Smash Bros. creator Sakurai starts new YouTube channel on game design

Masahiro Sakurai, director of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. franchise, has begun his own YouTube channel. The series is called "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games," and each video will have separate releases for English and Japanese audio. 

Sakurai joined the industry by working at Nintendo's HAL Laboratory, and rose to prominence by creating the Nintendo character Kirby, and directing 1992's Kirby's Dream Land at the age of 19. He'd later go on to direct Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii in 2008, and continued with the franchise up to the most recent installment, 2018's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. 

"I want to try and help make games around the world a little more fun," explained Sakurai to open the video. He further continued that in the past, he's been asked to hold seminars on game design. But those, he argued, typically only appeal to those already working in games. 

By creating a YouTube channel, he continued, he can reach a larger audience. "Whether they make games or not, anyone who plays games should be able to get more enjoyment out of the hobby just by learning more about them."

For fans of fighting series and Smash Bros. specifically, Sakurai said he's been allowed by Nintendo to show some development builds and design documents that he's made for the games. But he underlined that this is his own personal project and has nothing to do with his employer.

Later in the video, Sakurai stressed that his videos would be about general game design and development than any the methods for any specific studio, and that he'd try to not be too inside baseball.

Sakurai wants his videos to be especially helpful for those who aren't already pursing a career in games, and hopes the series will benefit the industry further down the line. "I hope someday this can lead to more game creators down the line. That, in turn, will lead to more fun games for all of us to play," concluded Sakurai.