Smash Boss Sakurai’s big surprise is a new YouTube channel
Just this week, we were reminded by Super Smash Bros. boss Masahiro Sakurai that the “daily Smash screens” fun was coming to an end. On August 22, 2023, the dream was over, and the last screen was posted. But the beloved designer had another trick up his sleeve: an entire YouTube channel! The era of Sakurai YouTube has begun.
Dubbed “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games,” the channel will deal with creative topics pertaining to game design; with Sakurai speaking in Japanese, with English subtitles. It has a similar feel to his humble Smash DLC reveals, with Sakurai hanging out and talking (with purpose!).
At the time of publication, he’s put out three videos on his channel to kick things off. If you’re remotely interested in game design and/or Sakurai himself, all of these videos could be considered must-watches. They’re generally two to seven minutes long, and concisely touch on various topics utilizing Sakurai’s level of expertise.
Sakurai walks people through why he started the channel, and states upfront that people shouldn’t expect him to stream games from it. Rather, he’ll be “talking about topics like game development and what makes games fun.” Part of the purpose of the channel is to provide a wide net of education, which Sakurai says is more effective than speaking at an event to a limited crowd, or even giving talks at conferences like GDC.
This extremely short sizzle reel is a quick speechless rundown of Sakurai’s career. His credentials, as it were! Some text is provided to explain a few concepts.
As the first major game design video, this clip has Sakurai explain “stop effects;” specifically “hit stop,” something he uses liberally in the Smash Bros. series. In short, he explains how stuff like zooming in and
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