[Source Gaming] Is Sakurai a Liar?

No.​

For the past year and a half, Source Gaming has been collecting all the information, interviews and Famitsu columns, that it could get its' hands on. The collection of information has corrected a lot of misinformation and misconceptions within the Smash fan base. Taking information that is from only credited sources, Source Gaming is truly living up to its' name. Previously, Source Gaming has published The Definitive Unused Fighter List, Sakurai Didn't Say That!, Timeline of Masahiro Sakurai's Life and various articles detailing Sakurai's statements on various topics.

A common statement within the Smash fanbase is, 'Sakurai is a liar!' or 'Sakurai is a troll!'. PushDustIn decided to ask the community for their proof for these statements, investigate the claims and publish his findings.

For the full rundown, check out Source Gaming. This is only a preview of the full article!

1 lie.
4 cases of 'fake outs'
1 debatable cases.
12 cases of quotes being taken out of context, mistranslated or just made up.
4 cases of fans projecting their expectations.
2 cases of made up quotes/ quotes lacking sources.

Cases of Lying:
Stating that Zero-Suit Samus wasn't in Smash for Wii U/3DS, and then moments later admitting he was lying.

Cases of 'Fake Outs':
"Ness was in Smash up until now”
This quote comes from the Brawl site - Not a mistranslation, but it's not intended to sound so “definitive” (Japanese link). It just means that Ness was in all the previous Smash games up to that point. It was not a direct confirmation that Ness was or wasn’t going to be in Brawl.

Cases of Quotes Being Taken of Context:
"No DLC for Smash for Wii U/3DS"
This quote was taken out of context. Sakurai said that he and his team were not working on DLC at the time of the interview (November 19th), which for all we know, is true.

We believe that Samus is the best character in Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and 3DS"
This was in reference to the E3 invitational build (video link to the quote). This is probably his sincere opinion at the time, so it’s not a lie. On top of that, Sakurai states that he’s still balancing, so things would have changed since then.

Cases Lacking Sources:
”No more clones”
According to several threads on this topic, this is something that Sakurai has never said. In none of the Brawl interviews that Source Gaming has yet to translate, or has translated, were they able to find this. It is possible that eventually a source could turn up, but we will have to consider this misinformation since one has not been made available. According to Kinnian, it was made up by a user on Gamefaqs, and accepted as truth despite it lacking sources. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this happen and is the reason why people should always, always ask for a source.

Some of the more infamous cases are highlighted here, but be sure to check out full rundown on Source Gaming.

This kind of research takes time. A lot of time. If you like this kind of investigative research, please consider donating to Source Gaming's patreon. Rewards include financing a particular translation or research topic, and more!

PushDustIn always sources his stuff. Do you? Follow him on Twitter for more goodness.

 

Remember kids, always back up your claims with evidence and hard facts.

Anyways, I love reading stuff like this, some of it is rather interesting. I especially love the facts that they debunk.

 

He's not a liar!... He's just a troll!

 

Even the clear cut 'lie' is really just an elaborate fake-out.

 

I think it's a bit silly to call the ZSS thing an outright lie when it was clearly meant to be a joke. I'd reserve lies for things he promised or said were true and didn't deliver on.

 

Not gonna lie...
But I instinctively rolled my eyes at this title even though I haven't read it yet.
I think I've been desensitized to all of the "Masahiro Sakonspiracies" that go around all the time.
Not saying anything about the article (I haven't read it yet), moreso about just things I've seen people say.
EDIT: Yeah, I've always wondered about that "No more clones" thing.

 

As far as developers go, Sakurai is pretty up-front honestly. I appreciate that about him.

 

Even the clear cut 'lie' is really just an elaborate fake-out.

Yeah, I honestly had a lot of issue categorizing it. However, this was the most frequent piece of "evidence" that was submitted to me over the course of the last week. It's funny that the idea of Sakurai being a master troll/ liar is so embedded in the community, but no one can really thing why.

IMO it's just because fans expect one thing, and he does another. The severe lack of translations pre-Source Gaming hasn't helped misinformation/ misconceptions about Smash being spread either.

I'm not trying to toot my horn too much...but we still have so much misinformation within the community. It took me months to get the Wikis changed with the cut characters because the old list was so blindly accepted.

