Masahiro Sakurai, whose past work includes the Kirby
series, Smash Bros. series, and Meteos, was revealed today to be the director and game designer for
upcoming Smash Bros. game, hinted earlier at appearing alongside the console's launch.
However, if Sakurai is just now joining the project, the game may not be far along. Could Nintendo, a company
notorious for long development cycles (they even pushed Zelda
past the holiday season to finish it), create a top-notch
game Revolution showcase in time for launch, or will Smash Bros. be pushed back until, say, next
Christmas?
IGN has previously quoted Sakurai as praising the
controller's simplicity, adding that he is "sympathetic for Nintendo's stance of reducing hurdles for games…it's good
that the controller buttons have been reduced to just one." Is this a reflection on a possible control scheme for the
upcoming beat-em-up? It sounds like Sakurai will eschew using the
classic control shell, after all.
Engadget
TUAW