Sakurai shares details on Joker’s development and reveal for Smash Bros., says online matchmaking is under investigation
Update: We’ve now prepared a full translation of the column here.
Original: In early excerpts from this week’s Masahiro Sakurai column in Famitsu, the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Director has shared some new insight on the development of Joker as a playable character, the logistics of his reveal, and briefly addresses online play.
Thanks to user BlackKite on Twitter, translations of this information has been made known. The tidbits are included below.
On the current development progress of Joker in Smash…
Joker isn’t currently in a playable state but we’re steadily producing him. Personally I have high respects for P5 so I really think working on him is a job that gives me inexhaustible stimulus.
On revealing Joker during The Game Awards…
At first I got contacted by Nintendo that they want to reveal [P5 Joker in Smash] at TGA. He hadn’t been produced at that time so we used anime as presentation. We had some hardships on scheduling with the voice actors.
On his current workload…
Lately I’ve been able to rest on weekends and end my work with presentations.
On online play in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate…
Currently investigating how the matching in Smash Special/Ultimate isn’t going well.