 

Sakurai also said no dogs, no animal crossing characters, and no characters from fighting games.

Why you always lyin, why you always lyin?

 

Don't think he's ever lied. Now trolling on the other hand oh yeah Sakurai does that in spades.

 

Well at least it was funny`

 

Sakurai aint no liar, people take what he says the wrong way.

 

I think it's a bit silly to call the ZSS thing an outright lie when it was clearly meant to be a joke. I'd reserve lies for things he promised or said were true and didn't deliver on.

I think the writer of this article was just joking when they called that a lie

 

This has also been in my mind, and I think most of us already know that Sakurai's words can never be trusted...which was actually the main reason why he always surprises us.
I think how Sakurai explains making a Smash character takes over a year could also be lying, how can Sakurai made Bayonetta in Smash after the ballot was over back in October? Of course, the ballot's true meaning could just be a gimmick Sakurai and his team to give a legit reason to put her in.

Finding archives...

http://mynintendonews.com/2014/12/1...h-bros-further-but-will-be-working-on-online/

I remember he also stated he won't balance Smash Bros any further in the future, I don't really say this is a lie for now cuz the Smash update might end after Corrin and Bayonetta'a update.

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/07/2...-see-fighting-characters-in-super-smash-bros/

And I also remember Sakurai explains why there won't be fighting characters in Smash4, but look who's in.

 

This has also been in my mind, and I think most of us already know that Sakurai's words can never be trusted...which was actually the main reason why he always surprises us.
I think how Sakurai explains making a Smash character takes over a year could also be lying, how can Sakurai made Bayonetta in Smash after the ballot was over back in October? Of course, the ballot's true meaning could just be a gimmick Sakurai and his team to give a legit reason to put her in.

Finding archives...

http://mynintendonews.com/2014/12/1...h-bros-further-but-will-be-working-on-online/

I remember he also stated he won't balance Smash Bros any further in the future, I don't really say this is a lie for now cuz the Smash update might end after Corrin and Bayonetta'a update.

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/07/2...-see-fighting-characters-in-super-smash-bros/

And I also remember Sakurai explains why there won't be fighting characters in Smash4, but look who's in.

I always felt like half a year was way too long for a team of people making one character...also i feel like Sakurai completely lied to us about Bayonetta winning

 

Such a clickbait article lol

 

This has also been in my mind, and I think most of us already know that Sakurai's words can never be trusted...which was actually the main reason why he always surprises us.
I think how Sakurai explains making a Smash character takes over a year could also be lying, how can Sakurai made Bayonetta in Smash after the ballot was over back in October? Of course, the ballot's true meaning could just be a gimmick Sakurai and his team to give a legit reason to put her in.

Finding archives...

http://mynintendonews.com/2014/12/1...h-bros-further-but-will-be-working-on-online/

I remember he also stated he won't balance Smash Bros any further in the future, I don't really say this is a lie for now cuz the Smash update might end after Corrin and Bayonetta'a update.

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/07/2...-see-fighting-characters-in-super-smash-bros/

And I also remember Sakurai explains why there won't be fighting characters in Smash4, but look who's in.

DLC characters don't have to contend with 40+ other characters, stages, items etc. all being made at the same time. Bayonetta isn't even done anyway. She still has bugs to iron out and tweaks to better balance her.

"No Plans"
Key word being "Plans"

Sakurai never said "No fighting game character" either. That's a mistranslation.
http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/07/10/sakurai-didnt-say-that/#[1]

 

I always felt like half a year was way too long for a team of people making one character...also i feel like Sakurai completely lied to us about Bayonetta winning

I think so too..

DLC characters don't have to contend with 40+ other characters, stages, items etc. all being made at the same time. Bayonetta isn't even done anyway. She still has bugs to iron out and tweaks to better balance her.

It's still only a half year after the ballot ends when she releases.

Sakurai never said "No fighting game character" either. That's a mistranslation.
http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/07/10/sakurai-didnt-say-that/#[1]

Ah... I should have read that articles, well... my source is like old news anyway. Thanks for correcting me on that.

And I do believe that the balance patch update will end on the February DLC update. After that,we might just get online fix update.

 

It's still only a half year after the ballot ends when she releases.

