http://shmuplations.com/mtjdesign/
This 1989 feature, originally published in Gamest magazine, captures a discussion between some of Japan’s most accomplished arcade game designers, led by fellow Taito developer and regular Gamest contributor Fukio “MTJ” Mitsuji (1960-2008). While it ostensibly broaches the general topic of game design, the discussion tends to focus on the individual and shared work histor...
http://shmuplations.com/pokemon/
In this 2000 interview, Pokemon veteran and art director Ken Sugimori outlines the genesis of Game Freak’s perennially popular monster-collecting franchise, the struggles he faced designing and rendering the early games’ extensive cast of creatures, and adjusting to life after delivering an explosive, ubiquitous hit.
Also included is an article by Nintendo’s Shigeru Mi...
Hey guys! As requested, I've got two Yasumi Matsuno interviews to share today:
Yasumi Matsuno x Hideo Kojima (1999) - http://shmuplations.com/matsunoxkojima/
Yasumi Matsuno x Shigeru Miyamoto (2003) - http://shmuplations.com/matsunoxmiyamoto/
I was originally only planning to do the Kojima interview, but I thought it...
http://shmuplations.com/nintendogamemusic/
Veteran Nintendo composers Koji Kondo and Kazumi Totaka expound upon the ever-changing world of video game audio in this interview published on Nintendo’s Japanese “Nintendo Online Monthly” website in 2001. As this interview sought to outline the day-to-day work of a videogame sound designer, there’s relatively little discussion about the conception of p...
http://shmuplations.com/akirayasuda/
Here is the long-awaited conclusion to the Akira Yasuda interview from a couple months back! Akiman discusses his frustrations with managing new talent at Capcom post-SFII, his work on Turn A Gundam, and the unfortunate fate of the original Red Dead Revolver project.
http://shmuplations.com/deco/
In this roundtable interview, originally published in 2004, the mysterious “D”, “E”, “C” & “O” share their insight on the inner workings of Data East a.k.a. DECO, a company that intrigued and confounded audiences with a near-constant barrage of original and very peculiar arcade games from the late ’70s until formally dissolving in the early ’00s. It’s hard to ge...
http://shmuplations.com/seikendensetsu3/
This 1995 interview covers the development of the Square action-RPG Seiken Densetsu 3, the sequel to the beloved Secret of Mana and a game that was famously denied--and has still yet to receive--an official overseas release. Over the course of this discussion, director Tanaka, designer Ishii and composer Kikuta outline their initial concepts for the game’s cast, t...
http://shmuplations.com/womenandthefamicom/
In this breezy discussion, first published by Famitsu in 1991, three Japanese women (ostensibly readers of Famicom Tsuushin chosen at random) discuss their introduction to video games, their tastes and preferences, and their experiences with a hobby that was viewed by many as dominated by, and exclusively targeted towards, boys and young men. By their comments...
http://shmuplations.com/castlevania/
The development of the three Famicom Castlevania games has long been shrouded in mystery. Recently, a developer who was mentored by Castlevania director/creator/programmer Hitoshi Akamatsu in the 90s began sharing memories of their conversations in a series of tweets. This developer, who worked with Akamatsu ...
2019-05-10 12:29:54 +0000 UTC View Post
http://shmuplations.com/dariusii/
These two interviews cover the development of Taito’s high-spec ultra-wide shooting game, Darius, and its hotly-anticipated sequel, Darius II. In both interviews, the developers outline their ambitions to wow players with a combination of indomitable audiovisual finesse and hordes of unique, show-stopping bosses, many of which weren’t able to be realized in the original game....
http://shmuplations.com/smashbros/
In this interview with the short-lived Nice Games magazine, Kirby series creator Masahiro Sakurai discusses the inspiration behind the newly-released Nintendo 64 4-player fighting game, Super Smash Bros, and the challenges that faced him both before and after release: game balance, marketing, critical reception and the surprising liabilities that came with adopting a Nintendo A...
http://shmuplations.com/akirayasuda/
In the first half of this lengthy 2003 interview, legendary designer and illustrator Akira “Akiman” Yasuda looks back at his origins as an artist and the early titles to which he lent his talents as a Capcom employee, including the popular and influential brawler Final Fight and the era-defining and canonical fighting game Street Fighter II.
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 y...
2019-04-02 13:19:38 +0000 UTC View Post
http://shmuplations.com/treasureroundup/
This assortment of interviews shows the newly-formed studio Treasure promoting their earliest Mega Drive games: the critically-acclaimed run-and-gun action game Gunstar Heroes, the cult classic platformer Dynamite Headdy, and the somewhat forgotten licensed romp McDonalds Treasure Land Adventure.
