Health concerns for Masahiro Sakurai have unfortunately been a common theme throughout the development of all of the titles in the Nintendo brawler games.
Sakurai is a man known for his hard work and dedication, but as is becoming frequently and unfortunately common in the video game industry, has been extremely overworked for the majority of his development of the Smash Bros. games.
The Smash games require endless hours of development, with DLC characters now becoming a mainstay, continuing on the intense development well past the release date of the games. Joker from the Persona series is next in line to be released this spring, and it seems as though his development is continuing to take its toll on Sakurai.
In an interview with Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, Sakurai had the following to say about his health during the development of Smash Ultimate (note: translated by Nintendo Everything):
Nintendo Dream: So you didn’t have any stomach issues or anything?
Sakurai: Well, actually… I still had a lot of stomach problems.
ND: You did? (laughs)
Sakurai: Yeah, a ton.
ND: So what do you do when that sort of thing happens? I actually had a case of acute gastroenteritis recently.
Sakurai: That sounds rough. When you’ve got symptoms like food poisoning, you definitely have to go to the hospital, right? I’ve had that situation once or twice before during development. It was like I got food poisoning from some oysters that I didn’t eat.
ND: Even though you hadn’t eaten any. (laughs)
Sakurai: It was like my food had come into contact with them or something. But I cook my food thoroughly… Why did I get sick?
ND: Uh, so… Do you take some time off when that happens?
Sakurai: No, I don’t. I just get an IV drip and go to work like normal.
ND: Are you serious?!
Sakurai: I guess I’m a hard worker? (wry laughter) I’m a freelancer, so I don’t have any strict rules on my time. As long as I can complete the game, I could show up to the office once per week and I think it’d be within the realm of forgiveness. But instead I make sure I come to work every day and write proper daily reports and such. I’m always working, but there’s a lot of things that keep me in good spirits!
Even though Sakurai justifies that he treated his body a lot better during the development of Ultimate by having a strict 10 PM end time to his days, it’s not as if that is even a feasible means of approaching a job, from a human energy and exhaustion level.
Sakura went on to state that as he operates as a freelancer, he doesn’t feel the need to continue the Smash Bros. series forever. Whether there is an end goal in mind, or even if Ultimate is the last game to be developed under Sakurai’s wing, I hope Sakurai, a man who has influenced millions with his hard work and dedication, knows when to call it quits for the sake of his health.