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{{Infobox Person
{{Infobox Person
| name = Masahiro Sakurai
|name           = Masahiro Sakurai<br>桜井政博
桜井政博
|image         = [[File:MasahiroSakurai.png|250px]]
| image = [[File:MasahiroSakurai.png|250px]]
|caption       = Masahiro Sakurai in Nintendo's E3 2018 presentation.
| caption = Masahiro Sakurai
|date_of_birth  =  {{DoB|1970|8|3}}
| image_size =
|place_of_birth = {{Flag|Japan}} Tokyo, Japan
| date_of_birth  =  August 3, 1970 (age 45)
|date_of_death  =  
| place_of_birth = {{Flag|Japan}} Tokyo, Japan
|place_of_death =  
| date_of_death  =  
|occupation     = Video game director, game designer, founder of Sora Ltd.
| place_of_death =  
|spouse         = Michiko Sakurai
| occupation = Video game director, game designer, founder of Sora Ltd.
|parents       =
| spouse = Michiko Sakurai
|children       =
| parents =
| children =
}}
}}
'''Masahiro Sakurai''' {{ja|桜井政博|Sakurai Masahiro}}, born August 3, 1970, is a Japanese game developer, creator, writer, and voice actor. His most notable creations as a game developer included both the [[Kirby (universe)|''Kirby'']] and the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]], both of which he created and developed in his tenure with Nintendo's subsidiary of [[HAL Laboratory]]. He continues to work on the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series under Sora Ltd., a company that he formed after his deparature from HAL Laboratory in 2003.
'''Masahiro Sakurai''' ({{ja|桜井政博|Sakurai Masahiro}}), born August 3, 1970, is a Japanese game developer, creator, writer, and voice actor. His most notable creations as a game developer include the {{uv|Kirby}} and ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' series, both of which he created and developed during his tenure with [[HAL Laboratory]], a second-party developer for Nintendo. He has since continued his work as director of the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series through his own company [[Sora Ltd.]], which he founded in 2005 after his 2003 departure from HAL Laboratory.


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Career with Nintendo and HAL Laboratory===
===Early game development career===
One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked for HAL Laboratory, Inc. It is there that he created the character [[Kirby]] at the age of 19. He would soon direct his first title, ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]''.
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>


Sakurai first came up with the concept for ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' in 1998; the original idea consisted of a fighting game with different mechanics than standard fighters. Known as [[Dragon King: The Fighting Game]], the project was intended for release on the Nintendo 64. However, Sakurai decided that the inclusion of Nintendo characters would give the game a more proper atmosphere compared to before. The end product, ''Super Smash Bros.'', became an unexpected hit, eventually becoming one of the best-selling Nintendo 64 games.
===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.


With the upcoming release of the [[Nintendo GameCube]], Sakurai was named head of production for the development of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', once again with HAL Laboratory. As he worked on the game development for 13 months, he called the period of his lifetime "destructive" with no holidays and short weekends. <ref name=sharpest>{{cite web|last=George|first=Richard|title=Super Smash Bros Creator: "Melee The Sharpest"|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/12/09/super-smash-bros-creator-melee-the-sharpest|publisher=IGN}}</ref> In addition to his work in developing the game, Sakurai also wrote and maintained the site [[Smabura-Ken]], a website devoted to revealing the multiple gameplay elements of ''Melee''.
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.


''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' was released in late 2001. It surpassed the popularity of its predecessor, and ''Melee'' eventually became the GameCube's highest-selling game of all time; reception to the game was also positive, with some publications even considering it among HAL Laboratory's finest works.  
As the [[Nintendo GameCube]] neared release, Sakurai was named head of production for the development of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', once again developed at HAL Laboratory. He recalls living a "destructive lifestyle" during the game's development period, with short weekends and no time off in 13 months of work.<ref name=sharpest>{{cite web|last=George|first=Richard|title=Super Smash Bros Creator: "Melee The Sharpest"|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/12/09/super-smash-bros-creator-melee-the-sharpest|publisher=IGN}}</ref> The game was unveiled at {{h2|Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3 2001}} and released shortly after in November 2001. ''Melee'' surpassed the popularity of its predecessor and eventually became the GameCube's highest-selling game of all time. Critical reception of the game was also positive, with some publications naming it among HAL Laboratory's finest works.


