Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games

Masahiro Sakurai (Japanese: 桜井政博; born: ) is a Japanese video game developer, director, and voice actor best known for creating Kirby and Super Smash Bros. He founded his own video game company in 2005 named Sora Ltd. after leaving his former company, Hal Laboratory.
==History==
Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970 in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. As a child, he had a fascination with computer games, eventually buying a Nintendo Family Basic computer in which he could program his own games. Sakurai would eventually attend college specializing in electric engineering. Soon after, he began working at Hal Laboratory in 1989 where he developed small projects. When he was 19, he began development on the game, Kirby's Dream Land, which then released on April 27, 1992. Soon after, he directed more Kirby games. In 1999, Sakurai, along with Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata began working on the fighting series, Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64. 
On August 5, 2003, Sakurai left Hal Laboratory, expressing he felt creative restrictions since he was only allowed to develop Kirby sequels. He briefly worked at Q Entertainment before he and his wife, Michiko Sakurai founded the company, Sora Ltd. Beginning in 2008, Sakurai served as the creative director of the Super Smash Bros franchise, where he would give updates on upcoming details and updates on the website and the Nintendo YouTube channel.
==Content==
Masahiro Sakurai created two YouTube channels in May and July of 2022. He said the goal with these channels were to educate viewers about game development and to encourage programmers on new ideas. His first videos were uploaded on August 24, 2022. On January 9, 2024, he announced in a community post he was planning to wrap up Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games sometime in 2024. On June 15, 2024, he announced on Twitter he recorded the final episode of the channel, though it would not be released yet.
These two channels are both in Japanese, though the English one has subtitles. Sakurai mainly discusses techniques and other programming decisions within games he's developed. He also discussed his history within the gaming industry and what ideas he implemented into his games.
===Topics===
* Work Ethic (仕事の姿勢)
*Game Essence (ゲーム性)
*Planning & Game Design (企画､ゲーム設計)
*Design Specifics (仕様)
*Team Management (チーム運営)
*Graphics (グラフィック)
*Animation (モーション)
*Effects (エフェクト)
*Audio (サウンド)
*UI (UI)
*Programming & Tech (プログラム・テクニカル)
*Marketing (広報)
*Grab Bag (雑談)
*Game Concepts (企画コンセプト)
*News (お知らせ)
==Channel milestones==
===Subscriber milestones===
====Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games==== 
*100,000 subscribers: August 24, 2022
*200,000 subscribers: August 24, 2022
*300,000 subscribers: August 26, 2022
*400,000 subscribers: September 1, 2022
*500,000 subscribers: October 24, 2022
====桜井政博のゲーム作るには====
*100,000 subscribers: August 24, 2022
*200,000 subscribers: August 25, 2022
*300,000 subscribers: August 28, 2022
*400,000 subscribers: September 18, 2022
*500,000 subscribers: circa April 2023
*600,000 subscribers: June 21, 2024
===Video view milestones===
====Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games==== 
*100,000 views: August 24, 2022
*500,000 views: August 25, 2022
*1 million views: August 26, 2022
*5 million views: October 21, 2022
*10 million views: February 25, 2023
====桜井政博のゲーム作るには====
*100,000 views: August 24, 2022
*500,000 views: August 24, 2022
*1 million views: August 27, 2022
*5 million views: September 18, 2022
*10 million views: October 25, 2022
*50 million views: circa March 2024
==Trivia==
*Sakurai voiced the character, King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the Super Smash Bros games.
*In many of his games, he uses a technique called "hit stops" where an enemy player or boss stutters or stops for a moment after being defeated by the main character.
*He was awarded the Most Valuable Creator award by the Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu.
*Sakurai was diagnosed calcific tendonitis in 2012 in his right shoulder, which caused pain when moving around.
Category:YouTubers
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Educational YouTubers
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:Tech YouTubers
Category:News YouTubers
Category:Japanese YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2022
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