I believe that the pros forms our world. As an example, if the chef is focused on preparing a delicious dish – then those to whom it intended will be delighted. Or if a clothing designer creates a good and comfortable product at a cheap price – then those who wear it will be satisfied. Architects, office clerks and transport employees affect the world in the same way. By becoming a pro in their field, people who have chosen this path will make society better, including the lives of the pros of other industries. I think it is in these relations that the movement of society forward along the better path lies. For this reason, the pros must strive to be the best of what he does, more than any other!

How many Nintendo franchises you are familiar? The question of what will definitely take you for some time, because in several decades they have piled them quite a lot. But what if you look a little deeper than these games? Personally, I always loved retrospectives where they talk about the history of the birth of any episodes, which has prompted developers and much more. Someday I myself wanted to do something similar-and here I am. From the entry, you could understand what we will talk about some of the Big franchises, but actually not quite. My retrospective is devoted not so much to the series of games as a person who gave rise to them. Of course, we will also consider the games, but the main emphasis of this article will be displaced in the other direction. Today I would like to tell you about the Japanese gamepa -designer who managed to create some of the most famous franchises Nintendo, which probably entered your list of games that you remembered at the beginning of the blog, along with Mario, Zelda and others. Allow me to imagine, gentlemen, – Masahiro Sakurai. The man who attacked Kirby and Super Smash Bros.

Together with the text option, I also worked on the video. BUT! I want to say in advance that this blog is not just a merged script that was prepared for the video (rather the opposite). Despite the fact that they are both on the same topic – here I tried to adhere to a more serious style. In addition, on the blog I tried to fit more information, various quotes and details, while the video is trying not to very funny humor. Thank you for your attention.

1.1. Start

Masakhiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970 in Tokyo and loved games since childhood. As you probably could know, in the 70s of electronic entertainment there were only Atari and Arcadian machine guns-just the second hero of our story and gave preference, playing games according to the type of Pong. In general, I put it rather softly when I said that Sakurai loved the games – he spent too much time and money on them. Probably, many will not see anything unusual here, because now such people are simply called gamers and this does not attract much attention, but I remind you that then there was another time, the games were not as popular as now. But then the beginning of the 80s came, the difficult time for video games, which was destined to fix Famicom’s, he is also nes (sometimes I will call it so for brevity). One of the features of the family committee was that it was quite possible to program your own games on it. To do this, it was necessary to buy “Family Basic” – a separate keyboard and a cartridge for the prefix – well, let’s not even more deeper into extra details. You do not need to be a mathematician to fold 1+1 and guess what Sakura was doing, as soon as everything necessary to create the game was in his hands. The farther, the denser the electronic entertainment came into the life of a very young guy, but the parents, alas, did not support the interests of the son.

Sakurai studied at an electrical school, and very good, in which, according to him, he could really learn much more, in comparison with other educational institutions. But at some point, he began to realize that this is not what he wanted to do. As a result, instead of continuing training, and then it can work at a prestigious, but hated work, Sakurai moved to another, secondary school. Moreover, Masakhiro believed that it would start to work much more reasonable and faster now, accumulating experience.

“Please understand that, determining your own path, you take responsibility for everything. It doesn’t matter what other people think, your life belongs to you and only to you!"

Masahiro Sakurai

Thus, he combined his studies with work on one partial day, buying for the salary of the game and continuing his research. And here we are gradually coming to the time when Sakura is finishing training and starting to work in Hal Laboratory. This company developed games and was created in the 80s; There was also an important figure important for the future story (and the entire gaming industry as a whole), the figure – Satoru Ivat. Even though the retrospective concerns Sakurai – this gentleman plays an important role in his life, so you can not do without mention. In addition, because it was he who decided to create a game that would suit both beginners and more experienced players. Ideas were then accepted from everyone, and Sakurai made the greatest contribution, and he was only about 19-20 years old at that time. And together with the start of development, we smoothly move on to the next part ..

1.2. Twininkle POPO

Already here you could have an easy bewilderment. Who is Popo? Why Twininkle? Wasn’t Masakhiro the first game Kirby? The fact is that this was how the first game in the series was initially called, and Kirby himself had to call Popopo. There are 2 versions why Kirby, I apologize for the tautology, called Kirby. An erroneous legend says that it was named after the popular brand of vacuum cleaners. I advise you not to take it into account, because Shigeru Miyamoto himself stated that he was named after an American lawyer, that he defended the interests of Nintendo in court with Universale – John Kirby. By the way about Shiger Miyamoto. Perhaps we could see Kirby completely different, namely, yellow. There was a lot of confusion on this occasion, since the game was for a black and white console, in which Kirby was white. All employees thought that this was precisely his color, well, or yellow in extreme cases (which Schiger insisted on). Sakurai, on the contrary, wanted to make him pink and was able to defend his creative vision.