Outside of his work as a game developer, Sakurai also provided voice acting for ''{{s|wikirby|Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards}}'' by voicing [[King Dedede]].
===Resignation from HAL Laboratory===
Sakurai resigned from his position at HAL Laboratory on August 5, 2003, shortly after the release of ''Kirby Air Ride''. Sakurai said at the time that he believed it would be difficult for him to continue creating games if he stayed at HAL. He claimed that he had become tired of the gaming industry's growing focuses on sequels:


===Resignation from HAL Laboratory and other endeavours===
::"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming," said Masahiro Sakurai on August 26, 2003, in an interview with Nintendo Dream, two weeks after his resignation from HAL Laboratory. "Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally."
Sakurai resigned from his position at HAL Laboratory on August 5, 2003, shortly after the release of the ''Kirby'' spin-off of ''Kirby Air Ride''. Sakurai was highly critical of the circumstances surrounding the game, claiming that he had become tired of the gaming industry's growing focuses on sequels:


::"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming," said Masahiro Sakurai on August 26, 2003, in an interview with Nintendo Dream, two weeks after his resignation from HAL Laboratory. "Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally."
The future of both the ''Kirby'' and ''Super Smash Bros.'' franchises were in jeopardy following his resignation. Sakurai later stated that he wished for HAL to continue working on the ''Kirby'' series, but the future of ''Super Smash Bros.'' was unknown.
 
After his departure from HAL, Sakurai collaborated with Tetsuya Mizuguchi at Q Entertainment to create ''Meteos'', a unique puzzle game released for [[Nintendo DS]] in March 2005.
 
Sakurai also became the author of a column for ''Famitsu Weekly'', a Japanese gaming magazine.
 
===Sora Ltd. and ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl''===
On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, [[Sora Ltd]]. Despite the departure of Sakurai from HAL, former HAL Laboratory President and former President of [[Nintendo]] [[Satoru Iwata]] stated at {{h2|Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3 2005}} that the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series would continue on Nintendo's newest console, the [[Wii]], supporting online play. It was only after this announcement that Sakurai received an offer from Iwata to return to direct the new ''Smash'', which he accepted. Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as director and designer for the game in issue #885 of ''Famitsu Weekly''. Sora Ltd. officially began development of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' in collaboration with [[Game Arts]] staff in late 2005, and the game was released in January 2008. It became one of the Wii's highest-selling games and received highly positive critical reception.
 
===''Kid Icarus: Uprising'' and ''Super Smash Bros. 4''===
[[File:Olimar Miiverse.png|thumb|250px|Sakurai posting a "pic of the day" on {{b|Miiverse|social network}}. This picture revealed {{SSB4|Olimar}} for ''SSB4''.]]
Following the release of ''Brawl'', Sakurai and Satoru Iwata formed a Nintendo subsidiary called {{s|wikipedia|Project Sora}} for the purpose of developing the first new entry in the {{uv|Kid Icarus}} series in 21 years. Titled ''{{s|icaruspedia|Kid Icarus: Uprising}}'', the game featured 3D on-rails flying-and-shooting segments as well as third-person action sequences on the ground, a great departure from the 2D platforming gameplay of the first two ''Kid Icarus'' games.
 
At E3 2011, Iwata announced that once his team was finished with the development of ''Kid Icarus: Uprising'', Sakurai would begin working on two versions of the new ''Smash'' game, later titled {{for3ds}} and {{forwiiu}} and collectively known as ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''.
 
After ''Uprising'' was released and the team at Project Sora disbanded, Sakurai and Sora Ltd. began collaborating with [[Bandai Namco]] to develop<ref>http://www.cubed3.com/news/16506/1/sakurai-begins-work-on-new-smash-bros-for-wii-u-and-3ds.html</ref> the new Smash games in February 2012. He announced that he wanted the 3DS version to be more of an "individual" and "customizable" experience and described connectivity features between the two versions where, hypothetically, the player could take a customized character from the 3DS version and transfer it to the Wii U version.<ref>{{cite web|author=Gantayat, Anoop|url=http://andriasang.com/comw97/iwata_asks_smash_bros/|title=Iwata Asks About Smash Bros.|publisher=Andriasang|date=2011-06-09|accessdate=2013-05-06|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222110934/http://andriasang.com/comw97/iwata_asks_smash_bros/|archivedate=2011-12-22}}</ref> The games were unveiled in Nintendo's video presentation during {{h2|Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3 2013}}.


