The creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai, has released a video talking about the development of the fighting series’ latest installment, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in which he admitted that the idea of trying to develop another game that would push the franchise any further than it’s already gone would be “difficult”.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released for the Nintendo Switch back in 2018 and was by far the series’ most ambitious title to date. It was groundbreaking if only because it included every fighter from the franchise’s past – including Snake from the Metal Gear Solid games and the Ice Climbers from the NES title Ice Climber. The title also introduced several new characters, like Ridley from the Metroid series. It pushed this even further in its paid DLC, adding popular third-party characters such as Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Joker from Persona 5, and Steve from Minecraft.
Considering all this, combined with its elaborate single-player campaign, it’s understandable that Sakurai would be unsure how to top what Ultimate has already achieved. He said: “As for what comes next for the Smash Bros. series, even I’m not sure. I feel like we truly succeeded in making people happy with this game, but now that Smash Bros. has grown to be monstrous in size, I’d say it’s difficult to imagine an increase of this magnitude happening again.
“Every time, we managed to make a game I had previously thought impossible, so I can’t say for certain that there won’t be another, but I do think it would be difficult to push it any further than we have.”
Currently, there are no public plans for a new Smash Bros. game, and based on what Sakurai said in his latest video, it sounds like there’s no guarantee that we’ll ever get one. Fans will just have to watch this space.
For more fantastic games to play on the Nintendo Switch, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best Nintendo Switch games. You can also discover more brilliant brawlers in our list of the best fighting games.