Masahiro Sakurai

Masahiro Sakurai (桜井政博, Sakurai Masahiro) (born August 3, 1970, in Tokyo, Japan) is a game concept designer, the creative force behind Nintendo's Kirby series and the Super Smash Bros. series and the author of a weekly column for Famitsu magazine.

One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked for HAL Laboratory It is here that he created the character Kirby at the age of 19. He would soon direct his first title, Kirby's Dream Land.

Sakurai resigned from his position at HAL Laboratory on August 5, 2003, leading many to believe that the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series would cease to continue. Reasons for his departure are said to be because he was seeking more freedom and was not happy with the structure that was present at HAL Laboratory. Most of all, however, Sakurai grew tired of the sequelization of the industry and at HAL.


 * "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."

His resignation came just days after an interview where he openly criticized Nintendo for circumstances surrounding the development of the Nintendo GameCube racer Kirby Air Ride. He has publicly stated that he wishes HAL to continue working on the Kirby series. It is known that Masahiro Sakurai holds no resentment towards his past at HAL Laboratory, or his old characters. To this day, Sakurai's signature is a Kirby face.

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.

On September 30th 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd.. Two titles have been announced to be in development but any information on the titles, other than that they are in development, has not yet been revealed.

As to the future of the Super Smash Bros. series, former HAL Laboratory President and current President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, during the Nintendo E3 2005 press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to the Wii, Nintendo's current-gen video game console. In issue #885 of Famitsu, Sakurai first revealed that he will be serving as a director and game designer on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, which has been confirmed to have online battles.