Wondering if Super Smash Bros. Ultimate producer Masahiro Sakurai is working on anything the scenes – akin to Kid Icarus Uprising? Well, it looks like his future plans remain a blank slate for now!

In the latest Famitsu column (which also discussed a delayed Fighter Pass announcement due to the coronavirus outbreak), Sakurai was asked if he played western games too. This eventually trailed off into a discussion about how he wanted Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to stand out despite competitors with more realistic graphics.

“Of course I do. [Developers] overseas have a lot of games with photorealistic graphics, and there’s really no way to beat that, so I feel like you have to overcome those games in other areas instead. You have to beat your rivals in some way, so if you don’t have something in your game which people cannot find anywhere else, they’re not going to buy it.”

As a result of focusing so intensely on the Smash Bros. series, however – it looks like Sakurai himself actually has no lofty plans after he wraps up DLC development for now. As he states in his own words:

“That’s how I approach game development whenever I start a new project… though honestly, there’s no guarantee I’ll keep making games after this. Right now, all I’m thinking about is the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC development. Once that’s done, I actually have absolutely nothing lined up.”

This does match somewhat with Sakurai’s statement that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was his ‘final mission‘ for the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. After all of his hard work on the series, many fans also want to see the man take a well-deserved break.

Will Sakurai eventually develop an original game again after he’s done with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Feel free to discuss below!

[Thanks to Event Hubs for the translation!]