There's "No Way" Future Smash Bros. Games Will Have As Many Fighters As Ultimate, Says Sakurai

Then, the next Nintendo console comes, and once again a new Smash Bros. game is revealed, and everyone is here again, no character cuts.

Or, the next Smash is just a port of Ultimate with many more features and better graphics.

why would we ever need another Smash Game? Just add new fighters, stages, modes, music etc. Port it to the next console and make it free/ low cost to move over the current software to the new console for any existing users

Never say never

I'm not surprised. There must be a lot of legal stuff to get through to get third party characters in the game as it is.

Thankfully, Nintendo fans take the news of not having as many characters for developments sake pretty well

ring ring

'Hello? Oh. Ok I see. Pokemon, eh?'

Forget that last bit

Personally after 5 generations I'd like to see a reimagination of the series akin to BOTW. Maybe with characters large enough so I can actually see where I am on the screen. That way you could chose 20-30 key characters and give an entirely different experience.

He already said this in the last video

@gamer89 well unless you love all the characters revealed you are right not much value, thankfully you can buy individual packs for £5 or something like that. I bought the Banjo one as it is probably my fav IP of all time. I will just buy characters I love individually.

I think he'll have had enough after this marathon

I bet the guy who wrote this article is not a Nintendo fan. If he was he would have known that these exactly same words of Sakurai were said in the latest Nintedo Direct broadcast.

ps: I also think that the next game will be called "Super Smash Bros Ultimate 4K HD" and it will be published for Nintendo Switch 2.

So Nintendo/Sakurai are just going to tease me, and then just walk away...?

I feel so used.

I love it.

Pokemon fans left the chat

Sorry.

That game is really huge, an fun to play, even the story mode and everything... It's really great, I don't need a new one becouse this is rally massive and it's still getting updates and characters. I think it will be the ultimate Smash Bros for a lot of years

I hope Nintendo one day releases a deluxe or definitive version of Ultimate with all dlc and fighters on one cart.

Next Smash should be a reboot. Small roster, tight balance.

Could quite easily be made a f2p game with in game contents to buy. Would make even more millions!!

As awesome as Ultimate is Nintendo have kind of backed themselves into a corner for future titles. Personally I would be content to just keep expanding Ultimate with new characters/modes/stages ad infinitum and only release new software when it is required to run on the next gen console.

The other option would be for the next game to be radically different in some way so as not to draw direct comparisons. Personally I would welcome this but unfortunately it would most likely be criticised by most for not being "true Smash'"

@eltomo Smash...
F2P...
Please no...

And future Smash Bros. Games will be better for it.

Approaching one hundred playable characters is ridiculous.

@martynstuff It’s not the loss of the National Dex that made fans mad. It wasn’t even the excuses/lies that Game Freak gave, but rather how inconsistent they were with them. Each time they were asked why Pokemon were getting cut they’d tell a new story. First it was “too many to fit on switch”, then it was “we had to sacrifice Pokemon for the animations”, then when that didn’t go well they changed it to “we redid every model, to look exactly the same as the 3DS models!!”

This had just been stewing for a while. A lot had been angry before when they would remove core features like poffin cooking, secret bases, the underground, contests, the battle frontier, Pokemon following you, the PWT. Combine that with the increasing linearity in route design, as well as a lack of true post game exploration content because Masuda started scrapping that when he took charge (he has a very mobile-phone related mindset for the franchise, look at his 3DS interviews), it is understandable that fans would reach a breaking point.

As long as they don't bring any more Pokemon or Fire Emblem characters to the new fighter pass, I will be happy

Didn't he say this was the last Smash Bros game once? Or was it HIS last Smash Bros game?

If Samuri says working is like playing online... You know where I'm trying to go

@gamer89 Well first of all the value of video games are exponentially higher than $60. Realistically I would say video games (AAA) released are close to more like $80-$90 but the market is so competitive and anyone that releases a game at that price point will struggle. No one can argue that the cost of producing high quality games is astronomical.

The season pass adds to the game but you have to look at the value of the pass. I trust Nintendo when it comes to season passes and I knew it would pay off. $25 for 5 characters, each character from a different gaming company (Joker - Atlus, Hero - Square Enix, Banjo Kazooie - Microsoft, Terry Bogard - SNK). Different companies require negotiations with lawyers and several steps of approval from the company itself. To be honest Sakurai has spoiled us, no other game can say it has enough 3rd party characters to make a game without their own flagship titles.

I predict that there will be, however, I do believe some of the fighters could be replaced by new fighters.

