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Masahiro Sakurai: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
===Early game development career=== | |||
Some time between 1987 and 1988, [[Sega]] partnered with a Japanese magazine named "Beep!" on a "Story Recruitment Campaign" for the then-upcoming ''Phantasy Star II'', allowing the general population to submit ideas to be considered for the game (contrary to the contest name, any idea was fair game, and not just story concepts). Over 2000 submissions were made, and Sega awarded 29 winners with individually numbered "Associate Planner" certificates and the opportunity to meet with the ''Phantasy Star II'' development team at a planning meeting at their headquarters - one of whom was a 17-year-old Masahiro Sakurai. Sakurai specifically won the "Game System Award" (with his certificate being numbered 004) for what he described as a battle system concept that was "something like the action-focused Active Time Battle system seen in JRPGs." Sakurai attended the planning meeting and would later use his award to advance his professional image, eventually leading to HAL Laboratory hiring him at the age of 18 once he graduated from high school.<ref>https://www.vgfacts.com/game/phantasystarii/trivia-18988</ref> | |||
===At Nintendo and HAL Laboratory=== | ===At Nintendo and HAL Laboratory=== | ||
At HAL Laboratory, Sakurai created the character [[Kirby]] at the age of 19. He would soon direct his first title, ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'' in 1992, followed by ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'' in 1993 and ''[[Kirby Super Star]]'' in 1996. | |||
Sakurai first devised the concept for ''Smash'' in 1998, working on a prototype then known as [[Dragon King: The Fighting Game]]. At the time, the project featured no existing Nintendo properties, and Sakurai was focused on creating unique platform fighter mechanics to differentiate the title from traditional fighting games. However, Sakurai decided that the inclusion of Nintendo characters would provide the game with more atmosphere, giving it a unique selling-point to set it apart from a sea of fighting games with generic characters. The final product, ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', was released in January 1999 (in Japan) and became an unexpected hit, eventually becoming one of the best-selling Nintendo 64 games. | Sakurai first devised the concept for ''Smash'' in 1998, working on a prototype then known as [[Dragon King: The Fighting Game]]. At the time, the project featured no existing Nintendo properties, and Sakurai was focused on creating unique platform fighter mechanics to differentiate the title from traditional fighting games. However, Sakurai decided that the inclusion of Nintendo characters would provide the game with more atmosphere, giving it a unique selling-point to set it apart from a sea of fighting games with generic characters. The final product, ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', was released in January 1999 (in Japan) and became an unexpected hit, eventually becoming one of the best-selling Nintendo 64 games. | ||
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On September 13th, 2019, Sakurai won 4 Tokyo Game Show awards and confirmed that ''Ultimate'' will only have content from video games.<ref>https://youtube.com/watch?v=_J1yGa3SY-Y</ref> | On September 13th, 2019, Sakurai won 4 Tokyo Game Show awards and confirmed that ''Ultimate'' will only have content from video games.<ref>https://youtube.com/watch?v=_J1yGa3SY-Y</ref> | ||
Starting from December 27th, 2019, Sakurai began posting screenshots from the development version of ''Ultimate'' daily to his Twitter account, in similar vein to ''Smash 4'''s "Pic of the Day".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1210396156049518592|title=Sakurai begins sharing dev screenshots from ''Ultimate''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1210398709571129344|title=Translation of the Sakurai's dev screenshots tweet}}</ref> This concluded on August 23rd, 2022. | Starting from December 27th, 2019, Sakurai began posting screenshots from the development version of ''Ultimate'' daily to his [[Twitter]] account, in similar vein to ''Smash 4'''s "Pic of the Day".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1210396156049518592|title=Sakurai begins sharing dev screenshots from ''Ultimate''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1210398709571129344|title=Translation of the Sakurai's dev screenshots tweet}}</ref> This concluded on August 23rd, 2022. | ||
==''Super Smash Bros.'' Websites== | ==''Super Smash Bros.'' Websites== | ||
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==''Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games''== | ==''Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games''== | ||
