously he’s
had his hand in a few, but he’s a student of video games from a total perspective and
so he’s been the driver in really thinking about what type of character coming into Super
Smash Bros Ultimate would bring just a whole different level of fun and enjoyment for the
player.
That’s been the approach.
That’s the thinking.”
From this quote, it’s clear that Masahiro Sakurai himself is a driving force behind
the selection of game characters, and he’s done his best to pick fighters that add something
new to the play experience.
But this doesn’t mean that Masahiro gets final say over which characters get included.
He’s been eager to distance himself from the final selection of fighters, if only to
avoid fan ire if a fan favourite doesn’t get included.
In a rare English tweet following the announcement that Street Fighter 2’s Ken Masters would
appear in the game, Masahiro stated: “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s DLC line-up
is now complete.
This time the selection was made entirely by Nintendo.
I decide if we can create a fighter based on their selection, then come up with the
plan.”
Masahiro followed this up with a plea that fans stop bombarding official channels with
requests for certain characters: “It’s great to dream about your favorite
character joining the battle and I appreciate your passion, but please try to stay on topic
when replying to tweets and refrain from flooding us, and other users, with requests when we're
not specifically asking for feedback.
Thank you!”
It’s clear that Masahiro is growing weary of English-language Nintendo fans constantly
asking for particular characters to be included in Smash.
Even if this behaviour stems from Nintendo previously asking fans for suggestions.
It makes sense that, if he’s tired of fans tweeting him asking for, say, Waluigi to be
included in Smash, Masahiro would want to distance himself from the final selection
process for characters in the game.
But it’s worth noting that Nintendo is not a single person, a single homogenous entity.
The company is made up of many people who all collaborate on games, and Masahiro, as
the director of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, has the power to influence decisions made
by his bosses at the company.
They trust him to make wise choices.
So, with Joker for example, Masahiro’s personal passion led him to campaign for the character’s
inclusion, and this influenced Nintendo’s decision to give him the green light.
Speaking about Joker’s inclusion in Smash, Atlus representative Naoto Hiraoka said:
“This time, Joker will participate in Super Smash Bros. mainly because of the invitation
from Sora Ltd.’s Masahiro Sakurai.
That is what led to this collaboration.
Because Mr. Sakurai likes Persona 5 very much, and I personally like Super Smash Bros. a
lot, my first thought when I received the invitation was “Great!”
I was very happy to establish a relationship for this collaboration.”
So it does seem like this particular Smash Brother DLC character was chosen based primarily
on Masahiro Sakurai’s request, and a collaboration between Nintendo and Atlus.
But it’s also worth noting the context of this quote.
Atlus has been trying – at ultimately failing – to quell rumors that Persona 5 would be
ported to Switch.
So it was in the company’s interest to suggest that Sora Limited, rather than Nintendo, oversaw
this collaboration.
From another quote from Masahiro Sakurai, this isn’t often the way things work:
“There are cases where I will meet with the original creators myself once or twice,
but in general communication is carried out through Nintendo.
In addition, it wouldn’t necessarily be the original creator I would meet – rather
like how I was directly involved with the Kirby series, but don’t know about other
projects now.”
So it seems that, by and large, while Masahiro is the figurehead for Smash collaborations,
he generally leaves Nintendo to work out the specifics of a deal with a third-party developer.
Ultimately, Masahiro’s team work with other teams within Nintendo to make these character
collaborations happen.
It’s not a case of one or the other of these entities calling the shots individually – instead,
it’s a team project, with everyone working together.
Here at Video Game Story Time, we love romantic stories of sole developers striking out on
their own and calling all the shots.
But in reality, these games are always the result of many different creators working
together.
While we like to highlight the individual contributions of specific developers, there
are many people who work behind-the-scenes to bring ambitious game projects to life.
So, the moral of this story is, teamwork.
It’s what brings DLC fighters to Smash Brothers, and it’s what will help you to achieve your
own goals throughout your life.