Every time I saw another character unveiled. Ryu, Cloud, Minecraft man my mind was blown that they pulled it off. I doubt we'll ever see anything on that scale of cross licensing ever again.
@@VAFranky not to mention Smash Ultimate had every character from past smash games. That must've been a nightmare to establish previous license and contracts all over again
Smash bros did do very well, even though the last characters they added were none of my favorite I still give the game praise. And I do agree I don't even know how they will ever top Smash bros ultimate and I'm not sure if they will.
@@VAFranky Considering the popularity of films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?! and Wreck-It Ralph, I'm surprised that more conglomerates haven't collaboratively generated (or, at least, assisted) a project like this. There are a lot of calls from fans for crossover titles (ie DC vs Marvel, Street Fighter vs MK; a TBS/Tactics game, a(nother) jRPG) that allow their favorite characters to interact with/fight each other. If there's a way for Superman to fight Goku or a squad of Autobots and other mecha to take down alien insects (ala Starship Troopers) and other threats, there will be players itching to give the adaptor of those scenarios their money. The (im)possibilities are truly endless. ^_^
@@dankusmemeus7093I guess a Deluxe version for the next console? It wouldn’t take as much strain from development time or development costs, since they would basically be reusing assets that could be up-ressed and not being using as much resources as it would take to create a completely new game.
There's always this comment. "it's not just Sakurai, it's the teams as well", yeah, no shit, but that's not the point here. We get it, it was a team effort but Sakurai was the linchpin no doubt.
That’s so funny. Imagine Sakurai just chilling in the audience. Sitting. Maybe contemplating what’s dinner gonna be. Maybe getting a drink after or, getting a workout in. Nintendo: SMASH BROS IS COMING! Sakurai:…wait…what did he just say?
@wreday720 Wait, he watched that 2015 trailer completely blind like we all were? But he works at Squeenix, at least Sakurai had the excuse of being a freelance worker!
As Sakurai said in the video, I highly doubt Nintendo will ever let Smash end. And leaving the Switch 2 without a new Smash game is too big of a financial risk. Hell, they build *entire Nintendo Directs* around Smash announcements. Also, Sakurai said similar things about a “hypothetical next Smash game” in I believe his Famitsu column after Smash 3DS/Wii U wrapped up DLC……when he was secretly working on Ultimate. For context: Ultimate’s design document was locked in on December 2015 (sans Incineroar, who wasn’t decided until November 2016 when Sun/Moon was close to release), and full development began right after Corrin & Bayonetta launched for Smash 3DS/Wii U (February 2016). He isn’t gonna say that the next Smash is already in development in a RUclips video. Not to mention that, based on the games he references, these videos are filmed *months* in advance.
after seeing mario kart 8 they could just sit on their ass and rerelease ultimate forever, which would be just as sad as smash bros dying tbh. im really hoping they manage to make a new one
@@FemboiMars The Switch 2 is reportedly coming late next year, so Smash has to have secretly started by now considering that Nintendo usually aims to have Smash on new systems 1-2 years after the console’s launch.
The only sad thing to me is that even re-releases of Ultimate to future consoles will be a hurdle because of the inherent specificity of license contracts. At some point, every single one of those achieved negotiations would have to happen again, and success is not guaranteed. Ultimate could even end up being lost to time in terms of portability because of how grandiose it is
@@toxxicvvastenot a lot of companies would do that. It makes more financial sense for them to negotiate per game. For both parties. Company A gets to ensure they receive the appropriate amount they see fit. On the flip side Nintendo doesn’t feel obligated to make games to use these characters. Not to mention a long term deal like that would be way more expensive lol
It's what makes a ton of licensed games or games with licensed characters unable to be re-released over the years. Certain games get the rights tied up and it takes a decade or so to negotiate a port on a later console.
I adore these types of videos from ya, Max. Reflecting on a team’s passions and goals, seeing how culturally it’s affected folks around the world, inspiring fans and developers alike.... we need to keep the flame of inspiration and drive kindled.
If Sakurai asks you for your video game character, you should be legally obligated to say yes at this point. It's essentially the video game hall of fame, how dare you refuse your invitation.
@@Neoxon619 Same with Bomberman. When he got announced as an assist during a direct, Sakurai said that he pitched a moveset concept to Konami but they turned it down.
However, here’s something. Sakurai said that if Hero was turned down, he was prepared and willing to make the Slime from Dragon Quest into a fighter. Which shows just how iconic DQ is in Japan.
I love listening Max talk about Sakurai. There's so much respect for the man, and I feel like he's putting into words the respect that I feel for Sakurai too.
Aonuma's comment about Sakurai was before Brawl was even created and Smash became known for having guest characters. I think Sakurai was just really hands-on with how he directs his games and might have overseen aspects of the project that other directors might have left parts of the design to their (Sound/UI/Combat etc) sub directors or sub designers. You can see from his channel that he's particular about a lot of things, which made him an effective leader but at the same time meant that maybe no one had to lead as a co-director like in say, a Nomura project
I think it's telling just how cautious devs are to share their characters; that Nintendo had to first create a worldwide top-selling phenomenon of a franchise with Melee before other devs were willing to hesitantly risk accepting Sakurai's proposal. Even then, it was only after 2 more games, each selling more than the last and treating their guest characters with more TLC than even the original creators did, that more devs finally got comfortable with sharing their babies with Sakurai.
A recent example of a team being turned down is the Paper Mario devs getting told they had to create original characters and could not use additional Mario universe characters.
I’d actually argue the opposite. The fact that developers were willing to give their IPs to a console-exclusive third-party, even making deals between console developers, is a sign that we’re seeing companies be LESS protective about their IPs. Smash and Fortnite have smashed the door open and allowed companies to be a lot more lenient with cross promotion and crossovers.
Funny enough some characters got in purely because they were friends with sakurai. I'm still baffled that solid snake got in as a third party rep. Like even more so than characters like Cloud and Bayo.
@@redshepherd32I dunno, Cloud was a nightmare both times, even more so than Snake was for Ultimate. If I’m remembering correctly, even Sakurai was genuinely afraid he wouldn’t be able to see his design philosophy for Ultimate come to life because of how much of a nightmare Cloud is as the poster boy protagonist character for Square Enix. Square takes pride in how huge FFVII was for making JRPG’s popular in the west, since we were notorious for how much we simply refused to play Japanese made games, let alone their pride and joy, the Japanese RPG. By exploding JRPG’s in the west, they OWNES the market in that regard and were an icon for it. Ultimate’s insane sales helped a ton for Sephiroth, but Cloud seemingly has always been hell for anyone.
Not only is he respected and he's super dedicated to it, but the other thing that he does is that he LOVES the games, and that love shows on how the characters are implemented in the game, especially the dlc ones. The ideal scenario I guess would be having him as a consultant and try to get him less and less involved with each entry, but honestly I expect smash to go downhill when stops working on them
Sakurai is friends with a lot of game developers. The whole reason Snake was in Brawl was because he knew Kojima. A similar thing with adding Sans as a Mii costume alongside Megalovania. Toby Fox even visited Sakurai's house.
Don't forget Kosuke Yabuki. Min Min's inclusion in the roster more or less came about like so... Yabuki: "Hey, Sakurai, put Min Min in Smash." Sakurai: "Why?" Yabuki: "Because ramen."
@@gicrueldad9520 I'm surprised Min-Min was the fan favorite. She certainly seemed to be alongside Ninjara before the game dropped but I figured the new characters split that a bit like Twintalle and Lola Pop. I remember hearing a rumor(?) that she was Yabuki's favorite, though, and that's why she was picked
Its not the end of Smash Bros. In the video itself Sakurai states there will likely be another game as the series is too large for Nintndo to simply ignore. and he also states that if there is another one, he will likley be helping however he is able.
Smash bros itself is inevitable at this point, my only concern is that sakurai and his team actually finally take it easy for a while before even thinking about the next one tbh.
I can possibly see Ultimate as laying the groundwork for an even more expansive Smash game but it'll be 10 mountains to climb to get there and I can sympathize with Sakurai not exactly wanting to commit to it right now or at all. Ultimate grabbed a lot of IPs and there's tons of characters they could grab from each and every one but that would require a tooon of negotiations.
There probably may not be a new Smash game planned for now, but I definitely don’t think this series will end considering how much the game sell. Honestly I’d be fine with them just making a remaster of Ultimate by just adding in new content, new modes, and new characters to hold us over for next gen. Really All Smash 6 has to do is add in actually substantial singleplayer content, an actual story mode where characters talk and interact with each other and I’ll be alright. Even if they cut down the roster, a reboot with revamped gameplay & an actual story mode would make up for it.
The problem is they wouldn't be able to just do a remaster without reworking ALL of the licensing contracts again because while they may have said yes to this version of the game that doesn't mean they'll say yes again like how we almost didn't get cloud back in from Wii U to Ultimate because Square was like "hell no we're not making him core roster, he has to be paid dlc again"
I'm hoping with Square's new upper management since then, that won't be the case again. Also given the fact that square has already has three dlc characters present out of 11 characters.
Smash never really had a story. If anything it’s meta commentary on the state of the gaming industry itself and gamers alike. Cuz remember it’s a crossover game. Saying smash needs a good story is like saying MvC needs a good story and look how Infinite turned out.
@@justmikoto9880 I would agree that with about Smash, being one of the few fighting games (and that's a lose term for Smash for me) that actually doesn't need to have a deep story mode.
As a developer its always nice to listen to Max talk about how the industry works. Usually it comes from a very informed position, with very little speculation based on things he has seen first hand, rather than pretend thats how the industry works. Its reasuring, given that most of the time I read someone discuss the industry is pretty far off from what it currently is or how it works. Sakurais videos have been awesome. So much info. This currently talks and informs and teaches concepts that cost thousands of dollars in education in some colleges. All for free first hand. What a legend.
I’m so glad I was able to be here for sakurai’s last hurrah as it seems. He is an absolutely generational talent who is so unbelievably passionate about his work, I’m so thankful I’ve been able to grow up with his games and make so many friends because of them
People like to dismiss games to be just a waste of time but it usually comes people who don't have a appreciation to how much work goes into crafting a game. Done correctly, a game can be a masterful work of art. What Sakurai and many who made the smash bros games possible are talented and appreciated. A time I gladly don't take for granted and happy to be a part of. Sakurai has made many happier. I wouldn't mind if he didn't make another game for he gave us more than we deserve to have.
Ima keep it a buck, Smash is just a Mugen game that is legal to sell and to distribute. While it is impressive that he was able to license and get all the characters that are in the game and the spectacle that comes with that, the problem occurs when you look at the game for what it is and what you can do in the game. The main single player mode is literally grinding for JPEGs, the online is laggy and barely functional, and core gameplay has general issues (Game Balance is a factor but that is the least of the problems with this game). I think of smash as that one board game you occasionally pull out and play with a group, but more often that not you and the group you hang out with have other games you will play instead and play more often than not.
If people are saying it's a waste for me to spend 20-60 dollars on a game that lasts 50-100 hours. While they spend around 15-25 dollars on Books, Movies, and other Media to spend time on. At most a book is around 20-50 hours to finish. The point is, the people that criticize games as time wasters are also "wasting time" on another hobby.
I don’t think Smash will die It WILL BE DIFFERENT when Sakurai retires, but just like Miyamoto with the Zelda and Mario franchises there will be good games after his time.
I think the only difference is that Mario and Zelda had people ready to step up into Miyomotos place when he was done. Koizumi had been working on Mario titles alongside Miyomoto for years. Same with Aonuma for Zelda. There isn’t really someone doing that with Sakurai, because he’s completely independent and is only called in to make Smash bros. The team changes constantly too. So I think that makes it tough to compare to Mario and Zelda after Miyomoto. (Not saying there will never be a good smash game of course)
Smash Ultimate felt the way MvC2 felt when it had just come out, if not better. I don't know if there can ever be another game with that consistent level of quality and service.
