In a recent video from Masahiro Sakurai, he revealed that Super Smash Bros. Brawl almost didn’t happen.

Sakurai is known for his work on the Super Smash Bros. franchise and is the face of the development team as the director behind all the games in the franchise. In a recent video, he looked back on the history of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and revealed that the game almost didn’t happen.

In 2003, Sakurai had parted ways with HAL Laboratory and in 2005 when the Wii had been announced he was approached to work on a Super Smash Bros. for the new console. Despite being “freelance” at the time, he accepted the job; however he speculates that had he refused, they may have just ported Super Smash Bros. Melee onto the Wii.

You can check out the video below.

Although Sakurai never returned to HAL, he created his own company Sora Ltd which is largely owned by Nintendo. As part of Sora, Sakurai has continued to be a part of the Super Smash Bros. franchise.