It’s always nice to hear when developers care for one another and properly give them the respect they deserve. Masahiro Sakurai has never been shy about doing that and has honored all sorts of developers, publishers, and even gamers during his time in the industry. His YouTube series alone proved that where he talked about the unique ways that games have been made and the clever tricks that some use to make their games stand out. Yet, you could argue that the person he holds in reverence the most is the late Satoru Iwata. These two were good friends, and his passing hurt Sakurai.
Recently, Masahiro Sakurai was doing an interview, and in it, he not only praised Satoru Iwata, but said that without him, Super Smash Bros. wouldn’t be the franchise that it is right now, especially because of the key moments that Iwata helped make happen that kept pushing the series forward.
Masahiro Sakurai says without the late Satoru Iwata we might not have Super Smash Bros. today!
"First of all, if it weren't for Mr. Iwata, I might not have joined HAL Laboratory, and if Mr. Iwata hadn't made the prototype for Smash Bros., Smash Bros. might not have been released… pic.twitter.com/uKeDAH9yQJ
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) March 3, 2025
When you think about those moments and others that Sakurai touched on in his YouTube series, you can see why Mr. Iwata was indeed one of the “key players” in Smash Bros becoming the best-selling fighting game franchise of all time.
