There’s always a lot of necessary secrecy when developing a title in the Super Smash Bros. series. This is typically done in an attempt to prevent leaks from happening.
How far does Masahiro Sakurai go to maintain this secrecy? During the latest episode of Harada’s Bar, it was revealed that Sakurai donned a disguise of sorts while working on Super Smash Bros. 4 (for the 3DS and Wii U).
“We worked together for a while at the old head office,” begun Masahiro Sakurai to Katsuhiro Harada.
“At that time, you were… there was obviously no COVID-19 pandemic so no one was wearing masks, but you were wearing a mask on a hot summer day,” responded Harada. “I saw you and asked, ‘Why are you wearing a mask?’ and you said it was a disguise.”
Based on Harada’s description, it sounds like Sakurai was wearing a medical mask. Though this can be a common scene today with the COVID-19 global pandemic, it’s something that stood out before 2020.
“That wasn’t the exact truth though,” clarified Sakurai. “I mean, it was that too, but I have a dust allergy.”
According to Harada, Sakurai’s disguise wasn’t doing its job very well. Hilariously enough, many employees at Bandai Namco were able to recognize him at a glance.
“I wish you had said that, because you said you were disguised,” said Harada. “There were tons of people dressed like me in the building but there you were, the only person wearing a mask and stylish hat. So they were like, ‘That’s Sakurai-san!’ It wasn’t a disguise.”
“The head office had a unique shape. Yeah, it was a pyramid,” continued Harada. “It had a wellhole-style so you could see down from the office. When you look down, you could see Sakurai-san walking.”
“Everybody said to me, ‘You said he was disguised, but it’s obvious,'” stated Harada. “And I was like, ‘You can tell, right?’ But you were actually just allergic to dust.”
Sakurai would reiterate that his mask wasn’t just for the sake of his dust allergies. In his mind, he really was hoping that he wasn’t so easily recognized.
“But in a manner of speaking, it’s not false that I was in disguise. I’m not sure if I said I was in disguise directly though,” noted Sakurai. “I made Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with Bandai Namco. At the time, we were making Super Smash Bros. 4. We put out a company notice about it beforehand.”
“If I was working at the Bandai Namco office and having lunch together at the cafeteria, some people who didn’t know why might see and make some news. It could leak like that.” – Masahiro Sakurai
Harada added that this happened in 2012 or 2013. Thanks to the hard work of Sakurai and those at Bandai Namco, Super Smash Bros. 4 would be released in 2014.
“If we hadn’t, for example, if I was working at the Bandai Namco office and having lunch together at the cafeteria, some people who didn’t know why might see and make some news,” stated Sakurai. “It could leak like that. It could’ve caused many problems, so we put out a notice beforehand that we were working together.”
However, Harada would add that this notice apparently didn’t get the attention of every Bandai Namco employee. As such, there were those that made a big deal about seeing Masahiro Sakurai at the cafeteria.
“So people in the office knew about it,” said Harada. “Even though we put out that notice, some people still saw you at the cafeteria and went like, ‘Sakurai-san is here, is something going on?’ I was like, ‘Didn’t you see the notice?'”
Sakurai noted how important it is for him to go as unnoticed as possible while he’s working on the Super Smash Bros. series. Maintaining this secrecy is important since there’s a lot of hype around the subject of the next character that is to be revealed.
“I understand that, but you were still noticeable. You are noticeable. You really stood out.” – Katsuhiro Harada
“Even though we did all that, it still wasn’t good for me to be openly visible in the public. It’s best to go unnoticed as much as possible,” said Sakurai. “Because of what I make. It’s Super Smash Bros., so ‘Which character will appear next?’ is kind of anticipated all over the world.”
“Not kind of, definitely,” corrected Harada.
“I wanted to hide in Bandai Namco too,” added Sakurai. “I didn’t use the shared spaces too much.”
“I understand that, but you were still noticeable,” declared Harada. “You are noticeable. You really stood out.”
Though Sakurai was laughing at this, he did sound amusingly disappointed by this.
Of course, Sakurai even sacrificed going to a certain place to eat lunch at for the sake of this secrecy. Considering how much activity is there, he was fearful that there’d be too many questions if he were to be spotted eating there.
“I wanted to go to the Italian Tomato that was in the building more often,” said Sakurai. “I wanted to go.”
“A lot of celebrities in the industry hung around there,” added Harada.
“If someone who wasn’t involved with us visited there and asked me about details, it’d be a problem,” said Sakurai. “I was too busy to visit a place like that while working anyway.”
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