Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's director, Masahiro Sakurai, has officially stated that his involvement with the game is now complete following the rollout of version 13.0.2. This recent update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was made available earlier this week, focusing on enhancing the game's amiibo feature. It introduces compatibility with the amiibo modeled after the game's final DLC character, Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
Although the active development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has gradually slowed down over the past few years, occasional minor updates were still being provided. These updates included new spirit events inspired by recently launched Nintendo Switch titles like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which came out after the completion of Ultimate's DLC development phase. Additionally, the game continued to expand its roster of amiibos based on the DLC fighters, with Sora's amiibo hitting the market on February 16. With the release of Sora's amiibo, Sakurai affirms that his work on the fighting game has reached its conclusion.
Deconstructing Sakurai's Recent Super Smash Bros. Announcement
Sakurai made this declaration on his Twitter account, commemorating the launch of Sora's amiibo for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In a rough translation, he shared a congratulatory message for the Sora amiibo's release, appreciating its appearance and the pose crafted by the sculptors. His tweet serves as a confirmation that his involvement with Ultimate is finally drawing to a close, as he expresses gratitude to the numerous fans for their unwavering support.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was initially released on December 7, 2018, featuring approximately 76 playable characters at launch. Through subsequent DLCs, the character roster expanded to nearly 90 characters by the time Sora was introduced. Each character in the Ultimate roster has been associated with an amiibo figure. Amiibos released during the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS era are all compatible with Ultimate, and every new character introduced in Ultimate received its own figure.
While Sakurai's involvement with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was already nearing completion, his tweet seems to serve as a farewell to the game itself. Regarding Sakurai's current endeavors, there are indications of his return to game development. He recently announced the conclusion of his YouTube channel, planning to wrap up its content by 2024. The prevailing rumors surrounding Sakurai suggest that he might be working on a new Super Smash Bros. game for the speculated successor to the Nintendo Switch console. These rumors, however, remain unverified, prompting fans to await further developments patiently and take any information about Sakurai and the Super Smash Bros. franchise with cautious optimism.