Would it be too hard for Sakurai to be the license broker that convinces people in the industry to add characters to the next game while a different person takes the reigns as director? I'm sure there are plenty of people in the company that can handle the development side of things and just have Sakurai as the trusted personality to approach people.
If the company doesnt like the end result of their char in smash, it would tarnish sakurais reputation with that company. Its a risk he understandably probably doesn't want to take
One of Sakurai's double-edge traits is he is a perfectionist. Sure, Sakurai could take a lesser role, but Smash is essentially his pride, his baby, his legacy. I can definitely see it being hard for Sakurai take a lesser role and stand back while someone else take the lead.
The problem is that these third parties can be INCREDIBLY protective about their IPs even if the company has the cash to secure the license, Sakurai will have to actively be the one supervising everything to make sure that the characters are being represented well, take Sephiroth, you have to make sure everything regarding his reputation is done well, you have to make all of his animations capture the character perfectly, the music he comes with has to be in line with what is previously established and where the lines are, you need to make sure that CG trailer you are sinking thousands upon thousands if not millions STILL has to conform to the expectations that the characters had. All of this is what Sakurai is dealing with to ensure his promises to those companies and creators are being upheld. Japanese companies are also incredibly stubborn and tend to place the people who have been with the company for long amounts of time as the key figurehead for their teams, and as far as other companies are concerned Sakurai is the person for Smash games to talk to and nobody else is.
I mean no offense to Sakurai but like why would he want to do that I can't imagine a focused dedicated creative like Sakurai wanting to be essentials a lawyer
So it hasn't ended at all, then. Only people who care about tournaments whine about this, not the vast majority of players who are totally casual and love it.
I think we'll see a new Smash Bros. sooner than later, even with it being an extended wait. It's one of Nintendo's best-selling and high-profile series, and that isn't something they're likely to let rest for too terribly long, especially with a new system on the horizon. That said, I do think it'll still be at least a year or two (or maybe even three) before we get an announcement, for the reasons laid out in this video: they need to figure out the long-term plan for the series and prepare for the torch to be passed. I think there's a good chance that whatever the next game is will be helmed by someone else, with Sakurai assisting and helping them so that when he does eventually retire, the series will be able to go on without him.
It feels like Sakurai finally accomplished what he wanted, which was create a fun party game that could be enjoyed reasonably by higher level players as well. It's not melee, but it's clear that's not what he wanted, and it's not Brawl, which I think he saw clearly missed the mark. Ultimate is such a fitting name because while it may or may not be for individual players, it does sort of feel like Sakurai's "ultimate" version of smash, the way he wanted and envisioned it. I'm glad that he can feel like he reached his goal, and he can finally rest.
I remember those conversations Satoru Iwata and Sakurai had. Iwata said something interesting about Smash Bros. success. "People who loves games and are really good at games were once, at some point in the past, casual gamers themselves. That is why is so important to make sure that you continue to bring new gamers" "The appeal of Smash Bros. is that anyone can take a controller, readily pick up the fundamentals and, within the spam of ten minutes, a beginner can sit down and get loud with a pro and enjoy some exciting gameplay" Iwata was right!
"Missed the mark with Brawl" yea if you're just looking at it from the niche sweaty FGC perspective yea sure, but single player and just a video game wise perspective? Brawl was a massive success, not even Ultimate surpasses the likes of Subspace Emissary. And even if we're gonna go hard on it for shitty online, not even Ultimate has improved on that front that much... lol
@@islandboy9381 Man, Brawl is a game that just makes me sad. It feels like a clear stance against everything competitive like Nintendo is saying: "Hey guys, Smash is supposed to be a party game for the whole family, not a competitive, super-serious fighting game like so many others out there". Which matches Sakurai's initial stance on why he created Smash Bros. in the first place (the story about ruining a couples fun in KOF I believe). Wave-dashing being fixed, slower game speed, tripping... all of that directly counters what makes Melee a competitive game. Seeing that design philosophy absolutely rejected by the community is just heartbreaking. Sm4sh and Ultimate never hooked me the same way as Melee and Brawl did. I tihnk it came down to Melee's funny voice clips (especially the screams when a character gets heavily launched, I miss those sooo much) and Brawl's single player content as well as the Trophy collection made me love Smash Bros in the first place. All of which... just isn't there in Ultimate. On top of that I disagree with quite a few DLC character choices (both Sm4sh and Ultimate), but that's just an uphill battle, so I'm not gonna bother.
Regardless of the future of Super Smash Bros. the videogame industry and the FCG should always be thankful for Mr. Sakurai (and his team) hard efforts and dedication!
I had a different interpretation. I took from that that he will keep making SSB, but he is also warning Nintendo that the situation is unsustainable and when planning the next game, they need to plan an internal team that can be dedicated to the franchise in the long term and that will eventually be able to replace Sakurai. Maybe Nintendo decides to buy Namco. Who knows? :p
They'd probably not even go for Bamco if anyone at all. Besides Bamco having a massive price, it would be an even more massive loss to Bamco as their biggest titles are primarily sold for the other consoles. For that alone, Sony would do everything in it's power to prevent Nintendo from doing it. Shareholders being the biggest issue however would also be quite opposed to a Nintendo buyout unless Bamco was struggling.
Buying Bamco is impossible cause those guys are a massive corporation that stretches across multiple fields of japan's entertainment industry (Anime, Manga, Arcades, IRL Amusement, Industry).
Yes, the business side is certainly difficult but I'm actually way more impressed with his teams ability to make such a massive roster and keep it mostly balanced. I'd imagine this would be a much harder accomplishment for his successor.
@linkmaster5555 smash community from my experience is by far and away one of the most toxic communities I've been around. Couldn't tell you how many times I've been told "KYS" from those custom name plates from smash 4 after smoking someone with ddd. Not to mention all the garbage we all saw regarding events that transpired from within the community and everyone being outed as predators and shit. Talk about an incredible franchise with a shit community weighing it down. Moving on to real fighting games and a fightstick opened my eyes and I never looked back.
All I really want out of a new Smash is reduced input lag, better singleplayer content, and good matchmaking with rollback. Keeping all of the characters in would be a nice bonus, but not strictly necessary.
@@raptros He is talking about the single player content is very lackluster in comparison to Melee and Brawl. No event match, no target smash, stickers are so lame in comparison to trophies, World Of Light is just a glorified Event mode that overstays its welcome way, way, WAY more than SSE ever has, lacks co-op and has no replayability unlike Advendure Mode from Melee . The only real solo content is the shitty online mode with less option than SSB4 or Classic mode
I'm conflicted. On one hand, it says a lot about Sakurai's skill and passion that almost 20 years after he was asked to direct Brawl, he's still the only one who can do it. On the other hand it also shows his and Nintendo's failure to train up and trust even 1 more person to handle some of those responsibilities. They've had this problem for 20 years and there's STILL no one else. The development of Smash 4 3DS, Smash 4 WiiU, and Smash Ultimate being so close together was the best time to do that.
I'd put this more on Nintendo than Sakurai since as Max said, Sakurai simply didn't have the time- it was all work work work for him when he's involved in Smash. It would've been up to Nintendo to not only give him the extra time to direct development AND train a protege, and that clearly hasn't happened.
I'm sure there would be another one, however not only would it probably be very different, but I could see it being made by someone else other than Sakurai.
@@Neoxon619 Dummy the part where he said he cant see another Smash being made without him. Oh you're extra mad cuz im killing you in the other comments xD
Even if Smash is over, I don't think they could have gone out with a bigger bang than with Ultimate. It wasn't just a celebration of Smash Bros, it was a celebration of gaming as a medium of entertainment. Sure, maybe there are some highly requested characters who got left out, there always will be, but to me, the hypothetical end of Smash Bros was perfect.
To me, what Sakurai is saying here is: "Smash Bros. is too large a series for Nintendo to stop making, but the next one may look drastically different than what you remember it being since I likely won't be as involved if at all." I can't imagine Nintendo goes into whatever it's next generation of hardware looks like without some plan to make a Smash Bros. game, even if they have to take the blow of it not quite living up to peoples expectations of Smash Bros.
It will never end at least not to the fans, people will forever keep playing the game and it will live on. Even if it takes ages for any sort of new smash game, also we don’t need a new smash any time soon. 💫
No Nintendoesn't. Not ever again. They went to CRAZY lengths to *kill their own game in ANY competitive sense.* It is EVERY bit as valid to say that Nintendo will not make another $mash because of "the scene" and just how gross that all is. "Kids sexually preying on kids" is not a Japanese headline you will ever see twice. @@Neoxon619
Not to mention Smash fan games are still prevalent even with a recent masterpiece like Ultimate. I can see the series living a very long life even outside of the main games.
@@hangry3102 Considering Melee is STILL ALIVE. Smash Ultimate will live for decades. The switch and its successor will have the eshop to preserve the game.
What I would like, and what I’m sure we won’t get, is a bare bones Smash with like 16 characters, mostly from the 64 title, with every character being approached like Megaman (accurate to their series). And as a gimmick, giving every character a Classic Moveset and a New Moveset.
Sakurai (and the rest of the team) poured their hearts and souls into Ultimate. It's hard to imagine that kind of magic coming together and pushing even further in the next couple decades at the very least.
There's an obvious slim chance of all the guest characters returning to the next Smash, but that doesn't really concern me as they can easily fill the roster with other Nintendo characters. What I'm more interested in is seeing how the game evolves from this point, like what tweaks they'll make to the game's mechanics or maybe a significant change in the game's art direction.
If they gathered all the people involved, from the ground floor developers to the higher ups (obviously without Masahiro), I think they can pull it off The people involved should have inherited the spirit of Masahiro
EDIT: He really needs a Protegé and seeing how he's talking about the game series at 14:48 (with the current opinion*); There will be another Smash Bros. Title with him as lead director BUT he will actively look for his successor he probably will have feature in every possible way in the future! ---------------------- Sakurai needs to find a person that he can put in all his trust and present him as his successor to the world. (Just like how Toyotarou is the successor to Toriyama or how Stan Lee has Roy Thomas (kinda).) People will choose to follow or not but at least he would make it easier for future titles to exist in the way it does today. At least that's what I think is the best possible outcome.
I feel like with the next Smash Bros, if everything goes accordingly, he will likely co-head the project with someone else so that he can get the other person ready to take up the reins after him.
I've been watching Sakurai's channel and he gives the impression that he's rare in the industry to be as hands-on and knowledgeable about a variety of game development from coding to art. If Nintendo did a Smash game without him, I could see it either being an HD remake of an older title with minor adjustments or being very awkward like the Nickelodeon fighter.
A lot of game devs now are either art majors or dedicated programmers, having general geniuses that can work into any discipline is becoming more and more rare...
Genuinely the only other project lead I can think of in the entire industry that is hands-on to the level Sakurai is would be FFXIV's Yoshi-P. Maybe Yoko Taro, too. Like they're the only people where when I think of their series, they're the face of it. They take on a ton of, if not all, of the personal responsibility for it so that their teams can just work under their guidance. Not only that but they're dedicated to it, too. Sakurai has put himself out there for Smash countless times when he's wanted to be done with the series, and Yoshi-P has stated numerous times in the last year that he feels like XIV is his life's work and it would take his death to remove him from the project. It's so crazy admirable.
Regardless of how things progress, it's fun to see that the entirety of Smash Bros. started for me when I was a kid going over my cousin's house to play smash 64 for hours up to this point now in my early 30s where my cousins and I can still beat the shit out of each other in smash ultimate when we meet up once a year or something.
It sucks, but I get it. Ultimate is pretty untouchable in terms of sheer content. It'll probably be ported onto every Nintendo console from now on. Sakurai was a madman though, he used to come into work with banana bags due to overworking. Man needs a long-ass break. It's absolutely wild that he looks as young as he does.
