Kid Icarus: Uprising Modern Port Would Not Be Possible, Says Sakurai

One of the earliest smash hits that the Nintendo 3DS received was Kid Icarus: Uprising, an excellent third person shooter/action-adventure hybrid that is rightly considered by many to be one of the best games to have been made for the handheld. While it’s certainly a game that has issues, most prevalent of those being its cramped controls, Uprising still has a special place in the hearts of many 3DS owners. So much so, that many people have been hoping for a Switch port of the game as well- it’s certainly a salivating prospect.

Don’t hold your breath though. Recently, while speaking in the January 2019 issue of Edge magazine (Issue 327), Kid Icarus: Uprising director Masahiro Sakurai, also known for being the creator and series director of Super Smash Bros., said that a modern port of the 3DS title isn’t something that would be possible.

When asked about Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sakurai spoke of the challenges he and his team faced during its development, calling it one of the most difficult projects he’s ever worked on, thanks both to his team and the hardware of the 3DS. Eventually, he got around to mention the demand for a port, before dashing all our hopes and saying in no unclear terms that he doesn’t think something like that would be possible.

“I could say that this was close to becoming the most difficult project in my entire career, both in terms of the team and the hardware,” Sakurai said. “The team I had gathered differed greatly in culture and ways of thinking, so there was always confrontation. In addition, back when we were developing the game, we still couldn’t make full use of the power of Nintendo 3DS. Some improvements in aspects such as the middleware were made later on, but since the game was being made in the initial stages of Nintendo 3DS development, we had a really hard time doing what we wanted to.”

“For example, I only found out that the Circle Pad Pro was going to be coming out when it was announced to the public by Nintendo,” he continued. “I wanted to make the game support this properly if I could, but this was impossible due to performance-related reasons. As a game in general, it’s rich in content and enjoyable, and people have even asked for a modern port. However, I don’t think this will be possible.”

So there- don’t expect to see Kid Icarus: Uprising on the Switch anytime soon, if ever. That said, there’s always hope for a sequel, right?

Sakurai has been busy with other projects, though. His latest, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launched just a few days ago, and has been smashing many sales records of the series.