The simplicity of Kirby’s https://robocatcasino.co.uk/bonus/ design was supposed to attract a children’s audience, but initially it should have been completely different, and not like a cute pink ball. It was just a quick cast option for sketches, but everyone liked it so much that they decided to leave it. Even in one of the future games there was a slogan that pushed the kids to creativity, offering to draw his kirby in just a couple of steps. But if you think that absolutely everyone will be able to draw this character – slow down while putting your pencil in place and look at the photo a little lower, because there is one funny contradiction. None of the employees managed to draw the same Kirby, and also due to the fact that the design was too simple. Funny paradox, do not find? As a result, the design of Masakhiro was considered a kind of diamond among copper, “true” Kirby, no matter how funny it may sound.

“First draw a circle, then your eyes, add a magnificent big smile and voila! This is Kirby!"

Kirby’s Adventure

1.3.Kirby’s Dream Land and Kirby’s Adventure

The exit of the game took place in 1992 on the prefix Game Boy. And it was called not as some kind of Popopo, but quite a solid “Kirby’s Dream Land”. The game was a light platformer, thanks to which it suited a beginner, but for more experienced players it was possible to unlock a complex mode. Rather, after passing you were shown a combination of buttons, which this mode opens. In fact, nothing prevented you from playing a more fierce Kirby right away, without passing a simple version. At the same time, changes in the eyes are thrown immediately, since the enemies become faster, demolish more hp, and now it is much more difficult to survive and now. Let Kirby be named and not in honor of the vacuum cleaner, but the gameplay was just built precisely on the fact that he literally sucked the enemy in himself, after shooting him. In addition, you can absorb not only opponents, but, for example, their shots. Initially, the developers wanted him to kick his enemies, but after this idea refused. Kirby could also pout and take off, like a balloon, so as not to fall into the abyss. The plot is straightforward, as in many other retro games of that time. There is a penguin named King Didi – he is bad and steals all the food from the inhabitants of the country of dreams. Kirby is good, so it returns it. True, given the mercy of enemies, you begin to involuntarily think about who is still a villain. But at least the idea was pleased that we were beaten by the local fauna for nothing, because as a reward we were shown a beautiful transition to the next location and the victorious dance of Kirby (all this will also be fixed in the series).

So the game looked

Here Kirby flies

After the absorption of something, Kirby shot not specifically eaten an object, but with an asterisk, after returning his small dimensions.

The results were impressive, Kirby was in 14 place in the list of the best games of the game, by March 1993 the game was sold in the amount of more than 1 million copies around the world. A small amount of mechanic was attributed to the minuses . But it also seemed to the players that Kirby’s spell was too small and from that uncomfortable.

The success of the first game led to the continuation already on NES, in 1993. The director of Kyrby’s Adventure again pulled out Masakhiro Sakurai. The fact that the game pulled the graphics is obviously, but now it could also please the new mechanics that will be fixed in the series. Now Kirby could not only shoot the enemies eaten, but also adopt their features and strength, simply swallowing them. Should I tell me that it gave the game a huge variety? Now, with the absorption of the enemy, Kirby could hit the enemy with a whip, throw something similar to boomerang, release spikes and do many other interesting things. Upon receipt of damage, Kirby lost his ability, therefore, it is likely to go through the whole game using only one thing-you will not work, which means you have a huge field for experiments. 40 abilities were originally invented, but only the best and interesting 26 were left of them. And you don’t even have to rub me that you never wanted to see all the abilities that there are in the game. There were mini-games that gave you bonuses like glasses or additional lives, but which are not so interesting, although this introduces diversity. You can consider this as a little fun after a level to get distracted. The game even now looks wonderful, but this is not sacred, because he was already going to sunset and only at the final stages of life, the developers understood how to squeeze the maximum from the console from the console. The developers listened to the players and now the Kirby sprite has become more, which also became a good opportunity to make more beautiful and detailed dances at the end of the level.

As you can notice, here Kirby has a sword that he can swing. Yes, this is one of the abilities that he received with the help of absorption.

Now the plot has become more complicated and even more ironic, since the tie is being built on the fact that the inhabitants of the country of dreams have ceased to see dreams. Kirbi goes to the Fountain of Dreams, in order to solve the problem, stumbles upon Dididi, who stole the starry rod, which he gave the strength to the fountain, also broke it, giving it out in parts of his assistants. Of course, the rod will be restored, but – which is unusual – after that the whole sky darkens and the final boss appears. It turns out that it was he who damaged the fountain, and King Didi, in turn, broke the rod to protect the country of dreams from this strange threat. We thought here a typical retro game with bad and good? But hell is there, now we have an action movie with unexpected plot turns and anti -heroes. By the way, a funny fact, but all the locations in the game are named after any food … Yes, now there are few people, but before it was not so beaten.