Probably not even a port can happen, because of the licensing nightmare that was making Ultimate and it's DLC the first time, doing it again seems extremely unlikely
@@lucaantinori4834if it’s a port, it’s possible without that. If they add content to Ultimate in any capacity through a port though, that’s when the licensing disaster strikes.
@@hyperstargaming6150 I’m pretty sure a port counts as rereleasing a game, and to rerelease a game you would need to renew all the licenses involved in it. What this means is that you have to communicate with every single company again and hope they say yes a second time.
Sakurai deserves the respect he has in the industry. People KNOW that he's a very smart man who knows what he's doing. And I agree I don't expect a new Smash any time soon. You know what would be nice as a filler before the next Smash. Idk if Nintendo HAS to make this, but let's see love on the indie side of things and make an indie Smash Bros. Shovel Knight, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Guacamelee, there's SO MANY that are available
I think the stop gap between Ultimate and a new Smash would be an HD Online port of Melee. It would make a lot of fans mad because the Melee community is crazy, but it would also make the same if not more people happy because it's a new Smash
That’s basically what Iwata told Sakurai they would do if he didn’t come on board for Brawl. It speaks volumes about the popularity and love Melee has that 20 years later that’s still a feasible plan if he’s not around for the next Smash. And if it works out they could keep the remakes coming at least for Brawl, I’m sure fans would go nuts over a 2020s-quality CGI recreation of Subspace Emissary.
Honestly, I think if there WAS to be a smash game following Ultimate, a smaller roster could be potentially more hype for the game than doing ultimate 2 where everyone’s back… again. Smaller roster means each character has more dev time, more focus on them, each character is more balanced. But, then it becomes a question of who’s worthy *to come back*. THAT could definitely get people talking.
Having since moved on to traditional fighters such as guilty gear and returning to street fighter, i still remember very vividly the day ultimate was finally announced. The flaming smash logo reflecting in the inklings eye after it got dark. Jaw on the floor and everything. Good fun and memories Sakurai. Thank you from the bottom of my heart
Smash Ultimate would be pretty hard to follow up, so the best course of action would probably be just port Ultimate to the next console with new stuff or make a “Smash successor” with a new cast of characters, starting a new series (or do both) Sakurai might also need to train a prodigy or something 😅
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: All Stars will be followed by Super Smash Bros Ultimate: Platinum and then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Final. Or maybe just start with Ultra Smash Brothers.
that's correct. for using character in fighting or other type of game, you need approval from the creator. the same thing happened with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. The cost to make the characters and progress to be approved is very expensive, which is why SIE not making another PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
This also makes me think about the Konami/Kojima situation and how this is essentially the complete opposite of that….just shows the dynamic of the buisness and how it’s handled
3:20 Correction,HAL operates seperately fron Sora Ltd,theyre still making the kirby games while sakurai made sora ltd as his own private company where he and his wife work freelance
For as long as Sakurai is able, he will continue to make smash bros. He just will. Listen to him anytime he speaks; he will never ever ever stop tinkering with smash bros, not til he'a dead or feeble. Will it be better? Idk. But it will exist, and it will still be good, even if ultimate is the peak
It really will be super difficult without him and no matter what happens there’s no way the next game has all the same characters from smash ult and the dlc
Its not really ending, but its on the backburner for a continuation. The fact we have all that we have from Nintendo right now for Smash to this is spectacle in real time! Sakurai's involvement is critical; he'll be back in the main role eventually
I kept telling myself that if smash ultimate was the last snash game. Id be contempt. Hell sakuria is like, 60 years old. He deserves retirement at that point, but the fact that he decided to go out like that was amazing.
I feel like the issue of "internal licensing" is lost on most people. Many people, especially in this era of acquisitions by Microsoft, etc., have this mentality that, "oh, they own this developer/publisher now, they have to do anything and everything the owner says." However, as Max brought up in the video, just because the main company owns something, doesn't mean that people underneath can just do whatever and the studios affected have to just suck it up. What was the rumor or comment about Marvel 3? The development team wanted to put a Monster Hunter in, they went to the Monster Hunter devs said no, and in the end a Hunter didn't make it into the game? Everyone involved has to sign off on it, and there has to be someone spearheading the efforts to make it happen.
Honestly, Smash Bros. Ultimate is so good, that if you just gave me more content and nothing else for it forever I'd be more than pleased. I'd buy yearly passes for more fighters, stages and maybe assist trophies or something. I feel like a very similar approach would be successful for the Mario Kart franchise as well.
I would definitely understand the decision, but Ultimate does have some issues that probably wouldn't have a chance of being addressed without a full successor game.
The foundation of Ultimate was not made with that approach in mind. It has a hard cap of 91 icons on the fighter select screen and if bypassed it crashes the game when you enter it. One of the icons is occupied by the random button and other 86 are taken by the fighters. That leaves only 4 spaces left, that's only a few.
I don't get why they don't just continually add new spirits and their associated AI battles on a conveyor belt. I get why they could and should stop with the new playable characters, but to have no traction of updates at all is a missed opportunity. At least Mario Kart 8 eventually changed its mind
@@lucaantinori4834 fair enough, make a deluxe SSBU that remedies said issue with longevity in mind and some extra candy for Switch 2 release and I’m game
Here's the perfect next title: Remaster Smash Ultimate on the Switch 2, add more characters with unique mechanics, but have another round of balance patches with an eye on the post-content health of the game.
Nah Smash isn’t ending any time soon. We’ll get a new one for sure but it will likely try and redefine the series in someway rather than iterate on what Brawl did. This franchise makes too much for Nintendo to stop. A lot of characters are gonna get cut in the next game, especially the 3rd parties, but most of the fandom is already bracing for that anyway so I don’t expect too much backlash. What will end is Sakurai attempting to one up himself with each new entry. But Smash will go on for a long time.
all i can think is maybe instead of focusing on tons of guest characters, they explore expanding the game in other areas like new game modes or a huge story mode that's really in depth like(but different than) MK. maybe a create a fighter feature as we've seen in different fighting games over the years.
On the other hand, that storymode would require even MORE negotiations with various third parties / license holders along the lines of "is this behavior from your character okay", which would drag things out even further. I have a feeling they'd rather not bother with a feature that will cost them a lot of time and isn't guaranteed to boost sales.
Smash's best future in the short term is likely to rerelease Ultimate on the next generation console and add additional characters via DLC. I feel like this is the easiest way to prevent a loss of any of the characters whose current existence is pretty much a miracle while also keeping the game fresh enough for returning players
To anyone confused about HAL and Sora, HAL was one of the closest 2nd party studios to Nintendo and originally had Iwata as the president before he went to be Nintendo's president. Sakurai worked at HAL from at least his very first directorial debut with Kirby's Dream Land until he made Kirby Air Ride released in 2003, after that he went freelance with Sora ltd. which is just him and his wife to make it easier for companies to hire them for projects. Sakurai knew that HAL did not have enough development resources to create something like Brawl (Melee's development was already very straining and brawl was going to have much more content), so he opted for an ad hoc team with people from different studios, but mainly Game Arts, to make Brawl. It was still difficult development wise so with Smash 4 he went for a team from one the biggest guys around, Bandai Namco, who have made both Smash for 3ds/Wii U as well as Smash Ultimate under Sakurai's direction. HAL worked on many different Nintendo titles back in the day like Pokémon Snap but today they've been just making Kirby games.
What gave me the sign that SSB was done after ultimate was when sakurai said that he was working himself so hard to make the game to the point where he was hooked up to IV bags at one point during development. That sounds like too much strain on the body and dangerous- something i'd imagine he wouldn't do again for the sake of his personal health.
The man fucked up his wrists working on Kid Icarus. I would figure him tearing himself apart for these games would at least have him setting up someone else to take over.
I think it was in Harada's bar interview but Sakurai said he straight up does not drink water (or at least not as much as he should). Said it makes his stomach upset. He apparently drinks coke zero.
Simply put, it would be near impossible to find another Sakurai. A man with so much in the industry while at the same time working so hard, that he doesn’t know what the hell the term “vacation” is until everything is said and done (right down to the IV). Fairly certain we’ve said this before, but fair to say if we do get a Smash after Uptimate, it will likely face such an uphill battle, it is most likely going to be “lacking” by comparison due to what Ultimate pulled off. Hell, still baffles the mind to this day for some of the choices we saw (and seems doubtful we’ll see a good chunk of them return).
It's so hard to be good because it can eat a lot from you while you are expected to be good or better everytime. The Smash fans wanted to make Sora happen despite a very obvious challenge (Disney's monstrous greed, I mean, look what it did to Marvel vs Capcom infinite) and they still delivered even with a blatant compromise. Sakurai and the whole SSB development team and community deserve a milestone recognition.
To be as good as Sakurai and such, you kinda have to be a perfectionist. You need to have the drive already ingrained in you, along with skill, before even getting into the industry and that's a very rare thing. He came from the golden age of gaming. These days, devs get used and abused, their earnestness churned out before they can build a solid foundation and then tossed away for the next batch.
What I think it will be is the end of Sakurai Smash. He has repeatedly said how ‘this is the last one’. In fact, wasn’t the fourth one starting dev without him even knowing at first? Basically, Nintendo absolutely ain’t gonna let Smash die. But Sakurai has possibly made his magnum opus for Smash. I say possibly though cause you can never tell with this man.
@@Neoxon619it won’t. Nintendo have plenty of other franchises under their belts that will draw people in. Zelda probably sells more Nintendo consoles than Smash does, so they can take the time they need to make sure the next game is done right.
@@originalscreenname44 And it’ll be a while before we get another 3D Zelda since we *just* got TotK. Also, Zelda still sells less than Smash does. Only Mario Kart & Animal Crossing surpass it, the latter of which likely won’t begin full development until after Splatoon 3: Side Order drops later this year.
@@Neoxon619 I don’t think that argument holds up. I just Googled and Breath of the Wild has 31 million and Smash has “over 30 million” so they’re probably dead even. Either way, Nintendo can hold out and make a new Zelda for the next console before Smash and still be good. I’ve seen more people who buy Nintendo consoles specifically to play Zelda games or Pokémon than to play Smash. Yes, Smash still gets a lot of sales because it’s a great first party Nintendo game, but it’s not the main franchise most people spend money on a Nintendo console for.
I really can’t imagine Bandai Namco not putting out a Smash Bros. successor on their own. Ultimate was just too big for them to sit on that, and they’ve got a team of people now that have been working on Smash Bros. since like 2012. Either someone else comes in (there was that rumor they’re making a fighting game for Microsoft) and says “do that for use” or Bandai Namco just does it themselves. I just can’t see Bandai Namco passing up a chance to have their Smash Bros. team do a platform fighter for them when Ultimate is one of the best selling titles they’ve made and they made it for someone else. And Bandai Namco is in the best position of anything in the business to put out a Smash Bros. successor given their licensing deals that allow them to put out crossover games with Shōnen Jump and do stuff like their Super Robot Wars series...they also did those Project X Zone crossover games with Sega and Capcom. The last DLC for Ultimate came out not even two whole years ago. I wouldn’t be too shocked if we see that Smash Bros. team at Namco has been working on fairly soon. A Jump platform fighter (or some Shogakukan X Shueisha title) seems like it’s be easy money. It also just seems like a total no-brainer, as I’m sure everyone that made Ultimate is fully aware of all the people that wants Goku in Smash. Well, now they can make a Jump one with Goku.
If Nintendo wants a new smash they have to find someone that has some years put into the business,someone that devs trust,respect and in a way sorta admire
I always felt like Sakurai San set the bar in another galaxy with Smash ultimate, And I absolutely think he did that on purpose......to me it's the final smash and I'm just happy I got to be alive to experience the hype of this whole franchise from day one, me and my cousin still have wars in Smash ultimate and Melee is still my favorite. Smash ultimate is absolutely the best though it's like Melee mastered 😂......nobody can top this game it shouldn't even exist 😂 I'm still shocked we got Sora (KH ) in smash
he really does need and DID need an understudy. especially during Ultimate's dev period. its not too late for a few trusted people to start learning. all of Sakurai's videos are a good start since he has been straight up telling how he did things and what his views were on things. i look forward to if he ever explains why later Smash characters are far more true to the character than earlier characters. especially by the time Ultimate was a thing. like Mario being perpetually pissed off or the whole Dorf situation and etc.
