Mashiro Sakurai says he’s making Kirby Air Riders because, well, Nintendo asked him to while he was working on Smash Bros. DLC, ending speculation it was his own doing
Mashiro Sakurai says he’s making Kirby Air Riders because, well, Nintendo asked him to while he was working on Smash Bros. DLC, ending speculation it was his own doing
by shinohose
27 Comments
littleman1110
I would predict that it was used by Nintendo as a bargaining tool to get him to commit to another smash. I guess time will tell.
mrpython1
Gives me hope that if they did offer some sort of you can make you’re own thing next to come back he remakes uprising or makes a new one
ITouchedHerB00B5
With the story of the final iteration of Air Ride being developed in 3.5 months, I’m sure the prospect of revisiting the title and dedicating years to work on it was at least somewhat appealing.
Just give an uprising remake to a new team
Best_Big_2184
It doesn’t really end that speculation. He could have said no, instead he put his soul into a pitch that got the game greenlit. Sounds like a passion project to me.
levilicious
Well this is interesting. Is Airriders *not* the game that Sakurai talked about on his YT channel as being his own proposal? Or perhaps when he said Nintendo asked him to make a proposal, they were actually asking him to do a proposal for an Airride sequel specifically?
R_G_Marigold
The way he worded it made me think that he was pretty excited about it regardless. Maybe he’s just glad to finally be doing something other than Smash Bros.
ReidenLightman
To me, is still looks like he was very enthusiastic about the project.
BT--72_74
He didn’t really specify anything much. He just said he received a strong request that he couldn’t fulfill at the time but quickly put a proposal together. For all we know he could have been asked if he wanted to start work on the next smash game but proposed to do this first.
AusteegLinks
I would love to see Sakurai make his own IP and come up with his own characters.
EnoughDatabase5382
Sakurai is just a contract worker and isn’t in a position to propose projects (in fact, he’s a director, not a producer). He’s the creator of Kirby, but he doesn’t hold any of the rights. So, it’s impossible that he made a new Air Ride game just because he liked the original.
xanthonus
This is a different topic entirely but a lot of people speculate that Sakurai was able to do this game in exchange for another SSB. That said, I just can’t see Nintendo wanting to do another SSB on a Switch platform unless it’s something like MK8 WiiU to Switch where its the same game with a lot of enhancements. Unless they change the whole product it would be very difficult to top Ultimate. Plus you can play Ultimate on Switch 2. There would be just way too many comparisons and unless there is a significant amount of fighters from the beginning it would be really hard to come out swinging.
One thing the fighting genre has struggled with is net code. There really needs to be a revolutionary design change of fighting game net code. I was convinced for a while that RGG was going to attempt a revolutionary change to fighter net code with the new VF and maybe they will but it hasn’t been discussed yet. VF has always tried to be known as one of the more innovative in the space. Nintendo does not have a very good track record in this area but if they made net code a focus I think people would forgive them for less content on what would be a fully priced game.
NeighborhoodPlane794
The man is so incredibly busy. Would be shocked if we find out down the road that he managed to work on the next smash bros at the same time
SYZekrom
We literally knew from his youtube channel that Nintendo asked him long before the direct. He even says in the direct that he mentioned it on his youtube channel. Embarrassing for people, and especially any news outlets, to be like ‘he ended the speculation now’.
empathetical
Looks cool but seems too close to Mario kart. Should have held on to it for next summer imo
FrogsOblivious
Maybe the parasocial relationship with sakurai can cool off now. (it won’t)
Brave-Orchid4721
Given how he talked about it he likely enjoyed the prospect of making a new entry regardless of who made the decision to suggest this game.
MrMunday
Can’t even get the name right in these posts. Like seriously guys… it’s the guys name
rendumguy
>ending speculation it was his own doing
I don’t like this title, it’s too conclusive and presumptuous and implies he didn’t want to make it when there’s no concrete evidence to suggest that.
Nint3nbr0
“Mashiro” 🥀
Thebantyone
I just want a full “tag” mode or “cops and robbers” mode in City Trials…
Delicious_Bobcat5773
The idea a profits based company would ever let a guy make a game he wants, purely as a compensation so he could make a game they want (years later considering dev time) is absolutely insane and I can’t believe anyone thought that made logical sense.
People humanise corporations way too much sometimes it’s wild.
Vayshen
He still could’ve said no but I guess he was fine doing something other than smash.
And, hit take, but I hope his next project isn’t smash either. He’s getting up there in age, games take a long time to make, so there’s only so many more projects he can realistically helm.
