Not related to the longtime producer of the Metroid series, Yoshio Sakamoto. Akiya Sakamoto is a longtime Nintendo employee who often oversees games developed by Western studios, while also working internally within Nintendo in Japan. Sakamoto was one of the three producers of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was a coordinator for Metroid Prime Hunters, was credited under special thanks in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and was a project manager for Metroid Prime: Federation Force.