Sakurai reveals the fate of Smash Ultimate DLC after Challenger Pack 11
NintendoWith the release of Kazuya in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, fans have been wondering if there will be any additional fighters after Challenger Pack 11 is announced and Masahiro Sakurai has revealed what’s to come.
The Smash Ultimate series creator has been adamant about Fighters Pass Volume 2 being the end of the game’s lifespan as far as new content goes, but there have been rumors of possible bonus characters coming after Challenger Pack 11.
Now, in his most recent Famitsu column, Sakurai has seemingly put those ideas to rest by reaffirming that the next DLC fighter will be its last.
In his column, translated by Kody NOKOLO, Sakurai dug into adding Tekken’s Kazuya to the game and all the challenges that came with adding the 3D fighting game star to Smash.
Smash is more of a positional game. You’ll be KOed if you reach the corner of the screen, so the middle of the screen is way more significant. It has a kinetic feel to it, like playing Ohajiki (Japanese game where you flick sliding marbles at a pile to knock some from the center) pic.twitter.com/1bAl37MdIe
— Kody NOKOLO (@KodyNOKOLO) July 8, 2021
According to Sakurai, 3D fighting games are games of distance. “Because of aspects like the distance to your opponent and situational moves, it makes sense that the fights play out more stoic and serious. They have qualities like a rock-paper-scissors match,” he explained.
However, for Sakurai, Smash is more of a positional game and as such, the middle of the screen is very significant.
When designing Kazuya, Sakurai kept a few things in mind: his normal moves being faithful to Tekken while specials use the devil form, his moves kept to one button, making use of the eight directional inputs and dividing his attacks into combo and high-knockback moves.
Sakurai mentions again that there’s only one character left!! This is the end: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be complete. pic.twitter.com/bby4Ybx22T
— Kody NOKOLO (@KodyNOKOLO) July 8, 2021
At the very end of the column, Sakurai clarified once more that the next DLC fighter, which has still yet to be announced, will be the last.
“This is the end: Super Smash Bros Ultimate will be complete,” he stressed, implying that no new content will be released after.
The final DLC fighter is still set to come out by December of 2021, so we have quite a ways to go. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo decides to go out with a first-party character or end with a bang, such as Crash Bandicoot, Doom Slayer or Master Chief.
Of course, it’s still possible that MAYBE there is one more secret bonus fighter after Challenger Pack 11, especially after a Nintendo website leak seemed to hint at one, but it’s probably better to not get your hopes up.
