Masahiro Sakurai Reveals Every Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Basically Has the Same Win Rate [IGN]

Every Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character basically has the same win rate online according to series creator Masahiro Sakurai.

In the latest video on the Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games YouTube channel, Sakurai presented some hard stats about the win rates of fighters while discussing the essence of creating a good balance in video games.

Though he couldn’t reveal specific details on each character’s success rates, Sakurai did reveal the best performing character wins 51.43% of the time, and the worst performing character wins 47.18% of the time. The win rates of the 85 other characters therefore fall between these two figures.

“This tells us that any fighter has a shot at winning a match,” Sakurai said. “In fact, it would be difficult to make them much closer.” He made clear this was “actual data gathered from around the world” and thus presented genuine figures “without any bias.”

As for why the discourse may suggest one character is amazing and another is terrible when in reality there is very little difference between each one, Sakurai suggested the internet is to blame. “The internet can tend to be an echo chamber of sorts, so if people start saying something is strong or weak, that assessment will gain momentum and make people think it’s truer than it is,” he said.

Sakurai began his YouTube channel in August 2022 as a developer diary where he discusses the ins and outs of video game design and development, though plans to wrap it up sometime in 2024. He hasn’t explained why it’s ending, but fans are already speculating its related to the next Super Smash Bros. game at Nintendo.

Nothing has been announced, however, and Sakurai said previously he doesn’t know how the franchise can get any bigger or better than Ultimate, which even includes characters from beyond Nintendo like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Joker from Persona 5, Steve and Alex from Minecraft, and more.

Sakurai offered some hope to fans in January 2024 though, saying he’s still focused on creating games. Whether or not this means another Super Smash Bros. remains to be seen, but he’s made one thing clear: “I can’t imagine a Smash Bros. title without me.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.