Nintendo is celebrating the release of the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate amiibo today. Kingdom Hearts’ own Sora, the final DLC character ever added to Smash Ultimate, now has his official amiibo figure available for purchase and with this, the full line up of figures for all of the game’s characters has finally wrapped up.
Super Smash Bros. series creator Masahiro Sakurai shared a tweet yesterday that acknowledges the Sora amiibo milestone, but also reveals another major happening for the title. Apparently, Sakurai has confirmed that with the release of the Sora amiibo, his work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now coming to an end.
Sakurai shared a couple of photos of the new Sora amiibo on his Twitter yesterday. Along with the images, the caption he included (written fully in Japanese) expresses his like for the new figure and how well made it is.
What’s more interesting, though, is that Sakurai notes that with the release of said amiibo his work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is “finally coming to an end.” The Google Translated version of the tweet allows us to see what all Sakurai had to say, but in English, and we went ahead and double checked the accuracy of the translation with our in-house Japanese speaker and it all checks out.
“Sora amiibo released today! Thank you very much to everyone involved. (I think it’s amazing),” Sakurai began.
“The original perfect design and the color coding are precise and perfect. The sculpt and pose are both good.
“Now that all the fighters have been made into amiibo, I guess my work on ‘Smash Bros. Ultimate’ is finally coming to an end. Thank you for your hard work,” Sakurai concluded.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate first launched back on December 7, 2018. After several years of DLC characters being added and balance updates, the game closed out its content support in December 2021, and by then the game’s already impressive starting roster had grown into a massive 89-fighter, all-star cast that still might be the greatest crossover in video game history.
It is very interesting to see Sakurai state that his work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now done considering there have been rumors and signs pointing to another potential Smash Bros. title coming for the Nintendo Switch 2. Nothing has been concretely revealed — not even Nintendo’s next console — so things could very much just be rumors and speculation at this point, but a “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe” previously made a lot of sense for the next Nintendo hardware.
There have been other signs that Sakurai is getting back to work on video games as well, with the man himself noting that he’ll be stepping away from his YouTube channel this year — which is something he was putting a lot of time and effort into as a result of being “semi-retired” from game development.
If Sakurai’s work being done on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate could be taken as an indicator that a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe isn’t actually in development, then it could mean that some of the signs we’ve been seeing might actually be pointing to a brand new Smash Bros. game on the Nintendo Switch 2 instead. Sakurai has said previously that it is fair to assume Nintendo will make another Smash Bros. game at some point, and he also noted that he couldn’t see it being made without him.
ソラのamiiboが本日発売!
関係者のかた､本当にありがとうございました｡(スゴいことだと思います)
元々の完璧なデザインに､色分けも精細でバッチリ｡
造形もポーズもよいですね｡全ファイターがamiibo化され､『スマブラSP』仕事もいよいよフィニッシュでしょうか｡おつかれさまでした｡ pic.twitter.com/zUBdMtA29y
— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) February 16, 2024
With rumors indicating that Nintendo’s next console is going to be revealed this year (some believe as soon as next month), then perhaps Sakurai’s tweet is acting as a bit of a send off for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — which Sakurai has referred to as his “life’s work.” This send off might just be paving the road for the next generation and what’s to come, and boy, does the idea of a brand new Smash Bros. game on the next Nintendo console sound real good.