This documentary about the history of the Famicom, released in 2003, features interviews with several key developers and industry figures from the era, including Hideo Kojima, Keiji Inafune, Koichi Nakamura, Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yoshiki Okamoto, Takahashi Meijin, and Tetsuya Mizuguchi. While being an unabashed love letter to Nintendo’s impact on video game culture, it also offers us in the West a unique window into how the Japanese creators saw the system, and the specific moment in Japanese history that the Famicom occupies.
I was hoping to get a few Christmas-week updates in at the last minute here, but work/family/holiday busyness has conspired to thwart that endeavor. As such, aside from the Puzzle Creators interview that was posted earlier this month, I'm going to take December off and extend the voting period this cycle through March.
You won't be charged anything for this month, of course (one of the advantages of having a per creation patreon campaign), and I'll have some great stuff to share right after the New Year. Thank you once again for all your generous support this year and over the years... I'm quite proud of the game history resource that shmuplations has become, and I can genuinely say that it would never have been accomplished without the enduring patron support we've received. Happy holidays and a happy new year to all!
Originally published in Game Hihyou magazine, this feature saw several key puzzle game creators reflecting on the essence of puzzle video game design and sharing the origin stories of several of the most fondly-remembered puzzles games of the late ’80s and ’90s, from arcade classics like Puyo Puyo, Puzzle Bobble, Columns and Magical Drop to the console-exclusive Panel de Pon, the Japan-only action-puzzle game Babel no Tou and even STG developer Cave’s little-played arcade puzzle game Uo Poko.
hey all! I'm still working on the patron-voted requests for this month, but for this week we have a wonderful guest interview graciously contributed by none other than our editor GSK. Enjoy!
Greetings to all patrons new and old. It's time again to offer suggestions and feedback re: what you'd like to see translated in the next few months. I'll still be referring to the previous voting posts, but it's never a bad idea to post again what you'd like to see translated. Also, if multiple people suggest the same interview, it's more likely to get translated, so feel free to second other people's suggestions. And as always, don't hesitate to ask questions about the interviews if you're curious about their content/length etc.
To vote, please take a look at the list here: http://shmuplations.com/patreonlist/ and leave a comment on this post letting me know what you'd like me to translate.
For the last few months I've had my hands full with both shmuplations and other work commissions, but for this next cycle I'm going to do some of the longer interviews in the archive (such as the Akira Yasuda interview that's been requested for awhile now). Also, fyi, I'll be leading December with the "Future of RPGs" from the last voting cycle, so no need to vote on that one again. Finally, I'm planning a special video interview for the Christmas/New Year's week that I hope everyone will enjoy. Thanks once again for all your support!
This massive selection of Skies of Arcadia interviews chronicles the development of the game from 1999 through 2000. After the two Famitsu Dreamcast interviews with Producer Rieko Kodama and Director/Planner Shuntaro Tanaka, I’ve arranged the remaining Dreamcast Magazine interviews in chronological order. Gameplay, characters, inspiration, worldbuilding, and more are all discussed in great detail.
And as comprehensive as this collection is, it’s actually only part 1! I’ll have a whole other selection of Skies of Arcadia interviews to share in the coming weeks. As before, these interviews were all generously commissioned by AresArcadia.
hey all! I'd wanted to get this out last month in time for Skies of Arcadia's 20th anniversary, but better late than never! This was originally a series of commissions, and as such is presented as a free post for patrons. More to come next month, enjoy!
These two Dengeki SFC interviews cover the making of Wonder Project J2, the sequel to Almanac/Givro & Enix’s hit “communication adventure” game and one of only two Enix-published games published for the Nintendo 64. Producer Hiroki Fujimoto and director/writer Takashi Yoneda discuss the trials of making the game for the then-unreleased Nintendo 64, their endeavors to offer more nuanced guidance and interaction with the games’ primary characters and J2’s voluminous, high-quality 2D animation.
In this candid Yasunori Mitsuda interview from 2000, the lauded composer talks about his early days before joining Square, the pressure of Chrono Trigger, his favorite compositions, the influence of Russian trad music, and more. Featured in Nice Games magazine, it makes an excellent companion piece to his game hihyou magazine interview of three years later.
