#masahiro sakurai on creating games

[pokemonblog]

Video: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai dedicates his final video in the Grab Bag category to the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and how they first met

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has started a new YouTube channel called “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.” Check out the latest batch of uploaded content via the embedded video below: Mr. Iwata [Grab Bag] It wouldn’t be right to end this channel without touching on this topic.By the way, this is the 31st and final video in the Grab Bag category! A Director’s Job is to…

[thewisemankey]

Man made a wave so big that Masahiro Sakurai himself took notice. Bravo.

cookie clicker mentioned

[luna--flare]

[blazehedgehog]

Samurai’s recent game dev video was about monitor colors/tones and discrepancy between brands. Have you ever ran into this issue when editing videos?

Considering I've been using the same monitor since 2011, I don't know if I can really comment on that too much. I dialed this screen in where I wanted it using some color tool (maybe Adobe's?) and have left it there ever since.

I don't really have multiple monitors, either. Just the one screen. I have a TV to my left, which is also technically just a monitor (about the same size, too), but the TV is for the PS4 and Roku. The TV is a little brighter than my monitor is, and thus black levels aren't quite as dark.

I also have a laptop, which is also a lot brighter than this monitor is, but also has a lot worse color saturation and contrast. But I can't really "do work" on that laptop -- it's 12 or 13 years old and can barely watch Youtube these days. It's mainly for chatting on discord or as a word processor when I can't use my desktop. So I don't really edit videos there, either.

The one thing that does get me when editing videos is color space, however. Nvidia's capture tool uses a different color space than what Vegas outputs, which can make PC games look kind of washed out and flat.

However, a friend pointed out how easily this is fixed using a preset in the Vegas Levels effect.

Using this gets it much closer to what it looked like during capture:

[empressxmachina]

Get the Sense of Scale Right [Graphics]

This could be useful to the visual artists on these streets. Or, you can just listen to Mr. Sakurai because he knows things. 

[pepperedflakes]

i'm glad mr sakurai has gotten into the flow of his youtube series on gamedev theory so well that he's put out a filler episode about his cat

[suppermariobroth]

Masahiro Sakurai's official YouTube channel, "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games", features many illustrations of people to demonstrate various concepts. These are usually not related to the Nintendo-specific video game imagery in the videos, though on occasion, the illustrations do reference Nintendo properties.

In the "Avoiding Comparison [Planning & Game Design]" video, Sakurai uses an illustration of a man that "reminds his girlfriend of Donkey Kong" as an example of a comparison that makes sense to someone familiar with the subject, but would not make sense to those unfamiliar with it.

Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source

[cody-cant-die]

Masahiro Sakurai (creator of Super Smash Bros and Kirby) spent $600,000 to create a YouTube channel for emerging game designers.

He talks about everything, and I mean EVERYTHING.

Conceptualizing a game

Programing a game

Marketing a game

He has a 14 video series on audio in games, he has 20 videos on graphics in games, he even made almost FORTY videos on team management and work ethics for making games.

It is absolutely insane to me that this well renowned, influential genius of the industry did all of this and these videos have less than 10k views. How is that even possible? There is such a wealth of information here on how games are made and it seems that nobody even knows. I found out about it from a random Tik Tok that also had less than 10k views.

All of this information is just sitting there for free.

[pokemonblog]

Video: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai talks about topics to consider when coming up with game ideas and mechanics

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has started a new YouTube channel called “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.” Check out the latest batch of uploaded content via the embedded video below: C: Planning & Game Design 2 (Category Compilation) #10～#18 In Category C: Planning & Game Design, I talk about topics to consider when coming up with game ideas and mechanics. These are…

[thewisemankey]

Masahiro Sakurai calmly and directly telling the world at large to basically "Shut Up, Don't Think, and Just Go Do It!" is definitely more motivational than Shia LeBouf merely standing there and shouting at you.

I like this advice. If you are having trouble working, imagine there is a bomb in your room that will go off if you don’t start right now.

[fuckyeahmasahirosakurai]

Sakurai confirmed he has been working on a new game since April 2022 in his final video from his series "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games"!

Source: (x)

[operationhoshinokaabii]

A friend recently told me that Kirby Right Back at Ya is actually the prequel to the game series, and there's so many things and evidence that supports it. However, the Internet says that it isn't cannon. So I thought that maybe you'd be best to answer (I hope.)?

So my question is,,,

Is the Anime actually canon to the game series? In a way that it's the prequel? Or it's just a completely different universe?