Inevitably he won’t be around forever so Nintendo needs someone to succeed him for Smash anyway. Maybe he can supervise the next one a bit while he does Icarus or something completely different…then again he’s not one to half ass a project. He’d probably want to be very involved in anything he’s doing.
simdam
from the video he seemed pretty skeptical about having air riders released just after mario kart. as long as they pay him I guess
Mistaken_Stranger
That man loves his smash ultimate graphics.
matthewmspace
I really hope City Trial has 4-player splitscreen like the original did on the GameCube. If not, that’s incredibly disappointing.
djwillis1121
What a weirdly written headline. Why does it need the well?
hellrising798
Oh absolutely, Nintendo must’ve been standing behind him with a loaded pistol the whole time
27 Comments
I would predict that it was used by Nintendo as a bargaining tool to get him to commit to another smash. I guess time will tell.
Gives me hope that if they did offer some sort of you can make you’re own thing next to come back he remakes uprising or makes a new one
With the story of the final iteration of Air Ride being developed in 3.5 months, I’m sure the prospect of revisiting the title and dedicating years to work on it was at least somewhat appealing.
Just give an uprising remake to a new team
It doesn’t really end that speculation. He could have said no, instead he put his soul into a pitch that got the game greenlit. Sounds like a passion project to me.
Well this is interesting. Is Airriders *not* the game that Sakurai talked about on his YT channel as being his own proposal? Or perhaps when he said Nintendo asked him to make a proposal, they were actually asking him to do a proposal for an Airride sequel specifically?
The way he worded it made me think that he was pretty excited about it regardless. Maybe he’s just glad to finally be doing something other than Smash Bros.
To me, is still looks like he was very enthusiastic about the project.
He didn’t really specify anything much. He just said he received a strong request that he couldn’t fulfill at the time but quickly put a proposal together. For all we know he could have been asked if he wanted to start work on the next smash game but proposed to do this first.
I would love to see Sakurai make his own IP and come up with his own characters.
Sakurai is just a contract worker and isn’t in a position to propose projects (in fact, he’s a director, not a producer). He’s the creator of Kirby, but he doesn’t hold any of the rights. So, it’s impossible that he made a new Air Ride game just because he liked the original.
This is a different topic entirely but a lot of people speculate that Sakurai was able to do this game in exchange for another SSB. That said, I just can’t see Nintendo wanting to do another SSB on a Switch platform unless it’s something like MK8 WiiU to Switch where its the same game with a lot of enhancements. Unless they change the whole product it would be very difficult to top Ultimate. Plus you can play Ultimate on Switch 2. There would be just way too many comparisons and unless there is a significant amount of fighters from the beginning it would be really hard to come out swinging.
One thing the fighting genre has struggled with is net code. There really needs to be a revolutionary design change of fighting game net code. I was convinced for a while that RGG was going to attempt a revolutionary change to fighter net code with the new VF and maybe they will but it hasn’t been discussed yet. VF has always tried to be known as one of the more innovative in the space. Nintendo does not have a very good track record in this area but if they made net code a focus I think people would forgive them for less content on what would be a fully priced game.
The man is so incredibly busy. Would be shocked if we find out down the road that he managed to work on the next smash bros at the same time
We literally knew from his youtube channel that Nintendo asked him long before the direct. He even says in the direct that he mentioned it on his youtube channel. Embarrassing for people, and especially any news outlets, to be like ‘he ended the speculation now’.
Looks cool but seems too close to Mario kart. Should have held on to it for next summer imo
Maybe the parasocial relationship with sakurai can cool off now. (it won’t)
Given how he talked about it he likely enjoyed the prospect of making a new entry regardless of who made the decision to suggest this game.
Can’t even get the name right in these posts. Like seriously guys… it’s the guys name
>ending speculation it was his own doing
I don’t like this title, it’s too conclusive and presumptuous and implies he didn’t want to make it when there’s no concrete evidence to suggest that.
“Mashiro” 🥀
I just want a full “tag” mode or “cops and robbers” mode in City Trials…
The idea a profits based company would ever let a guy make a game he wants, purely as a compensation so he could make a game they want (years later considering dev time) is absolutely insane and I can’t believe anyone thought that made logical sense.
People humanise corporations way too much sometimes it’s wild.
He still could’ve said no but I guess he was fine doing something other than smash.
And, hit take, but I hope his next project isn’t smash either. He’s getting up there in age, games take a long time to make, so there’s only so many more projects he can realistically helm.
Inevitably he won’t be around forever so Nintendo needs someone to succeed him for Smash anyway. Maybe he can supervise the next one a bit while he does Icarus or something completely different…then again he’s not one to half ass a project. He’d probably want to be very involved in anything he’s doing.
from the video he seemed pretty skeptical about having air riders released just after mario kart. as long as they pay him I guess
That man loves his smash ultimate graphics.
I really hope City Trial has 4-player splitscreen like the original did on the GameCube. If not, that’s incredibly disappointing.
What a weirdly written headline. Why does it need the well?
Oh absolutely, Nintendo must’ve been standing behind him with a loaded pistol the whole time