Taken from the October 2002 issue of Famitsu Xbox, this interview covers the making of Capcom and Nude Maker’s uncompromising military vehicle simulator Steel Batallion, released exclusively for the original Xbox and famously designed in tandem with a multi-piece, 44-input cockpit-style control panel.
In addition to comments from director Hifumi Kono and mecha designer Junji Okubo, Capcom’s developers outline the technical accomplishments of their relatively small team, the designs of the distinctive “Vertical Tank” weapons and their pursuit of an authentic and slightly impressionistic aesthetic.
In this collection of brief interviews, several members of the SNK-affiliated developer ADK (formerly Alpha Denshi) discuss the origins of the company and some of their most memorable Neo Geo works, including the fighting game World Heroes, the hardcore action-platformer Magician Lord and the first-person fantasy combat game Crossed Swords, with special focus given to ADK’s unabashed and rather silly fixation with ninjas and their many ninja-laden titles, including Ninja Combat, Ninja Commando and Ninja Master’s.
(you'll note that the third interview isn't really ninja related, but given the dearth of ADK info out there, I thought I'd add it here for good measure)
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Hey all! Sorry for the relative lateness of these updates--I took a much-needed break earlier this month, but I'm back now. I'll have one more surprise to share in the next day or two, but for now, I hope you enjoy this and the Kojima interview!
In this 1999 interview, the now-legendary game director Hideo Kojima offers some broad insight into the circumstances behind his biggest creations, from the original stealth-action game Metal Gear to the adventure games Snatcher and Policenauts, coming full circle with the 3D “tactical espionage action” game Metal Gear Solid, as well as his affections for cinema and how they co-exist with the “artisanal” nature of video game creation.
In this interview, originally published in Gamest mook vol.6, several members of Taito’s arcade development team discuss the making of Darius Gaiden, the third arcade entry in Taito’s venerable horizontal STG series.
Alongside in-depth questions about the game’s structure and scoring tricks, the developers elaborate on the circumstances behind the “gaiden” designation, the game’s connections to prior entries and their efforts to fully utilize the power of the then-new F3 arcade board to push the limits of expressive 2D graphics
This massive, comprehensive Skies of Arcadia developer interview from 2019 was originally featured as a part of IGN Japan’s “Motto Kikasete!” series, hosted by MC Aoi Tatsuse. Featuring producer Rieko Kodama (who had just received her GDC Pioneer Award) and director/writer Shuntaro Tanaka, it covers numerous aspects of the legendary Dreamcast RPG, including the crew and characters, the story and world design, the battle system, and much more!
This interview and subtitling was generously commissioned by AresArcadia. It is provided here as a free post; I'll still have 3 more normal patron-voted interviews for later this month!
This interview with Hudson director Kenji Fukuya covers the making of the 2000 arcade & PlayStation 2 game Bloody Roar 3, the critical and commercial apex of Hudson & Raizing’s flashy and outlandish series of 3D fighting games centered around the unique gimmick of “beastorization”, with a particular focus on the developers’ efforts to refine the series’ unique traits while straddling the lines of depth and accessibility.
Also included is an interview with Fukuya concerning the results of an online survey conducted shortly after the release of the PS2 version, in which fans requested the animals they’d most like to see represented in a future game; several of the more popular suggestions, as well as Fukuya’s own choice, would appear in subsequent games.
This last update for the month was translated by our editor GSK; for October and November I'll be getting to more of the patron-voted interviews, including Steel Battalion, Darius Gaiden, Wonder Project J2, another Kojima interview, some ADK Ninja shenanigans, and more!
In this interview, several key members of Square’s Final Fantasy V development team, including director Hironobu Sakaguchi, composer Nobuo Uematsu and then-fledgling designer Tetsuya Nomura, discuss their ambitions for the game, the challenges faced during production, some of the ideas that ultimately went unused and their desires to differentiate from and improve upon FFIV.
Conducted prior to the release of the surreal caveman-themed sandbox Tail of the Sun, this interview with creator Kazutoshi Iida covers the motivations behind his previous game, the “undersea exploration game” Aquanaut’s Holiday, and Iida’s desires to rail against the perceived codification and homogenization by players, developers and even his own employer Artdink on what games could and should be.
