Do you think Sakurai is happy working on Smash?

[Water Mage]

Whenever I hear about Sakurai talking about Smash these days, I always have the feeling he started to resent the series. I mean the whole reason he left HAL was because he was tired of making sequels, and yet look at him now.

With this Smash having all the veterans, Ridley as a fighter and mechanics made with 1-1 matches in mind, I get the feeling he was like “I give up, I just give the fans what they want so they won’t complain”.

Honestly, ever since Smash 4’s development I had the impression that he’s resenting Smash.

[Ottservia]

Yeah I'm getting the same feeling.  I honestly feel bad for the guy. I mean he's a genius game designer and I feel like he just wants to do something new something besides another smash but because smash is so popular I doubt nintendo is going to let him. I don't know my feelings on this are hard to put into words but I digress.

[EricaofRenais]

When I watched the E3 direct he looked pretty depressed to me, like OK people I gave you a new improved Smash now let me work on something I want to work on this time.  I really hope he gets to take a vacation and when he goes back to work he gets to work on something other then Smash.

[Dai]

Unfortunately, we can't know for certain unless he comes right out and say it. If anything, he might have resented Smash a bit during Wii U/3DS because his health wasn't quite the best, but otherwise...honestly, if he didn't want to work on it, I kind of feel like Nintendo would understand and simply put another director on if necessary.

[SoulWeaver]

1 hour ago, Water Mage said:

With this Smash having all the veterans, Ridley as a fighter and mechanics made with 1-1 matches in mind, I get the feeling he was like “I give up, I just give the fans what they want so they won’t complain”

I don't think that's what he's saying. For one, we would have got Waluigi as a fighter too if that had been his goal, seeing as how people have been super super whiny about him being an Assist since Brawl. For another, Sakurai's smarter than that - he knows that no matter how much he tries to please the fanbase, pretty much all he'll ever hear from us is what a bad job we think he did. I mean, look at how he finally gave in and added Daisy only to have the internet blow up at him because we didn't also get both Waluigi and Toad at the same time.
There's also the fact that they seem really, really focused on trying to replace Melee as the go-to Smash game for Tournament Play, yet refuse to give us what the majority of us would most likely want in a Melee Replacement - that is, Melee but with upgraded graphics and all the Brawl/Sm4sh characters added and Final Smashes. Instead, they have to watch us keep replacing the old Melee Replacements with new ones because the new ones are a little closer to Melee than the ones before them so they work better for tournaments than their predecessors.
I think Sakurai actually does love making games and has a passion for it - a look at all the little details he goes into with each Smash alone showcases that in my opinion - and in the end, as long as he can see he's making people happy, he will be too. The major problem is that he's trying to cater to a fanbase of whiny little (self-censored)s, hence my own personal decision to stop being so vocal about what I don't like about Smash...even though I still think we have too many Mario reps.

[Armagon]

I think he resents the process of working on the game. He injured his hand doing so in Smash 4.

But does he hate the game itself? No. I think he very much enjoys it and the community it's given birth too. Just look at E3. He took time out of his busy schedule to fly from Japan to America and interact with some of Smash's top players and it looks like he genuinely enjoyed it. So no, i don't think he hates Smash. If anything, he just hates the development cycle. Smash Bros is the most ambitious fighting game there is.

[Water Mage]

42 minutes ago, Dai said:

Unfortunately, we can't know for certain unless he comes right out and say it. If anything, he might have resented Smash a bit during Wii U/3DS because his health wasn't quite the best, but otherwise...honestly, if he didn't want to work on it, I kind of feel like Nintendo would understand and simply put another director on if necessary.

I don’t think Nintendo necessarily gives him a choice.

Nintendo can be pretty brutal when they want something. Actually japanese companies in general don’t really care if they’re employees are happy or not. They just want results.

[Dai]

1 minute ago, Water Mage said:

I don’t think Nintendo necessarily gives him a choice.

Nintendo can be pretty brutal when they want something. Actually japanese companies in general don’t really care if they’re employees are happy or not. They just want results.