Obviously more smash will come but it's insane giant billion dollar companies have no plans in place to hire and train up people who can replace him. This happens in all industry, not just gaming.
I mean, the thing you have to understand is that minds like Sakurai aren't grown on trees. I don't think its unreasonable to say that this kind of person happens a couple times a *generation*. You can't "train" a person to think and act like he does, and, like Max said, the respect that comes with his name goes a long ways. You can *say* that this person is Sakurai's protege and has been trained in the ninja arts of Smash Game Creation, but, at the end of the day, they ARE NOT Sakurai.
@@Starwarsgeek12 you also did not read what I said. Your own logic can be used against you here, you think sakurai just got the job one day because he's good? He was trained, he learned, he had a particular vision. You can pass that down to others and that's not happening
My two biggest copiums for Smash's future is that Sakurai has been training or found a worthy successor for next game in the series or in between his RUclips career, Sakurai is talking with Nintendo about simply porting Ultimate into the next console and adding additional content just like Mario Kart 8 did recently. Ultimate is too big to be left on Switch and not having a new Smash on the upcoming console is a big gamble financially for Nintendo. But also let Sakurai rest, man has done wonders for the gaming community.
May be an unpopular opinion but I'd be happy with a full reboot. Give Ultimate's roster the axe, keep 30 to 40 characters(Around Brawl's size) and completely rework the veterans by giving them much needed new/updated moves. Then switch the online to Rollback and smooth the deal with a Subspace-inspired Adventure mode.
@@QwixLF indies can stay to other platform fighters like Rivals, as much as I'd LOVE something like Tunic or Pizza Tower repped in Smash they'd have a better shot in Rivals 2.
@@michaelchen1046 The problem is that any attempt to reproduce anything close to Ultimate roster wise would fall short. As far as roster goes, nothing like Ultimate will happen again with any reasonable effort. Just a port of it would take an enormous legal decathlon that would span the majority of a console's life cycle, to say nothing of potential newcomers. And if any one rights holder says no, that's it for that character appearing again. It would be wiser for Smash 6 to reseat the franchise expectations. Take a new direction, and start a new focus. Expanding rosters has been perfected with Ultimate, and that should be left as is.
It honestly makes sense, they should instead for the next Nintendo console give Smash Bros. the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe treatment, and make an expansion of Ultimate with more DLC, maybe call it Ultimate Vol. 2 or something. No reason to make a 6th installment.
I feel like Nintendo would be absolutely bonkers to not start doing Ultimate dlc again after a few years like Mario Kart 8, it just makes no financial sense. I would safely wager that Smash Ultimate dlc is their best selling dlc from any first party game, it practically prints money. Of course it all depends on Sakurai, and whether he wants to hand the reins to someone else or keep going, but frankly I would not be shocked at all if in 2024-2025 we see Ultimate dlc start up again.
Is may sound weird but watching this video makes me want to play smash brothers less. This guy is so nice and put his heart ,soul, and health on the line and the community was so toxic...
I think the best plan of action for future Smash Bros would be to soft reboot with a smaller dev team using some safe characters in Nintendo's repertoire. Then slowly work their way back up with the new dev team. It'd likely come out with a different experience from Sakurai's version but it'd be a way to help not tarnish the previous generation of Smash Bros games. I doubt this will happen but it'd be the safest and most respectful for all parties. Sakurai has the right idea.
I don't think there should be another smash, but they should continue to release ultimate with maybe an additional few characters per console generation
The problem with that would be the third party characters, they would have to get all the licenses again every single time Sakurai even pointed out in the later directs that there will probably not be another chance to have this many game worlds come together
@@BigJinfinity yeah that's definitely gonna make it hard. It may be wishful thinking but I feel like copyright holders would be ok if their characters continued to appear, even sora.
You could totally make another great Smash game. You don't need Sakurai. Mario and Zelda didn't need Miyamoto for every single game. Plus, I'm betting there are companies that Sakurai would never consider that would pay Nintendo to put their characters in the game.
other fighters are infinitely more exciting than platform fighters, smash is done with and everyone else is just trying to milk that same cow instead of making a fun game
I mean, the only actually good plataform fighters are Smash and Brawhalla (and i don't even like this one that much), so yeah, traditional FGC is still way better, but i still really enjoy Smash.
With as many characters as smash has there really should be a multi character team mechanic. They need to expand on Ultimate’s squad strike mode and make that the meta for a new game.
I honestly think that with the incoming launch of the next Nintendo console (because we all know it’s coming out relatively soon) that Nintendo is going to pull a Mario Kart 8 and just re-release smash ultimate on the system with new stages and characters. Business wise, it’s the smartest thing to do. We keep ultimate going and nintendo has little work to do compared to making a brand new game. All they would have to do is to start making new characters, like how they did with MK8 deluxe’s launch and now with the booster course pass. 😊
The next console will probably have retrocompatibility because of Nintendo's recent declarations. So Ultimate will probably be carried over and being updated for the new system(like Square did for Final Fantasy 7 Remake with Intergrade).
I think if we see an Ultimate follow up, it’ll require a lot of dev time, a significant engine overhaul, and jettisoning all the current third party characters and “start over” with a new slate of third party characters plus a decent chunk of the first party ones. They can’t out Ultimate Ultimate so they’d need to take the franchise in a different direction.
in a nutshell, they need to do for Smash what SF6 did for the whole SF series. Huge eye-catching aesthetic overhaul, update the most famous legacy characters while sprinkling in some fresh faces, make it super balanced while still being fun and approachable, and give it impeccable technical performance and online features for a fighting game. In fact, maybe even change developers from Bandai-Namco to Capcom, if they can afford the offer of manpower from whatever else they're working on, since Capcom got online so right with SF6 and Bamco is still just getting there with Tekken 8. (a lot of iconic SF characters aren't in because of the story, but some might come back -- a lot of great 3rd party characters for Smash might not come back due to licensing difficulties, but there's always a chance since so many seemingly impossible ones ended up making it for SSBU)
I get the feeling if Sakurai was brought back specifically as a creative consultant he’d still go above and beyond, doing as much if not more directing than the games actual director. Honestly I would love to see Harada’s Smash Bros if I had to pick a different director.
I have absolutely no doubt that there's going to be another smash game. My question however is, where the heck do we go from here? What Sakurai and his team were able to pull off in Ultimate is ashtonishing. Will the next smash game on the next console have almost a completely different roster? Or will they just continue to build off of Ultimate? Will they try to add new formulas to the game or keep it the same? So many questions.
- Great single player content with substance - Actual functional online from rollback netcode and better online matchmaking in general - More customization options like costumes/layouts ect - Proper game balance So yeah there's a lot they can do for the next title to make it better than Ultimate, even if they'll cut out some characters. But of course the only thing that matters nowadays in this Fortnite era is having out of left field guest character or else it's a 0/10 😑 EDIT: oh yeah also actually make new movesets for the legacy characters that improves upon them, some need them desperately *cough* Ganondorf *cough* Sonic
@@islandboy9381Agreed, ppl are too quick to put this game on a pedestal. Yes there's alot of great things about it but there are just as many improvements or changes that could be made in the future
I think sakurai probably has a small bit of an ego as well. I think he likes the idea of "Im the only one who can do this " so he hasn't actively looked into a prodige
As much respect as I’m willing to give Sakurai for his dedication to smash, and ensuring every character gets treated as well as possible… I have mixed feelings about what he says regarding not being able to move on without him. Were he to have a say in whether there was a new smash title, it would be fine, but given that they will eventually move on without him, it feels irresponsible to not at least attempt to have found somebody to take the reins over the course of Ultimate’s extended development.
Smash Ultimate is a monumental achievement. I think people in general underestimate how hard it was to make it happen. He deserves his rest.
Every time I saw another character unveiled. Ryu, Cloud, Minecraft man my mind was blown that they pulled it off. I doubt we'll ever see anything on that scale of cross licensing ever again.
@@VAFranky not to mention Smash Ultimate had every character from past smash games. That must've been a nightmare to establish previous license and contracts all over again
For real the game was an absolute gem.
Smash bros did do very well, even though the last characters they added were none of my favorite I still give the game praise. And I do agree I don't even know how they will ever top Smash bros ultimate and I'm not sure if they will.
@@VAFranky
Considering the popularity of films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?! and Wreck-It Ralph, I'm surprised that more conglomerates haven't collaboratively generated (or, at least, assisted) a project like this. There are a lot of calls from fans for crossover titles (ie DC vs Marvel, Street Fighter vs MK; a TBS/Tactics game, a(nother) jRPG) that allow their favorite characters to interact with/fight each other. If there's a way for Superman to fight Goku or a squad of Autobots and other mecha to take down alien insects (ala Starship Troopers) and other threats, there will be players itching to give the adaptor of those scenarios their money.
The (im)possibilities are truly endless. ^_^
Frankly Ultimate lasting as long with updates as it did is worth commending. The meme of letting Sakurai rest still feels every appropriate.
Yes, I hope we'll soon have a new smash on Nintendo's next console.
Bro deserves all the rest in the world. Especially how the Japanese workers work to the death and him putting out solid quality for the games.
@@IdentifiantE.Show can you top all characters? This may be the last one
@@dankusmemeus7093I guess a Deluxe version for the next console? It wouldn’t take as much strain from development time or development costs, since they would basically be reusing assets that could be up-ressed and not being using as much resources as it would take to create a completely new game.
Competition, Smash, Nintendo? Hah
Maybe the real bros were the ones we smashed along the way
?
😂😂😂😂😂
Ayo, pause
Ayo 🤨
Ayooo😂😂😂
Its not just Sakurai its the entire team that's worked on these smash games since 64 that deserve praise.
There's always this comment. "it's not just Sakurai, it's the teams as well", yeah, no shit, but that's not the point here. We get it, it was a team effort but Sakurai was the linchpin no doubt.
@@lethaunticYou just responded to a "no shit" comment with another "no shit" comment...
@@lethaunticyeah, no shit
It different team everytime
@@samreeder5797 there were probably a lot of guys in the teams that were there since 64 and melee tho
That’s so funny. Imagine Sakurai just chilling in the audience. Sitting. Maybe contemplating what’s dinner gonna be. Maybe getting a drink after or, getting a workout in.
Nintendo: SMASH BROS IS COMING!
Sakurai:…wait…what did he just say?
And then friends and colleagues coming to him like "Yo! You're working on a new Smash Bros!? How long you been keeping this a secret lol"
@@bljack12
Sakurai:.......... There's a REALLY STRICK NDA..... Very exclusive as well apparently 😅
This exact shit happened to Tetsuya Nomrua when they announced final fantasy 7 remake, poor guy...
@wreday720 Wait, he watched that 2015 trailer completely blind like we all were? But he works at Squeenix, at least Sakurai had the excuse of being a freelance worker!
@@chaoscontroller316 He wasn't expecting to be the one directing it until after the reveal. Its hilarious.
As Sakurai said in the video, I highly doubt Nintendo will ever let Smash end. And leaving the Switch 2 without a new Smash game is too big of a financial risk. Hell, they build *entire Nintendo Directs* around Smash announcements.
Also, Sakurai said similar things about a “hypothetical next Smash game” in I believe his Famitsu column after Smash 3DS/Wii U wrapped up DLC……when he was secretly working on Ultimate. For context: Ultimate’s design document was locked in on December 2015 (sans Incineroar, who wasn’t decided until November 2016 when Sun/Moon was close to release), and full development began right after Corrin & Bayonetta launched for Smash 3DS/Wii U (February 2016). He isn’t gonna say that the next Smash is already in development in a RUclips video. Not to mention that, based on the games he references, these videos are filmed *months* in advance.
