One of the best parts of the “Creating Games” series of videos by Masahiro Sakurai is when he pulls back the curtain to reveal gaming history both in terms of what he partook in and what others helped set up. Many of his videos have been focused on the Super Smash Bros franchise, and that continued in his latest vid. But the twist here is that we learned both his and Nintendo’s opinions on how the franchise can both be made and continue, and it’s something that fans have known for some time.
In this case, he found out that Super Smash Bros Brawl was being made…BEFORE he was asked to come on board. It was E3 2005 that the game was announced, and it was AFTER the announcement that the late Satoru Iwata asked Sakurai to help run the project. As you’ll find out, that caused some complications for Daddy Sakurai. The reason that he jumped on board was because he knew that if he hadn’t, we might just get a port of Melee with online features, and Sakurai didn’t want that. Apparently, even Eiji Aonuma spoke out about how the franchise isn’t the same without Sakurai.
And here’s the twist…Masahiro Sakurai agress with that thought process. If you recall, Super Smash Bros Ultimate started out with a different team without Sakurai, and it didn’t go well, so he returned to the franchise and delivered its best-selling entry. He admits that there COULD be someone to “take up the reins” and run with it, but Nintendo hasn’t found that person yet. So until that point comes…Sakurai is likely going to be the head of any new Smash Bros games that come out.
We’re sure fans will be quite happy about that statement.
