Those who follow Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter, have gotten used to seeing a daily Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pic taken using the game's photo mode. Some of these photos are actually quite creative — which is actually a give when considering that Sakurai himself is the one taking them. The fact that— but they also show just how fun the game can be.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate does offer more replay value than it already does, and the game's photo mode is a testament to that. Seeing Sakurai's daily in-game photos simply manages to bring a smile to everyone's faces.
As it turns out, Masahiro Sakurai has actually been doing this for quite a long time, and this isn't something he does only for fun — as he reveals in his latest column on Famitsu magazine; translated by the people over at Event Hubs.
"The pic of the day was actually something I originally started doing when we were developing Kid Icarus: Uprising, and I've kept doing it ever since. There'd be a network only accessible within our development office where I'd write daily about a variety of topics and I'd always make sure to include a picture from the current build of the game," Sakurai has revealed.
"Of course, these were never shown to the public, nor were they meant to be, but when it comes to Super Smash Bros. you have so many different characters having fun interactions, I thought this might be a fun bonus for fans and decided to do it publicly as well."
As mentioned earlier, Sakurai has been doing his "Pic of the Day" for a long time, but he has been doing this for Super Smash Bros. games since 2012; back when Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U was being developed.
The most recent pictures, however, aren't actually that recent, as Sakurai mentions that these were taken during the final stages of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's development in late 2018 .
"For Smash Bros. I was actually taking a "Pic of the Day" as far back as 2012 during the development of Super Smash Bros. 4, though the idea itself came from my experience when developing the prior title, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So I've been taking pictures ever since then on weekdays and even on weekends if they happened to be days where I ended up going into work.
In short, I have a very large stockpile of images, though I obviously never upload ones that have gotten too old. The ones you're seeing now were taken during the latter part towards the end of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's development, so sometime around March of 2018. Even in that time period, I'm skipping some."
Sakurai does mention that this isn't some time-consuming task that prevents him from working on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's new Challenger Packs, as this only takes him a few minutes to do and then he goes on about his insanely busy day.
"I'm sure you already understand this without me saying it, but I'm very busy during development so it's not like I put any time specifically into this. Generally, taking one takes me about 2 minutes on average, and I usually do it while I'm checking something in the game or testing certain features. I'll sometimes take several in one go just to increase my stockpile, too.
When I take several at once I don't necessarily put that much thought into it and usually just make crazy matchups between fighters and the stage they're on and snap some funny picture that happens to occur. I never really considered that I'd be posting these in public, so it's not like there's always a theme or reference to them, either."
Since we consider that some of the photos Sakurai has taken are very well worth your time, we have included a small handful of them down below. If you want to see more of these photos, be sure to follow Masahiro Sakurai's Twitter account; it's still worth it for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate updates, so you won't regret it any way.
Have a look:
Legendary game worlds and fighters collide in the ultimate showdown—a new entry in the Super Smash Bros. series for the Nintendo Switch system! New fighters, like Inkling from the Splatoon series and Ridley from the Metroid series, make their Super Smash Bros. series debut alongside every Super Smash Bros. fighter in the series…EVER!
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.