At the very least I hope he’s working with Nintendo to get a Ultimate deluxe edition for the new switch.
think about it. on every nintendo console release, we have had a smash game released on it. so the switch 2 is no exception
I personally do not believe it is currently in development. It is very likely that development will begin in secret within a year or two, I imagine.
after seeing mario kart 8 they could just sit on their ass and rerelease ultimate forever, which would be just as sad as smash bros dying tbh. im really hoping they manage to make a new one
@@FemboiMars The Switch 2 is reportedly coming late next year, so Smash has to have secretly started by now considering that Nintendo usually aims to have Smash on new systems 1-2 years after the console’s launch.
The only sad thing to me is that even re-releases of Ultimate to future consoles will be a hurdle because of the inherent specificity of license contracts. At some point, every single one of those achieved negotiations would have to happen again, and success is not guaranteed. Ultimate could even end up being lost to time in terms of portability because of how grandiose it is
Why would they need to negotiate again? Why couldnt they have negotiated a long-term/multi-game contract?
@@toxxicvvastethats not how it works.
@@toxxicvvastenot a lot of companies would do that. It makes more financial sense for them to negotiate per game. For both parties. Company A gets to ensure they receive the appropriate amount they see fit. On the flip side Nintendo doesn’t feel obligated to make games to use these characters. Not to mention a long term deal like that would be way more expensive lol
It's what makes a ton of licensed games or games with licensed characters unable to be re-released over the years. Certain games get the rights tied up and it takes a decade or so to negotiate a port on a later console.
@@michaelm7537 Lmao yeah i'll just believe you, a random guy, about how gaming business works.
I adore these types of videos from ya, Max. Reflecting on a team’s passions and goals, seeing how culturally it’s affected folks around the world, inspiring fans and developers alike.... we need to keep the flame of inspiration and drive kindled.
Same
Big same. This video odly reminded me of why I love his content
If Sakurai asks you for your video game character, you should be legally obligated to say yes at this point.
It's essentially the video game hall of fame, how dare you refuse your invitation.
Supposedly the MH team said no to a playable Hunter in Smash.
@@Neoxon619 Same with Bomberman. When he got announced as an assist during a direct, Sakurai said that he pitched a moveset concept to Konami but they turned it down.
@@Firejoker54 At this point, bad decisions are to be expected from Konami.
@@shinzero0271Facts
However, here’s something. Sakurai said that if Hero was turned down, he was prepared and willing to make the Slime from Dragon Quest into a fighter. Which shows just how iconic DQ is in Japan.
No way they let that Smash money go, whether they should or not.
But if Sakurai is done, he's done, and I respect that 100%. What a career, dude.
I love listening Max talk about Sakurai. There's so much respect for the man, and I feel like he's putting into words the respect that I feel for Sakurai too.
I don't think Smash is going to end but Sakurai has already done so much for us to the point where if it did end, I wouldn’t be mad
Aonuma's comment about Sakurai was before Brawl was even created and Smash became known for having guest characters.
I think Sakurai was just really hands-on with how he directs his games and might have overseen aspects of the project that other directors might have left parts of the design to their (Sound/UI/Combat etc) sub directors or sub designers. You can see from his channel that he's particular about a lot of things, which made him an effective leader but at the same time meant that maybe no one had to lead as a co-director like in say, a Nomura project
I think it's telling just how cautious devs are to share their characters; that Nintendo had to first create a worldwide top-selling phenomenon of a franchise with Melee before other devs were willing to hesitantly risk accepting Sakurai's proposal.
Even then, it was only after 2 more games, each selling more than the last and treating their guest characters with more TLC than even the original creators did, that more devs finally got comfortable with sharing their babies with Sakurai.
A recent example of a team being turned down is the Paper Mario devs getting told they had to create original characters and could not use additional Mario universe characters.
I’d actually argue the opposite. The fact that developers were willing to give their IPs to a console-exclusive third-party, even making deals between console developers, is a sign that we’re seeing companies be LESS protective about their IPs. Smash and Fortnite have smashed the door open and allowed companies to be a lot more lenient with cross promotion and crossovers.
Funny enough some characters got in purely because they were friends with sakurai. I'm still baffled that solid snake got in as a third party rep. Like even more so than characters like Cloud and Bayo.
@@redshepherd32I dunno, Cloud was a nightmare both times, even more so than Snake was for Ultimate. If I’m remembering correctly, even Sakurai was genuinely afraid he wouldn’t be able to see his design philosophy for Ultimate come to life because of how much of a nightmare Cloud is as the poster boy protagonist character for Square Enix. Square takes pride in how huge FFVII was for making JRPG’s popular in the west, since we were notorious for how much we simply refused to play Japanese made games, let alone their pride and joy, the Japanese RPG. By exploding JRPG’s in the west, they OWNES the market in that regard and were an icon for it. Ultimate’s insane sales helped a ton for Sephiroth, but Cloud seemingly has always been hell for anyone.
@@hyperstargaming6150 It's mostly music. For some reason Square doesn't even own some of their most iconic tracks even up until FFVIII with Eyes on me
Not only is he respected and he's super dedicated to it, but the other thing that he does is that he LOVES the games, and that love shows on how the characters are implemented in the game, especially the dlc ones.
The ideal scenario I guess would be having him as a consultant and try to get him less and less involved with each entry, but honestly I expect smash to go downhill when stops working on them
Sakurai is friends with a lot of game developers. The whole reason Snake was in Brawl was because he knew Kojima.
A similar thing with adding Sans as a Mii costume alongside Megalovania. Toby Fox even visited Sakurai's house.
Don't forget Kosuke Yabuki. Min Min's inclusion in the roster more or less came about like so...
Yabuki: "Hey, Sakurai, put Min Min in Smash."
Sakurai: "Why?"
Yabuki: "Because ramen."
@@h0m3st4rAnd Nintendo can use the "ARMS CHARACTER POLL" as an excuse to fall back on for marketing. Madlads!
@@h0m3st4r Wasn't the reason that Min-Min was literally the #1 fan favorite? As a poll made by Arms accounts on that matter confirmed?
@@gicrueldad9520 I'm surprised Min-Min was the fan favorite. She certainly seemed to be alongside Ninjara before the game dropped but I figured the new characters split that a bit like Twintalle and Lola Pop. I remember hearing a rumor(?) that she was Yabuki's favorite, though, and that's why she was picked
Its not the end of Smash Bros. In the video itself Sakurai states there will likely be another game as the series is too large for Nintndo to simply ignore. and he also states that if there is another one, he will likley be helping however he is able.
Smash bros itself is inevitable at this point, my only concern is that sakurai and his team actually finally take it easy for a while before even thinking about the next one tbh.
I can possibly see Ultimate as laying the groundwork for an even more expansive Smash game but it'll be 10 mountains to climb to get there and I can sympathize with Sakurai not exactly wanting to commit to it right now or at all. Ultimate grabbed a lot of IPs and there's tons of characters they could grab from each and every one but that would require a tooon of negotiations.
There probably may not be a new Smash game planned for now, but I definitely don’t think this series will end considering how much the game sell. Honestly I’d be fine with them just making a remaster of Ultimate by just adding in new content, new modes, and new characters to hold us over for next gen.
Really All Smash 6 has to do is add in actually substantial singleplayer content, an actual story mode where characters talk and interact with each other and I’ll be alright. Even if they cut down the roster, a reboot with revamped gameplay & an actual story mode would make up for it.
The problem is they wouldn't be able to just do a remaster without reworking ALL of the licensing contracts again because while they may have said yes to this version of the game that doesn't mean they'll say yes again like how we almost didn't get cloud back in from Wii U to Ultimate because Square was like "hell no we're not making him core roster, he has to be paid dlc again"
I'm hoping with Square's new upper management since then, that won't be the case again. Also given the fact that square has already has three dlc characters present out of 11 characters.
Smash never really had a story. If anything it’s meta commentary on the state of the gaming industry itself and gamers alike. Cuz remember it’s a crossover game. Saying smash needs a good story is like saying MvC needs a good story and look how Infinite turned out.
@@justmikoto9880 I would agree that with about Smash, being one of the few fighting games (and that's a lose term for Smash for me) that actually doesn't need to have a deep story mode.
And Waluigi 😎🍻🍺
As a developer its always nice to listen to Max talk about how the industry works. Usually it comes from a very informed position, with very little speculation based on things he has seen first hand, rather than pretend thats how the industry works. Its reasuring, given that most of the time I read someone discuss the industry is pretty far off from what it currently is or how it works.
Sakurais videos have been awesome. So much info. This currently talks and informs and teaches concepts that cost thousands of dollars in education in some colleges. All for free first hand. What a legend.
I’m so glad I was able to be here for sakurai’s last hurrah as it seems. He is an absolutely generational talent who is so unbelievably passionate about his work, I’m so thankful I’ve been able to grow up with his games and make so many friends because of them
People like to dismiss games to be just a waste of time but it usually comes people who don't have a appreciation to how much work goes into crafting a game. Done correctly, a game can be a masterful work of art. What Sakurai and many who made the smash bros games possible are talented and appreciated. A time I gladly don't take for granted and happy to be a part of. Sakurai has made many happier. I wouldn't mind if he didn't make another game for he gave us more than we deserve to have.
No, $mash REALLY was just a money grubbing waste of a Party Game. :3
Ima keep it a buck, Smash is just a Mugen game that is legal to sell and to distribute. While it is impressive that he was able to license and get all the characters that are in the game and the spectacle that comes with that, the problem occurs when you look at the game for what it is and what you can do in the game. The main single player mode is literally grinding for JPEGs, the online is laggy and barely functional, and core gameplay has general issues (Game Balance is a factor but that is the least of the problems with this game). I think of smash as that one board game you occasionally pull out and play with a group, but more often that not you and the group you hang out with have other games you will play instead and play more often than not.
If people are saying it's a waste for me to spend 20-60 dollars on a game that lasts 50-100 hours. While they spend around 15-25 dollars on Books, Movies, and other Media to spend time on. At most a book is around 20-50 hours to finish. The point is, the people that criticize games as time wasters are also "wasting time" on another hobby.
@@mikejonesnoreallyyou seem like a boring person with no lasting relationships
@@lelouchvibritannia2817 when you said it was impressive is all that matters.
I don’t think Smash will die
It WILL BE DIFFERENT when Sakurai retires, but just like Miyamoto with the Zelda and Mario franchises there will be good games after his time.
I think the only difference is that Mario and Zelda had people ready to step up into Miyomotos place when he was done. Koizumi had been working on Mario titles alongside Miyomoto for years. Same with Aonuma for Zelda. There isn’t really someone doing that with Sakurai, because he’s completely independent and is only called in to make Smash bros. The team changes constantly too. So I think that makes it tough to compare to Mario and Zelda after Miyomoto. (Not saying there will never be a good smash game of course)
Smash Ultimate felt the way MvC2 felt when it had just come out, if not better. I don't know if there can ever be another game with that consistent level of quality and service.
Would it be too hard for Sakurai to be the license broker that convinces people in the industry to add characters to the next game while a different person takes the reigns as director? I'm sure there are plenty of people in the company that can handle the development side of things and just have Sakurai as the trusted personality to approach people.
If the company doesnt like the end result of their char in smash, it would tarnish sakurais reputation with that company. Its a risk he understandably probably doesn't want to take
One of Sakurai's double-edge traits is he is a perfectionist. Sure, Sakurai could take a lesser role, but Smash is essentially his pride, his baby, his legacy. I can definitely see it being hard for Sakurai take a lesser role and stand back while someone else take the lead.