The future of both the ''Kirby'' and ''Super Smash Bros.'' franchises were in jeopardy following his resignation. Sakurai later stated that he wished for HAL to continue working on the ''Kirby'' series, but the future of ''Super Smash Bros.'' was still unknown.  
During and after the reveal, Sakurai took an active role in the public presence of the games, appearing in many E3, Nintendo Direct, and Super Smash Bros. Direct presentations, detailing new and returning characters, explaining game mechanics, and giving insights into the development of the series. Among other in-person appearances, Sakurai spoke and presented the winner's trophy at the {{Trn|Super Smash Bros. Invitational}} at {{h2|Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3 2014}}.


After his departure with HAL in August 2003, Sakurai began working with Q Entertainment, along with Tetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted in ''Meteos'', a unique puzzle game for the [[Nintendo DS]].
Sakurai developed {{s|wikipedia|calcific tendonitis}} near his right shoulder in February of 2013, which causes pain during arm movement. Sakurai mentioned that this could substantially slow down his current work, as he does game testing himself.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gifford|first=Kevin|title=Why Masahiro Sakurai's bum right arm is hindering work on the new Smash Bros.|url=http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/27/4035046/why-masahiro-sakurais-bum-right-arm-is-hindering-work-on-the-new|work=Polygon.com|accessdate=2013-04-19}}</ref>


Sakurai also became an author for the weekly columns of ''Famitsu Weekly'', a Japanese gaming-themed magazine.  
After the September and November 2014 releases of ''for 3DS'' and ''for Wii U'', respectively, Sakurai stayed on with a smaller development team at Bandai Namco for the creation of [[downloadable content|DLC]]. The sixth and final wave of downloadable content was released on February 3rd, 2016, whereupon Sakurai announced that development of ''for 3DS'' and ''for Wii U'' had officially ended. He also noted that although he had already decided on his next project, he wanted to first take a long vacation. However, in an interview, he stated that after finishing with ''Smash 4'', he went straight into the next game without break. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1171812740328869889|title=PushDustin Sakurai Interview}}</ref>


===Sora Ltd. and ''Brawl''===
===''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''===
On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, [[Sora Ltd]]. As for the future of the ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' series, former HAL Laboratory President and former President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, during the Nintendo E3 2005 press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to Nintendo's video game console, Wii. In issue #885 of Famitsu magazine, Sakurai first revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer on Nintendo's highly anticipated ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl''. Sakurai developed the game, despite personnel borrowed from Game Arts being put in charge of preliminary development of it.  
Some time later, Sakurai began work on ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' with the team at Bandai Namco. This was one of the final assignments the late [[Satoru Iwata]] assigned to Sakurai to work on.<ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1172306041070964738</ref> The game was announced on March 8th, 2018 via a [[Nintendo Direct]] under the working title ''Super Smash Bros.'' Shortly after, Sakurai confirmed that he had been working on the game "in silence day after day".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/971885028245307392|title=Sakurai announces that he has been working on ''Smash for Switch''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/AllSourceGaming/status/971901365826940928|title=Translation of Sakurai's Smash for Switch tweet}}</ref> The game and its title were formally revealed during Nintendo's {{h2|Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3 2018}} Direct, where Sakurai again presented in video format, talking about the new game and its roster of fighters. The {{Trn|Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018}} at E3 also featured an appearance by Sakurai, and he has continued to appear in Nintendo Direct presentations which feature ''Ultimate''. During the Nintendo Live [[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Premium Fight|''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' Premium Fight]] tournament in Tokyo, Sakurai served as the color commentator.


Like ''Melee'', Sakurai maintained a site devoted to ''Brawl's'' gameplay developments, called the [[Smash Bros. DOJO!!]]. Unlike the Japan-exclusive Smabura-ken, the DOJO!! was made available in multiple languages.
Sakurai also supervised the lyrics for ''Ultimate'''s theme song, "[[Lifelight]]".