Even despite the fact that the game was already late, Kirby again received worldwide recognition, and people again put it on the list of the best, but already for NES, not a game of battle.

1.4. Strange spin-offs

Initially, I wanted to make a retrospective in Kirby, and not specifically the history of Masahiro, but after changing my mind. And here is one of the reasons – nothing to talk about. For almost all the games to which Sakurah had a hand, there is some kind of story. I have already told you about the beginning of the creative path and in the future I will talk about a lot, but more than half of all the games of the series, Sakura did not take part. There is no story behind them, I would even say that you can only laugh over the most such games. Well, you know these strange Japanese fetishes, yes? To make spin-offs in their franchises, which are in no way connected with the main series and it is not clear why we need. Sonic Libyrinth, Pinball with Pokemon – exactly what we never had enough. And in Kirby in the future, they will have time to make a pinball, golf, a game of the type of Puyo-Puyo. You can, of course, make mini-views, as I did with the first Kirby, especially since not all such games were bad (for example, continuing the drama of the strokes), but it is the same as to remove the plot and various inserts from the retrozers, leaving only reviews of games. Informative, of course, but you must agree, it would be something else. Maybe then I will still consider these games, having made some table, but it will definitely be another time and in another blog.

1.5. Kirby Super Star

But the next game that will be discussed now has an important value … Kirby Super Star is a game that came out on March 21, 1996, on the new console – SNES. Yes, it was developed before that, even on the usual NES, but it has long lost its relevance, and after the game began to altogether at all. In fact, the game also carried a collection of 8 games. And if you think that the same monotony awaits you there, but in different locations, then you are very mistaken. Each game is really unique and has some of its own mechanics. For example, in one of the games you have to look for treasures, in the other you will not get the ability after absorption of the enemy, but you can get them in secret rooms. It looks like an experimental site, but in reality it really does not allow to get bored.

The game was called one of the best in the series, but instead of once again talking about what good music, graphics are there and what the plot is, let’s return to how exactly it influenced Masahiro. It started initially with the fact that Miyamoto asked Sakurai to add cooperative to the new game. At first, of course, he broke, but still followed the instruction. True, he was quite peculiar, because one of the ordinary enemies of Kirby was literally taken under the control of another player. Nevertheless, it did not cancel fun, but not in the first pairs. The main problem was that when playing for two, enemies were literally demolished in a couple of pokes. And to fix this problem, Masakhiro plunged strongly in the fighting. How did fighting help in the development of a platformer? Without a concept! But based on them, he gave the characters the opportunity to perform several actions at once, pressing the same button. In addition, the enemies became much more tenacious and strong. Otherwise, Kirby is like Kirby, who, nevertheless, was the starting point for something more ..

2.1. Dragonking: Thefightinggame

From the story you could already understand that this cute pink ball was very important in the career of Sakurai. Even the parents who were against his son’s aspirations for Gamdesema were bought up by Merch and Kirby, and Masakhiro was really surprised when the house was filled with his character. However, do not forget that this gentleman is responsible for another series of games. At some point, he was offered to work on something else, and he had enough ideas for him, especially after the development of Kirby Super Star, for which he studied separate elements of the playing. Moreover, then Nintendo 64 loomed on the market. In other words, he needed only a reason to use all this. He took up the development of a game called "DragonKing: TheFightingGame".

With his idea, he headed to Sator Ivat, but they did not tell anyone about her and there were reasons for which a little later. Finging was something radically new, because he was aimed at four players, turning the game even into a sort of hunger games, where everyone for himself. The essence of this fighting was not to bring the enemy’s health to zero, but that the enemy would have accumulated all the resulting damage. And the more damage he would get, the easier it would be to throw him out of the arena. But we needed memorable characters that people would like to play, and so many characters in the heat of the battle could be confused at the level: “So, and where I?", Because the characters should also stand out. However, the first time they could do only by simple faceless men … or not? Out of interest, they added to the game the most famous characters of the Nintendo games, and this began to acquire paints. But then this concept seemed quite controversial, and Ivat and Sakurai, realizing that people are unlikely to be distracted from the development of other games in order to move to a rather controversial project, brought him to mind and polished it secretly. They were sure: the game would find success. Albeit not without difficulties, but the project was approved, however, it was no longer called Dragon King, but already familiar to us "Super Smash Bros". The game was released on January 21, 1999. The assumptions of Sakurai and Ivat were confirmed. Immediately the game acquired a huge fanbase – everyone was delighted. There were 12 characters in the game, if we counted those that opened after: Mario, Pikachu, Donky Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McClaud, Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness and Jigglipff. Initially, the game came out only in Japan, since Western players could strangely perceive the concept where the good and loved characters begin to beat each other, but after such success it was necessary to start working on localization. Sakurai, after the start of the game, created his blog – "Smash Dodzou". There he shared advice and was a kind of conductor for beginners.