Far as I know, Nintendo treats their employees quite well. They can be stern, but I've never heard of them being downright unfair to their employees.

[Nym]

I wouldn't be surprised if this Smash was the final one, at least for him if Nitendo wants to continue milking the series.

[Water Mage]

5 minutes ago, Dai said:

Far as I know, Nintendo treats their employees quite well. They can be stern, but I've never heard of them being downright unfair to their employees.

It’s not really had treatment but rather something that’s ingrained in japanese work culture. To them, working until you drop is the standard, so the employees wouldn’t complain about something that is considered the standard. 

Although I don’t know if Nintendo is really like that. 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Water Mage

[thecrimsonflash]

regardless of anything said, I think this will be sakurai's last smash bros, I think he may have felt some resentment during the wii u/3ds  development, but I think that he may have been unsatisfied with it, so now he is trying to make his ultimate smash bros, so that he can go out with real satisfaction, knowing that he made a game to bring the community together one that can be enjoyed by casuals and pros alike.

I guess that my answer is, no he is not happy working on a new smash bros, but he is less happy that his last entry was not his opus, I really think he is doing this one for the fans, and with that he added ridley, even though, I believe it kind of kills him inside to have to include him in this way, but fan demand made it happen. I think this is sakurai's last before it is put on someone else's shoulders and I think he wanted to create a perfect smash bros so that if there is a sequel without him, the framework for that ideal sequel is still there, where everyone is back and where all players, are satisfied.

[NinjaMonkey]

37 minutes ago, thecrimsonflash said:

and where all players, are satisfied.

I can take that as K.Rool confirmed, right?

2 hours ago, Otts486 said:

 I feel like he just wants to do something new something besides another smash but because smash is so popular I doubt nintendo is going to let him.

Yeah, it's not as though Nintendo would let him make a Kid Icarus game or anything.

Oh wait...

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Sakurai seems like a very introverted guy. It's hard to get a read on him, and he barely has a social media presence. I think it's clear from interviews that he loves gaming. I think he's the only japanese person in the world to own an Xbox One because his tastes are so incredibly diverse. 3000 games! All physical! Like, what? I only break one thousand and that's counting digital.

He still has his own development studio so him making a non smash bros. game in the future still feels likely. Kid Icarus Uprising was low key the best non RPG 3DS game I've ever played. Sakurai wrote the entire script. Every joke. Dude has serious comedic chops. I'm sure he could bring that same talent to any classic nintendo franchise revival. I hope Smash bros can get years of updates without Sakurai's direct oversight so that the guy can rest and make his own game again.

[Anacybele]

Whoa now, I really doubt Nintendo mistreats anybody working for them! Remember how Iwata took a paycut after the Wii U failed so other employees wouldn't have to? I wouldn't be surprised if there were other high up guys there who would've done the same thing.

As for Sakurai, I like to think he has a love/hate relationship with Smash in particular. Like, he loves that his creation is so popular, he loves showing it to the world, and that fans are so devoted to it, but he hates how whiny some fans get and how hard it gets to make the game. And he surely doesn't like how it's hurt his health a bit.

Edited June 18, 2018 by Anacybele

[Lightchao42]

Sakurai to me seems like a perfectionist and a workaholic even outside of Smash Bros., and I don't think he likes the idea of not working (though apparently he's recently gotten better about managing those things). I heard that he enjoys working with so many companies and bringing many different characters together in one game, since he loves the video game industry in general. In Ultimate alone he brought in characters from Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and Konami! No other game gives Sakurai the ability to do that so I think that helps makes the effort worth it. Super Smash Bros. is a very prestigious crossover and Sakurai likes being responsible for it.

He's also very devoted to the fanbase and making them happy, and (the Smash fanbase being what it is) that comes with a good deal of pressure on its own. But hopefully he's still satisfied as long as most people are happy (and undoubtably most of them are).

[Captain Karnage]

4 hours ago, Water Mage said:

“I give up, I just give the fans what they want so they won’t complain”.

