Super Smash Bros lead designer Masahiro Sakurai went on fellow fighting game developer Katsuhiro Harada’s show, Harada’s Bar, and gave his opinion on Smash Bros fan theories.
Masahiro Sakurai is one of the most popular lead game designers in all of video games. Being the director for the Super Smash Bros franchise since the original released on Nintendo 64 in 1999, he has had to deal with years of fan theories on who the next fighters will be.
Sakurai teased back in May 2021 that he could be headed for an early retirement, but that hasn’t happened yet and he is still working away at the mysterious final fighter for Smash Ultimate. The next is apparently going to be the last, marking a roster that will have reached a whopping 82 characters.
Sakurai’s comments on fan theories
Sakurai went on Harada’s Den on August 14, a talk show where game designer Katsuhiro Harada conducts interviews. He shared with Harada how he has to be very careful how he conduct himself in the media, as everything he does will lead to speculation on potential fighters coming to Smash.
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Sakurai is careful not to associate himself with other games (even by simply appearing on another developer’s program) because people will speculate on that game character appearing in super smash bros. pic.twitter.com/Gb6psCkuc7
— TAHK0 ☕️ (@TAHK0) August 14, 2021
Sakurai said, “Because of the way Smash Bros is made, I can’t make connections with other games or promote them. If I connect with other games, people will think the game’s character will be added.” Harada is the lead director for the Tekken franchise, and so going on his show wouldn’t spark too much controversy as his character has already been added to Smash Ultimate.
Sakurai continued his response by saying, “Any small thing you say will spread as truth. So fans grab on to every small piece of information about you and don’t let go.” Harada chimes in saying, “I bet that happens to you a lot”, to which Sakurai says, “I’d just like to say, ‘Give me a break!'”