Masahiro Sakurai confirms Iron Man and Goku are not coming to Smash

Doesn’t Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already have such a massive roster? Do we really need more? To the fans and avid players, too much is never enough. Two characters people are clamoring for Nintendo to add are Iron Man and Goku. Now Smash Bros. creator and director Masahiro Sakurai has finally set the record straight: Only video game characters will be in Smash, no anime or comic book characters. He made the statement during the recent Tokyo Game Show. While this may come as a blow to some, it’s really to be expected why Nintendo would want to keep its roster to just video game characters. We have so many other fighting games featuring anime and comic book characters already, so it’s really no big loss.

In his own words

This is the actual statement made by Sakurai translated by trusted Twitter user PushDustin:

I get all these kinds of requests from abroad like, ‘Where is my beloved Iron Man?’ or ‘Where is my beloved Goku? However, basically (Smash) will only have content from video games in it.

We already have more DLC characters on the way in Smash, so there is definitely no lack of characters to fight with. Banjo-Kazooie just came out and Terry Bogard will be joining the fight soon. From the last Nintendo Direct, we also know that once this round of DLC fighters is done that more are coming.

On a more emotional note, Sakurai also said, “I’m sorry for bringing up this personal story at a time like this… but making Smash Bros. on the Switch was the last mission the late Satoru Iwata gave to me,” Sakurai said. “I’ve put my all into the game, and with more DLC I will continue to work hard.”

So Smash fans, let’s cut the guy some slack here. He has given us the biggest and arguably best Smash game of all time. If you truly want to play fighting games with anime characters, Jump Force is an option, and for comic book fans Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is also available.