Smash Ultimate creator Sakurai reveals concerns with adding more fighters
NintendoSuper Smash Bros Ultimate creator and director Masahiro Sakurai explained why adding new fighters to the game pose more of a challenge than many believe.
Smash Ultimate set the gaming world alight time and time again with its massive roster featuring many of the top mascots to ever feature in video games.
From Final Fantasy 7’s Cloud Strife to Minecraft Steve and Solid Snake, Smash Ultimate had a roster to behold and reached its climax last year with the arrival of Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
While some fans definitely want even more DLC fighters to be added to Ultimate or the next Smash installment, Sakurai hasn’t revealed any plans to do so. However, in a recent video series, the Smash creator explained the difficulty of adding new fighters, providing some insight on why we haven’t received any more.
NintendoSakurai reveals troubles with adding new Smash fighters
During an appearance on ‘What You Notice When Creating,’ Sakurai explained why video games are a harder medium to create for than movies, noting how one mistake can have major consequences.
In translations provided by Kody Nokolo, Sakurai stressed how games have so many interconnecting pieces that make it difficult to design.
“He notes that while a play or movie can move forward with production if it has a good final production meeting, a game can’t work the same because there are too many things that affect each other,” Sakurai said.
9:05 Sakurai says even a simple bug can affect so many parts of a game since games are so complex nowadays.
His example: if a character/item was added to Smash when there were 10, it seems like it'd be a simple 11… but that 1 addition needs to be tested with every other part. pic.twitter.com/BA3nu9hsM7— Kody NOKOLO (@KodyNOKOLO) July 4, 2022
He went on to state how a single bug can affect many parts of a game with just one addition having the power to complicate an entire production.
As an example, Sakurai explained how, “if a character/item was added to Smash when there were 10, it seems like it’d be a simple 11… but that 1 addition needs to be tested with every other part.”
It’s quite easy to take new Smash characters for granted considering we got so many of them with Ultimate, but it’s important to remember Sakurai’s comments on new content and just how difficult adding them can be.