Nope! The anime is its own separate timeline. Think of it like the different versions of Spiderman! (Enter the Kirbyverse)

The anime is 'canon' itself, in that it was created by HAL Labs and Masahiro Sakurai, it's just a different version of canon lol. (There are a lot of different Kirby canons- the games, anime, various manga series, the novels... )

There are similarities because they're based on the same thing, but no direct connection.

Although, some of the games are actually crossovers with the anime- Mass Attack and Epic Yarn to name a few- where the lines between universes are blurred a bit.

But really, 'canon' is a pretty nebulous term in the Kirby series so I wouldn't get too hung up over it lol.

[ohthehypocrisy]

Marvel VS Capcom 4EVER - The Perfect Dream Game

(This is going to be something different from my blog's usual content. I don't just love pokemon, I'm also a really big fan of crossover fighters. My very first fandom was Super Smash Bros. and it was where I started writing fanfics. I may not be all that good at 2D traditional fighting games, but I enjoy the time I spend on them. As such, I will be talking about Marvel vs Capcom and what I would want the 4th game to look like)

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The Marvel VS Capcom series is a franchise founded on hopes and dreams. When an unlikely collaboration spawns one of the most fantastical crossover events in history, well before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was conceived, you can imagine that it is fondly remembered and well regarded in its popularity and gameplay.

And yet, with such powerful Intellectual Properties populating the series, the games are rife with copyright power struggles and negotiations. So much so, that the game had been in limbo for as many years as it had been played competitively. The demand is there, the problem is that no one can decide how much money both sides should be making to allow for a character to be put into the game and to get punched in the face.

To put it into perspective, Marvel VS Capcom 2 came out in 2000, and it pulled a Masahiro Sakurai and included every character from the past games plus a little extra. The game was entirely 2D with mostly reused sprites, which is how it got away with a whopping 56 characters on the roster right out the gate. This also created some balancing issues as the top tier characters from previous games were also top tier here as well, though that topic of discussion is beyond my area of expertise. All you need to know is, there's a reason all the top level matches have the same 5 or so characters.

Now, as for Marvel VS Capcom 3, that title came out in 2011, a whole 10 years after the arcade experience was brought home. The hype was still there, but the series would run into some licensing issues in the background. It's how we got Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 less than a year later, and how Marvel VS Capcom Infinite came out the way it did. Though perhaps it would be best if you, the reader, looked into that yourself, as I'd rather talk about Marvel VS Capcom 4, or rather, what it could potentially be.

Since the Marvel VS Capcom Fighting Collection was announced, I have been ecstatic about finally owning these games that I would rarely see. I didn't go to arcades all that often, but I always liked going to look at all the cabinets and all the games I've never seen before. Remember, arcades were a big deal back in the day, and the internet wasn't, so this is where you would discover games you haven't heard about. This is how I learned about Marvel VS Capcom, and how I fell in love with crossover fighters in general. I was a 90's kid growing up, so these quarter consuming cabinets were like a vivid dream to experience. And being on the autism spectrum meant that a strong first impression would consume my waking thoughts for years on end. It's my hope that a rail shooter collection comes out soon so that I can reexperience 'The Ocean Hunter' in all its glory.

Back to the topic at hand, the rerelease of these games would imply that relations between Marvel and Capcom have mellowed enough that all the licensing headaches for this collection passed like a mild flu. It's a bit of wishful thinking, but the door might be open for a potential new iteration of Marvel VS Capcom. I mean, everyone has been talking about it lately, so I figured I'd put in my own two cents.

Before we begin, we do have to go over why MVC Infinite isn't being given the honorary title of number 4, and there are a few reasons. One of them being the confusing order of titles of the franchise. Marvel VS Capcom 2 is actually the 4th in the series, starting with X-Men VS Street Fighter, though it could also be the 6th of you started with X-Men: Children Of The Atom. So what would that make UMVC3? It was an updated rerelease sold less than a year after MVC3, so does it count or should it be a separate thing? MVC Infinite didn't use a number in their title, though if you tilted the ∞ sign you would get the number 8, which is the exact number of games in the series if you count UMVC3 as a hefty DLC bundle.

The other reason is because of all the executive meddling that poisoned the roster. What is a Marvel VS Capcom game without Wolverine or any of the X-Men? Well, you get MVC Infinite, that's what. On top of the squandered roster, there were loads of criticisms over the models looking the way they do. I'm not gonna dwell on this bit for too long, but don't be surprised when you hear people boldly claim that Infinite isn't a true MVC game.

So, what would a Marvel VS Capcom 4 look like? Everyone has their own ideas, but it seems that no one can decide on a concrete roster for Launch Day. I specify 'Launch Day' as it's to be expected that a big game like MVC4 will have DLC, it's how you keep a game like this alive for as long as there is work to be done. I mean, I've yet to hear anyone complain about DLC for this series, except for when UMVC3 was announced, but that is the exception that proves the rule. As long as it doesn't happen again, you can do no wrong.