Also remember that they are working on 2 characters in the time he said it would take for only one

 

It's still only a half year after the ballot ends when she releases.

Bayonetta isn't in development with a load of other things. It's just Corrin, some trophies, mii costumes, a stage, some music, trailers and a balance patch alongside her.

Compare this to the main game when Sakurai said that characters could take a year.
An entire roster of characters nearing 50, two rosters of stages, loads of items, a bunch of game modes like Smash Tour and Smash Run which have their own unique aspects to make, near 700 trophies, lots of music, custom moves, stage builder and so on.

See the huge contrast in the content in development between Bayonetta and a character on the main roster?

 

A few things they did not point out:
"The best character in (smash 4) is Samus" there is an unambiguous indelible video record of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCYCj3et36U
Surprisingly, no one played Samus at the invitational.

"I do not have favorites"
He kills Samus 2-3 x as much as other character in every nintendo direct, every presentation, even the opening cinematic. He just likes killing the character.

Samus trophy:
"Samus's up smash attack, Cover Fire, fires five small blasts overhead, making it great for countering incoming aerial attacks."
Except that he's gone out of his way to design the move so that it doesn't do that.

ZSS trophy:
"Without her Power Suit, Samus Aran may not have her usual strength, specials moves or over-powered arm cannon, but her Jet Boots definitely kick things up a notch in their own way."

I'm not sure he's a liar. I could be convinced he has mental problems. I really don't try to read his mind anymore, otherwise I may be the one going insane.

 

Yeah, I honestly had a lot of issue categorizing it. However, this was the most frequent piece of "evidence" that was submitted to me over the course of the last week. It's funny that the idea of Sakurai being a master troll/ liar is so embedded in the community, but no one can really thing why.

IMO it's just because fans expect one thing, and he does another. The severe lack of translations pre-Source Gaming hasn't helped misinformation/ misconceptions about Smash being spread either.

I'm not trying to toot my horn too much...but we still have so much misinformation within the community. It took me months to get the Wikis changed with the cut characters because the old list was so blindly accepted.

I guess I just have a slight problem with your title. It feels like click bait, and it gives justification to the anonymous hordes who are pissed at Sakurai and blindly accuse him of misdeeds for betraying their own sky high expectations of a Smash with their personal dream roster, or even just one of their unlikely choices.

I would bet that pretty much all claims of Sakurai being an actual 'liar' are from salty, disappointed, or just ignorant fans who were sad about something cut or not included. I don't have a problem with you disputing that, in fact I think it's great that you've gone out of your way to shut that argument down, but most people are just going to read the title and associate 'Sakurai' with 'liar', especially if they didn't already, which is going to further befuddle the issue. This sort of association is why I feel your title does't appropriately reflect the data you've provided.

In my opinion, Sakurai is definitely a troll, but not mean spirited, he just likes to play around. This is pretty different from being a straight up liar, and much less malicious. The whole Zero Suit Samus thing is the best example of that off the top of my head, but there are many, many more, several in the same direct as the ZSS troll.


As for the previous issues with misinformation, I guess the biggest probelm is that fact checking can be difficult when the source is in another language, and people only have one or two translators to believe. There's so much to translate that they probably don't cross check their work, and stuff gets lost/mixed up. For being the first translator to really go dig through the facts and get them sorted, honestly, you deserve to toot your own horn, there was obviously far too little of that in the past.

 

I guess I just have a slight problem with your title. It feels like click bait, and it gives justification to the anonymous hordes who are pissed at Sakurai and blindly accuse him of misdeeds for betraying their own sky high expectations of a Smash with their personal dream roster, or even just one of their unlikely choices.

I would bet that pretty much all claims of Sakurai being an actual 'liar' are from salty, disappointed, or just ignorant fans who were sad about something cut or not included. I don't have a problem with you disputing that, in fact I think it's great that you've gone out of your way to shut that argument down, but most people are just going to read the title and associate 'Sakurai' with 'liar', especially if they didn't already, which is going to further befuddle the issue. This sort of association is why I feel your title does't appropriately reflect the data you've provided.

In my opinion, Sakurai is definitely a troll, but not mean spirited, he just likes to play around. This is pretty different from being a straight up liar, and much less malicious. The whole Zero Suit Samus thing is the best example of that off the top of my head, but there are many, many more, several in the same direct as the ZSS troll.


