About
Masahiro Sakurai (桜井 政博 Sakurai Masahiro) is a Japanese video game developer and director, who is known for creating the Kirby and Super Smash Bros series. On the internet, he has gained a reputation for being a troll and has spawned several memes within the Smash Bros. community.
Biography
Masahiro Sakurai was born August 3 1970. Early in his career, he joined HAL Laboratory and at age 19, he created the Kirby series and directed his first titel, Kirby’s Dream Land. Later in his career, he was the director for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 and returned for the sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Sakurai continued to work at HAL Laboratory until he left the company on August 3 2003. He stated that his reason for leaving was because he wanted more freedom but that the biggest reason for his departured was, that he had grown tired of the sequelization from HAL. After he left HAL, he worked with Q Entertainment on a game called Meteos.
In 2005, Sakurai founded his own video game company; Sora Ltd. He was later contacted by Satoru Iwata, and was asked to the director of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Sakurai accepted and began work in October 2005. During development, Sakurai weekly updated the official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website, known as Smash bros. Dojo!! Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released on January 31 2008 in Japan and recived critical acclaim. After finishing the game, Sakurai next directed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS, ending the franchise’s 21 years long hiatus. After Kid Icarus: Uprising had been released, Sakurai began working on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS which is to be released in 2014.
Online Presence
Online, Masahiro Sakurai has developed a fan following due to the gameplay of his games and his work on the Super Smash Bros. Series. He has a page on TVtropes and he also has his own Twitter account with over 78 thousand followers.
Reputation as a troll
Among the Super Smash Bros. fanbase, Sakurai has gotten a reputation as a troll due to his tendency to often tease the Smash Bros. Community, such as hinting that characters, that is very requested to be playable by the Smash Bros. community, will appear in another form or flat out stating that a character won’t be playable, only to reveal right afterwards that the character is playable. He is listed as a trolling creator on TVtropes.
Sakurai: (Laughs)
“Sakurai: (Laughs)” is a phrase made popular by Smash fans. It originated from Iwata Asks: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the interview, Sakurai would often laugh, which would be written down as (Laughs). It is often used when something Sakurai thinks very little of is mentioned or if a person is making a ridiculously newcomer request for the Super Smash Bros. games.
