shmuplations

Grandia - 1998 Developer Interviews

http://shmuplations.com/grandia1998/

These Grandia interviews all appeared in Sega Saturn Magazine in 1998. They make a nice companion read to the Grandia interviews I translated last year here. This time around, composer Noriyuki Iwadare and the character animators are interviewed in addition to main creators Takahashi and Miyaji.

A Quick January Update

Greetings and a happy 2017 to all! The lack of updates this month may have already tipped you off, but I'm taking a break this January from translating in order to attend to some administrative tasks and, well, just to take a break! Many patrons and readers of shmuplations don't realize that the entire site is a one-man job, so like any sole proprietor, we (I?!) sometimes have to "close on Sundays."

I will probably get that Grandia translation out the door later this month, but otherwise, Dece...

The Making of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

http://shmuplations.com/zeldalttp/

This Link to the Past interview originally appeared in the 1/92 edition of Famicom Tsuushin magazine. In typical Miyamoto fashion, it’s a combination of design insights into LttP specifically, and game design generally. Neat anecdotes abound: I especially liked the alternate title, “Ganon’s Revenge”!

Note: this translation is credited to Glitterberri (2016-12-20 18:00:43 +0000 UTC View Post

The Women of Game Design – 1990 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/womenofgamedesign/

This questionnaire-style interview was originally featured in the 10/90 edition of BEEP! Megadrive magazine. It’s both a fascinating cultural snapshot of the early video game industry in Japan, as well as a nice introduction to some of the “unknown soldiers” of game design, including women involved in Alisia Dragoon and Battle of Olympus.

There are als...

The Making of Darius

http://shmuplations.com/darius/

This Darius feature originally appeared in the April 1987 edition of Japan’s famed BEEP! magazine. While I usually stick to “pure” interviews for shmuplations, the content of this one was interesting enough to merit translating the whole thing. The feature focuses on the hardware, and while not containing any particular revelations or secrets, does a nice job of showing how Darius was ...

Toaplan Game Music – Composer Interview Collection

http://shmuplations.com/toaplanmusic/

These composer remarks/interviews were compiled from liner notes of the many Toaplan cds released over the years from 1987-1992. In addition to general musings and the usual self-deprecation, there's also some neat (and funny) track-by-track commentary. 

Koji Kondo – 2001 Composer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/kojikondo/

This lengthy interview with famous Nintendo composer Koji Kondo was originally featured in the jp book series game maestro. It looks back on Kondo’s musical history both personal and professional, going from his early days learning the Electone to his (then) most recent project, Majora’s Mask. The interview is littered with musical anecdotes from the Zelda and Mario series, and it ...

Final Fantasy VI – 1994 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/ff6/

These Final Fantasy VI interviews first appeared in the 1994 editions of Game-On and Hippon Super magazines; I have joined them together and slightly edited them for content and readability. Although some names will be known to Final Fantasy fans (like veteran pixel artist Kazuko Shibuya), this is mainly a view from the trenches, with the spotlight on the lesser-knonw junior developers at Square.<...

Kazuma Kaneko x Tomomi Kobayashi – Designer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/kobayashikaneko/

This candid, wide-ranging interview between lauded designers Tomomi Kobayashi and Kazuma Kaneko first appeared in Game Hihyou magazine in 1996. Although very different designers, the conversation finds common ground in their mutual influences from childhood and their ongoing love of fashion design. I’ve also appended a smaller interview at the bottom with Tomomi Koby...

Real Bout Fatal Fury – 1995 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/realboutfatalfury/

This Real Bout Fatal Fury interview first appeared in an official strategy guide in 1995. I’ve supplemented it with concept art and a few additional tidbits of information from Neo Geo Freak magazine, as well. It’s a bit more informative than other SNK interviews I’ve translated, and explains the design philosophy and reasoning behind several gameplay changes...

What is Game Design? Three Perspectives

http://shmuplations.com/whatisgamedesign/

This interview originally appeared in the 1996 omnibus edition of Game Hihyou magazine. It was written in a hybrid article/interview format, so I have retained some of the original writer's framing.

Each designer (Kojima, Nakamura, and Tajiri) were at full-stride in their careers, so it's interesting to hear their different perspectives: the emphasis on cinem...

Thunder Force III – Developer Interviews

http://shmuplations.com/thunderforceiii/

This interview with Technosoft alumni Naosuke Arai is excerpted from a longer feature at Famitsu discussing the release of the 3DS Thunder Force III remaster. Since very little is known about the making of this seminal Megadrive series, I have translated the portions in which Naosuke Arai relates his memory of those days.

I’ve also appended two smaller pieces:...

Art of Fighting 2 – 1994 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/aof2/

This short Art of Fighting 2 interview appeared in a special issue of Gamest in May 1994. Although the interview text is regrettably quite short, it does contain a nice collection of concept art showing early and alternate character designs, which I’ve appended to the end of the interview.

Alisia Dragoon / Ranger X - Developer Interviews

[[Note: the Ranger X interview that was voted on this month was again a bit short, so I decided to translate something from another Megadrive classic, Alisia Dragoon, to make up the difference!]]

http://shmuplations.com/rangerx/

This short interview with the creators of the classic Megadrive action game Ex-Ranza (Ranger-X in the US) first appeared in Dengeki and Marukatsu Megadrive magazines. The questions m...

Super Mario 64 – 1996 Developer Interviews

http://shmuplations.com/mario64/

These two lengthy interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto and key members of the Super Mario 64 development team first appeared in two official Japanese strategy guides from 1996. Both interviews go over the design history of the groundbreaking game, including information about early design details that were ultimately dropped or changed.

Being Nintendo’s first true 3D venture, ther...