As for the previous issues with misinformation, I guess the biggest probelm is that fact checking can be difficult when the source is in another language, and people only have one or two translators to believe. There's so much to translate that they probably don't cross check their work, and stuff gets lost/mixed up. For being the first translator to really go dig through the facts and get them sorted, honestly, you deserve to toot your own horn, there was obviously far too little of that in the past.

Thanks for your (and others thoughtful response).

I would agree that most of the claims that Sakurai is a liar are from the salty/disappointed/ ignorant (or all three) fans.

I was a bit worried about the title, but I was hoping that since 1. it was a question and 2. I answer it quickly in big red letters (with a tl;dr promised) that it would at least encourage people to read it. I'll be sure to check the data on how many people actually clicked through and adjust my strategy in the future.

I do try very hard to be fair with my articles, and not to spread misinformation. I know with this kind of article, that the fans can use for future reference/ arguments. So if people don't fully read it now, then it always exists and will have a good chance of coming up in conversation.

Yeah, the lack of translators in the community is pretty astounding. I think I have (almost) every bilingual person in the community now working with me. It's weird, because the Zelda series does not have that issue at all.

Right now, we are actually 5 other translators (6 including me) who A. translate and B. check that translation. This is because even among us, we would probably include some bias, or mistake. So having multiple people check the translations has been a huge priority for us.
Anyway, thanks again for the comment. I might change the title someday, you are making me question myself again!

 

:/ I honestly don't like this kind of article. Sure Sakurai's "said" a lot of things in the past but I don't feel like knocking him on our main forum where Nintendo can clearly see what we all are saying and such. I'm personally just grateful for what he's done for this iteration of Smash. And am not going to be all nitpicky about things he's "said" or hasn't "said". That's just my opinion on the matter anyways.

 

Do I think he's a liar, not entirely no. At least not an outright liar, but I do believe when he talks about balancing the game i feel as if he's pulling our legs a bit.

 

Thanks for your (and others thoughtful response).

I would agree that most of the claims that Sakurai is a liar are from the salty/disappointed/ ignorant (or all three) fans.

I was a bit worried about the title, but I was hoping that since 1. it was a question and 2. I answer it quickly in big red letters (with a tl;dr promised) that it would at least encourage people to read it. I'll be sure to check the data on how many people actually clicked through and adjust my strategy in the future.

I do try very hard to be fair with my articles, and not to spread misinformation. I know with this kind of article, that the fans can use for future reference/ arguments. So if people don't fully read it now, then it always exists and will have a good chance of coming up in conversation.

Yeah, the lack of translators in the community is pretty astounding. I think I have (almost) every bilingual person in the community now working with me. It's weird, because the Zelda series does not have that issue at all.

Right now, we are actually 5 other translators (6 including me) who A. translate and B. check that translation. This is because even among us, we would probably include some bias, or mistake. So having multiple people check the translations has been a huge priority for us.
Anyway, thanks again for the comment. I might change the title someday, you are making me question myself again!

Haha, don't sweat it too much. It's a quality article, and that's the biggest deal to me. I only bring it up because the average smashboards (any anonymous internet forum, really) user usually doesn't think for themselves, and believes whatever they read (which you've had enough experience with the wikis alone I'm sure). And Smash in particular markets towards a younger playerbase, heck I was in middle school when I joined here. What I'm getting at is most people will read just the title(my guess is the traffic the articles receive is ~10% of the active users on the site at most? That might be bit of a low guess), and most of the people who click on the article probably won't follow to the full one, which is where you give the most important information in big red letters. Compared to the amount of people who see the phrase 'Is Sakurai a liar?', that's not a lot (especially with the Pinocchio picture which seems to imply yes).

Maybe I'm just being defensive because I personally hold a lot of respect for Sakurai (even though I really, really wanted Ridley xD ), and seeing all of the unfounded hate he gets irritates me, but if the point of the article is to shut down some of that hate then the way the title is worded seems counterproductive.

Anyways I really appreciate the effort you and your translation team go to, and thanks for giving the the title a second thought. I'm personally always very interested in smash history, and I always look forward to reading your source gaming articles!

