During the special finale episode of his YouTube channel, Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he has been working on a secret game project since April 2022. He apparently wrote up the game proposal at “lightning speed” back in July 2021 while still developing Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima and Kingdom Hearts’ Sora as DLC challengers for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Of course, Sakurai wasn’t willing to divulge too many more details about the secret game project that he’s been working on. He did, however, note that the game “should be announced sooner or later.”
More than likely, this mysterious title is being created specifically for the Switch successor. According to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, the Switch successor is intended to be revealed within this fiscal year, the last day of which is on March 31, 2025.
We recently learned that the Switch successor is being designed to be backwards compatible with the Switch. This certainly bolsters the rumors suggesting that the dubbed “Switch 2” console will be a direct upgrade over its predecessor.
Of course, fans have begun speculating that Sakurai could already be working on the next entry in the Smash series after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ever since the franchise’s debut on the Nintendo 64, there has been a new Super Smash Bros. for every mainline console.
Considering that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recently broke the 35 million sales milestone while still being sold at full price, Nintendo would most definitely have a vested interest in continuing this trend. It’s also expected that Masahiro Sakurai would once again be designated as the director of the next title.
What exactly is it that makes the Super Smash Bros. series so successful? Considering that Sakurai has acted as the game director for every one, it likely has to do with his game design philosophy.
“See things from the player’s perspective. Don’t limit the possibilities of gameplay.” — Masahiro Sakurai on his game-making motto
Back in 2007 (during the days of Super Smash Bros. Brawl), Sakurai participated in a rapid-fire 100 question interview. At one point, Sakurai was asked about his “game-making motto.”
“See things from the player’s perspective,” responded Sakurai. “Don’t limit the possibilities of gameplay.”
Just to give an idea of the extreme measures Sakurai will take to actually see things from the player’s perspective, he once apparently disguised himself as a part-time game shop employee specifically so that he could get a better understanding of video game consumers.
During the development of Super Smash Bros. 4, Sakurai described the character selection process as being stressful “almost to the brink of death,” specifically because he had to make decisions to cut characters which could potentially hurt the feelings of the players.
“Still, if it resulted in more people playing my game, I think I would weather any hardship.” — Masahiro Sakurai
More than likely, it was this thought process that inspired Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s “Everyone Is Here” theme. Of course, it should be mentioned that Sakurai apparently was met with dead silence when he first presented the idea to the rest of the development team at the beginning stages of the game making process.
Obviously this resulted in an insane workload to accomplish. However, Sakurai has made it clear just how far he’s willing to go to get more people to play his games.
“As you can imagine, making games and working with computers that don’t always do what you want takes a tremendous amount of effort — almost like stacking small stones one at a time. It’s a hard road to walk,” stated Sakurai back in January 2023. “Still, if it resulted in more people playing my game, I think I would weather any hardship.”
Having said that, Sakurai at his age now understands that it’s good to pace himself appropriately. During the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee, Sakurai landed himself in the hospital due to working 13 months straight without a single day off.
At this point, we don’t know if the next game that Sakurai has been working on is for the Super Smash Bros. series or not, but we do know that he’s been working on it longer than the development time of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate until its first teaser trailer. Despite this, we’ve yet to get a trailer for this new game.
Regardless, we suspect that Sakurai’s philosophy for game design hasn’t changed. As much as possible, he always strives to see things from the player’s perspective.
If and when Sakurai does eventually begin development on the next entry in the of the franchise he’s worked so hard on already, it will most certainly prove to be a tough act to follow up after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Even Sakurai himself believes that the “Everyone Is Here” theme of that game is something that could’ve only happened once.
More than likely, we’ll find out more about Sakurai’s secret game project when Nintendo is finally ready to showcase the Switch successor. With that in mind, we’re expecting it to be quite the launch title.