Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai shared thoughts on the reception of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, how grateful he was that it didn’t leak, and more on the future in his column in this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine. [Thanks, Ryokutya2089.]

Here are some highlights from Sakurai’s column:

“In any case, the reception for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was amazing!”

“I think this is the first time I ever saw such a tremendous reception for just a game promo. The uproar was beyond encouraging.”

“To be honest, I’m really glad that it didn’t leak. If it leaked that ‘all characters will be in it,’ then it wouldn’t have gotten the same reception.”

“I really wanted to avoid having the work of several years get smashed by someone who wanted his little moment to brag.”

“It would’ve been over for us had the words ‘all characters playable’ made it out there.”

“It was a top secret project that many at Nintendo didn’t even know about, and that’s why you saw cheers even from those involved with Nintendo.”

“Ice Climbers, Pokémon Trainer, and Wolf received unusually loud cheering not because they’re popular characters but because they weren’t in the previous entry.”

“I question what we’ll do with the next title, and I feel that having ‘all characters playable’ (for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) may have been a Pandora’s Box that could ruin possibilities for what’s next in the series.”

“However, honestly speaking, I’m not thinking about what’s next!”

“I’m just working hard on the best possible way to offer maximum satisfaction right now. Truth be told, I’m not getting any younger and I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with such dense workload forever, but the now is more important than later!”

“I heard a lot of ‘did you lose weight?’ ‘did you get thinner?’ and ‘please take care of yourself’ after the presentation, but don’t worry, I only lost about 6kg…”

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches for Nintendo Switch on December 7, 2018.