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Hi everyone, BretonStripes has COVID, so I’m filling in on voice duties today,
sorry about that. Stick around to the end, though, I have something neat to show you.
It’s been a few months now since the final chunk of DLC for Super Smash Bros Ultimate was released,
and Masahiro Sakurai has regrets. Not huge regrets, just,
things that could have been done better. The man is ever a perfectionist.
In an interview with The Verge, he said: “I feel that there are still some shortcomings,
which I took as lessons learned.” Similarly, in a previous interview he said:
“I don’t think I’ve ever made something that I’m totally satisfied with. That feeling of doubt,
or wanting to do more, is my engine to move forward and make the next iteration.”
One shortcoming in particular seems to be weighing heavily on his mind: his failure to delegate.
Sakurai worked so very hard on this game, and put so much of himself into Smash Bros Ultimate.
While this has undoubtedly shaped the project and made it as good as it is, the result hasn’t
been completely positive both for Sakurai, and for the future of the series. The fact that Sakurai is
so embedded within the formula for the series is making it difficult to approach a sequel.
Because, of course Sakurai is already being asked about a sequel. From interviews,
it sounds like he’s struggling to decide whether he even wants to make another Smash game.
If you’re holding your breath for the imminent announcement of a follow-up game,
then you might want to exhale, as Sakurai has made it very clear that a new Smash won’t come
any time soon. In fact, there may never be another game quite like Ultimate.
In an interview with Famitsu, he said: “I am not thinking of a sequel…
“I need to think whether I must release a Smash game or not, even if I have to do
something that would disappoint users. “If the series were to continue,
I have to talk with Nintendo and have a debate on whether it will succeed or not.
I must think about this topic seriously.” The problem with creating a follow-up to Super
Smash Bros is that Ultimate ended up being, well, ultimate. While fans might assume that the trick
is to simply pour more and more fighters into a new game, Sakurai has said that any potential
follow-up will be smaller in scope. He said:
“I think we’ve reached the limit, at least in terms of volume of content and fighters.
Basically, if I were to have the opportunity to work on another Super Smash Bros. game,
that means we would have to shrink the roster, but we need to think about
whether fans would be pleased about that.” We can already make a fairly confident
guess as to whether the fans would be pleased with a shrinking roster.
The “problem”, if it can really be called a problem, is that Smash Ultimate was such
a gargantuan project, and Sakurai put so much work into the game personally,
that he feels he just can’t do it all again. Now, before we talk about Sakurai’s overambitious
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Now, back to Masahiro Sakurai’s problems with working too hard.
It’s been public knowledge for years that Sakurai works too hard. In the past, he’s
been hospitalised due to exhaustion, he’s worked so hard that he’s developed tendonitis in his arm,
and he’s admitted to relying on an IV drip to make it through the day.
Not only has this had an obvious negative impact on his health, but it’s meant that
it’s difficult for him to step away from sequels and keep the flavour of the games consistent.
Said Sakurai: “I’ve been doing too much
of the work myself, so I’d need to resolve that, too. The current Super Smash Bros. has too much
of my personality poured into it. In order for a long-time series to continue thriving today,
we need to think about eliminating the series’ dependence on just one person’s vision.
“Of course, this is the way it is now because we weren’t successful in splitting the vision between
multiple people before. This would be a challenge for the future and something that needs to be
discussed with Nintendo, if there were to be a next instalment in the Super Smash Bros. series.”
So to make new Smash games, Sakurai feels that the structure of the creative team needs to be
different to allow more varied voices to shine through in gameplay – but if he attempts to
relinquish some control over the franchise, the result will feel fundamentally different.
Of course, there’s a good reason why Sakurai feels like he needs to make all the big
decisions with Smash himself. He had previously left the series behind to work on new things,
but was specifically asked to return when Nintendo found it difficult to replace him.
He said:
“Honestly, we did actually try leaving it to someone else, but it didn’t go well.”
This was more than just a failure to delegate, though. Sakurai has spoken about how he saw
completing Smash Bros Ultimate as his final mission from the late Nintendo president,
Satoru Iwata. He poured his heart into Ultimate in large part as a way of processing the death
of his friend and mentor. He said:
“I’m not one to talk about spiritual things… “But I decided that either way, I’d finish the
Smash Bros project. That was the best way I could make it up to Iwata-san, I felt.”
There’s no denying that the result is a fantastic game. Sakurai’s passion is clear,
as is the hard work of many other developers. What Sakurai himself may see as a limitation: his
singular vision, is also one of the game’s great strengths. No, we may never get another game quite
like it, but that’s no bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with a game that is, truly, ultimate.
Smash Ultimate took many years of Sakurai’s life, and had a very personal human cost. In spite of
this, there is one thing that he does not regret whatsoever: the fact that he got to make a game
that he cares so strongly about. He said:
“I do sometimes look back and think about the fact that there may have been other opportunities had I
not been working on Super Smash Bros. However, I have no regrets because Super Smash Bros. is like
none other, and this was an opportunity that I could not have gained with any other project.”
The moral of the story is that nothing in life is ever perfect, like Masahiro Sakurai, you might try
your very best to achieve your goals, and still not be completely satisfied with the result.
However, like Sakurai, we can all learn to appreciate the things that we did well,
and learn to cherish what we have accomplished. There’s no need to regret
spending time on something you love. Now, I promised you something neat,
and here it is. Well, I think it’s neat. It’s a Satoru Iwata run cycle, as would feature in
2D platformer. Because, yes, in my spare time, I’m working on a game about the life of Satoru Iwata.
Hopefully I’ll have more to show you soon. See you next year, and thanks for watching.