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News Sakurai starts his own youtube Channel "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games."

Finally got around to watching these videos, binged them all last night. This is so cool, I love getting to see a peak behind the curtain! The presentation is absolutely top notch, too.
 

This video left me stunned.

Under the amount of pressure the team was in, most would have produced an awful dud or at least something that felt unfinished. Sakurai and those under him were working in very tight time constraints and made freaking Kirby's Adventure. Absolutely incredible.
 
Sakurai on RPG:


I appreciate that, for everything he says about his view of how an RPG works, he ends on saying "So don't let existing conventions limit how you design your push and pull!" Sticking to just existing conventions, pulling just from existing games, leads to stagnant games. Genres can be broad! Embrace that!
 
This feels more of the Essence of retro RPGs, although he does show some modern ones.
 
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It’s one of those “well, duh” concepts that’s surprisingly easy to forget in practice.
 
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Till now nothing really new to me, but never the less an interesting series.
I would like it alittle beefier and a little more in details, but oh well.

My main problem is, since its in japanese with subtitles, its less of a side thing, and i dont watch them till way later or i forget.
I feel like for longer videos it would be easier, since the comitment would be more clear to me.

I honestly hope he breaks his composure. Hes way to good to play games with his audience, just showing"i aware", but not directly talking about stuff.
 
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The recently one is really good an interesing regarding showing the gameplay first, even in games with a heavier story like RPGs. It's actually what made me lost interest in the trails of the sky series as it's been twice (even with turbo mode) where I'm like "ok, when does the game actually starts???"

 
The recently one is really good an interesing regarding showing the gameplay first, even in games with a heavier story like RPGs. It's actually what made me lost interest in the trails of the sky series as it's been twice (even with turbo mode) where I'm like "ok, when does the game actually starts???"


This was the video I was hoping he’d make. Hopefully people react to this in a revealing way.
 
Sakurai speaks truth. I don’t really like games that take more than ten minutes before you get to the game part. Serve us a slice of gameplay first, then continue the story.

I’m also not fond of “story trailers”, because what I want to see is how a game will play.
 
This is besides the point, but I didn't realize he has separate Japanese and English language youtube channels. The amount of extra work that goes into making that possible is impressive and very appreciated. An animator from the Nickelodeon Brawl game commented on the animation video to say that they had a similar process for making characters.
 
Good video, and he’s absolutely spot on.

I have no time to waste on games that aren’t interested in giving me meaningful gameplay. The Yakuza games are a prime offender in this category; no joke, it takes more than 45 minutes to go from starting a new file in Yakuza 6 before you even get to move your character!! That game got promptly deleted before I could even stomach starting it.

Games are an interactive medium. If you’re not going to prioritise interactivity? Go make a movie instead.

Gameplay is king, and if you can‘t enthral me in those first 5-10 minutes? I’m not giving you a second chance. I’ve got far too many other great games that are actually worth playing to bother with your slop.
 
This is besides the point, but I didn't realize he has separate Japanese and English language youtube channels. The amount of extra work that goes into making that possible is impressive and very appreciated. An animator from the Nickelodeon Brawl game commented on the animation video to say that they had a similar process for making characters.
Considering he did JP & Eng broadcasts for any Smash reveal it’s not unreasonable for him. It may be worked into his routine at this point.
 
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Sakurai seems to really like Persona 5 and Xenoblade 1, that's twice he's used both as examples in his videos.
 
Sakurai seems to really like Persona 5 and Xenoblade 1, that's twice he's used both as examples in his videos.
I do find it interesting that Sakurai consistently uses footage from the original Wii version of Xenoblade 1 and not the Switch remaster (despite typically using footage from HD remasters of other games where applicable).
 
I do find it interesting that Sakurai consistently uses footage from the original Wii version of Xenoblade 1 and not the Switch remaster (despite typically using footage from HD remasters of other games where applicable).
Dunban was sexier in the original so I'm assuming that's why Sakurai prefers that version
 
Sakurai published this message on the Community Tab
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Sakurai published this message on the Community Tab
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Yeah I often read in his comments that as if any game that dosen't meet Sakurai Standards isn't a good game. His perspective comes from someone who did many great games, but obviously it is only one opinion. There are a lot of great or beloved games that don't meet many of the standards he is describing in his videos.
 
That’s super cool. Explains how the localisations are so timely and so high quality! :D

Also… more info about who does the actual video production…

AaEhNxM_d.webp
 
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Surprised no one posted his latest today. I’m a huge fan of Kirby Super Star so it was super cool to see there was a 7th scenario planned. Probably going to make a separate thread about it.



Edit: Looks like he first discussed it five years ago so I’ll skip making a thread. But it was very cool to learn about.
 
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I thought it was interesting that he originally wanted Spring Breeze to have no power-ups and only put them in at Nintendo's request. Would have made the subgame a bit more challenging for kids, for sure.
 
I thought it was interesting that he originally wanted Spring Breeze to have no power-ups and only put them in at Nintendo's request. Would have made the subgame a bit more challenging for kids, for sure.
I’m glad Sakurai lost out on that one. It is weird it and Dynablade are so similar, but it’s such a great introduction to the game especially when I was like five or six when I first encountered Super Star. Also would have been sad it’d be the only game by extension to not have immediate co-op play at least as it works everywhere else.
 
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I’m really loving this channel. Some of it very game-centric but there’s more than enough things that I think anyone who works in a collaborative environment or in a product development position would be well served to subscribe to it
 



That one is excellent, between Fata Morgana and 13 Sentinels a bunch of great but lesser known games were mentionned.

The PowerWash devs were beyond thrilled to be featured. It’s really cool how deep Sakurai’s reference pools are.

I would argue that all his examples are just different forms of “game essence” but hey we get the idea.
 
Really like these videos, they cover a lot of topics that I think modern game creators and indie creators often ignore. Haven't watched the new one yet but I'm hoping it covers how like I've said before, Nintendo isn't really "gameplay first" if it means the game isn't as fun.
 


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