The latest Famitsu Column from Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai has revealed that, following the six DLC characters in Fighter Pass 2, Nintendo has no further plans for Smash Ultimate.
The news comes thanks to the ever diligent translation work of AllSourceGaming journalist and translator PushDustIn, who regularly posts Sakurai column translations to Twitter. Sakurai’s columns in the Famitsu magazine dive into the history of the game’s development and Sakurai’s approach. They also have a handy tendency to leak online (see ryokutya2089.com) in advance of the magazine’s release.
Famitsu Column for Sakurai has leaked.
— PushDustIn (@PushDustIn) February 19, 2020
Here are some takeaways:
6 additional fighters are being made for Smash Ultimate. After that, there are no other plans so Smash Ultimate is almost finished.
This column confirms not only that Smash Ultimate’s support wis likely tofinish after Fighter Pass 2 has dropped off all six of its new characters, but also that all the choices were made by Nintendo, not Sakurai and his team. Sakurai goes on to state that Smash Ultimate fills his development time completely, meaning he can’t work on any new game concepts.
Finally, Nintendo isn’t currently planning a fresh entry in the Super Smash Bros. series. That’s no real surprise though, given how much success Ultimate continues to see and how much development time the game is taking. Will Nintendo be able to rope Sakurai into another Smash game after work on Ultimate concludes? We daren’t try to guess. That’ll be down to Sakurai and his team further down the line.
Sakurai and Nintendo aren't planning any future entries in the Smash series right now. So he doesn't know what will happen.
— PushDustIn (@PushDustIn) February 19, 2020
Adding content to this game little by little extends Smash Ultimate's life. So Sakurai plans to give it his all for the last 6 fighters.
Does this mean that Smash Ultimate is nearing the end of the line? Not by a long shot. With six more characters to deliver, Ultimate will likely be receiving new content for another year at least, and Sakurai promises to give it his all for each and every addition. Of course, the company could also change their mind before Fighter Pass 2 ends, and decide to stick another 20 characters into the bulging sack of fighters Ultimate has conjured up.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Fighter Pass 2 promises six new fighters, following the addition of Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Terry and Byleth in Fighter Pass 1. It’s already available to purchase from the Nintendo Switch store, providing not just six new characters, but also the Ancient Soldier outfit. Each new character will also be available individually in six new Character Packs.
More Smash Ultimate content:
- Characters we want in Smash Ultimate's Fighter Pass 2
- MKLeo's tier list for Smash Ultimate 7.0 is here
- Shacknews to host $20k Smash Ultimate invitational tournament
