Joseph Luster
March 6, 2019 
How far would you go for your job? Do you ever keep working even when you’re sick? Even if you find yourself toughing it out through the occasional cold, chances are you don’t take it as far as Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, who recently spoke about his work and health with Nintendo Dream.
According to the interview—which is full of fascinating details about development and post-development that go beyond the scope of this snippet—Sakurai comes into work every day, and even bouts of food poisoning haven’t kept him from his many tasks. If you’re wondering how he handles being so sick during work, he told Nintendo Dream he hooks up to an IV drip and continues as usual.
Just because Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is on shelves and even in the upcoming EVO 2019 tournament doesn’t mean Sakurai’s job is complete. There are still DLC additions and updates on the way, and he insists on keeping his plate full so he doesn’t have to push his work onto others in the company.
Sakurai was previously hospitalized during the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl—following 13 straight months of working on the game for 40 hours at a time—and he has suffered from repetitive strain injury and calcific tendonitis.
While it sounds like his health issues are ongoing, he did take three days off near the end of the year, so let’s hope he makes it a habit to practice self care during development in the future.
Check out the full interview for more insight into the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Source: Nintendo Dream via Nintendo Everything, Anime News Network
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