Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has said his work on the game is now "done" after the release of Ultimate's 13.0.2 update. This latest Super Smash Bros. Ultimate update was released earlier this past week, which updated the game's amiibo functionality. This update adds compatibility with the amiibo based on Ultimate's final DLC fighter, Sora from Kingdom Hearts.

While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's active development has wound down in the last few years, the game would occasionally get small updates. These include new spirit events based on recently released Nintendo Switch games, such as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which were released after Ultimate's DLC development was completed. The game would also be updated as more amiibos based on Ultimate's DLC fighters were added, with Sora's amiibo being released on February 16. With Sora's amiibo out, Sakurai states his work on the fighting game is finally done.

Sakurai confirmed this on his Twitter account, celebrating the release of the Sora amiibo for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. According to a rough machine translation, he had a congratulatory message for Sora's amiibo being released, praising how it looks and the pose the sculptors made for the amiibo. His tweet confirms that his work on Ultimate is finally coming to an end, thanking the many fans for their support.

ソラのamiiboが本日発売!
関係者のかた､本当にありがとうございました｡(スゴいことだと思います)
元々の完璧なデザインに､色分けも精細でバッチリ｡
造形もポーズもよいですね｡

全ファイターがamiibo化され､『スマブラSP』仕事もいよいよフィニッシュでしょうか｡おつかれさまでした｡ pic.twitter.com/zUBdMtA29y

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) February 16, 2024

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate originally launched on December 7, 2018, and started off with around 76 playable characters at launch. Its DLC would bring that number up to nearly 90 by the time Sora was released. Every character in Ultimate's roster would get an amiibo figure of some kind. Amiibos released during Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS' lifecycle are all compatible with Ultimate, and every new character introduced in Ultimate ended up getting their own figure as well.

While Sakurai's work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was already mostly done, this tweet seems to be a send-off to the game itself. As for Sakurai's current projects, he appears to be getting back into game development. Sakurai recently announced the end of his YouTube channel, with plans to wrap up the channel's content sometime in 2024. The most prevalent rumors regarding Sakurai are that he is possibly working on a new Super Smash Bros. game for the equally rumored successor to the Nintendo Switch console. These are still just rumors though, so fans should take this info with a massive grain of salt, waiting patiently to see what is next for Sakurai and the Super Smash Bros. series.

Posted: Feb 22, 2024 12:52 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://gamerant.com/super-smash-bros-ultimate-director-sakurai-work-support-over/