What is Masahiro Sakurai?

Masahiro Sakurai is a Japanese game designer, creator of Kirby and director of the Super Smash Bros. series, who developed a meme reputation online as a troll toward Smash fans.

Where did Masahiro Sakurai come from?

He joined HAL Laboratory in 1989 at 19, made Kirby's Dream Land, and later directed the Smash Bros. series; his meme status grew out of Iwata Asks interviews and a 2014 parody-account Twitter post.

What does Masahiro Sakurai mean?

As a meme, his name shorthand covers 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' from an Iwata Asks transcript, the Google Search parody account mix-up, and the Trolling Creator jokes about Smash roster teases.

How do you use Masahiro Sakurai?

Fans quote 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' as a patronizing forum reply and share the misattributed Google Search photo as a reaction, especially around Nintendo Directs and Smash roster reveals.

Is Masahiro Sakurai still popular?

The Trolling Creator persona and the Google mix-up were still being referenced by the parody account itself in a March 5, 2018 tweet, and 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' is a classic Smash-community reaction.

Masahiro Sakurai

2014meme personalityclassic

Published September 5, 2026

Masahiro Sakurai is the Japanese game designer behind Kirby and Super Smash Bros., but online he became just as famous as a self-aware troll who taunts Smash fans with cryptic teases about roster reveals. His interview laughs, his parody Twitter mix-ups and his Google Search identity crisis spawned a small ecosystem of memes across the Smash community1 2.

smash bros memes nintendo memes trolling memes fandom discourse memes catchphrase memes

Overview

Sakurai's meme identity is built on three overlapping bits. The first is his TV Tropes reputation as a 'Trolling Creator', earned by years of teasing Super Smash Bros. fans with misleading hints about roster additions and update timing2. The second is the 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' catchphrase, pulled from Nintendo's Iwata Asks interview series where his laughter was transcribed literally every single time he chuckled, giving Smash forums a ready-made patronizing reply3.

The third and most visual bit is the Sakurai Parody Account Mix-Up, in which Google Search infoboxes for 'masahiro sakurai' spent years showing an image of a disappointed man that is not actually him. The photo came from a tweet by parody account @SmashBros_Nin, not from the real designer, and Google's knowledge panel never corrected it1. Together these threads paint Sakurai online less as a straightforward auteur and more as the Smash community's favorite in-joke.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter / Nintendo interviews (viral spread on Smash forums)

Date

2014

Sakurai's status as a real developer predates any of this: he joined HAL Laboratory in 1989 at age 19, created Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy, and later directed Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 before founding Sora Ltd. in 20052. The 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' bit traces to Nintendo's Iwata Asks: Super Smash Bros. Brawl interview, where Satoru Iwata's transcribers rendered every one of Sakurai's laughs the same way, turning a stylistic quirk into a template3.

The Google image mix-up has a specific origin: on May 2, 2014, the parody account @SmashBros_Nin posted a picture of a disappointed man with the caption 'When people think PlayStation All Stars: Battle Royale is better than Smash Bros. #SmashBros'1. Google's algorithm latched onto that image and pinned it to Sakurai's search results for years, a mistake the parody account itself later bragged about on March 5, 20184.

How It Spread

By June 2014 Sakurai's real Twitter feed already had over 78,000 followers, giving Smash fans a direct channel to interpret (and misinterpret) his every hint2. The Trolling Creator label stuck as he continued weekly Brawl website updates and then late-cycle character teases for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, with fans reading trollish intent into everything from silhouettes to release timing2.

The Google mix-up spread mostly by word of mouth among Smash fans who kept screenshotting the wrong photo. @SmashBros_Nin acknowledged the situation directly in a March 5, 2018 tweet claiming the incident had granted the parody account 'god status'4. As of that post Google still had not swapped the image, which extended the joke's lifespan well past the original 2014 tweet1.

The 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' snippet lives on as a copy-paste reaction on Smash boards and Reddit threads, used the way other communities use a shrug emoji, and Urban Dictionary entries from fans lean into both the 'still alive' running gag and the 'too precious for this world' sweetheart framing of the actual man5.

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How to Use This Meme

The 'Sakurai: (Laughs)' line is typically dropped as a standalone reply when someone posts a bad Smash take, mimicking the Iwata Asks transcript style3. The Google mix-up image is often shared as a reaction to disappointing gaming news, especially anything Smash-adjacent, with the joke being that even Google thinks that disappointed face is Sakurai1. Trolling Creator jokes usually resurface around Nintendo Directs, when fans blame Sakurai for teasing characters that never show up2.