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Masahiro Sakurai

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Masahiro Sakurai
桜井 政博
Born (1970-08-03) August 3, 1970 (age 51)
Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation
  • Game director
  • game designer
  • scenario writer
EmployerHal Laboratory (1990-2003)
Sora Ltd. (2005–present)
Works
Kirby series
Super Smash Bros. series
Spouse(s)Michiko Sakurai

Masahiro Sakurai (桜井 政博, Sakurai Masahiro, born August 3, 1970) is a Japanese video game director, game designer and songwriter[1] best known as the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design of Meteos in 2005 and directed Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012. Formerly an employee of HAL Laboratory, he left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-Hal Laboratory), they founded Sora Ltd., a shell company who works on a freelance basis on several projects. He is also an author of a weekly column for Famitsu magazine, and has done voice acting work in some of his games.

Biography

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.[2] 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 Nintendo Dream, two weeks after he resigned from HAL. He explained that, "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".

Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project with Q Entertainment, along with Tetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted in Meteos in 2005, a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora.[3] Two titles were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged. As for the future of the Super Smash Bros. series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory's President Satoru Iwata, during Nintendo's 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 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.

On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice for King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as well as Dedede in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio, Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed at E3 2010 that Sakurai and Project Sora were working on Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS. Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012.[5] At E3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Sakurai began development of the title upon the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising in March 2012.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8]

In a January 2015 column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.[9] In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in the Smash Bros. series,[10] but on March 8, 2018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was announced during a Nintendo Direct and was released for the Nintendo Switch in December 2018 with Sakurai once again as director.[11]

Works

Year Title Role(s)
1992 Arcana Special thanks
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)
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble Special thanks
2001 Super Smash Bros. Melee Chief director
2002 Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade Special thanks
2003 Kirby Air Ride Director
2004 Kirby & the Amazing Mirror Special advisor
2005 Meteos Game designer
Mushiking: The King of Beetles
2008 Super Smash Bros. Brawl Director, voice actor (King Dedede)
2012 Kid Icarus: Uprising Director, scenario writer
2014 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Director, voice actor (King Dedede)
2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[12]
2020 Super Meat Boy Forever Super special thanks

References

  1. ^ "Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Scott The Woz". Did You Know Gaming?. Event occurs at 6:02. Retrieved January 10, 2021 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ MacDonald, Keza (August 8, 2018). "From Kong to Kirby: Smash Bros' Masahiro Sakurai on mashing up 35 years of gaming history". the Guardian.
  3. ^ Gomez, John (September 30, 2005). "GameDAILY, Glu, Climax, Mforma, THQ Wireless & More Make Moves". GameDaily BIZ. Retrieved May 11, 2006.
  4. ^ "Iwata Asks: Super Smash Bros. Brawl". Wii.com. Nintendo of America. Archived from the original on July 7, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
  5. ^ O'Brien, Lucy (July 11, 2012). "Kid Icarus Uprising Developer Closes". IGN. IGN. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Gifford, Kevin. "Why Masahiro Sakurai's bum right arm is hindering work on the new Smash Bros". Polygon.com. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Masahiro Sakurai - 5 Character Images | Behind The Voice Actors". behindthevoiceactors.com. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.CS1 maint: postscript (link)

External links

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