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Kouichi Yotsui Discography [1/3]
Kouichi Yotsui Discography [1/3]
Kouichi Yotsui Interview from Gameside 2009.02 Vol. 16
The Father of Strider Who Made the Game World Explode: Kouichi Yotsui Discography
After lending his movie-oriented mind to Strider Hiryuu, he changed directions entirely to bring us a gritty story with Nostalgia 1907. He then brought us Suzuki Bakuhatsu, a bomb diffusing game which used real photos. This game creator who has exceeded our expectations meets with us this issue!
[The Biggest Interview (at Mt. Takao) in Gameside History]
-I'm excited that my dream of finally meeting you after two months of correspondence has finally come true!
Yotsui: No problem. I was laid up for a while. However, I don't think developers really need to talk too much. If you have any extra pages, please let me write a scenario or something (laughs).
-We'd love that! But at the same time, we want to hear your candid thoughts.
Yotsui: Then let's go some place where we can sit back and talk.
-Sure. Since this is your spot, I'll let you lead the way. (10 minutes pass). Oh, we're taking the ropeway?
Yotsui: At the top of the mountain there's a nice cafe. I think we can kick back up there.
-I thought we might have to duel it out like Strider Hiryuu, hanging from the rope. (20 minutes pass). This really is up there!
Yotsui: Excuse me, but I'll have a beer.
-It would be easy to get sucked into this amazing view up here, but we have no time for that. You were credited as Teruaki in Tsuitou no Zawameki (1988/Yoshihiko Matsui). Were you planning on working in film when you were a student?
Yotsui: In high school, I simply liked drawing pictures, and couldn't really study (laughs). One of my teachers really tried to help me. One Senpai even said to me that I couldn't draw, and should quit. He later became a sculptor. It made me think of what I wanted to draw, and what I wanted to gain from drawing. I decided on what we now call fantasy illustrations which introduce us to new worlds. As such, still pictures were kind of useless. At the time, movies seemed like the logical choice. That was about the time YMO came out and you could make sounds with a computer.
-That was the time that computers advanced to the realm of tools of expression.
Yotsui: One of my major tasks in college was a movie I worked on for about 3 months, just like with "Tsuitou". However, I worked on it with Satou-kun (CEO of anime production company Xebec). We all had to cover our own expenses as well (laughs).
-So why did you enter Capcom, a game company?
Yotsui: Because I still had outstanding loans from my college project. I wanted to make something genuine, so instead of using the standard 8mm film, I used 16mm. I hadn't paid Touyou Genzousho (currently Imagica) for the film development. When I was earnestly looking through magazines for a job, I found one that said Capcom paid the highest.
-So you got into games for money? (laughs).
Yotsui: It wasn't just that. My professor overseeing my college project got mad at me. He was like a god in the Japanese film world, and was telling me that the director had to be able to write as well. So, I thought I should leave school for a while and get some real world experience. But, I had no money, so I had to work (laughs).
[10 out of 1]
-That was about 4 to 5 years from Capcom's inception, right?
Yotsui: Yes. Kenzou Tsujimoto was the CEO. He told us to make whatever we wanted. There were three development groups. One was lead by [Tokurou] Fujihara, another by [Takashi] Nishiyama (currently Dimps CEO), and the last by [Yoshiki] Okamoto [currently Game Republic CEO]. Each had their own style. I helped with Daimakaimura under Fujihara-san. I guess I was drawing the backgrounds.
-So you started off with graphics.
Yotsui: Around that time, one of my Senpai, Yoshimoto-san, told me to write up a proposal. That one never came to be, but I apparently got my point across because my next job was to oversee an entire project.
-That was Strider Hiryuu, right? How did the tie-up between the game and the monthly comic in Kadokawa Shoten (created by Motomiya Production's Tatsumi Wada) come to be?
Yotsui: As the company got bigger, talks of collaborations came about. Someone started working at Capcom, and things we had been working on within the company up until that point were starting to become joint projects with other firms. I had worked a bit with the hardware it was to be shipped on, the CP System, so they assigned me to the project.
-And that's what started the ties with Motomiya Pro, which led to the arcade and Famicom ports of Tenchi wo Kurau.
Yotsui: After discussing the creation of the manga, we decided on the plot and the basic settings, finally deciding to go with a 3-point set consisting of the manga, the arcade game, and the Famicom port, all sharing the same title.
-But the feeling between the manga and the games is pretty different I would say. In the manga, Hiryuu is betrayed by a fellow Strider.
Yotsui: What we talked about was just the very basic principles. After that, each person in charge was responsible for arranging his product to match the market it would be sold in. We of course developed ours with the idea that it was a competition, and that ours was the most important.
-The manga version was great, but the game version was full of surprises. He took down a lot of huge bosses.
Yotsui: I wanted everyone to feel that dynamism.
-There's no other mid-boss like Strobaya on stage 1 (laughs).
Yotsui: I was probably careless in considering those algorithms and settings for a game. I think it was after I had been in the industry for only 3 years. Evolving from [Space] Invaders to the CP System, we were able to make more images and performances. I was riding that wave, having just come from movies, and was pretty confident in my abilities. But making games in a group is difficult and everyone must understand the importance of teamwork. But I thought if they could just create what I told them we'd be fine. When we ranked first at some game show, all I could think to myself was "Of course!" (laughs).
-Looking back now, it made all the games around it look plain and simple.