The problem is that these third parties can be INCREDIBLY protective about their IPs even if the company has the cash to secure the license, Sakurai will have to actively be the one supervising everything to make sure that the characters are being represented well, take Sephiroth, you have to make sure everything regarding his reputation is done well, you have to make all of his animations capture the character perfectly, the music he comes with has to be in line with what is previously established and where the lines are, you need to make sure that CG trailer you are sinking thousands upon thousands if not millions STILL has to conform to the expectations that the characters had. All of this is what Sakurai is dealing with to ensure his promises to those companies and creators are being upheld. Japanese companies are also incredibly stubborn and tend to place the people who have been with the company for long amounts of time as the key figurehead for their teams, and as far as other companies are concerned Sakurai is the person for Smash games to talk to and nobody else is.
I mean no offense to Sakurai but like why would he want to do that I can't imagine a focused dedicated creative like Sakurai wanting to be essentials a lawyer
Sakurai needs a underling to take the reigns. I’m shock he never thought that far ahead
Smash Bros ended when we stopped having fun and just complain about the characters that the comunity asked for
So it hasn't ended at all, then. Only people who care about tournaments whine about this, not the vast majority of players who are totally casual and love it.
@@nachot6592Exactly
thats because the character reveal debates were more fun than the game itself if we're being really honest
I mean the charcter speculation was the most fun part of smash
You can keep enjoying Smash (playing competitively even) If you start not engaging with the fandom at all.
I think we'll see a new Smash Bros. sooner than later, even with it being an extended wait. It's one of Nintendo's best-selling and high-profile series, and that isn't something they're likely to let rest for too terribly long, especially with a new system on the horizon. That said, I do think it'll still be at least a year or two (or maybe even three) before we get an announcement, for the reasons laid out in this video: they need to figure out the long-term plan for the series and prepare for the torch to be passed. I think there's a good chance that whatever the next game is will be helmed by someone else, with Sakurai assisting and helping them so that when he does eventually retire, the series will be able to go on without him.
It feels like Sakurai finally accomplished what he wanted, which was create a fun party game that could be enjoyed reasonably by higher level players as well. It's not melee, but it's clear that's not what he wanted, and it's not Brawl, which I think he saw clearly missed the mark. Ultimate is such a fitting name because while it may or may not be for individual players, it does sort of feel like Sakurai's "ultimate" version of smash, the way he wanted and envisioned it. I'm glad that he can feel like he reached his goal, and he can finally rest.
I remember those conversations Satoru Iwata and Sakurai had.
Iwata said something interesting about Smash Bros. success.
"People who loves games and are really good at games were once, at some point in the past, casual gamers themselves. That is why is so important to make sure that you continue to bring new gamers"
"The appeal of Smash Bros. is that anyone can take a controller, readily pick up the fundamentals and, within the spam of ten minutes, a beginner can sit down and get loud with a pro and enjoy some exciting gameplay"
Iwata was right!
"Missed the mark with Brawl" yea if you're just looking at it from the niche sweaty FGC perspective yea sure, but single player and just a video game wise perspective? Brawl was a massive success, not even Ultimate surpasses the likes of Subspace Emissary. And even if we're gonna go hard on it for shitty online, not even Ultimate has improved on that front that much... lol
@@islandboy9381 Man, Brawl is a game that just makes me sad. It feels like a clear stance against everything competitive like Nintendo is saying: "Hey guys, Smash is supposed to be a party game for the whole family, not a competitive, super-serious fighting game like so many others out there". Which matches Sakurai's initial stance on why he created Smash Bros. in the first place (the story about ruining a couples fun in KOF I believe). Wave-dashing being fixed, slower game speed, tripping... all of that directly counters what makes Melee a competitive game. Seeing that design philosophy absolutely rejected by the community is just heartbreaking.
Sm4sh and Ultimate never hooked me the same way as Melee and Brawl did. I tihnk it came down to Melee's funny voice clips (especially the screams when a character gets heavily launched, I miss those sooo much) and Brawl's single player content as well as the Trophy collection made me love Smash Bros in the first place. All of which... just isn't there in Ultimate.
On top of that I disagree with quite a few DLC character choices (both Sm4sh and Ultimate), but that's just an uphill battle, so I'm not gonna bother.
Regardless of the future of Super Smash Bros. the videogame industry and the FCG should always be thankful for Mr. Sakurai (and his team) hard efforts and dedication!
I had a different interpretation. I took from that that he will keep making SSB, but he is also warning Nintendo that the situation is unsustainable and when planning the next game, they need to plan an internal team that can be dedicated to the franchise in the long term and that will eventually be able to replace Sakurai.
Maybe Nintendo decides to buy Namco. Who knows? :p
They'd probably not even go for Bamco if anyone at all. Besides Bamco having a massive price, it would be an even more massive loss to Bamco as their biggest titles are primarily sold for the other consoles. For that alone, Sony would do everything in it's power to prevent Nintendo from doing it. Shareholders being the biggest issue however would also be quite opposed to a Nintendo buyout unless Bamco was struggling.
Buying Bamco is impossible cause those guys are a massive corporation that stretches across multiple fields of japan's entertainment industry (Anime, Manga, Arcades, IRL Amusement, Industry).
Nintendo is a huge company, but Bandai Namco is one as well, not just some small 2nd party studio, they can't just buy them like that.
Yea I picked up from this that he is going to develop a new smash bros. I firnly believe he is being coy and is already working on the next one
That's the timeline I want to exist in, & please please can we get Ryu Hayabusa PLZ!! 🥺
Yes, the business side is certainly difficult but I'm actually way more impressed with his teams ability to make such a massive roster and keep it mostly balanced. I'd imagine this would be a much harder accomplishment for his successor.
I will always hate the Smash community, but Smash itself and Sakurai are gaming treasures that should be protected at all costs.
Smash community can be toxic
Well said bruv
@linkmaster5555 smash community from my experience is by far and away one of the most toxic communities I've been around. Couldn't tell you how many times I've been told "KYS" from those custom name plates from smash 4 after smoking someone with ddd. Not to mention all the garbage we all saw regarding events that transpired from within the community and everyone being outed as predators and shit. Talk about an incredible franchise with a shit community weighing it down. Moving on to real fighting games and a fightstick opened my eyes and I never looked back.
Smash community dont shower
All I really want out of a new Smash is reduced input lag, better singleplayer content, and good matchmaking with rollback. Keeping all of the characters in would be a nice bonus, but not strictly necessary.
don't forget proper balancing. but i agree. we don't need a completely new game, but smash ultimate should finally become ultimate in all aspects.
"Better single player content" wtf are you talking about? Every mode in smash can be played in single player?
@@raptros He is talking about the single player content is very lackluster in comparison to Melee and Brawl. No event match, no target smash, stickers are so lame in comparison to trophies, World Of Light is just a glorified Event mode that overstays its welcome way, way, WAY more than SSE ever has, lacks co-op and has no replayability unlike Advendure Mode from Melee . The only real solo content is the shitty online mode with less option than SSB4 or Classic mode
Expecting all of this from Nintendo of all people 😂
@@Shadowsmoke11 I did say want, not expect.
It may be the end, but Super Smash Bros' legacy will live in our hearts
Game sells 30 million copies and people think there won’t be another one 😂
@@Blballerboyanother good one*
@@magimoo9371 Melee to Brawl was pretty trash, in terms of gameplay.
@@Blballerboy I bet you there won't be another Smash game
Bro its not the end they're makign another 1
I'm conflicted. On one hand, it says a lot about Sakurai's skill and passion that almost 20 years after he was asked to direct Brawl, he's still the only one who can do it. On the other hand it also shows his and Nintendo's failure to train up and trust even 1 more person to handle some of those responsibilities. They've had this problem for 20 years and there's STILL no one else. The development of Smash 4 3DS, Smash 4 WiiU, and Smash Ultimate being so close together was the best time to do that.
I'd put this more on Nintendo than Sakurai since as Max said, Sakurai simply didn't have the time- it was all work work work for him when he's involved in Smash. It would've been up to Nintendo to not only give him the extra time to direct development AND train a protege, and that clearly hasn't happened.
I'm sure there would be another one, however not only would it probably be very different, but I could see it being made by someone else other than Sakurai.
My best bet is the vanilla roster is going to get a gameplay overhaul
Most likely. Sakurai's time as a game developer is done, but his legacy will live on, one way or another.
You didnt listen to Sakurai at all did you??? xD
@@toxxicvvaste You sure didn’t if you didn’t see the part where he said that Nintendo will obviously do another one eventually.
@@Neoxon619 Dummy the part where he said he cant see another Smash being made without him. Oh you're extra mad cuz im killing you in the other comments xD
Even if Smash is over, I don't think they could have gone out with a bigger bang than with Ultimate. It wasn't just a celebration of Smash Bros, it was a celebration of gaming as a medium of entertainment. Sure, maybe there are some highly requested characters who got left out, there always will be, but to me, the hypothetical end of Smash Bros was perfect.
To be more specific, it was a celebration of Japanese gaming. There wasn’t a lot from the western side of things.
To me, what Sakurai is saying here is: "Smash Bros. is too large a series for Nintendo to stop making, but the next one may look drastically different than what you remember it being since I likely won't be as involved if at all." I can't imagine Nintendo goes into whatever it's next generation of hardware looks like without some plan to make a Smash Bros. game, even if they have to take the blow of it not quite living up to peoples expectations of Smash Bros.
It will never end at least not to the fans, people will forever keep playing the game and it will live on. Even if it takes ages for any sort of new smash game, also we don’t need a new smash any time soon. 💫
We don’t, but Nintendo does.
No Nintendoesn't. Not ever again. They went to CRAZY lengths to *kill their own game in ANY competitive sense.* It is EVERY bit as valid to say that Nintendo will not make another $mash because of "the scene" and just how gross that all is. "Kids sexually preying on kids" is not a Japanese headline you will ever see twice. @@Neoxon619
Not to mention Smash fan games are still prevalent even with a recent masterpiece like Ultimate. I can see the series living a very long life even outside of the main games.
@@hangry3102 Considering Melee is STILL ALIVE. Smash Ultimate will live for decades. The switch and its successor will have the eshop to preserve the game.
real fans care only about Melee.
What I would like, and what I’m sure we won’t get, is a bare bones Smash with like 16 characters, mostly from the 64 title, with every character being approached like Megaman (accurate to their series). And as a gimmick, giving every character a Classic Moveset and a New Moveset.
Sakurai (and the rest of the team) poured their hearts and souls into Ultimate. It's hard to imagine that kind of magic coming together and pushing even further in the next couple decades at the very least.
All good things must come to a end
There's an obvious slim chance of all the guest characters returning to the next Smash, but that doesn't really concern me as they can easily fill the roster with other Nintendo characters. What I'm more interested in is seeing how the game evolves from this point, like what tweaks they'll make to the game's mechanics or maybe a significant change in the game's art direction.
If they gathered all the people involved, from the ground floor developers to the higher ups (obviously without Masahiro), I think they can pull it off
The people involved should have inherited the spirit of Masahiro
Nah that's why they always say from the creators of and it fails
EDIT: He really needs a Protegé and seeing how he's talking about the game series at 14:48 (with the current opinion*); There will be another Smash Bros. Title with him as lead director BUT he will actively look for his successor he probably will have feature in every possible way in the future!
----------------------
Sakurai needs to find a person that he can put in all his trust and present him as his successor to the world.
(Just like how Toyotarou is the successor to Toriyama or how Stan Lee has Roy Thomas (kinda).)
People will choose to follow or not but at least he would make it easier for future titles to exist in the way it does today. At least that's what I think is the best possible outcome.
I feel like with the next Smash Bros, if everything goes accordingly, he will likely co-head the project with someone else so that he can get the other person ready to take up the reins after him.
I've been watching Sakurai's channel and he gives the impression that he's rare in the industry to be as hands-on and knowledgeable about a variety of game development from coding to art. If Nintendo did a Smash game without him, I could see it either being an HD remake of an older title with minor adjustments or being very awkward like the Nickelodeon fighter.
A lot of game devs now are either art majors or dedicated programmers, having general geniuses that can work into any discipline is becoming more and more rare...