Sakurai reprised his role as the voice actor for [[King Dedede]] in ''Brawl''<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>.
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>  


''Brawl'' was released in early 2008. It became one of the Wii's highest-selling games, and critical response to it, much like ''Melee'' was positive.
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.


===Current developments===
==''Super Smash Bros.'' Websites==
In E3 2011, Iwata announced that Sakurai would be working on the next installment of ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4|Super Smash Bros.]]'' for the Wii U and 3DS once his team was complete with the development of ''Kid Icarus: Uprising.'' In February 21, 2012, Sakurai began development for the Smash games. [http://www.cubed3.com/news/16506?]
Starting in 1999, Sakurai wrote and maintained [[Smabura-Ken|Sumabura-Ken]], a website which in its various incarnations detailed the content and gameplay of ''Smash 64'', ''Melee'', and ''Brawl''. The ''Brawl'' website was the first to have Sakurai's updates translated from Japanese to other languages; the English version was known as the {{SSBB|Smash Bros. DOJO!!}} Though a separate [[Super Smash Bros. 4 Official Site|official website]] was created for ''Smash 4'', Sakurai posted daily updates about the games' development to the [[List of Director's Room Miiverse posts|Director's Room]] {{b|Miiverse|social network}} community throughout 2013 and 2014, and the current Miiverse "pic of the day" also appeared on the official site. The [[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site|official website]] for ''Ultimate'' also featured daily updates from Sakurai up until the game's release date, which are also available through a [[Nintendo Switch]] News Channel.
He announced that wants the 3DS version to be more of an "individual" and "customizable" experience where, hypothetically, the player could take a customized character and upload it to the Wii U version.<ref>{{cite web|author=Gantayat, Anoop|url=http://andriasang.com/comw97/iwata_asks_smash_bros/|title=Iwata Asks About Smash Bros.|publisher=Andriasang|date=2012-06-09|accessdate=2012-06-10}}</ref>


Like ''Melee'' and ''Brawl'', Sakurai developed a site devoted to the new game; this site, however, holds a greater interest in pictures of the game, rather than long posts of text. In addition, Sakurai posted many of the images on the site from [[Miiverse]].
==''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 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>


Sakurai developed {{s|wikipedia|calcific tendonitis}} near his right shoulder in February of 2013, which causes pain if he moves his arm. Sakurai mentioned that this could substantially slow down his current work, as he does some game testing himself.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gifford|first=Kevin|title=Why Masahiro Sakurai's bum right arm is hindering work on the new Smash Bros.|url=http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/27/4035046/why-masahiro-sakurais-bum-right-arm-is-hindering-work-on-the-new|work=Polygon.com|accessdate=2013-04-19}}</ref>
There are two versions of the channel, one in Japanese and another in English.


==Trivia==  
==Trivia==
*For several years, it was commonly rumoured that [[Easter egg#Super Smash Bros. Brawl|the cat that appears within the house of the ice transformation]] of [[Pokémon Stadium 2]] belonged to Sakurai. This was later debunked in [https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/509401397733761025 a Tweet], in which Sakurai said the cat was not his.
*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 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==
*[[Smabura-Ken]]
*{{SSBB|Smash Bros. DOJO!!}}
*[[List of Director's Room Miiverse posts]]
*[[List of Director's Room Miiverse posts]]
*[[Super Smash Bros. 4 Official Site]]
*[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site]]
*[[Mr. Sakurai Presents]]


==External links==
==External links==
Line 68: Line 87:
*[https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai Masahiro Sakurai]
*[https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai Masahiro Sakurai]
*[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 Smash Bros. DOJO!!]
*[http://www.smashbros.com/wii Smash Bros. DOJO!!]
*[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. series]]
[[Category:Super Smash Bros. series]]

Latest revision as of 07:54, October 25, 2024

Masahiro Sakurai
桜井政博
MasahiroSakurai.png
Masahiro Sakurai in Nintendo's E3 2018 presentation.
Born (age 54)
Japan Tokyo, Japan
Occupation Video game director, game designer, founder of Sora Ltd.
Spouse Michiko Sakurai

Masahiro Sakurai (桜井政博), born August 3, 1970, is a Japanese game developer, creator, writer, and voice actor. His most notable creations as a game developer include the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series, both of which he created and developed during his tenure with HAL Laboratory, a second-party developer for Nintendo. He has since continued his work as director of the Super Smash Bros. series through his own company Sora Ltd., which he founded in 2005 after his 2003 departure from HAL Laboratory.