Greetings to all patrons new and old. It's time again to offer suggestions and feedback re: what you'd like to see translated in the next few months. I'll still be referring to the previous voting posts, but it's never a bad idea to post again what you'd like to see translated. Also, if multiple people suggest the same interview, it's more likely to get translated, so feel free to second other people's suggestions. And as always, don't hesitate to ask questions about the interviews if you're curious about their content/length etc.
To vote, please take a look at the list here: http://shmuplations.com/patreonlist/ and leave a comment on this post letting me know what you'd like me to translate.
Although the COVID situation continues to prevent me from resuming my research at the Diet Library, I've added about 20 new interviews to the archive this month (along with a Date Added sorting button so you can find them easily). Most of these were taken from various strategy guides which have recently been scanned and uploaded to archive .org and retrocdn. They're all solid interviews, but my personal recommendations would be the Shining Force II/III, Steel Battalion, and Darius Gaiden interviews fwiw. But either way, I'm happy to work on whatever everyone votes on, and look forward to clearing away some of the older backlog as well!
These four interviews chronicle the development and promotion of the Mega Drive strategy-RPG Shining Force 2, the hotly-anticipated sequel to the critically-acclaimed Shining Force and the third home title for Sonic! Software Planning (now known as Camelot), whose Shining series had rapidly grown to cover both console and handheld entries, one of which is also addressed in the course of these discussions.
Appended to this collection is a translation of the liner notes to the official Shining Force soundtrack; producer Takahashi’s predictions about the ambitions of composer Motoaki Takenouchi turned out to be correct, as he left the video game industry in the late ’90s and is currently working on non-commercial traditionalist art music.
Taken from the Official Guide Book, this lengthy interview covers the making of Star Ocean 4, the first high-definition entry in tri-Ace’s long-running sci-fi RPG series. Several key members of the development team discuss their goals, their self-described status as “overachievers” and how those inclinations influenced all facets of the game, from the battle system to the character design to the narrative (and even the disc count).
(This lengthy interview was commissioned by Messiah, who generously offered to have it hosted on shmuplations for everyone to enjoy! As such it is offered as a "free post" on shmuplations this month, and I should have one more normal post coming next week.)
In this interview, developers from Nintendo and Intelligent Systems discuss the making of the original Paper Mario, a late Nintendo 64 title that charmed fans with its unique 2D/3D papercraft aesthetic, inventive action-tinged battle system and offbeat take on the Mario universe.
In these two interviews + developer team commentary, several of Namco’s developers discuss the conception and making of the beloved 1997 PlayStation action game Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, a game whose snappy and approachable controls, charming universe, expertly-crafted 2-on-3D visuals and unexpected mid-game tonal shift helped cultivate a loyal fanbase and several follow-ups (including one genuine sequel, which is briefly touched upon in the second interview.)
In the original Japanese version of Final Fantasy Tactics, a hidden sound test menu can be accessed by entering “BGMききたい” as Ramza’s name. Sadly this was cut for the non-Japanese releases. It’s really too bad, as it contained unused music by Sakimoto/Iwata as well as several unique compositions for the sound novels (also cut) by otherwise unknown co-composers Yuko Miura and Yukiko Mitsui.
Uniquely, this sound menu also had composer commentary for each track, which I’ve translated in full here. It runs the gamut from silly in-jokes to comments on the songwriting; I’ve done my best to annotate any confusing sections (though some of it just zany, like the Mr. Bear stuff). For more info on accessing the sound test, check out tcrf.net!
These two interviews cover the development of the original Guilty Gear, an idiosyncratic and extremely ambitious 2D fighting game released exclusively for the PlayStation by Ark System Works, a veteran studio that heretofore worked primarily and almost solely on un-credited work-for-hire projects.
Developed by a small handful of newcomers dubbed “Team Neo Blood” and led by the visionary Daisuke Ishiwatari, Guilty Gear’s aggressive heavy metal aesthetic and maniacal, forward-thinking mechanics quickly cultivated a passionate fan base and led to several sequels and spin-offs across various genres which continue to test the limits of animation, visual identity and player-led character expression to this very day.
This collection of interviews from BEEP Mega Drive magazine chronicles the development and release of Lunar: The Silver Star, the beloved 1992 RPG published by Game Arts and developed by the now-defunct Studio Alex, a team formed by ex-members of Nihon Falcom and Xtalsoft.