Genuinely the only other project lead I can think of in the entire industry that is hands-on to the level Sakurai is would be FFXIV's Yoshi-P. Maybe Yoko Taro, too. Like they're the only people where when I think of their series, they're the face of it. They take on a ton of, if not all, of the personal responsibility for it so that their teams can just work under their guidance. Not only that but they're dedicated to it, too. Sakurai has put himself out there for Smash countless times when he's wanted to be done with the series, and Yoshi-P has stated numerous times in the last year that he feels like XIV is his life's work and it would take his death to remove him from the project. It's so crazy admirable.
@@islandboy9381 A lot are hired based on check boxes rather than merit. I doubt that applies to Nintendo, but y'know
Regardless of how things progress, it's fun to see that the entirety of Smash Bros. started for me when I was a kid going over my cousin's house to play smash 64 for hours up to this point now in my early 30s where my cousins and I can still beat the shit out of each other in smash ultimate when we meet up once a year or something.
It sucks, but I get it. Ultimate is pretty untouchable in terms of sheer content. It'll probably be ported onto every Nintendo console from now on.
Sakurai was a madman though, he used to come into work with banana bags due to overworking. Man needs a long-ass break. It's absolutely wild that he looks as young as he does.
Probably not even a port can happen, because of the licensing nightmare that was making Ultimate and it's DLC the first time, doing it again seems extremely unlikely
@@lucaantinori4834if it’s a port, it’s possible without that. If they add content to Ultimate in any capacity through a port though, that’s when the licensing disaster strikes.
@@hyperstargaming6150
I’m pretty sure a port counts as rereleasing a game, and to rerelease a game you would need to renew all the licenses involved in it.
What this means is that you have to communicate with every single company again and hope they say yes a second time.
Sakurai deserves the respect he has in the industry. People KNOW that he's a very smart man who knows what he's doing. And I agree I don't expect a new Smash any time soon. You know what would be nice as a filler before the next Smash. Idk if Nintendo HAS to make this, but let's see love on the indie side of things and make an indie Smash Bros. Shovel Knight, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Guacamelee, there's SO MANY that are available
I think the stop gap between Ultimate and a new Smash would be an HD Online port of Melee. It would make a lot of fans mad because the Melee community is crazy, but it would also make the same if not more people happy because it's a new Smash
That’s basically what Iwata told Sakurai they would do if he didn’t come on board for Brawl. It speaks volumes about the popularity and love Melee has that 20 years later that’s still a feasible plan if he’s not around for the next Smash. And if it works out they could keep the remakes coming at least for Brawl, I’m sure fans would go nuts over a 2020s-quality CGI recreation of Subspace Emissary.
Honestly, I think if there WAS to be a smash game following Ultimate, a smaller roster could be potentially more hype for the game than doing ultimate 2 where everyone’s back… again.
Smaller roster means each character has more dev time, more focus on them, each character is more balanced. But, then it becomes a question of who’s worthy *to come back*. THAT could definitely get people talking.
Having since moved on to traditional fighters such as guilty gear and returning to street fighter, i still remember very vividly the day ultimate was finally announced. The flaming smash logo reflecting in the inklings eye after it got dark. Jaw on the floor and everything. Good fun and memories Sakurai. Thank you from the bottom of my heart
Smash Ultimate would be pretty hard to follow up, so the best course of action would probably be just port Ultimate to the next console with new stuff or make a “Smash successor” with a new cast of characters, starting a new series (or do both)
Sakurai might also need to train a prodigy or something 😅
Forreal idk how they could top this lol
They should just keep up with dlc.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: All Stars will be followed by Super Smash Bros Ultimate: Platinum and then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Final.
Or maybe just start with Ultra Smash Brothers.
Porting to another platform still needs to renew the license.
@@CraftyMiscreant
Not an option man, Ultimate has a hard cap in the roster which if bypassed it crashes the game.
I could do it. I could direct the next smash
that's correct. for using character in fighting or other type of game, you need approval from the creator. the same thing happened with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. The cost to make the characters and progress to be approved is very expensive, which is why SIE not making another PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
This also makes me think about the Konami/Kojima situation and how this is essentially the complete opposite of that….just shows the dynamic of the buisness and how it’s handled
3:20
Correction,HAL operates seperately fron Sora Ltd,theyre still making the kirby games while sakurai made sora ltd as his own private company where he and his wife work freelance
For as long as Sakurai is able, he will continue to make smash bros. He just will. Listen to him anytime he speaks; he will never ever ever stop tinkering with smash bros, not til he'a dead or feeble. Will it be better? Idk. But it will exist, and it will still be good, even if ultimate is the peak
It really will be super difficult without him and no matter what happens there’s no way the next game has all the same characters from smash ult and the dlc
I thought I remembered when it was coming out that Sakurai pretty much said "this is it!, This is my final piece, I'm peacing out!"
Its not really ending, but its on the backburner for a continuation. The fact we have all that we have from Nintendo right now for Smash to this is spectacle in real time!
Sakurai's involvement is critical; he'll be back in the main role eventually
I kept telling myself that if smash ultimate was the last snash game. Id be contempt. Hell sakuria is like, 60 years old. He deserves retirement at that point, but the fact that he decided to go out like that was amazing.
I feel like the issue of "internal licensing" is lost on most people. Many people, especially in this era of acquisitions by Microsoft, etc., have this mentality that, "oh, they own this developer/publisher now, they have to do anything and everything the owner says." However, as Max brought up in the video, just because the main company owns something, doesn't mean that people underneath can just do whatever and the studios affected have to just suck it up.
What was the rumor or comment about Marvel 3? The development team wanted to put a Monster Hunter in, they went to the Monster Hunter devs said no, and in the end a Hunter didn't make it into the game? Everyone involved has to sign off on it, and there has to be someone spearheading the efforts to make it happen.
Honestly, Smash Bros. Ultimate is so good, that if you just gave me more content and nothing else for it forever I'd be more than pleased. I'd buy yearly passes for more fighters, stages and maybe assist trophies or something. I feel like a very similar approach would be successful for the Mario Kart franchise as well.
Yep, I think a League of Legends approach would be nice, where we can get a new fighter every 4 to 6 months.
I would definitely understand the decision, but Ultimate does have some issues that probably wouldn't have a chance of being addressed without a full successor game.
The foundation of Ultimate was not made with that approach in mind. It has a hard cap of 91 icons on the fighter select screen and if bypassed it crashes the game when you enter it. One of the icons is occupied by the random button and other 86 are taken by the fighters. That leaves only 4 spaces left, that's only a few.
I don't get why they don't just continually add new spirits and their associated AI battles on a conveyor belt. I get why they could and should stop with the new playable characters, but to have no traction of updates at all is a missed opportunity. At least Mario Kart 8 eventually changed its mind
@@lucaantinori4834 fair enough, make a deluxe SSBU that remedies said issue with longevity in mind and some extra candy for Switch 2 release and I’m game
Here's the perfect next title: Remaster Smash Ultimate on the Switch 2, add more characters with unique mechanics, but have another round of balance patches with an eye on the post-content health of the game.
Nah Smash isn’t ending any time soon. We’ll get a new one for sure but it will likely try and redefine the series in someway rather than iterate on what Brawl did. This franchise makes too much for Nintendo to stop. A lot of characters are gonna get cut in the next game, especially the 3rd parties, but most of the fandom is already bracing for that anyway so I don’t expect too much backlash.
What will end is Sakurai attempting to one up himself with each new entry. But Smash will go on for a long time.
all i can think is maybe instead of focusing on tons of guest characters, they explore expanding the game in other areas like new game modes or a huge story mode that's really in depth like(but different than) MK. maybe a create a fighter feature as we've seen in different fighting games over the years.
That would require NoA to actually give a shit about voice acting, which they haven’t done in a long time.
On the other hand, that storymode would require even MORE negotiations with various third parties / license holders along the lines of "is this behavior from your character okay", which would drag things out even further. I have a feeling they'd rather not bother with a feature that will cost them a lot of time and isn't guaranteed to boost sales.
Smash's best future in the short term is likely to rerelease Ultimate on the next generation console and add additional characters via DLC. I feel like this is the easiest way to prevent a loss of any of the characters whose current existence is pretty much a miracle while also keeping the game fresh enough for returning players
Even porting it to a new console will probably necessitate a bunch of licensing renegotiations, so don't hold your breath.
@@LordBaktor I think those licensing negotiations will be worth the millions of copies it will inevitably sell
To anyone confused about HAL and Sora, HAL was one of the closest 2nd party studios to Nintendo and originally had Iwata as the president before he went to be Nintendo's president. Sakurai worked at HAL from at least his very first directorial debut with Kirby's Dream Land until he made Kirby Air Ride released in 2003, after that he went freelance with Sora ltd. which is just him and his wife to make it easier for companies to hire them for projects.
Sakurai knew that HAL did not have enough development resources to create something like Brawl (Melee's development was already very straining and brawl was going to have much more content), so he opted for an ad hoc team with people from different studios, but mainly Game Arts, to make Brawl. It was still difficult development wise so with Smash 4 he went for a team from one the biggest guys around, Bandai Namco, who have made both Smash for 3ds/Wii U as well as Smash Ultimate under Sakurai's direction.
HAL worked on many different Nintendo titles back in the day like Pokémon Snap but today they've been just making Kirby games.
What gave me the sign that SSB was done after ultimate was when sakurai said that he was working himself so hard to make the game to the point where he was hooked up to IV bags at one point during development. That sounds like too much strain on the body and dangerous- something i'd imagine he wouldn't do again for the sake of his personal health.
The man fucked up his wrists working on Kid Icarus. I would figure him tearing himself apart for these games would at least have him setting up someone else to take over.
I think it was in Harada's bar interview but Sakurai said he straight up does not drink water (or at least not as much as he should). Said it makes his stomach upset. He apparently drinks coke zero.
@@originalscreenname44 Yeah, it sure seems that way.
@@SnuggsMcDuff Nothing but coke zero? Yeah, drinking nothing but soda constantly sounds dangerous. It'll destroy the teeth too.
@@SnuggsMcDuff that means he's addicted to soda, even Max pointed this out
Simply put, it would be near impossible to find another Sakurai. A man with so much in the industry while at the same time working so hard, that he doesn’t know what the hell the term “vacation” is until everything is said and done (right down to the IV).
Fairly certain we’ve said this before, but fair to say if we do get a Smash after Uptimate, it will likely face such an uphill battle, it is most likely going to be “lacking” by comparison due to what Ultimate pulled off. Hell, still baffles the mind to this day for some of the choices we saw (and seems doubtful we’ll see a good chunk of them return).
Sakurai comes across as one of the good guys in an industry that is severly lacking in that department
It's so hard to be good because it can eat a lot from you while you are expected to be good or better everytime. The Smash fans wanted to make Sora happen despite a very obvious challenge (Disney's monstrous greed, I mean, look what it did to Marvel vs Capcom infinite) and they still delivered even with a blatant compromise. Sakurai and the whole SSB development team and community deserve a milestone recognition.
To be as good as Sakurai and such, you kinda have to be a perfectionist. You need to have the drive already ingrained in you, along with skill, before even getting into the industry and that's a very rare thing. He came from the golden age of gaming. These days, devs get used and abused, their earnestness churned out before they can build a solid foundation and then tossed away for the next batch.
What I think it will be is the end of Sakurai Smash.
He has repeatedly said how ‘this is the last one’.
In fact, wasn’t the fourth one starting dev without him even knowing at first?
Basically, Nintendo absolutely ain’t gonna let Smash die.
But Sakurai has possibly made his magnum opus for Smash. I say possibly though cause you can never tell with this man.
There will def be another one if he talks that way . I am hyped !
Prepare to wait 5+ years at the very least then.
@@samy29987 That’d be too much of a financial risk for Nintendo.
