Yūri Sakurai
Yūri Sakurai (Japanese: 櫻井 優理[1]) is a former information coordinator at Game Freak. He began as shop staffer at Pokémon Center Tokyo in 1999, while studying Economics at Daito Bunka University, before graduating and moving to Game Freak in 2002.[2] He held his lead information coordinator role until 2011, which was followed by a brief stint at d-rights before he began working in Branding & Character licensing for Loyalty Marketing in 2013.[2]
The Information Management department was responsible for critiquing whether new Pokémon games aligned with the narrative and visual identity of previous games,[3] and make suggestions on how to tweak Pokémon designs in official artwork to make them more appealing, by making cute Pokémon cuter, cool Pokémon cooler, creepy Pokémon creepier, etc.[4] An example of this provided by Sakurai is that he made a suggestion that the position and angle of Pikachu's eyes and ears be changed.[4]
Game works
- Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (2002) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (2004) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon Emerald (2004) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (2005) - Pokémon Supervisors
- Pokémon Battle Revolution (2005) - Pokémon Supervisors
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (2006) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon Ranger (2006) - Pokémon Supervisors
- Pokémon Platinum (2008) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (2008) - Pokémon Graphic Supervisors
- My Pokémon Ranch (2008) - Pokémon Graphic Supervisors
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Supervisors (Original Games)
- Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (2009) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon Rumble (2009) - Pokémon Graphic Supervisors
- Pokémon Black and White (2010) - Information Supervisors
- Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (2010) - Pokémon Graphic Supervisors
- Pokédex 3D (2011) - Pokémon Graphic Supervisors
- Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (2012) - Information Supervisors
Special Thanks
- Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire (2002)
- Drill Dozer (2005)
Interviews
- Game Freak blog: Pokémon World Championships 2008 (archived)
- Game Freak blog: Black & White (archived)