Well, what do I think? After all, this is my post, my idea. As such, I'm proposing a base roster of the best of both worlds, the absolute pinnacle of popularity for the birth of the best beat 'em up game ever made. I'm talking the top picks like Cyclops, Ryu, Wolverine, Chun-Li, Captain America, Mega Man, Deadpool, Dante, all the fan favorites that would guarantee a Day 1 buy for everyone.

But I'm also proposing a massive DLC roadmap for the game's foreseeable future. With a plan of releasing new characters for the game as time wears on, the starting roster and number of characters don't really matter that much. Granted, there are some characters who are nonnegotiable for the starting roster, like Spider-Man and Morrigan, but as long as everyone understands that there will be loads of DLC characters coming down the line, you can guarantee that Launch Day sales will go through the roof.

Think of this potential game to function like Fortnite, or more specifically, like a live service. Now, I know that live service games have performed very poorly, but that's usually because of bone-headed executives making the decisions for the developers. There are live service games that do very well, like Splatoon for instance, or the aforementioned Fortnite. Since the plan is to gradually release new content, it'll pay to make everything accessible to the players by turning it into a live service.

Of course there's the issue of what the base price for the game will be or if new characters will be paywalled. You have to charge SOMETHING to make a profit, especially if you want to pay your team to make new characters. In a perfect world, the game and characters would be free and all the monetization would be made through cosmetics. But the fairest asking price would be between $60 and $70, with the promise that all characters released through DLC will be free. Of course, the developers and the company won't leave the money on the table, they'll probably whip up a battlepass or something to engage daily play. Again, as long as the characters are free and everything else is cosmetic, we can't complain too much...

In order to keep the game fresh, however, new character releases should be released in bundles. Even with the starting roster of about 30 or so characters, fans will always want something more out of the game. But the developers are only human, and crunch time is one of the worst things you can do your workers. As such, the DLC shall be 'seasonal' with each release period being named after a Marvel VS Capcom title. For instance, 3 months after the release of Marvel VS Capcom 4, the first seasonal DLC will be called 'X-Men VS Street Fighter' with 6 new characters from these Intellectual Properties, and more coming later down the line. The seasonal DLC will last until a sufficient number of X-Men and Street Fighter characters have been added to the roster. That might get stale quickly, though, so maybe the rest will come out later in between seasons.

Following this trend, after 'X-Men VS Street Fighter' we'll get the 'Marvel Super Heroes VS Darkstalkers' DLC pack. And then following that, we can get the 'Clash of Super Heroes' pack, which is the subtitle for Marvel VS Capcom (which is the fifth game). Then comes 'New Age of Heroes', followed by the 'Fate of Two Worlds' pack, then the 'Ultimate' Pack, and finally the 'Infinite' pack. The idea here is to cram this $70 game full of characters so that everyone who bought it will have their money's worth, and all the fans get all the characters they could ever want. Masahiro Sakurai, the Lead Developer of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, left the industry with one of the most ambitious crossover games of history. A dreamed up version of Marvel VS Capcom 4 has to meet and exceed this insurmountable expectation of crossover greatness. Even if I'm not all that familiar with either Marvel or Capcom properties, I would want nothing less than to make as many people happy as possible.

So that's the plan, but what about the gameplay? I mean, you can't just release Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 again with more characters and expect everyone to be happy, right? I mean, no, but the ironic thing is that a lot of people would love to have that. In fact, there's a massive mod scene behind UMVC3 right now and they're adding in loads of characters. If you're comfortable with tinkering around a bit in computer files, I highly recommend giving it a look. (It's also extra apparent at how apathetic people are about MVC: I, though that game is also getting its own mod update).

Anyway, as for gameplay, if we HAD to add something, I had the idea of throwing in something called the 4EVER Assist. It's why I titled the post the way I did, as this is how you add even more characters to the game. See, back in Marvel VS Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, there was a random assist feature that you could pick along with your two main characters. This is where a majority of the games new sprite work came from, aside from newcomers like Venom and Captain Commando. Basically, you technically had a team of three characters, though the assist varied in strength and usage. The weaker and less effective assists could be called more often, but the stronger and better assists had very limited calls.

This assist system had very little risk to the player, which is why each one was ratioed with different number of uses. In other installments, each chosen fighter could be called for an assist, but summoning them recklessly could leave them vulnerable to combos from the enemy. But if you got clipped along with the assist you called, well, expect the crowd to start singing 'Happy Birthday', if you know what I mean.

