Super Smash Brothers Director Masahiro Sakurai Returned for Latest Game

When the world first saw the amazing teaser for a Super Smash Brothers game for the Switch, everyone went absolutely nuts. For one, it just looked really cool, and for two, the inklings would finally be playable! That’s a huge deal!

But among all of the excitement, there were a few more cautious voices in the crowd - specifically, there is a not-small portion of people who are worried, rightfully so, that this isn’t actually a new game. Given how soon it’s supposed to launch (later this year), and considering how many ports of old Wii U games the Switch has been hosting (looking at you, Mario Kart 8, Pokken Tournament, Hyrule Warriors, etc.), many people are afraid that it’s just going to be an updated version of the Wii U version.

Would that be terrible? No, of course not. But it would be disappointing. So people have been waiting on baited breath to see if that’s the case or not, and while I can’t say I know for sure, I do have some tentatively good news for those of you who are hoping for a whole new game.

Series director Masahiro Sakurai, who has worked on many of the Smash Brothers games and has been very vocal about how sick he’s gotten with the series, revealed over a Tweet that he has, in fact, played some role in the creation of this upcoming title.

“Right now we’re just at the stage where we revealed this game, but I’ve been working on this game in silence day after day. Please wait until we can release more information, or until release day!”

So what does that tell us? It’s hard to know. The man is known for his work ethic and tireless drive, but it really seemed like the Wii U version would be his last. So it’s one of two things: either he was talked into coming back to work on a new title – fairly likely, as they might not need him if it was just a port job. Or, he only came back because he was still technically working on the same game, and has still ‘retired’ from the series. Both are likely, but I’d be more inclined to believe the former: he’s a very tired, hard-working man, and they wouldn’t need to whip him out for anything as simple as a port.

But, that’s all speculation on my part. We’ll have to wait till later to see what happened.