I'd be happy if Smash ultimate just gets ported to the next console each generation, and we get a few DLC packs to add more characters. I mean this is the perfect version of Smash bros as a base game ( Not including story mode for example) You can keep all the characters, spend very little time on development and keep the franchise going

I really dunno what they could do to make a new entry feel worth it after Ultimate.

Fine by me. One of the annoying things about fighting game franchises is how they keep accumulating more and more characters over time, to the point where the roster becomes an impenetrable bloated mess, where you only really have time to just skim everything (if you're a newcomer). People think they want more of everything (because they have the mentality of a child) but the more there is, the less value and meaning any of it has. There has to be a balance.

I've also heard people try and claim that if the next Smash Bros makes cuts to the roster from Ultimate it won't sell, which is pretty dumb. I mean, Mortal Kombat Armageddon had an absurdly bloated character roster. The next game pretty much reduced the roster by half and sold over twice as much. I don't think it really matters that much. I think the next Smash Bros will do fine regardless of roster size.

I don't think some people understand that they will probably face the same legal issues trying to keep the third-party characters for a port as making a new game.

That's expected tbh. Partly because it's a hassle to arrange legal terms with other companies, partly because balancing such a massive roster is a nightmare

At this point their ONLY option would be to port Ultimate to the "Switch 2" All DLC included, and then just work on more DLC fighters, building on what they already have. I understand this would ALSO be very difficult due to licensing... But I beleive most of these 3rd party companies would be happy to keep their IPs in Smash and would probably consider cutting Nintendo a deal since it's a mutually beneficial thing to have your IP in Smash.

I want Smash Bros 3D playing like Dreamcast Power Stone. It wouldn’t play like traditional Smash Bros but then Super Mario 64 doesn’t play like Super Mario Bros.

I was shocked when they revealed Smash ultimate because I honestly felt Smash 4 did so much I couldn't possibly see them expanding it. I truly felt they could've just ported smash 4 added some new characters and no one would've complained. Nintendo went above and beyond for Ultimate so I couldn't possibly be upset if a future release couldn't stack up to this. If possible I'd say just continue to port ultimate if it allows the current roster to remain without legal issues. I also would personally love a smash 64 style remake. Use 64 bit graphics and have a roster of maybe around 30 or 40 and release it as a digital download for around $20 to $30. I think a smaller scale game could be a nice placeholder until a larger release comes out.

Makes sense. I doubt re-releasing/porting the game is quite that easy. They'd have to contact each IP holder again unless they've struck some miraculous deal with each developer that says they can use their characters/music/etc. and port it indefinitely and all this was done with single payment or a payment plan that lasts as long as the game is being sold. Someone's going to say no eventually.

Sakurai, you dug this whole yourself. Fans will never be happy with future titles if you don't at least meet the quality of this game.

He has to know this. If he doesn't intent to deliver this level of product again, then he should consider it the final entry in the series and in 10 years or so drop an Ultra HD remaster or something.

I think we are underestimating the roster composed only by Nintendo character. Yes, third party character are now waaaay more than at the Sm4sh times, but if we will have a future Smash without any non-Nintendo character, we will still have more than sixty playable characters.

He said the same thing last time

For the next smash i want subspace 2! Man did i love that storymode and the many cutscenes, really Brought the characters to life.

Smash Ultimate really deserves the title for being "Ultimate" its the best of all combined.

I knew it! I asked myself this question after more DLC characters were revealed, and felt that Sakurai has resolved himself to making SSB his magnum opus, and this proves it. I also thought about how going forward there was just no way this series will just get bigger again in the next iteration and will have to be scaled down. All in all I'm just loving the series and look forward to what's next.

The only way I could see a Smash game having more characters than Ultimate is if they heavily build off of it for the next installment or if it's in development for far longer than the other games.

inb4 "But we need to pirate Smash Ultimate, or there will never be a way to play as Joker and Banjo again!"

While not the happiest news it’s understandable because at some point they’d end up with the Pokémon problem i.e. to many characters and stages to design, build and balance.

@Bunkerneath : It's not the abundance of Pokémon/Fire Emblem characters that are the problem, but rather the quality. Most of the Fire Emblem characters in Smash are bland as hell (especially the non-customisable avatars) and the Pokémon characters are painfully "safe". With both franchises having such rich and colourfully diverse casts, it's an absolute shame that they have, more often than not, opted for the blandest of the bland.

Okay, Sakurai. Whatever you say.

Time will tell, I suppose. Maybe not for some time, but I could see a Smash Mega or something along those lines rolling along in a couple of decades if the series is still going strong by then.