Anyway, for my idea of Marvel VS Capcom 4EVER, both assist systems are combined, turning what was traditionally a 3v3 fighting game into a 4v4. The 4th character cannot be controlled, but they offer some benefits over regular fighters. For one, the player will never be out of assists if they are brought down to their last character, making comebacks a lot more feasible. Secondly, all characters on the roster can be delegated as the 4EVER assist and allows them to use exclusive moves when called as an assist. And thirdly, since it is only one move, you can have new characters exclusive to the 4EVER assist list that otherwise wouldn't make the cut, like Nick Fury or Cut Man. Not to say that these characters can't be promoted to fully fledged fighters down the line, but it'd be nice to have them around otherwise.

I've also got the idea of adding something called the 4EVER Ability, a passive effect unique to each fighter. This is closer in execution to Pokemon Abilities but tailored to the team fighter combat system. Basically, each fighter offers a different boon that affects the whole team, and since you can choose three fighters and a 4EVER assist, you can have four passive abilities active at once. However, if a fighter gets KO'd, their 4EVER Ability is negated for the rest of the match, leading to a structural degradation of team synergy. Of course, the 4EVER assist cannot be KO'd, so a player can make a last stand with at least two active 4EVER Abilities in play.

Here's a short list of 4EVER Abilities that would be in the game and their function:

Cyclops - "Dreams don't die!" Super Meter Generation is increased by 1.5x (Hitting and getting hit generates Super Meter, which can be used for Super Attacks, so an ability to hasten that generation is useful.)

Ryu - "I walk the path of a true warrior!" All 🡳🡶🡺P attacks deal 2x more damage. (This boon is restricted to Punch attacks, but all attacks, Supers, and Assists that use this motion get the power boost.)

Wolverine - "I'm the best at what I do." Your combo is more resistant to Damage Decay. (The later installments of MVC have a Damage Decay system where the longer the combo drags on for, the less damage you'll deal overall. Other fighting games have this. Wolverine's ability caps the damage drop-off much earlier.)

Ken - "Here's to a good fight!" All 🡺🡳🡶P attacks deal 2x more damage. (Same as Ryu's ability, but for 'dragon punch' motion attacks.)

Spider-Man - "With great power, comes great responsibility." Damage increases by 2x for each bar of Super Meter you have. (With you being able to control 3 characters, the Super Meter maxes out to 5, meaning a potential 10x damage increase for your combo. The damage is instantly reduced when you spend some for a Super, however.)

Mega Man - "Mega Buster, Power UP!" Super Attacks deal 2.5x more damage. (Super Attacks cost Super Meter, but they hit very hard, can fill the screen with damage, or even be used to counter other attacks. However, Mega Man's ability is still susceptible to Damage Decay, which Super Attacks tend to generate quickly.)

Hulk - "Hulk is strongest there is!" Damage is increased the more HP you have. (This ability grants a massive power boost in the first minute of the fight, but it wavers later on. Tagging in other characters is also risky if they are brought in recklessly and lose some HP during their assist calls.)

Captain Commando - "Let's go, Commandos!" Assists deal more damage the more HP they have. (Because of how integral Assists are to making combos, dealing more damage through assists is a powerful asset. But it can only scale up with how healthy you keep your teammates.)

Captain America - "Freedom prevails!" Reduces damage taken while blocking. (This one is self-explanatory, given how strong Cap's adamantium shield is. It's also crucial in avoiding chip damage during critical moments, as most attacks will still whittle down your HP bar, even while blocking.)

Mike Haggar - "The Mayor of America!" Throws deal more damage and it is easier to Tech Throws. (In contrast, working around blocking means knowing how to throw your enemies. This boon also increases the damage dealt through command throws. When you get grabbed, you have a very short window of time to input a grab to negate the attack, this is called a Tech Throw. This ability widens the window by a few frames, but keep in mind that command throws cannot be Teched.)

Doctor Doom - "Defeat is beneath Doom!" Damage increases gradually the lower your team's HP is. (MVC3 and UMVC3 had a comeback mechanic called X Factor, where activating it increased your speed and power drastically. But the less teammates you had, the greater the boost, functioning as a divisive comeback mechanic. I'm not sure if MVC4 will have a similar mechanic, so I'm a little hesitant to put something similar as an ability.)

M. Bison - "This place will become your grave!" Damage dealt to the enemy increases the more Ichor they have. (In nearly all versions of MVC, there is an HP mechanic called red HP or something to that effect, I don't think it was ever officially named. Anyway, when you get hit, a portion of your HP lost turns into red HP, which you can recover later through healing specials or by tagging out and waiting. In MVC4, this will be called Ichor, meaning this ability deals gradually increasing damage to the enemy as the combo continues.)

