Masahiro Sakurai
| Masahiro Sakurai | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 桜井 政博 |
| Born |
August 3, 1970 Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | |
| 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, designer, and writer, best known as the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series. Apart from his work in those series, he also designed Meteos in 2005 and directed Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012.
He is currently the director of software development for Sora Ltd., a company he founded in 2005. He is also the author of a weekly column for Famitsu magazine, and has developed a cult following for his streamlined, yet deep gameplay. He also voiced the character King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and in Super Smash Bros.
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. Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003, after growing tired of the sequelization from 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," said Sakurai, 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."
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