No surprise here. Smash Bros Ultimate is something that will never be replicated ever again in gaming (or any entertainment medium for that matter).

But there is a lot to Smash Bros outside of its roster, and I hope the next Smash Bros game(s) focus on improving those aspects (i.e. more than a handful of new stages, an actual story mode ala Subspace, more game modes, etc) rather than forever being stuck with dealing with a gigantic roster.

So that means there will be more dlc fighters and more and more?

The nice part is that since most of the characters are Nintendo owned, most of the roster will still be there. There may be a few companies that choose to not license their characters again because they think they're worth something more, (Square with Cloud and Hero) but I think most companies are smart enough to realize that they get more out of having their characters in Smash than Nintendo does. Sega has no reason to want Sonic out, given that his games only sell well when they're made by Christian Whitehead. Given that Bayonetta is basically a Nintendo franchise now, it wouldn't make sense to not license her. Konami could pull Snake, Simon and Richter, but that would be a pretty stupid move (especially Simon and Richter) as Smash is basically free advertising for their games. Capcom could pull Mega Man, but it's not like they're doing much with the IP they might as well just accept the free advertising, same with Ryu and Ken. SNK could pull Terry but... why? Microsoft probably wouldn't want to risk the flak of taking away Banjo.

So while he says "we will never be able to do this again" really the only company that I can possibly see being willing to shoot themselves in the face, is Square... because Square is like that. The rest of the companies involved all have pretty close ties to Nintendo, and have more to gain in being in Smash than Nintendo has to gain by having them.

The only thing that I can think of is that Sakurai MIGHT be getting tired of rebalancing characters all the time.

That said I suspect that when the Switch 2 comes out, they'll just keep this game, maybe release a deluxe version that has all the DLC fighters up to a certain date included. But I kind of don't think we'll need another Smash for another 10+ years.

I wouldn't have expected the next Smash to be this massive. In fact, I would love for a bit of refresh with the next title. Of course, some of the series mainstays and some newer fighters return. But I would love to see a Smash that tackles some of the more underapprecited franchises in Nintendo. And if it's a matter of some companies no longer willing to work with Nintendo and having their characters used, I'm sure there are dozens of others who would jump at the chance to have their characters featured in a Smash game

He says this after every game...

The next Smash Bros should have a story mode that plays like an action RPG. Basically Kingdom Hearts in the Nintendo universe. Still have a scaled back multiplayer mode with about 20-30 characters. Change focus without abandoning the series roots. I think people would accept this. Part of the series appeal is fan-service, and this would allow plenty of that just in a different way.

The game is still getting updates, but it is almost a year old. Maybe sales are a little sluggish right now, and he's just trying to put the game in the news? I doubt that, as it already is in gamer news.

@gamer89 IMO, the price of the season pass is well worth it.

Yes, the game is £50-60 here in UK. But that's a stonkingly good price for the amount of content you get in this game. Putting aside the absurd amount of base characters, this game feels like 3 games in one (Adventure mode, Classic Mode, Multi player mode). Not to mention the free updates Sakurai and Co have been pumping out.

So yes, season pass is half the price of the game. But the game is already very competively priced. Make no mistake, even if you don't cough up money for the season pass, you are getting a very complete game.

Each DLC character has a lot of thought and care put into it, and this really shines through in the Smash directs.

I paid for season 1 of DLC characters before knowing who they will be, and I intend to do that for season 2 as well.

@gamer89 A lot of stages and characters are from older games. It's several times easier to improve something that's already made. Smash Ultimate at launch added 7 unique fighters, with 5 echos, and 7 new stages. For 25$, you are getting 5 more unique fighters, from new series that haven't been in Smash before, along with 5 new stages, and accompanying music tracks. I see it is a great deal.

@Aurumonado I completely agree! Nobody owns a true crystal ball to predict the future

@Chunkboi79 Welcome to being a Canadian the game is $80 here. But, I get your point and it does sound fair. I don't think the price is that outlandish considering how much the base game offers it almost feels like a crime buying the game for $80 when other companies charge the same amount for so much less. But, I also get the point that $25 does sound a little pricey when the base game has so much content and your only getting 5 fighters, and 5 stages in the pack. But at the end of the day its not a bad deal at all considering what you're getting but its very subjective.

@DavidMac I agree I doubt the 3rd Parties would want to pull their characters from Smash unless Nintendo is really low-balling them with the licencing fee. And the only one I see really pulling a stunt like that is Square or Konami.