Ghost Rider - "Feel the weight of your sins brand your soul." Counter Specials and Super Attacks deal 3.5x more damage. (In MVC, Counters in general are rare and rarely used due to how team supers function. As such, this ability grants a massive boost in damage to those specials if they land.)

Dante - "Now it's a party!" Attack and Speed increase a little bit during Installs. Also extends the duration of Installs by a little bit. (An 'Install' is traditionally a temporary transformation into a slightly different character, but they typically add in buffed stats and extra moves. You can call it a temporary self buff that may or may not cost Super Meter. It should be noted that Installs do not run out when the character is tagged out and is retained when the character is called back in for an assist, which this ability will continue to boost the damage of.)

I have more examples but I think that'll do for now. The idea of a 'passive ability' system in a tag team fighting game is a bit foreign but since this game will have loads of characters, it helps to give each one a bit of personality.

I'll leave it at this for now. The irony here is that, if a Marvel VS Capcom 4 were to be in the works right now, I wouldn't be able to play it, owning only a Nintendo Switch right now. Maybe if the Switch 2 is real and can run more graphically intensive games, and that MVC4 gets a Switch 2 port. But this is all a dream for me, so it's time to wake up.

Thank you for reading this far. And remember, only two things last forever, diamonds, and MAHVEL.

[thewisemankey]

I'm gonna miss the various ways for Sakurai to say "ZATSUDAN!"

But I'm glad he saved his last one for Mr. Iwata.

Mr. Iwata [Grab Bag]

[empressxmachina]

Making Things Look Miniature [Graphics]

[conkreetmonkey]

How does Sakurai keep aging backwards??

Watching the latest Masahiro Sakurai YouTube video and

how does this man keep aging backwards. He looks significantly younger now than he did when I was watching his Smash Ultimate reveal videos a few years ago. I'm actually comparing videos now and it's not just me misremembering what he looked like back then, he legitimately looked a decade older in his Smash for 3DS/Wii U videos compared to today. How does he do it?

Now, these example images are far from perfect, I wasn't planning on making this post so this is kind of a quickie. Still, am I crazy, or does Sakurai look far younger today than he did 4 years ago? (I'm aware the quality of the modern photo is far better than the first, but the hat's not on me there; the Smash Bros videos just had less resolution than is seen now on Sakurai's personal YT channel. Weird.)

I've noticed a few distinct ways in which he looks significantly better now:

His skin looks noticeably more youthful. His laugh lines seem to have all but vanished, and his face appears to have significantly more healthy colour to it. The difference appears slight in this photo comparison, but in some older videos from the 3DS/Wii U era it's much clearer. He looks significantly less pale now, and any lines that were present on his face have seemingly disappeared.

This one is more obvious: his eyebags are gone! He's clearly sleeping far better now. The difference is night and day.

Again, not too noticeable from the pictures given, but Sakurai's hair seems to be smoother, glossier and darker than it used to be. Perhaps he's dyed it or is using different products now, but it looks far healthier and youthful now, and that's not even to say it looked bad before. He's always had great hair (and has never been bad-looking in any field), but it's really shining nowadays.

idk why I'm even making this post. In all likelihood, he's just far less stressed nowadays without Smash Ultimate and Covid to worry about. Still, I think it was worth pointing out. Masahiro Sakurai looks phenomenal. Again, not to imply he's ever looked bad. He's always been, in my opinion at least, quite an attractive man. I also understand that this post may come across as creepy or obsessed, but I haven't watched any Sakurai content since high school, in which my friend group was heavily Smash-oriented and we kept up with the development and new character additions like other men do sports. In an unorthodox way, Masahiro Sakurai was a huge part of my teenage years. I idolized him back then, and I'd still consider him a man worth looking up to; his passion for his craft is damn near unmatched. If every big name gave developer cared as much about the art they were creating as Sakurai, the entire gaming scene would be so, so much better.

This is an appreciation post, I suppose, as well as just me being happy a guy I followed closely a few years ago now seems to be doing better than ever. I get that he was and still is a multimillionaire, but back in the day he was working himself to the bone. I mean, passing out at work, winding up in the hospital, and then going right back to work with a IV drip in his arm?? He's clearly worked extremely, unhealthily hard to gain his wealth. I'm glad he's visibly less stressed out nowadays, and austounded at how much better he looks. There's graceful aging, and then there's Masahiro Sakurai. He's 52, and works like a coked-out mule with a sick kid at home and a debt to the mob, yet despite all this I wouldn't think he's a day over 30. You fucking go, Sakurai.