Forget your lore-establishing backstories. Forget your character introductions. Forget your long cutscenes. A game’s opening needs to be fast, it needs to be exciting, and it needs to throw us into the action as quickly as possible. At least, that’s according to Masahiro Sakurai’s latest YouTube video.
The legendary game designer is back with another masterclass and this one is all about starting with a bang. “If you’re going to make a game,” Sakurai says, “consider kicking things off with a climactic scene right from the start!” Over the ensuing two minutes, he shows examples of just that.
Drawing clips from Final Fantasy VII, Tales of Phantasia, Ace Attorney and, of course, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sakurai explains the importance of an action-packed opening. “Players really want to take control and find out about your game,” he states, “so it’s no time for ambling along”.
Of course, not all games are going to open with their climax and then pull a “you’re probably wondering how I got here” record-scratch trope, and that’s okay. The important thing, Sakurai argues, is that the player gets to take control as quickly as possible. Nobody likes to be left hanging around for too long, after all.
We must say, we tend to agree. While some of our favourite games take their time getting into the action, establishing story and characters, there’s nothing quite like booting up a game and getting to actually play right from the jump.