The only way I see Microsoft pulling Banjo is if Nintendo and Microsoft have a falling out. Which I don't see happening anytime soon unless Microsoft really tries to force Nintendo to adopt a Microsoft product in their next console. But, I would not mind if Nintendo scratched Microsoft's back by letting one of their characters appear in Killer Instinct.

As special as SB is, based on Kid Icarus Uprising, I think I'd rather he moved onto other projects. I'm sad to hear he hasn't been working on anything else in all that time and won't for awhile.

I know Nintendo definitely wants to have 1 Smash for each console generation, but really, what is the point in another one? What else can be done? Ultimate is a Smash enthusiasts wet dream made reality. The only thing that could really be improved at this point is the online play and a new game isn't required to improve that. Software updates to Ultimate can help that or better yet, what they REALLY need to do is setup dedicated servers and rewrite and update the netcode on Ultimate. Yeah, a lot of work to make that happen, but it would reduce lag greatly. Helps compensate a lot for players with shoddy connections.

For the next smash, I'm hoping for something akin to Street fighter or Tekken. But who knows with Nintendo

Another Smash Bros. game "confirmed".

also, i hope by this he means the next one will have new characters only. I am soooo tired of old characters in new versions of games, i buy the new versions so i can play with the new characters. Lord.

Just as well. It's time to cull the roster of fighters that were there as advertisements and past their expiration date, and also simplify the gameplay and items to stamp out the elitism and other toxic elements.

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’d feel short changed if the next games roster was smaller and/or missing characters, it would be like going from Melee to smash 64, it would feel like a step backwards, the more the merrier I say!

Then I guess there's no point getting the next Smash game if there already admitting there not going to put effort in getting more characters/content for the game

really tho this makes little sense, if sakurai is really "over worked" and such then hire more staff to work on the game, it's not like Smash doesn't print money

I just want to see him make something else. This is Kirby all over again.

When Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue gets added, I'll grab a copy. Isn't that nuts? I mean SNK's Terry made it in...why not Ryo? The more characters they add, the tougher to beat this rendition of the game next time we get Smash. They may have to focus on the game more and not characters next time...add something to negate the fact we won't have 100 fighters in Smash next time.

Love Sakurai as much as the next guy, but if everything he's ever said were completely accurate, he would have retired from this series years ago. The challenges inherent to producing games as large as Ultimate are vast, but the industry is only going to continue to create demand for larger, sleeker, more content-heavy and demanding games, and Smash Bros. will scale to compete.

The development challenges are naturally the primary driver. The legal aspect is not as much of a challenge as it's made out to be — it doesn't take much more than a phone call to get the OK from IP owners for their characters to appear in Smash Bros. (it's hardly an unknown property with debatable quality and a high risk factor, is it? I doubt characters like Sonic The Hedgehog have anything to lose by appearing as a fighter!).

I pretty much only play Link and hes basically guaranteed so this doesn't effect me much.

@Travisemo007 hmm not real sure what you're referring to. Fighting games always have their legacy fighters. In addition, I don't know what's wrong with playing older characters. Especially since they have more relevance in the Nintendo universe.

Makes sense to me.

@gamer89 That's like saying you can get a 12 pack of soda for $3.50 so you don't understand why people ever buy individual cans for $1.00.

Bulk purchases are usually better value per item, lol.

I'm not interested in a smaller roster. I'm only Interested in Ultimate+ for Switch 2 and Ultimate DX for Switch 3.

Why is Ultimate the best Smash Bros. game?
Because Everyone Is Here! Everyone's main is playable, even the super-niche ones, even the ones we thought were lost. No one is left out. Smash is like family.

You want a reimagined Smash? Switch has at least 2 of them: Brawlhalla and Brawlout.

You want Nintendo to change up the fighting game formula? My recommendations: Pokémon Tekken, ARMS, Punch-Out!!, Wii Sports Boxing, Wii Sports Resort Swordfight, Killer Instinct Gold, Joy Mech Fight, Pro Wrestling, Urban Champion or maybe a fighting game that is not by Nintendo?

@Chunkboi79 im also refering to fighting games in general lol. not just smash. and nah...nintendo wont put a character in smash that has no revelance to Nintendo anyway. i just think its boring to rehash old characters over and over and over again in each new version in a series. thats Not what i buy the next game for ever. if i want to play the old characters and stages, ill play the version there on. Hence giving each version a purpose instead of never playing the old versions again hardly.

@Travisemo007 joker has literally zero relevance to Nintendo and got in...

@Chunkboi79 hes a character i dont really care for, sooo ima not count him lol. Besides persona games have been on nintendo systems before.

