One thing that sometimes gets lost when it comes to talking about game developers is that those developers are gamers. As in, they’ve played games throughout their lives, and continue to play them, and use their experiences to sometimes fuel their own projects. Masahiro Sakurai is definitely an example of this, as his YouTube channel talked many a time about games he loved or took inspiration from. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that when the Kirby Air Riders Direct happened, he dropped some familiar names for gamers to notice. Specifically, named from Earthbound & Mother 3. Don’t believe us? Here’s the proof:
Sakurai snuck Earthbound & Mother 3 references into the Kirby Air Riders Direct. During the online multiplayer segment he used these names: Paula, Jeff, Frank, and LucasI don't think that's a coincidence. automaton-media.com/en/news/kirb…
— Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-08-23T10:35:08.898Z
While some could argue it was just a coincidence, one commenter on Stealth’s post noted:
EarthBound and Mother 3 were both codeveloped by HAL Laboratory (and were in development while Sakurai still worked there), so that's probably why those names were used.
— Dominic' (@majinshoujo39.bsky.social) 2025-08-23T13:49:33.105Z
So, there you go, Sakurai was paying tribute to a game his old crew worked on while talking about the game he was working on now. Sakurai’s nice like that. Lucas is the protagonist of Mother 3 and has been in Super Smash Bros since the Wii entry. Clearly, the franchise means a lot to him, even though Nintendo refuses to localize it.
Even still, it’s hilarious that he would use the Kirby Air Riders Direct to showcase his love for this franchise and show that, just like many fans out there, he hasn’t forgotten about the series.
