Masahiro Sakurai recently revealed that he has scheduled the final episode of his YouTube channel to air on October 15, though he also mentioned that he’s working on a “special finale episode” to air afterwards. Regardless, Sakurai still has a few topics left to cover in regards to the game creation process on his YouTube channel before that episode airs.
In his latest video, Sakurai discusses how game directors sometimes have to make the tough decisions to cut planned content for various reasons. Needless to say, Sakurai himself has plenty of experience with this sort of thing as he’s been the director all throughout the Super Smash Bros. series.
“Whether it’s computer limitations, delayed deadlines, an increased workload, or more, plenty of things don’t go according to plan,” stated Sakurai on the subject. “Anticipating the damage, offloading the heavy or flammable cargo, and getting things back on course — that’s what a director’s there for.”
With the original Super Smash Bros. 64, it was actually planned for Bowser, King Dedede, Mewtwo, and Marth to join the roster, but it was decided that they all be cut due to time constraints. Bowser, Marth, and Mewtwo would later join with Super Smash Bros. Melee while King Dedede was added in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Characters considered for Super Smash Bros. Melee included Balloon Fighter, Urban Champion, Bubbles from Clu Clu Land, an Excitebike Racer, Ayumi Tachibana from the Famicom Detective Club, Lucas (instead of Ness), and Wario. Hideo Kojima and Yuji Naka also requested that Sakurai add Snake and Sonic into Melee respectively, but these requests were made of him too late into development, so they were added to Super Smash Bros. Brawl instead.
Files hidden within Super Smash Bros. Brawl imply that Plusle & Minun, Mewtwo, Roy, Dr. Mario, Toon Zelda, Toon Sheik, and Dixie were planned to be playable. We’d also learn through interviews that there were considerations made for Pac-Man, Villager, Nintendog, Miis, Geno, Blastoise, and Krystal, but these ideas didn’t pan out due to a variety of reasons.
For Super Smash Bros. 4, Ice Climbers, Pokémon Trainer, and the Chorus Kids from Rhythm Heaven ended up being scrapped due to technical limitations mostly associated with the 3DS version of the game. Sakurai was adamant about keeping the rosters the same between the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game.
Finally, for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Alucard (Castlevania), Decidueye (Pokémon), Slime (Dragon Quest), Ninjara (ARMS), Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2), and Heihachi Mishima (Tekken) were all considered in various forms at different points of development, but Sakurai ultimately chose other characters instead of each of them.
Though some companies have it so that producers decide what needs to be cut from games so that the development process is as efficient as possible, Sakurai outlines in the video his belief that it’s faster when the director is able to recognize and address problems.
Of course, Sakurai also notes how it’s extremely important for a director to make these sort of decisions based on accurate information given to them by their development team. Otherwise, a needlessly hasty solution would have to be applied at the last minute.
As things stand, it’s believed that Sakurai might already be working on the next Super Smash Bros. entry for the Switch successor. This console is expected to be revealed sometime before the end of this fiscal year for Nintendo, which ends on April 1, 2025.
Bandai Namco’s Studio 2 & Studio S, the development team behind Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, have apparently recently filled positions searching for developers experienced with action games played from a “side-view.”
With all of this in mind, one has to wonder what will potentially make it in the next Super Smash Bros. title, and what will ultimately be scrapped before the finish line. Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has achieved 34.66 million sales, cementing its place as the Switch’s third best-selling game. Due to this, Nintendo will likely be willing to give Sakurai an enormous budget to work with.