They always say you shouldn't meet your heroes, but I can't help but wish I could sit down with Masahiro Sakurai for lunch. During my time as a self-described "hobby freelancer video game journalist" I've researched many game developers, and I've learned that many of them turn out to be quite flawed and controversial people. … Continue reading We Don’t Deserve Masahiro Sakurai
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a 3D Platformer developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. It was released in March 2022 as a Nintendo Switch exclusive. MSRB is $60. The Nintendo Switch has been defined by a lineup of what I like to call "Video Game Olympic Athletes." For example: Zelda went open … Continue reading Kirby and the Forgotten Land Review: An Unforgettable 3D Platformer
Kirby Star Allies is a 2D Action Platformer developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. It was released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch in March of 2018. MSRB is $60. Back in the 1990s, most Platforming mascots like Mario and Sonic packed their bags and moved away to live in the Big City of … Continue reading Kirby Star Allies Review: Two-Dimensional Gameplay, Multidimensional Cute
In his beginning years, Sakurai made it a point to learn game design by playing games. Each game was a textbook of mechanics filled with ideas to analyze. Since then Sakurai has taken a unique position in the games industry where he can observe gaming as a whole, sample and borrow mechanics, and make them … Continue reading Sakurai, Part 5: The Kirby of Game Developers
Overwatch, Anthem, Destiny, Fortnite, Call of Duty... In the short time I've been back into gaming, I've seen several publishers push their games into being subscriptions, trying to get their players to keep paying for content for extended periods of time, whether that's a schedule of DLCs, events, updates, season passes, or lootboxes. One of … Continue reading Sakurai, Part 4: Designing Immortal Games
Eight games in one! That was the tagline for Kirby Super Star, Sakurai's third game, and the first one to include smaller games with widely different styles. This has become a staple of his design philosophy ever since. Opening up a game and seeing a sprawling menu has become his calling card. Sakurai flirted around … Continue reading Sakurai, Part 3: Designing Games with Variety
Let's imagine video games as theme park rides. Many of the intense ones have a height requirement in order to protect young kids from getting hurt. In a similar fashion, most video games, in order to get much enjoyment out of them, have a "height requirement" in skill. It's true that many games teach you … Continue reading Sakurai, Part 2: Designing Complex Games
As we begin diving into Sakurai's works, our first point of discussion is perhaps what he's best known for: games that anyone can easily learn and enjoy. Sakurai labeled this design philosophy as Kirbyism. His flagship series, Kirby and Super Smash Bros., are superb entry-level games not just for their respective genres, but for anyone … Continue reading Sakurai, Part 1: Designing Accessible Games
Shoutout to my wife for making this watercolor! For those who don't get the reference, Sakura are cherry blossoms, related to the name Sakurai. And Hanami is the time of year you can see the cherry blossoms (around this time of year), so I changed it to Hanakirby. My friend has a podcast called CineMusts … Continue reading Masahiro Sakurai: The Man Behind Smash Bros.
Hookshot, Charge Beam, Revive 