Sakurai: 3DS/Wii U 'dual support' is 'key' for next Super Smash Bros.

The Smash Bros. franchise has remained relatively unchanged for the most part since 1999. Each iteration adds new stages, characters and graphical improvements, but the core gameplay remains effectively identical in almost every way that counts. This strategy has worked well enough over the last 13 years, but apparently its sustainability is on the wane.

"There is a certain dead end we come to if we just expand the volume of the game," said Smash Bros. creator and Nintendo legend Masahiro Sakurai during an interview with IGN. "I intend to change direction a little as we go ... The key to that's going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U."

Sakurai corroborated previous statements that the next Smash Bros is still quite a ways away, saying that he's "really just getting started" and that development is still going to take time. "But," he concludes, "I'll come up with something that uses that link as the game's central axis, so I hope you're looking forward to it."