I'm pretty sure at some point in the planning he said somewhere along the lines of "fuck it""I'll give them all of the veterans, all of the stages, and make it more like Melee and we'll call it a day"

I seriously think he needs a break after working on this series for almost 20 years at this point, though I doubt he'll let some one else take care of his series. Not to mention he's probably rolling in Yen after all these years of working for Nintendo

[kotaro]

Honestly its very difficult to say. Sakurai seems to keep things to himself. One things for certain, he definitely does care about the community and the feedback fans have given him. Otherwise, Ultimate wouldn't be the game that it is, and he wouldn't have flown down all the way from Japan just to say thank you to the top players and overall the community. He's a hard worker, and its quite clear he put a lot of heart, soul, and passion into this game. I think he does enjoy smash bros, but he does seem to be really tired as of late. Guy needs a break after this.

[Interdimensional Observer]

18 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

I seriously think he needs a break after working on this series for almost 20 years at this point, though I doubt he'll let some one else take care of his series. Not to mention he's probably rolling in Yen after all these years of working for Nintendo

Japanese salaries even for the highest of employees is more communist! modest in Japan, compare to American capitalist greed standards. He probably doesn't live that well off.

 

Apparently Sakurai has called every Smash since Melee his last. But he keeps going at it. Eventually his presence will have to go away though, and maybe Smash Ultimate is it. Whatever it is, I hope he does what he will with the best interest of his health and general wellbeing in mind, and not just that of us fans.

 

 

He will be missed, but fortunately for us gamers, game development doesn't come down to one person- it's a legion forgotten workers whose names blur into one in the credits much of the time. Bayonetta 2 was made without any real involvement from Kamiya I think, nor any DMC after 1, and yet both Bayo and DMC did fine without him. When was the last time Kondo worked on a Mario soundtrack?

And of course, it isn't always best to trust in the power of one. Remember Inafune and Mighty No. 9 (although fans greatly misunderstood his role in classic MM too)? What about Sakamoto and Other M? Miyamoto undoing non-Toad NPCs in Sticker Star? Even the usually great people have their bad days (to explain Miyamoto without throwing him too much under the bus).

There are contrary examples that do show how the individual matters though. Wasn't the mess of Xenosaga Episode 2 caused by Takahashi walking away for five minutes and the guy who he left in charge messed things up? The loss of Kazuma Kaneko in character and demon designs in favor of Masayuki Doi has arguably caused a loss in art direction in SMT. Maybe the appointment of a new art director or whatever he is called for Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates could be called a bad move?

[Lord_Brand]

If Sakurai is done working on Smash, let him walk away and let someone else who competently understands the underlying concepts while bringing a fresh perspective step in. Miyamoto handed Zelda off to Aonuma, maybe Sakurai can find his own Aonuma for Smash. I see big potential in a Smash spinoff series that puts more focus on third parties.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Lord_Brand

[Lau]

He doesn't hate Smash itself, it's the stress that comes with making the game. Sakurai is a perfectionist, it's like, he doesn't trust anyone else with Smash. But one day, he's going to have to, and I think the time has come. The newest Famitsu article has an interview with Sakurai, and he reveals that the concept for Ultimate was finalised in 2015, which was when Smash 4's DLC was being developed. He clearly wasn't satisfied with Smash 4, and with Ultimate bringing back literally everything (FountainofDreamsFountainofDreamspleaseSakurai), I think he wants to end his Smash career with a bang.

He's honestly amazing, like, I've never seen a game developer so dedicated to a franchise before. But he worries me, just take a break Sakurai, please!

[Sentacotus]

I highly doubt he hates Smash especially with how much work and love he does put into the games.  Now is he tired of it?  Yeah I'd say so.  Anyone would be if thats all they did for the past 20 years at a breakneck pace.  He probably does want to work on something else though Nintendo probably needs and would assign him to only do Smash so for him it would be retirement and find something else to do with his time or keep doing smash.