Lunar was conceived and crafted in tandem with the then-burgeoning CD-ROM format to express a depth and breadth of character-motivated drama heretofore unseen in traditional Japanese RPGs; these factors, along with a heavy marketing campaign and a divisive but colorful localization, saw the game become one of the highest-selling Sega CD games ever and led to a small handful of sequels, as well as remakes across Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable.
In this essay from the book Gunpei Yokoi’s Game Museum, the late toy and game designer Gunpei Yokoi recounts the creation and success of the Game & Watch, Nintendo’s handheld LCD game line that saw almost 60 variants across eleven years and sold well over 40 million overall units worldwide.
While the technology and sensibility of the Game & Watch has been relegated to antiquity, Nintendo continues to reference and pay homage to the Game & Watch to this day, with the LCD-esque amalgam character Mr. Game & Watch being perhaps their most prominent and enduring tribute to their beloved toy.
Note: This was paid for by an individual commission, who generously gave permission to have it hosted on shmuplations for everyone's enjoyment. As such, it's presented as a "no charge" post; three more patron-voted translations will follow this month!
These two Giga Wing interviews, covering both the original game and its sequel, were originally featured in Gamest and Arcadia magazines. The GW2 interview covers familiar territory with regard to character and game design topics, while the GW1 interview with producer Noritaka Funamizu explains more of the working relationship between Capcom and Takumi. This “team-up” was novel for its time and driven largely by necessity due to the declining arcade industry.
Finally, I’ve added some diary-style commentary from the Giga Wing OST liner notes by planner Ikuo Satou, which offers some extra color and perspective on its development.
This 2014 interview, held to commemorate the game’s first-ever reissue, saw Game Freak’s Ken Sugimori and Junichi Masuda reminiscing about the making of their first game, the panel-flipping, arcade-style Famicom action game, Quinty (released overseas as Mendel Palace).
Of particular focus is Quinty’s roots as a genuine indie game, developed by a loose affiliation of unlicensed hobbyists using home-grown development tools, and how that early experience compares to the current indie game landscape.
This fascinating pre-release interview with Dino Crisis director and producer Shinji Mikami was originally featured in the 5/99 edition of The Playstation magazine. While many pre-release interviews are essentially little more than promotional fluff, this one sees Mikami expounding on his ideas about horror game design, difficulty, and how to engage players on a deeper level than “winning”. I’ve also added some developer questions from the Dino Crisis guide book as a nice concrete counterpoint to the otherwise high-brow discussion.
Hey all, sorry for the late start this month! I took a week off for my birthday earlier this month, then had to play catch-up with other projects. Will have two more interviews to share in the coming week though. Thanks for your patience!
Greetings to all patrons new and old. It's time again to offer suggestions and feedback re: what you'd like to see translated in the next few months. I'll still be referring to the previous voting posts, but it's never a bad idea to post again what you'd like to see translated. Also, if multiple people suggest the same interview, it's more likely to get translated, so feel free to second other people's suggestions. And as always, don't hesitate to ask questions about the interviews if you're curious about their content/length etc.
To vote, please take a look at the list here: http://shmuplations.com/patreonlist/ and leave a comment on this post letting me know what you'd like me to translate.
Hi again everyone! I had hoped to have that new batch of early 2000s magazine interviews archived from the Diet Library by now, but the COVID lockdown has delayed that. As the infection (hopefully) continues to slow here in Tokyo, I should be able to return to that work in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, I'll continue focusing on your patron requests, with a special focus on series/genres/developers that we haven't yet covered at shmuplations!
This composer interview with Harumi Fujita from 2011 first appeared in issue #2 of STG Gameside. Although the games she made at SNK were not commercially succesful, Fujita’s music at Capcom helped define the company’s sound during it’s first golden age in the mid to late 1980s. In the next decade, she juggled being a mother and working freelance on a number of games, most notably Pulstar and Blazing Star. She retired shortly thereafter from the game industry, but has recently been active again on twitter and contributed to the Street of Rage 4 soundtrack.
This lengthy Legend of Mana interview with both the story and battle teams was originally published in the official Ultimania guide. As expected of an entry in the exhaustive Ultimania series, it covers all aspects of the development, including the art design, music, battle systems, and the unique omnibus story approach taken by the writers. There’s also a nice vibe of camaraderie among the team as they joke and poke fun at each other; one gets the sense that this group of people very much enjoyed working together.
