Masahiro Sakurai's star was born when, at age 19, he created the character Kirby and soon thereafter directed his first title, Kirby's Dream Land. After working on several high-profile projects within the Kirby and Smash Bros. series, Sakurai resigned from his post at HAL Laboratory in 2003, citing his growing disillusion with the company's (and indeed the industry's) sequel madness:
It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming. Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally.
Sakurai would go on to found the development group Project Sora in 2005, of which responsibility was given to develop Nintendo franchises, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Kid Icarus: Uprising. During development of Brawl, Sakurai personally and frequently blogged at SmashBros.com, revealing new characters, stages, music, and secrets.
