Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has now finished his YouTube series, and revealed he has also been working on a new game the whole time.
Sakurai has revealed that he had the opportunity to write a game proposal back in 2021, which he completed at “lightning speed”, while working on DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
“I’m sorry I can’t share more about this project, but assuming we’re able to get it made, it should be announced sooner or later,” he said in this latest video.
Then, despite being given the OK to move forward with production on the new project, Sakurai realised it would take time to assemble a team.
This left the Smash Bros. boss with a few months to spare before production could begin, which he decided was the perfect opportunity to begin a YouTube channel. And this is why, surprisingly, all 260 episodes he broadcast were recorded in advance during this time.
Sakurai launched the channel in 2022, with video editing outsourced to another company. Still, he said he’d spent the last two years juggling game production during the day with YouTube channel management in the evenings.
In total, Sakurai spent around 90m yen on the channel (about £460k), with the majority of that money spent on the video editing company.
So, what exactly could his mysterious new project be? Sakurai gives nothing away.
Of course, fans are speculating Sakurai has been busy working on a new Smash Bros. game for Switch 2, but could it be something else? A new Kirby or Kid Icarus game?
This finale episode of Sakurai’s series goes into great detail about the channel’s creation, his lifestyle over the past two years, and data on viewing habits.
“I’m at the age now that there’s no telling when I might decide to step away from the game industry,” concluded Sakurai. “And there’s no guarantee I’ll remain in good health, either. With that in mind, I’m glad I jumped on this opportunity to leave behind my knowledge in a form other than just another game.”
Last week, Sakurai released the final Grab Bag video on the channel: a touching tribute to former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
“A chaos of details and features come together for one of the Switch’s most generous – and exhilarating – games,” reads our Eurogamer Super Smash Bros. Ultimate review from 2018.