@@Neoxon619it won’t. Nintendo have plenty of other franchises under their belts that will draw people in. Zelda probably sells more Nintendo consoles than Smash does, so they can take the time they need to make sure the next game is done right.
@@originalscreenname44 And it’ll be a while before we get another 3D Zelda since we *just* got TotK. Also, Zelda still sells less than Smash does. Only Mario Kart & Animal Crossing surpass it, the latter of which likely won’t begin full development until after Splatoon 3: Side Order drops later this year.
@@Neoxon619 I don’t think that argument holds up. I just Googled and Breath of the Wild has 31 million and Smash has “over 30 million” so they’re probably dead even. Either way, Nintendo can hold out and make a new Zelda for the next console before Smash and still be good. I’ve seen more people who buy Nintendo consoles specifically to play Zelda games or Pokémon than to play Smash. Yes, Smash still gets a lot of sales because it’s a great first party Nintendo game, but it’s not the main franchise most people spend money on a Nintendo console for.
I really can’t imagine Bandai Namco not putting out a Smash Bros. successor on their own. Ultimate was just too big for them to sit on that, and they’ve got a team of people now that have been working on Smash Bros. since like 2012. Either someone else comes in (there was that rumor they’re making a fighting game for Microsoft) and says “do that for use” or Bandai Namco just does it themselves. I just can’t see Bandai Namco passing up a chance to have their Smash Bros. team do a platform fighter for them when Ultimate is one of the best selling titles they’ve made and they made it for someone else. And Bandai Namco is in the best position of anything in the business to put out a Smash Bros. successor given their licensing deals that allow them to put out crossover games with Shōnen Jump and do stuff like their Super Robot Wars series...they also did those Project X Zone crossover games with Sega and Capcom.
The last DLC for Ultimate came out not even two whole years ago. I wouldn’t be too shocked if we see that Smash Bros. team at Namco has been working on fairly soon. A Jump platform fighter (or some Shogakukan X Shueisha title) seems like it’s be easy money. It also just seems like a total no-brainer, as I’m sure everyone that made Ultimate is fully aware of all the people that wants Goku in Smash. Well, now they can make a Jump one with Goku.
Love the videos max keep up the great work
Ultimate sold 31 million copies. I don't know if sakurai will be a part of it, but nintendo is not gonna stop making these until they stop selling.
If Nintendo wants a new smash they have to find someone that has some years put into the business,someone that devs trust,respect and in a way sorta admire
I think of it this way is that I think he needs rest but if desires to keep working it's his life he deserves to take a break when ever he wants
I always felt like Sakurai San set the bar in another galaxy with Smash ultimate, And I absolutely think he did that on purpose......to me it's the final smash and I'm just happy I got to be alive to experience the hype of this whole franchise from day one, me and my cousin still have wars in Smash ultimate and Melee is still my favorite. Smash ultimate is absolutely the best though it's like Melee mastered 😂......nobody can top this game it shouldn't even exist 😂 I'm still shocked we got Sora (KH ) in smash
he really does need and DID need an understudy. especially during Ultimate's dev period.
its not too late for a few trusted people to start learning. all of Sakurai's videos are a good start since he has been straight up telling how he did things and what his views were on things.
i look forward to if he ever explains why later Smash characters are far more true to the character than earlier characters.
especially by the time Ultimate was a thing. like Mario being perpetually pissed off or the whole Dorf situation and etc.
Obviously more smash will come but it's insane giant billion dollar companies have no plans in place to hire and train up people who can replace him. This happens in all industry, not just gaming.
I mean, the thing you have to understand is that minds like Sakurai aren't grown on trees. I don't think its unreasonable to say that this kind of person happens a couple times a *generation*. You can't "train" a person to think and act like he does, and, like Max said, the respect that comes with his name goes a long ways. You can *say* that this person is Sakurai's protege and has been trained in the ninja arts of Smash Game Creation, but, at the end of the day, they ARE NOT Sakurai.
@@Talesofaweedsmoker did you not read what I said
@@Starwarsgeek12 you also did not read what I said. Your own logic can be used against you here, you think sakurai just got the job one day because he's good? He was trained, he learned, he had a particular vision. You can pass that down to others and that's not happening
@@TheVentrexian yeah, dudes been in the industry for 30+ years, that shit is not gonna happen anytime soon
@@Starwarsgeek12 stop talking
My two biggest copiums for Smash's future is that Sakurai has been training or found a worthy successor for next game in the series or in between his RUclips career, Sakurai is talking with Nintendo about simply porting Ultimate into the next console and adding additional content just like Mario Kart 8 did recently. Ultimate is too big to be left on Switch and not having a new Smash on the upcoming console is a big gamble financially for Nintendo. But also let Sakurai rest, man has done wonders for the gaming community.
May be an unpopular opinion but I'd be happy with a full reboot. Give Ultimate's roster the axe, keep 30 to 40 characters(Around Brawl's size) and completely rework the veterans by giving them much needed new/updated moves. Then switch the online to Rollback and smooth the deal with a Subspace-inspired Adventure mode.
I'd also take a more deep cut down on the roster with the full rework on the core (say 16-20) paired with a focus on indie newcomers.
@@QwixLF indies can stay to other platform fighters like Rivals, as much as I'd LOVE something like Tunic or Pizza Tower repped in Smash they'd have a better shot in Rivals 2.
Cutting down the roster would be really unpopular. The general public like big rosters. It was the main selling point of ultimate.
I think this is the only realistic way forward.
@@michaelchen1046 The problem is that any attempt to reproduce anything close to Ultimate roster wise would fall short. As far as roster goes, nothing like Ultimate will happen again with any reasonable effort. Just a port of it would take an enormous legal decathlon that would span the majority of a console's life cycle, to say nothing of potential newcomers. And if any one rights holder says no, that's it for that character appearing again.
It would be wiser for Smash 6 to reseat the franchise expectations. Take a new direction, and start a new focus. Expanding rosters has been perfected with Ultimate, and that should be left as is.
It honestly makes sense, they should instead for the next Nintendo console give Smash Bros. the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe treatment, and make an expansion of Ultimate with more DLC, maybe call it Ultimate Vol. 2 or something. No reason to make a 6th installment.
That must've been one hell of compensation for dropping all of his projects 🤯!!!
I feel like Nintendo would be absolutely bonkers to not start doing Ultimate dlc again after a few years like Mario Kart 8, it just makes no financial sense. I would safely wager that Smash Ultimate dlc is their best selling dlc from any first party game, it practically prints money. Of course it all depends on Sakurai, and whether he wants to hand the reins to someone else or keep going, but frankly I would not be shocked at all if in 2024-2025 we see Ultimate dlc start up again.
Is may sound weird but watching this video makes me want to play smash brothers less. This guy is so nice and put his heart ,soul, and health on the line and the community was so toxic...
I think the best plan of action for future Smash Bros would be to soft reboot with a smaller dev team using some safe characters in Nintendo's repertoire. Then slowly work their way back up with the new dev team. It'd likely come out with a different experience from Sakurai's version but it'd be a way to help not tarnish the previous generation of Smash Bros games. I doubt this will happen but it'd be the safest and most respectful for all parties.
Sakurai has the right idea.
I don't think there should be another smash, but they should continue to release ultimate with maybe an additional few characters per console generation
The problem with that would be the third party characters, they would have to get all the licenses again every single time
Sakurai even pointed out in the later directs that there will probably not be another chance to have this many game worlds come together
@@BigJinfinity yeah that's definitely gonna make it hard. It may be wishful thinking but I feel like copyright holders would be ok if their characters continued to appear, even sora.
You could totally make another great Smash game. You don't need Sakurai. Mario and Zelda didn't need Miyamoto for every single game. Plus, I'm betting there are companies that Sakurai would never consider that would pay Nintendo to put their characters in the game.
honestly man, platform fighters are getting old for me.. ultimate is fine i guess, but traditional fighters are more up my alley rn
other fighters are infinitely more exciting than platform fighters, smash is done with and everyone else is just trying to milk that same cow instead of making a fun game
@@Ronbotnik “smash is done” It’s currently the single biggest fighting game of all time.
@@8bitdiediedone with meaning theres no more updates, not done for you blockhead
I mean, the only actually good plataform fighters are Smash and Brawhalla (and i don't even like this one that much), so yeah, traditional FGC is still way better, but i still really enjoy Smash.
@@renren47618 OG Rivals of Aether was good, still dunno about the sequel though
With as many characters as smash has there really should be a multi character team mechanic. They need to expand on Ultimate’s squad strike mode and make that the meta for a new game.
I honestly think that with the incoming launch of the next Nintendo console (because we all know it’s coming out relatively soon) that Nintendo is going to pull a Mario Kart 8 and just re-release smash ultimate on the system with new stages and characters.
Business wise, it’s the smartest thing to do. We keep ultimate going and nintendo has little work to do compared to making a brand new game. All they would have to do is to start making new characters, like how they did with MK8 deluxe’s launch and now with the booster course pass. 😊
It’s the safest option to go by. Get a deluxe edition out there and people will buy it.
The next console will probably have retrocompatibility because of Nintendo's recent declarations.
So Ultimate will probably be carried over and being updated for the new system(like Square did for Final Fantasy 7 Remake with Intergrade).
I think if we see an Ultimate follow up, it’ll require a lot of dev time, a significant engine overhaul, and jettisoning all the current third party characters and “start over” with a new slate of third party characters plus a decent chunk of the first party ones. They can’t out Ultimate Ultimate so they’d need to take the franchise in a different direction.
in a nutshell, they need to do for Smash what SF6 did for the whole SF series. Huge eye-catching aesthetic overhaul, update the most famous legacy characters while sprinkling in some fresh faces, make it super balanced while still being fun and approachable, and give it impeccable technical performance and online features for a fighting game.
In fact, maybe even change developers from Bandai-Namco to Capcom, if they can afford the offer of manpower from whatever else they're working on, since Capcom got online so right with SF6 and Bamco is still just getting there with Tekken 8.
(a lot of iconic SF characters aren't in because of the story, but some might come back -- a lot of great 3rd party characters for Smash might not come back due to licensing difficulties, but there's always a chance since so many seemingly impossible ones ended up making it for SSBU)
It may be the last one that will ever be made, but will always be one of my favorite Nintendo games I enjoyed playing.
I get the feeling if Sakurai was brought back specifically as a creative consultant he’d still go above and beyond, doing as much if not more directing than the games actual director.
Honestly I would love to see Harada’s Smash Bros if I had to pick a different director.
I have absolutely no doubt that there's going to be another smash game. My question however is, where the heck do we go from here? What Sakurai and his team were able to pull off in Ultimate is ashtonishing. Will the next smash game on the next console have almost a completely different roster? Or will they just continue to build off of Ultimate? Will they try to add new formulas to the game or keep it the same? So many questions.
- Great single player content with substance
- Actual functional online from rollback netcode and better online matchmaking in general
- More customization options like costumes/layouts ect
- Proper game balance
So yeah there's a lot they can do for the next title to make it better than Ultimate, even if they'll cut out some characters. But of course the only thing that matters nowadays in this Fortnite era is having out of left field guest character or else it's a 0/10 😑
EDIT: oh yeah also actually make new movesets for the legacy characters that improves upon them, some need them desperately *cough* Ganondorf *cough* Sonic
@@islandboy9381Agreed, ppl are too quick to put this game on a pedestal. Yes there's alot of great things about it but there are just as many improvements or changes that could be made in the future
I think sakurai probably has a small bit of an ego as well. I think he likes the idea of "Im the only one who can do this " so he hasn't actively looked into a prodige
As much respect as I’m willing to give Sakurai for his dedication to smash, and ensuring every character gets treated as well as possible… I have mixed feelings about what he says regarding not being able to move on without him. Were he to have a say in whether there was a new smash title, it would be fine, but given that they will eventually move on without him, it feels irresponsible to not at least attempt to have found somebody to take the reins over the course of Ultimate’s extended development.