Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Director Masahiro Sakurai Says Goodbye To the Game

Fighters Pass Vol. 2 will truly be Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final expansion, as creator and director Masahiro Sakurai said goodbye to the game at the end of the last Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct. Both Nintendo and Sakurai previously confirmed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate support was coming to an end, but some fans clung to hopes it was a fake-out and that a third Fighters Pass would be announced.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released at the end of 2018, but its continuous stream of DLC has consistently kept it in the public eye. Nintendo has peppered Super Smash Bros. fighter reveals throughout its Direct presentations, and even at the annual The Game Awards. These character announcements have often been as highly anticipated as brand new games during Nintendo Directs, especially as the close proximity between their reveals and releases mean players quickly get to experience them afterward.

The final “Mr. Sakurai Presents” Nintendo stream revealed that Sora is coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the game’s final DLC character. The Kingdom Hearts character’s full moveset, new Hollow Bastion stage, DOOM and Splatoon Mii Fighter costumes, and more were revealed, and no mention of a Fighters Pass Vol. 3 ever came. After sharing some of the game’s impressive milestones, Sakurai thanked Super Smash Bros. developers and fans and bid the game a last farewell, saying:

“Being entrusted to develop a game using those fighters has been a special experience and a true honor. I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone. To the development team and all those who worked to promote the game. To those involved in the original games, and to everyone who has enjoyed playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Thank you very much. Please let me say goodbye.”

While Sakurai’s goodbye sounds potentially final, the Smash Bros. creator’s retirement or any concrete suggestions that Super Smash Bros.Ultimate will be his final series game weren’t mentioned in the statement. However, he has touched on those possibilities in the past.

Sakurai, his Sora studio, and the rest of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team have much to be proud of. The crossover platform fighter is the third bestselling Nintendo Switch game, behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it has an impressive console attach rate. The game seems to have managed to balance its appeal, with both casual gamers and hardcore competitive players remaining largely satisfied three years down the line. It’s hard to deny Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the most substantial video game crossover in the medium’s history so far, with a roster that will be extremely difficult to match in hypothetical future installments.

Source: Nintendo/YouTube

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Scott Baird
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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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