Masahiro Sakurai Discusses Developing Additional DLC Fighters For ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’

Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has a bi-weekly Famitsu column, a space he often uses to discuss his current projects. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is his current focus, something highlighted by last week’s Nintendo Direct, which confirmed additional DLC fighters will come after the Fighters Pass. PushDustIn and Source Gaming member Kody translated the column, giving an abridged account of Sakurai’s musings.

Both translators first posted the information in the following Twitter thread, which was then posted on Source Gaming proper.

Sakurai starts his column by noting how, as of its publication, Banjo & Kazooie should be released (as they were). However, that same presentation spurred an announcement Smash fans were hoping for: Sakurai and Bandai Namco will continue to develop downloadable fighters beyond the Fighters Pass, and that’s what Sakurai proceeds to primarily discuss.

As with the Pass, Nintendo selects the DLC candidates while Sakurai determines whether they can be realized within Smash. While his team at Bandai Namco can “work on each fighter one after another,” Sakurai monitors the characters through all steps of the design process, “from the concept to its release.” Developing DLC is less strenuous than the base game, but “there are still a lot of things to check.”

Ultimate is the only title Sakurai’s presently working on, and he “wants to put all his efforts into” it. Nevertheless, he’s aware that he’s spent seven to eight years of his life dedicated to the mascot fighting series, having worked on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U before moving onto their sequel. “It’s like staying in the same match in an online game.”

However, Sakurai doesn’t seem too phased by the challenges Smash has presented him with. A fan of the medium himself, Sakurai believes it’s an “honor to be involved with so many different game franchises,” noting how it’s “the perfect job” for him. It’s also important to consider Smash‘s gameplay when “thinking about various characters and games,” adding how it “isn’t bad to be busy making the Challenger Approaching videos and producing characters so quickly.”

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the “ultimate collaboration title,” sporting every fighter in Smash‘s history. It also represents other gaming properties through other means, including as Spirits and through music. Sakurai notes how Smash may continue past Ultimate, but he isn’t thinking about a seventh entry, nor does he believe “this many fighters and series can be represented again.” Continuing, Sakurai added, “There are still requests from all over the world for new fighters in Smash.” But Sakurai presses on, and so long as he can add more fighters to the roster, he “wants to push the record further.” Sakurai insists Smash is the best title for him to work on as he can please people by bringing in new characters.