From their inception, Treasure established themselves as a comp...
http://shmuplations.com/ff8/
How does one follow up a zillion-selling, standard-setting smash hit? Square’s Final Fantasy team leads discussed that and much more with Famitsu as part of the press tour for Final Fantasy VIII, the second 3D Final Fantasy title and one that sought to break new ground in terms of cinematography, graphical fidelity and narrative pretensions—why it’s been routinely passed over for rem...
http://shmuplations.com/ariaofsorrow/
These two interviews cover the conception and development of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the third and final Castlevania game developed for Game Boy Advance and the second of six handheld titles helmed by former franchise stalwart Koji Igarashi. From the setting, to the protagonist, to the voluminous soul acquisition system, IGA and his team outline the balancing act bet...
http://shmuplations.com/konamivisit/
In the late 1980s, BEEP! magazine ran a series of special features on major developers (Namco, Sega, Konami) and their workspaces. They make for a great “time-capsule” read, and also include some rare (and low-res, unfortunately) pictures.
Konami was riding high during these years, which saw the start of several classic franchises like Castlevania, Gradius, Contr...
http://shmuplations.com/smt/
These three short interviews cover the conception, development and post-release thoughts of several of the key members behind the original Super Famicom version of Shin Megami Tensei, the cataclysmic demon-negotiation RPG that would amass a hardcore following, spawn a multitude of spin-offs and sub-series and even eventually find an audience overseas, despite the concerns of some of the de...
http://shmuplations.com/tetris/
Although the history of the Tetris development is fairly well-known now, these two interviews from 1993 and 1989 feature comments from creator Alexey Patjinov on a range of subjects, including his thoughts on other puzzle games, future video game technology, and the notorious Tetris copyright disputes. I’ve also included an extra interview from BPS developers of Tetris Battle Gaide...
http://shmuplations.com/shiningforce/
In these two interviews, several members of Sonic! Software Planning (now Camelot Software) and Climax Studios, led by producer, game designer, president and self-confessed jock Hiroyuki Takahashi, discuss the making of the 1992 Mega Drive strategy-RPG Shining Force, the sequel to dungeon crawler Shining in the Darkness and one of the first Japanese strategy-RPGs released...
http://shmuplations.com/dqivroundtable/
In this lengthy interview from the 11/89 issue of Famicom Tsuushin, Dragon Quest creators Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura talk about the challenges of making Dragon Quest IV, with a particular emphasis on the AI system.
Although the later ports of DQIV would add a manual control option, for its time, the party AI system was an impressive new addition to console ...
http://shmuplations.com/rayforce/
This lengthy and fascinating interview with key developers of Taito’s Rayforce was originally featured in the “game gene” mook. What I have presented here is actually an edited version of the longer interview, which goes on to discuss Raystorm and Raycrisis in turn; hopefully I will be able to translate those portions at a later time!
http://shmuplations.com/rootsofcompile/
This compilation of interviews from 1998’s Complete Compile book sheds light on the early days of the prolific, now-...
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. I've got a nice big Rayforce interview coming soon, but besides that, I'm hoping to dedicate the next few months to these patron-voted interviews exclusively (still a minor backlog to work through).
To vote, please take...
2018-12-04 06:11:18 +0000 UTC View Post
http://shmuplations.com/yasunorimitsuda/
This thoughtful interview with composer Yasunori Mitsuda from 2003 was originally featured in game hihyou. Mitsuda discusses various aspects of his creative process, including his studio setup, his inspirations and favorite pieces of music, and how he approaches composing for video games. Game hihyou was known for asking good questions, and Mitsuda offers some candid c...
http://shmuplations.com/yasuhikofujii/
This interview with Super Metroid and “Kaeru no tame ni kane wa naru” programmer Yasuhiko Fujii originally appeared in game shokunin volume 1. The first part of the interview looks back at Fujii’s programming and “hacking” origins, while the latter half covers his work at Intelligent Systems and includes design insights into Super Metroid and Kaeru. I've also app...
http://shmuplations.com/snkgoldenage/
In this long and candid interview from 2001, SNK alum Koji Obata describes the company’s early-’80s struggles, their re-emergence as an arcade powerhouse, the self-proclaimed “SNK golden age” and his own role in the production of several of SNK’s most cherished and innovative products including TANK, Ikari Warriors, Guevara and the humble “loop lever”.
Also d...
2018-11-21 22:01:34 +0000 UTC View Post
http://shmuplations.com/spaceharrier/
In this collection of decade-spanning interviews, former and current Sega AM2 members discuss the making of Sega’s classic 3D shooting arcade game, Space Harrier. As with so many classic games of the era, many of Space Harrier’s most distinct and memorable traits were not merely conceived through ingenuity or vision but as pragmatic solutions to immediate problems, be th...
http://shmuplations.com/splatterhouse/
Happy Halloween! This fun little Splatterhouse interview from 1988 was originally featured in NG magazine (Namco’s in-house produced magazine which ran from 1983 to 1993). The core development team talks about the challenges of making a realistic horror game like Splatterhouse, which featured a then-unprecedented level of gore for a video game. Interesting anecdotes abou...
http://shmuplations.com/mariokart64/
In this interview taken from the official Japanese guidebook, several key members of the Mario Kart 64 team discuss their roles during development and the new challenges they faced while working with Nintendo’s then-new 3D hardware, the Nintendo 64.
The writing prompt for these short essays was: “what has changed from Super Mario Kart to Mario Kart 64?” In what fe...