(edit: I think the new 'NO' does the trick quite nicely )

 

Not a liar without a doubt; but a tease? Hmm. He is a playful one, that's for sure. I mean oh my goodness, as a Luigi man if I was older and found this out below, I'd freak out about Luigi's chances of being in Melee.

Friggin' brilliant.

 

Semantics HO!

I hope we get this article again when the Smash 5 hype train is arriving at its destination years from now.

 

So you're meaning to tell me I have an amazing article compiling all the misconceptions and things people made up about Sakurai at the reach of a single click to throw around to people that still fight me about much of the crap on the list?

Push, I would totally buy you and your staff a drink if I had you near right this moment.

 

He obscures what he means, sometimes even sort of lying like saying all DLC will be fanservice then giving Corrin who wasn't part of the Ballot. ( Not that i'm upset, all my dreams were dead once the K.Rool costume was revealed so didn't really care as much what they did anymore )

But really haven't we all lied/changed our minds? It's part of being human. Changing our minds on certain things. But i think the real problem is people using his quotes against characters as a reason they have 0% chance of making it in, Sakurai changes his mind as times go on, things change. And let us not forget how he changed his mind on Villager as a fighter from Brawl to Smash 4. None of us are making the game here, we don't know what will or won't make it in 100% until it has been confirmed.
Overall Sakurai's a trickster, he likes to set up surprises here and there. Unless they're non Nintendo & non video game charaters, they have a chance. Though let's be real, things like Great Deku Tree don't have a chance ( At least in his current form ) .

 

What about when he said ALL future DLC characters would be fanservice only, and then bring in another Fire Emblem character because of FE:F?

 

What about when he said ALL future DLC characters would be fanservice only, and then bring in another Fire Emblem character because of FE:F?

Might be because of Japan (and soon-to-be Western audiences) fanservice.

 

I think it's a bit silly to call the ZSS thing an outright lie when it was clearly meant to be a joke. I'd reserve lies for things he promised or said were true and didn't deliver on.

Not when I was the first one to point it out to PushDustIn.

(but seriously, it was a joke entry just like what he said was a joke; it was great comedy and manipulation of the audience)

 

Sakurai is not a liar. He's a jerk. Big difference. Made melee, proving he knows how to design a game with exceptional gameplay... turns around, and releases the crappiest sequels ever and removes nearly everything good, gameplay wise, and implements stuff to make the game worse (Auto sweetspot, tripping, ledge trumping)

Such a prick.... Sakurai sucks.

 

Why even bother having a debate if one of Sakurai's defenders just slaps on a big fat NO right before anything get's going.

I think he's a liar though.

 

Yes, yes he is. Little ******.

 

Why even bother having a debate if one of Sakurai's defenders just slaps on a big fat NO right before anything get's going.

I think he's a liar though.

The point is the author dug up every public statement ever made by Sakurai that players are calling him out on, and systematically proved that there actually were no lies, only ignorant/salty/disappointed fans.

 

The point is the author dug up every public statement ever made by Sakurai that players are calling him out on, and systematically proved that there actually were no lies, only ignorant/salty/disappointed fans.

Corrin is proof that Sakurai lies.

I don't care what the article says. When you have to try and twist the definition of "fan service" just to defend the man, then maybe it's not worth the trouble.

 

Sakurai is not a liar. He's a jerk. Big difference. Made melee, proving he knows how to design a game with exceptional gameplay... turns around, and releases the crappiest sequels ever and removes nearly everything good, gameplay wise, and implements stuff to make the game worse (Auto sweetspot, tripping, ledge trumping)

Such a prick.... Sakurai sucks.

Sakurai never developed the competitive side of smash brothers. That was the staff at HAL Labs who notably did not work on Brawl or Smash 4. Most of what makes Smash Bros. what it is is incorrectly attributed to Sakurai alone. This is a common problem found within fanbases of certain games in which the focus is solely on the lead developer and not the staff under them, and a bad problem it is.

 

Corrin is proof that Sakurai lies.

I don't care what the article says. When you have to try and twist the definition of "fan service" just to defend the man, then maybe it's not worth the trouble.

Fan service means different things to different people just because you don't like Corrin doesn't make Sakurai a liar it's subjective