@Travisemo007 you can't count him just cause you don't care for him. Cloud was never on a Nintendo system either before Sm4sh either lol

Smash Bros Ultimate is starting to look like MUGEN now.

This is why I think Smash Bros needs to end. When you run a franchise of this particular fashion for this long, eventually it's legacy starts to work against it because there's always going to be that 1 game that players will deem superior to the newer ones.
Sure, some franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid don't get caught up in this problem because in those games you take the role of only 1 or 2 characters and the world the game is built around is 100% fresh with new ideas.
Take a look at Super Mario Odyssey, that game clearly doesn't have much from past Mario games but that's fine because it was never meant to be.
Smash Bros, on the other hand, is a game built around playing as multiple characters and because of that, rather than the "world" being the focus, the focus is on who you play as and eventually, the roster is going to get so large that it becomes borderline impossible to make anything superior in terms of who you can play as. On top of that, Smash Bros Ultimate doesn't only have a massive roster, it has a dream roster! We got Cloud, Banjo Kazooie, Sonic, Snake, Simon Belmont, and so on.
Not only is the character count ridiculous, so is many of the actual fighters you can select! And we're not even done yet!
Let Smash Bros end on a super high note, that's what I say.

@NCChris I'd be down for a port going forward if this roster will be the same going forward. The mechanics are basically the best they've ever been.

@Chunkboi79 final fantasy was though. Persona was as well. Its the series/worlds that are represented that are important i think.

@Travisemo007 Realistically, anyone can get in now a days XD

@Chunkboi79 hopefully lol. They should throw sakurai in there or some op new boss character representing him that we can unlock.

@Chunkboi79 While I am down for that, it's not that simple. Unless Nintendo outright buys the 3rd Party content that's in SSBU, those copyright agreements are going to eventually expire and there's no promise Nintendo will be able to renew all of them.
Plus, history has shown that re-releasing the same game over and over again is not a good idea. Nowadays, whenever games like Skyrim or Street Fighter 2 get announced for a newer system, most people's reaction is "Oh my gosh! Another port!? Give it a rest already!".
On top of that, while this wouldn't be an issue right now, eventually SSBU just won't hold up graphically when compared to other titles on a future system and buyers won't see it being worth the purchase, especially since Nintendo loves to charge full price for games that came out years ago.

@NCChris Skyrim I could see why people would get upset with ports. Street fighter 2 I don't remember that many people getting upset. Considering fighting games stand the test of time in most cases. I mean shoot, do you know how excited people would be to have smash melee on their switch. Those graphics are still very pleasing to look at and the gameplay still holds up today.

However, yes they would have to keep renewing the copyrights. Which would prove difficult. Smash is a game they can keep building on and if that means just adding more and more content to SSBU I would be down for it. Developers are capable of polishing games as well for remakes. Like what they did with street fighter 2 and TLOZ's on the 3ds. Not saying it would be easy or possible, but smash always 1up's the previous rendition. i don't see the possibility to do it again, but then again I didn't think they would be able to 1up the wii u smash.

@Chunkboi79 SSBM is fine for 1 more re-release because unlike Street Fighter 2 and Skyrim, that game has never seen any form of a re-release. Heck, they could re-release SSBM at least twice and people would still be happy with it.
Another thing to consider is SSBU technically had a lucky break, with the exception of Smash Bros 64 to Smash Bros Melee, there has always been a break between developments of a Smash Bros game.
But with SSBU, they literally jumped straight from SSB4 to SSBU, why is this important? Because it meant the models could still be reused and it meant the team could be kept around.
Since the team that worked on SSB4 moved straight to SSBU, they already had 1 hell of a foot in the door as it meant they wouldn't have to worry about pulling a new team together.
As for the models, a lot is reused and that's a really smart move, reusing models drastically cuts down on the work needed. Sure it's still a lot of hard work but it's nowhere close as much as starting from scratch.
But when the next Smash Bros comes, it's likely that not only will the team be different but the models may no longer meet the standard Sakurai or Nintendo wants. Combine that with what I said about renewing the copyrights and it becomes very unlikely that the next Smash Bros will be able to top SSBU.
This is why I believe, unless they follow your idea of always porting SSBU, that Smash Bros should close it's doors. With the peak this game has hit, I think it's ran it's course as best it can and anything they try after will simply not compare.

Pooptalk from mister Sakurai. They have digged their own ditch with Ultimate: No one will settle for less characters when Smash 6 arrives. That's just how it goes!

then the next smash comes out and there's no cut characters.