Sakurai wrote the lyrics for Smash Bros. Ultimate's main theme (plus other tidbits about the song's creation)

As we mentioned earlier last week, the most recent issue of Famitsu included an interview with Smash Bros. Ultimate composer Hideki Sakamoto and main theme singer Erina Koga, as well as a blurb from Masahiro Sakurai. We now have the details from that interview, thanks to the gang at Source-Gaming.

- Koga didn’t know the details of the job when she accepted Sakamoto’s invitation to work together
- Koga liked Smash Bros., and enjoyed playing as Kirby
- when Koga found out what she was involved with, she was really surprised
- Koga didn’t know Sakurai was the creator of Kirby when she met him
- Sakamoto submitted his first draft, and was told to redo the chorus to be more orchestra-like
- Sakurai wanted it to be a song you wouldn’t forget after hearing it for the first time
- Sakamoto struggled a lot to achieve that, but finally one day the melody came to him in the middle of the night
- Sakamoto rushed to his computer to save his idea
- Sakamoto knew the main theme would have various arrangements, and that it would have vocals
- Sakamoto also realized that players would hear the menu music a lot, so he worked on multiple arrangements
- Sakurai wrote the lyrics for the theme song
- about 6 months before the final recording, the song was already in a high key
- at this point, Sakurai wanted the key to change another half step higher at the end to really make an impact
- this proved hard to sing and Koga just couldn’t get that last high note to come out
- Koga kept trying, and she eventually hit the high note right before the final recording
- when the song first debuted, people were trying to figure out who the singer was
- when Koga was revealed as the singer, her name became the top search on Yahoo
- if you listen closely to the game’s announcement teaser from March 2018, you can hear the theme being sung in acapella
- Koga is currently studying for university entrance exams, and aims to become a voice actress
- Koga has played Ultimate and unlocked all characters, but sticks with Kirby as her main