On August 23, 2022, Sakurai launched his own YouTube channel on game design for aspiring game creators<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1562273496960380928|title=Sakurai announces the creation of his YouTube channel''}}</ref> | On August 23, 2022, Sakurai launched his own [[YouTube]] channel on game design for aspiring game creators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1562273496960380928|title=Sakurai announces the creation of his YouTube channel''}}</ref> On this channel, Sakurai uploads 2-5 minute videos on various game design tips and mechanics, such as [[hitstop]]. To better help illustrate his points, Sakurai uses real gameplay footage from other games, among those games being the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. With the approval of Nintendo, Sakurai will also use behind the scenes material like older builds and design documents from ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''. On January 9, 2024, he announced in a YouTube community post he was planning to wrap up Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games sometime in 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxUMxRmMfZn7mDYoSb9Tgsu1ku4WirzbuT|title=I'm planning to wrap up Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games sometime this year.}}</ref> On June 15, 2024, he announced on Twitter he recorded the final episode of the channel, though it would not be released yet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://x.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1801981078774960416|title=桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter|date=June 15, 2024|publisher=Twitter}}</ref> The final episode was uploaded on October 15 of the same year, along with a "special final video" concluding the channel on October 22. Additionally, Sakurai revealed in that same video, that he is working on a new unknown game.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://x.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1841424958184095985|title=桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter|date=October 2, 2024|accessdate=October 2, 2024|publisher=Twitter}}</ref>. His second-to-last video was dedicated to Satoru Iwata.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://x.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1844695310091841666|title=桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter|date=October 12, 2024|accessdate=October 12, 2024|publisher=Twitter}}</ref> | ||
There are two versions of the channel, one in Japanese and another in English. | |||
==Trivia== | ==Trivia== | ||
*Sakurai provided voice acting for [[King Dedede]] in ''{{s|wikirby|Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards}}'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''.<ref name="Dedede">{{cite web |url=http://www.smashbros.com/wii/en_us/gamemode/various/various38.html |title=Smash Bros. DOJO!!: Smash Trivia |accessdate=2010-11-17 |date=2008-04-14 |publisher=Nintendo |quote=Brawl’s director, Masahiro Sakurai, provided the voice for King Dedede.}}</ref> | *Sakurai provided voice acting for [[King Dedede]] in ''{{s|wikirby|Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards}}'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''.<ref name="Dedede">{{cite web |url=http://www.smashbros.com/wii/en_us/gamemode/various/various38.html |title=Smash Bros. DOJO!!: Smash Trivia |accessdate=2010-11-17 |date=2008-04-14 |publisher=Nintendo |quote=Brawl’s director, Masahiro Sakurai, provided the voice for King Dedede.}}</ref> | ||
*Sakurai's wife, Michiko Sakurai (née | *Sakurai's wife, Michiko Sakurai (née Takahashi), worked on the user interface for many of his games, including ''Meteos'', ''Kid Icarus: Uprising'', and the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, as well as other HAL Laboratory projects such as ''Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards''<ref>http://kyoto-report.wikidot.com/michiko-sakurai</ref>. In the original ''Super Smash Bros.'', she additionally designed the [[Title screen|title]] and [[Character selection screen|character selection]] screens, as well as the [[Peach's Castle]], {{SSB|Mushroom Kingdom}}, and {{SSB|Yoshi's Island}} stages<ref>http://themushroomkingdom.net/ssb_credits-full.shtml</ref>. | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
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*[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/index.html Smabura-Ken] | *[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/index.html Smabura-Ken] | ||
*[http://www.smashbros.com/wii Smash Bros. DOJO!!] | *[http://www.smashbros.com/wii Smash Bros. DOJO!!] | ||
*[https://www.youtube.com/ | *[https://www.youtube.com/c/sora_sakurai_en Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games], [https://www.youtube.com/c/sora_sakurai_jp Japanese channel] | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
{{Important persons}} | |||
[[Category:Game developers]] | [[Category:Game developers]] | ||
[[Category:Nintendo people]] | [[Category:Nintendo people]] | ||
[[Category:Voice actors]] | [[Category:Voice actors]] | ||
[[Category:YouTubers]] | |||
[[Category:Kirby universe]] | [[Category:Kirby universe]] | ||
[[Category:Super Smash Bros. universe]] | [[Category:Super Smash Bros. universe]] | ||
[[Category:Super Smash Bros. series]] | [[Category:Super Smash Bros. series]] | ||