Shigeki Toyama and Namco Arcade Machines

http://shmuplations.com/shigekitoyama/

This interview with veteran Namco designer Shigeki Toyama first appeared in vol. 0 of STG Gameside (2011). It begins with an account of Toyama’s early history at Namco designing robotics before turning to his work on some of their impressive taikan arcade games from the 90s, including Galaxian3, Prop Cycle, and Point Blank. 

Chrono Trigger – 1995 Developer Interview Collection

http://shmuplations.com/chronotrigger2/

This is a collection of Chrono Trigger interviews from early 1995, originally featured in Japanese magazines Famicon Tsuushin, Dengeki SFC, and Haou. Because they each feature very similar questions and answers, I’ve compiled them all together for better readability.

In addition to all the neat design details and anecdotes, these interviews really show how Chron...

Deathsmiles (Superplayer) / Mushihimesama interviews

[[Note: the Mushihimesama interview that was voted on this month turned out to be kind of short, so I decided to translate another Cave interview from the list, hence the two-in-one update!]]

http://shmuplations.com/mushihimesama/

These three interviews represent the rest of the Mushihimesama material in my archive. They don’t go into the same level of depth as the other Mushihimesama interviews I’...

The Making of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

http://shmuplations.com/sfiii/These three Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike interviews were originally featured in Gamest magazine and the Capcom Secret File. They cover the origins of the 3rd Strike development, the design of the new characters, changes from 2nd Impact, and much more.The third interview with general producer Noritaka Funamizu also features his comments on the contemporary arcade and FTG scene, alternating betwe...

I.Q.: Intelligent Qube – 1997 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/iq/

In this "cerebral" interview, I.Q. designer Masahiko Sato talks puzzle design, gameplay, and the origins of the I.Q development. With a background in commercial advertising, he offers a perspective on game production and design somewhat distinct from your typical developer. I recommend watching some of his 2016-08-03 18:25:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Tomohiro Nishikado – 2000 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/nishikado/

As the creator of the revolutionary Space Invaders, Tomohiro Nishikado could rightly be called the Father of Japanese video games. This long interview from the jp book “game maestro” covers Nishikado’s early years at Taito as an engineer developing sophisticated (for their time) electro-mechanical games before getting down into the details and challenges of designing Space I...

Silhouette Mirage – 1997 Developer Interviews

http://shmuplations.com/silhouettemirage/

This collection of Silhouette Mirage interviews from 1997 and 1998 first appeared in game hihyou and Sega Saturn magazines. The first is a standard discussion of game design, story, and characters with lead planner Koichi Kimura and main programmer Masaki Ukyo. The second interview was part of a unique “self-criticism” feature column that ran in game hihyou, wher...

Satoru Iwata – 1999 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/iwata/

his insightful interview with Satoru Iwata originally appeared in the 1999 quarterly edition of jp Used Games magazine. It captures Iwata in his role as President of HAL Laboratory, just before his transition to Nintendo the following year. Smash Bros. and Pokemon Snap had just been, but much of the interview is spent talking about HAL's early days as a third-party Nintendo developer. Tow...

Super Mario Kart – 1992 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/supermariokart/

In this vintage Super Mario Kart interview from 1992 (which first appeared in the official jp strategy guide), Shigeru Miyamoto and the other lead developers discuss the design choices behind this seminal kart racing game. The choice of karts over cars, the drifting mechanic, and the item system are all covered in detail. It’s fascinating to read about these early syst...

Designing the A-Life System – 1996 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/alife/

This short interview about the “A-Life” system from NiGHTS was originally featured in game hihyou magazine in 1996. Yuji Naka shares some valuable insight about the challenges of creating an “artificial life” system, as well as his thoughts about the need for more unique games like NiGHTS in the industry. If you haven’t read it, this interview makes a nice companion piece to the...

The Rock Stars of Sega – 2009 Composer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/sst/

This lengthy and candid interview from 2009 with alumni Sega composers Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi first appeared online at game music core. The first part of the interview covers the early history of the sound department at Sega, while the latter half is devoted to stories and anecdotes about Sega’s “in-house” rock band, the S.S.T. Band. The original interview also discus...

Switching from "Monthly" to "Per-Creation"

After much consideration, I've decided to switch this Patreon from a monthly to

per-creation campaign. In general, completing 5 translations a month is not a problem, although it is a "near capacity" level of work for me. And since I'm just one person, when life piles on additional (albeit temporary) burdens, I find myself wishing for the flexibility that a per-creation system would allow for.

The other big change is that I am removing the 15$/month patron vouchers altog...

Final Fantasy Tactics – 1997 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/fft/

This Final Fantasy Tactics interview originally appeared in jp magazine Famitsu. It explores the challenge of designing a SRPG in the Final Fantasy Universe, and Matsuno and Itou share the usual design insights and anecdotes. Incidentally, in all my research, this was the only FFT interview I could find (and it was indeed advertised as "exclusive!" by Famitsu). It also dovetails nicely with t...

Super Mario Land 2 – 1992 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/supermarioland2/

This small Super Mario Land 2 interview from 1992 was originally featured in the official Nintendo guidebook published the same year. It’s a quick but fun read, with the developers joking around as they recount the making of Wario and the challenges of breaking conventions to create a “different” kind of Mario game. 

Alien Soldier – 1995 Developer Interview

http://shmuplations.com/aliensoldier/

I've updated this page with two more short Alien Soldier interviews, this time with Masato Maegawa. They provide some additional context to the original interview with one-man designer/creator NAMI. Originally, I had intended to translate some of the additional backstory NAMI had posted at Treasure's homepage. Unfortunately, it's written in such cryptic "sci-fi jargones...