Masahiro Sakurai Quotes

In the arcades, when I was younger, there was a game called ‘King of Fighters 95,’ and I thought I was pretty good. I had a 50-strong win streak on ‘Street Fighter 2’ around that time.

A game’s concept is one of its most important assets. I feel that we must aim to satisfy both beginners and experts, and that hasn’t changed since I was making ‘Kirby’ games.

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.

If tournament popularity was the most important consideration, then I think we would create a Smash Bros game that included a multitude of fast moves with complicated controls. However, I believe this is actually the greatest shortcoming of fighting games at present, and that is the reason why I don’t do it.

You can only truly wow a player the first time he sees [a cutscene]. I felt if players saw the cutscenes outside of the game, they would no longer serve as rewards for playing the game, so I’ve decided against having them.

I don’t think I’ve ever made something that I’m totally satisfied with. That feeling of doubt, or wanting to do more, is my engine to move forward and make the next iteration.

Using a mouse, keyboard or gamepad make my arm tired, so I can’t use them in a continual manner. The only device I can use for an extended period of time is a joystick. It’s posing problems when I’m test-playing something in progress.

It was a pleasure working with Q Entertainment. I don’t focus on working with one company but rather with multiple companies, and I look forward to working with others.

‘Smash Bros.’ features a slew of modes as well, but we didn’t create them all under the idea that we want gamers to try every single one of them. I think it’s just fine if gamers enjoy the aspects of the game they like. It’s kind of a buffet-style approach.

Before there was even an official naming of the 3DS, or before it was even decided that there would be 3-D capabilities, Mr. Iwata had brought up the topic of a new portable gaming system, and with that, the request to create a new title for that system… The topic of Kid Icarus came up.

I was striving to become an engineer, but something happened that made me think, ‘Maybe I can make games instead.’

The pain goes away, but your work always remains.

I’m not depressed and I continue to remain healthy and positive, but developing ‘Smash Bros.’ is beyond hard.

Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to. If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.

You never know what’s going to happen in this world. I’ll just keep my mouth shut. That’s a good idea.

I used to work at HAL, where I made ‘Kirby’ and ‘Smash Bros.’ After that, I became an independent designer, but I didn’t have my own team.

In terms of quantity, we’ve probably already reached the limit of what’s feasible. I think a change of direction may be what’s needed.

In terms of scope, and in terms of sheer number of characters, we went beyond our limits long ago.

Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to.