Biography[edit]

Early game development career[edit]

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.[1]

At Nintendo and HAL Laboratory[edit]

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.

As the Nintendo GameCube neared release, Sakurai was named head of production for the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee, once again developed at HAL Laboratory. He recalls living a "destructive lifestyle" during the game's development period, with short weekends and no time off in 13 months of work.[2] The game was unveiled at E3 2001 and released shortly after in November 2001. Melee surpassed the popularity of its predecessor and eventually became the GameCube's highest-selling game of all time. Critical reception of the game was also positive, with some publications naming it among HAL Laboratory's finest works.

Resignation from HAL Laboratory[edit]

Sakurai resigned from his position at HAL Laboratory on August 5, 2003, shortly after the release of Kirby Air Ride. Sakurai said at the time that he believed it would be difficult for him to continue creating games if he stayed at HAL. He claimed that he had become tired of the gaming industry's growing focuses on sequels:

"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming," said Masahiro Sakurai on August 26, 2003, in an interview with Nintendo Dream, two weeks after his resignation from HAL Laboratory. "Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally."

The future of both the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. franchises were in jeopardy following his resignation. Sakurai later stated that he wished for HAL to continue working on the Kirby series, but the future of Super Smash Bros. was unknown.

After his departure from HAL, Sakurai collaborated with Tetsuya Mizuguchi at Q Entertainment to create Meteos, a unique puzzle game released for Nintendo DS in March 2005.

Sakurai also became the author of a column for Famitsu Weekly, a Japanese gaming magazine.

Sora Ltd. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd. Despite the departure of Sakurai from HAL, former HAL Laboratory President and former President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata stated at E3 2005 that the Super Smash Bros. series would continue on Nintendo's newest console, the Wii, supporting online play. It was only after this announcement that Sakurai received an offer from Iwata to return to direct the new Smash, which he accepted. Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as director and designer for the game in issue #885 of Famitsu Weekly. Sora Ltd. officially began development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl in collaboration with Game Arts staff in late 2005, and the game was released in January 2008. It became one of the Wii's highest-selling games and received highly positive critical reception.

Kid Icarus: Uprising and Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Sakurai posting a "pic of the day" on Miiverse. This picture revealed Olimar for SSB4.

Following the release of Brawl, Sakurai and Satoru Iwata formed a Nintendo subsidiary called Project Sora for the purpose of developing the first new entry in the Kid Icarus series in 21 years. Titled Kid Icarus: Uprising, the game featured 3D on-rails flying-and-shooting segments as well as third-person action sequences on the ground, a great departure from the 2D platforming gameplay of the first two Kid Icarus games.

At E3 2011, Iwata announced that once his team was finished with the development of Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sakurai would begin working on two versions of the new Smash game, later titled Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and collectively known as Super Smash Bros. 4.

After Uprising was released and the team at Project Sora disbanded, Sakurai and Sora Ltd. began collaborating with Bandai Namco to develop[3] the new Smash games in February 2012. He announced that he wanted the 3DS version to be more of an "individual" and "customizable" experience and described connectivity features between the two versions where, hypothetically, the player could take a customized character from the 3DS version and transfer it to the Wii U version.[4] The games were unveiled in Nintendo's video presentation during E3 2013.

During and after the reveal, Sakurai took an active role in the public presence of the games, appearing in many E3, Nintendo Direct, and Super Smash Bros. Direct presentations, detailing new and returning characters, explaining game mechanics, and giving insights into the development of the series. Among other in-person appearances, Sakurai spoke and presented the winner's trophy at the Super Smash Bros. Invitational at E3 2014.

