Masahiro Sakurai
Masahiro Sakurai | |
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桜井 政博 | |
game designer | |
Employers |
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Works | |
Spouse | Michiko Sakurai |
Masahiro Sakurai (桜井 政博, Sakurai Masahiro, born August 3, 1970) is a Japanese video game director and
Formerly an employee of
Career
Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked for HAL Laboratory, where he created the character Kirby at age 19 and directed his first title, Kirby's Dream Land.[1]
Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003, after growing tired of the sequelization passively forced by HAL, ending his work on the Kirby series. "It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming," Sakurai commented, in an interview with
Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project with
In issue #885 of Famitsu magazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development.[4] Sakurai had been updating daily the Super Smash Bros Brawl website called the Smash Bros. Dojo. Starting a year previous the release, he revealed Brawl secrets and gameplay content through the site. The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008.[5]
In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed with calcific tendinitis near his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm. He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of his game testing himself.[8] Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, including Kirby Air Ride, Meteos, and the Super Smash Bros. series.[9]
In a January 2015 column in
On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator by Weekly Famitsu. Sakurai also announced that he is working on a new project not related to game production.[13]
Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games
Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games | |||||||
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YouTube information | |||||||
Channel | |||||||
Genres | |||||||
Subscribers | 579,000 (English)[14] 596,000 (Japanese)[15][16] | ||||||
Total views | 18.2 million (English)[14] 53.8 million (Japanese)[15][16] | ||||||
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Last updated: May 24, 2024 |
Sakurai launched Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, a YouTube channel in both English and Japanese in August 2022. The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career.[18][19] He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked to lecture at schools. Sakurai additionally noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as the Game Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.[20] Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers.[21] The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed by Yuzo Koshiro.[22]
Works
Year | Title | Role(s) |
---|---|---|
1992 | Kirby's Dream Land | Director, game designer |
1993 | Kirby's Adventure | |
1996 | Kirby Super Star | Director |
1999 | Super Smash Bros. | |
2000 | Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards | Voice actor ( King Dedede )
|
2001 | Super Smash Bros. Melee | Chief director |
2002 | Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
| |
2003 | Kirby Air Ride | Director |
2004 | Kirby & the Amazing Mirror | Special advisor |
2005 | Meteos | Game designer |
2006 | Sodatete! Kouchuu Ouja Mushiking | |
2008 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Director, voice actor (King Dedede) |
2012 | Kid Icarus: Uprising | Director, scenario |
2014 | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U | Director, voice actor (King Dedede) |
2018 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
Notes
- ^ 有限会社ソラ, Yūgen-gaisha Sora
References
- ^ MacDonald, Keza (August 8, 2018). "From Kong to Kirby: Smash Bros' Masahiro Sakurai on mashing up 35 years of gaming history". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ Gomez, John (September 30, 2005). "GameDAILY, Glu, Climax, Mforma, THQ Wireless & More Make Moves". GameDaily BIZ. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2006.
- ^ Casamassina, Matt (May 17, 2005). "E3 2005: Smash Bros. For Revolution". IGN. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2005.
- Nintendo of America. Archived from the originalon July 7, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ Sakurai, Masahiro (April 14, 2008). "Notice: No Further Updates". Super Smash Bros. Dojo. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
- ^ O'Brien, Lucy (July 11, 2012). "Kid Icarus Uprising Developer Closes". IGN. Archived from the original on May 17, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- ^ Gantayat, Anoop (June 8, 2011). "Smash Bros. U & 3DS development appears to be very early". andriasang.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Gifford, Kevin (February 27, 2013). "Why Masahiro Sakurai's bum right arm is hindering work on the new Smash Bros". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- ^ Aengenheyster, Justin (August 3, 2020). "Herzlichen Glückwunsch Masahiro Sakurai zum 50. Geburtstag!". n-Switch-on.de (in German). Archived from the original on August 31, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ Nakamura, Toshi (January 29, 2015). "Smash Bros. Could be its Creator's Last Game". Kotaku. Archived from the original on January 30, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie. "Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS DLC Ending Soon Director Says". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (March 8, 2018). "Super Smash Bros. announced for Nintendo Switch". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ "Sakurai Says He's Already Working on a New Project + Wins Best Creator". YouTube. March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ a b "About Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games". via YouTube. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
- ^ a b "About 桜井政博のゲーム作るには". via YouTube. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
- ^ a b "About Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games". YouTube.
- ^ Doolan, Liam (September 11, 2022). "Random: Masahiro Sakurai Shows Off His Silver YouTube Play Button". Nintendo Life. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ Peters, Jay (August 24, 2022). "Masahiro Sakurai is the latest creator to join YouTube". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
- ^ Nightingale, Ed (August 24, 2022). "Masahiro Sakurai launches new YouTube channel on game development". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
- ^ Lee, Jonathan (August 24, 2022). "Super Smash Bros. creator launches educational YouTube channel". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ Liam, Doolan (August 25, 2022). "Sakurai's YouTube Channel Surpasses 200k Subscribers In Under 24 Hours". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
- ^ "The opening and ending jingles for these videos were composed by none other than Yuzo Koshiro. I imagine you've heard them many times by now!". YouTube. Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games. June 8, 2023. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
External links
- Masahiro Sakurai's channel on YouTube
- Masahiro Sakurai on X