Sakurai developed calcific tendonitis near his right shoulder in February of 2013, which causes pain during arm movement. Sakurai mentioned that this could substantially slow down his current work, as he does game testing himself.[5]

After the September and November 2014 releases of for 3DS and for Wii U, respectively, Sakurai stayed on with a smaller development team at Bandai Namco for the creation of DLC. The sixth and final wave of downloadable content was released on February 3rd, 2016, whereupon Sakurai announced that development of for 3DS and for Wii U had officially ended. He also noted that although he had already decided on his next project, he wanted to first take a long vacation. However, in an interview, he stated that after finishing with Smash 4, he went straight into the next game without break. [6]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Some time later, Sakurai began work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with the team at Bandai Namco. This was one of the final assignments the late Satoru Iwata assigned to Sakurai to work on.[7] The game was announced on March 8th, 2018 via a Nintendo Direct under the working title Super Smash Bros. Shortly after, Sakurai confirmed that he had been working on the game "in silence day after day".[8][9] The game and its title were formally revealed during Nintendo's E3 2018 Direct, where Sakurai again presented in video format, talking about the new game and its roster of fighters. The Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018 at E3 also featured an appearance by Sakurai, and he has continued to appear in Nintendo Direct presentations which feature Ultimate. During the Nintendo Live Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Premium Fight tournament in Tokyo, Sakurai served as the color commentator.

Sakurai also supervised the lyrics for Ultimate's theme song, "Lifelight".

On September 13th, 2019, Sakurai won 4 Tokyo Game Show awards and confirmed that Ultimate will only have content from video games.[10]

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".[11][12] This concluded on August 23rd, 2022.

Super Smash Bros. Websites[edit]

Starting in 1999, Sakurai wrote and maintained Sumabura-Ken, a website which in its various incarnations detailed the content and gameplay of Smash 64, Melee, and Brawl. The Brawl website was the first to have Sakurai's updates translated from Japanese to other languages; the English version was known as the Smash Bros. DOJO!! Though a separate official website was created for Smash 4, Sakurai posted daily updates about the games' development to the Director's Room Miiverse community throughout 2013 and 2014, and the current Miiverse "pic of the day" also appeared on the official site. The official website for Ultimate also featured daily updates from Sakurai up until the game's release date, which are also available through a Nintendo Switch News Channel.

Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games[edit]

On August 23, 2022, Sakurai launched his own YouTube channel on game design for aspiring game creators.[13] 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.[14] On June 15, 2024, he announced on Twitter he recorded the final episode of the channel, though it would not be released yet.[15] 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.[16]. His second-to-last video was dedicated to Satoru Iwata.[17]

There are two versions of the channel, one in Japanese and another in English.

Trivia[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.vgfacts.com/game/phantasystarii/trivia-18988
  2. ^ George, Richard. Super Smash Bros Creator: "Melee The Sharpest". IGN.
  3. ^ http://www.cubed3.com/news/16506/1/sakurai-begins-work-on-new-smash-bros-for-wii-u-and-3ds.html
  4. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2011-06-09). Iwata Asks About Smash Bros.. Andriasang. Archived from the original on 2011-12-22. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  5. ^ Gifford, Kevin. Why Masahiro Sakurai's bum right arm is hindering work on the new Smash Bros.. Polygon.com. Retrieved on 2013-04-19.
  6. ^ PushDustin Sakurai Interview.
  7. ^ https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1172306041070964738
  8. ^ Sakurai announces that he has been working on Smash for Switch.
  9. ^ Translation of Sakurai's Smash for Switch tweet.
  10. ^ https://youtube.com/watch?v=_J1yGa3SY-Y
  11. ^ Sakurai begins sharing dev screenshots from Ultimate.
  12. ^ Translation of the Sakurai's dev screenshots tweet.
  13. ^ Sakurai announces the creation of his YouTube channel.
  14. ^ I'm planning to wrap up Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games sometime this year..
  15. ^ 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter. Twitter (June 15, 2024).
  16. ^ 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter. Twitter (October 2, 2024). Retrieved on October 2, 2024.
  17. ^ 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter. Twitter (October 12, 2024). Retrieved on October 12, 2024.
  18. ^ Smash Bros. DOJO!!: Smash Trivia. Nintendo (2008-04-14). Retrieved on 2010-11-17. “Brawl’s director, Masahiro Sakurai, provided the voice for King Dedede.”
  19. ^ http://kyoto-report.wikidot.com/michiko-sakurai
  20. ^ http://themushroomkingdom.net/ssb_credits-full.shtml


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Important persons involved in the Super Smash Bros. series
Key Satoru Iwata · Masahiro Sakurai
Significant Reggie Fils-Aimé · Shigesato Itoi · Shigeru Miyamoto · List of developers significant to Super Smash Bros.
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