Yotsui: However, we were running behind schedule. There was even talks that its production delay inversely affected sales, but you can't hold the regular employees responsible. But, considering costs is obviously important.
-Speaking of, I'd say the fact that it's overdone is the attractive part of Strider Hiryuu. I can't think of any other game that uses that many languages.
Yotsui: We were lucky with that. There was an employee that worked for general affairs I believe it was. He had graduated from a language academy, and when we asked him for help, he called on his friends, and he himself participated as well. We planned on having multiple languages from the beginning, but weren't planning on going as far as looking for voice actors. This was the era when you made a game entirely within your group.
-I always wondered why the Russian sounded better than the Japanese (laughs).
Yotsui: That part was fun.
-Why was only the African part done so randomly?
Yotsui: I wanted to do it in Swahili, but apparently depicting someone as primitive looked like discrimination. I thought, "what a boring age!" Look at the movie King Kong. Even the recent remake version draws the native people as undeveloped, but that wasn't considered discrimination.
-Was it hard making such an unprecedented game?
Yotsui: For every 10 drawings, only 1 would make it to the end user. The only way to get it done was to overdo it. Thankfully I was in a company that allowed me to do that. All the workers hated me for the long hours though (laughs).
The Father of Strider Who Made the Game World Explode: Kouichi Yotsui Discography
After lending his movie-oriented mind to Strider Hiryuu, he changed directions entirely to bring us a gritty story with Nostalgia 1907. He then brought us Suzuki Bakuhatsu, a bomb diffusing game which used real photos. This game creator who has exceeded our expectations meets with us this issue!
[The Biggest Interview (at Mt. Takao) in Gameside History]
-I'm excited that my dream of finally meeting you after two months of correspondence has finally come true!
Yotsui: No problem. I was laid up for a while. However, I don't think developers really need to talk too much. If you have any extra pages, please let me write a scenario or something (laughs).
-We'd love that! But at the same time, we want to hear your candid thoughts.
Yotsui: Then let's go some place where we can sit back and talk.
-Sure. Since this is your spot, I'll let you lead the way. (10 minutes pass). Oh, we're taking the ropeway?
Yotsui: At the top of the mountain there's a nice cafe. I think we can kick back up there.
-I thought we might have to duel it out like Strider Hiryuu, hanging from the rope. (20 minutes pass). This really is up there!
Yotsui: Excuse me, but I'll have a beer.
-It would be easy to get sucked into this amazing view up here, but we have no time for that. You were credited as Teruaki in Tsuitou no Zawameki (1988/Yoshihiko Matsui). Were you planning on working in film when you were a student?
Yotsui: In high school, I simply liked drawing pictures, and couldn't really study (laughs). One of my teachers really tried to help me. One Senpai even said to me that I couldn't draw, and should quit. He later became a sculptor. It made me think of what I wanted to draw, and what I wanted to gain from drawing. I decided on what we now call fantasy illustrations which introduce us to new worlds. As such, still pictures were kind of useless. At the time, movies seemed like the logical choice. That was about the time YMO came out and you could make sounds with a computer.
-That was the time that computers advanced to the realm of tools of expression.
Yotsui: One of my major tasks in college was a movie I worked on for about 3 months, just like with "Tsuitou". However, I worked on it with Satou-kun (CEO of anime production company Xebec). We all had to cover our own expenses as well (laughs).
-So why did you enter Capcom, a game company?
Yotsui: Because I still had outstanding loans from my college project. I wanted to make something genuine, so instead of using the standard 8mm film, I used 16mm. I hadn't paid Touyou Genzousho (currently Imagica) for the film development. When I was earnestly looking through magazines for a job, I found one that said Capcom paid the highest.
-So you got into games for money? (laughs).
Yotsui: It wasn't just that. My professor overseeing my college project got mad at me. He was like a god in the Japanese film world, and was telling me that the director had to be able to write as well. So, I thought I should leave school for a while and get some real world experience. But, I had no money, so I had to work (laughs).
[10 out of 1]
-That was about 4 to 5 years from Capcom's inception, right?
Yotsui: Yes. Kenzou Tsujimoto was the CEO. He told us to make whatever we wanted. There were three development groups. One was lead by [Tokurou] Fujihara, another by [Takashi] Nishiyama (currently Dimps CEO), and the last by [Yoshiki] Okamoto [currently Game Republic CEO]. Each had their own style. I helped with Daimakaimura under Fujihara-san. I guess I was drawing the backgrounds.
-So you started off with graphics.
Yotsui: Around that time, one of my Senpai, Yoshimoto-san, told me to write up a proposal. That one never came to be, but I apparently got my point across because my next job was to oversee an entire project.
-That was Strider Hiryuu, right? How did the tie-up between the game and the monthly comic in Kadokawa Shoten (created by Motomiya Production's Tatsumi Wada) come to be?
Yotsui: As the company got bigger, talks of collaborations came about. Someone started working at Capcom, and things we had been working on within the company up until that point were starting to become joint projects with other firms. I had worked a bit with the hardware it was to be shipped on, the CP System, so they assigned me to the project.
-And that's what started the ties with Motomiya Pro, which led to the arcade and Famicom ports of Tenchi wo Kurau.
Yotsui: After discussing the creation of the manga, we decided on the plot and the basic settings, finally deciding to go with a 3-point set consisting of the manga, the arcade game, and the Famicom port, all sharing the same title.
-But the feeling between the manga and the games is pretty different I would say. In the manga, Hiryuu is betrayed by a fellow Strider.
Yotsui: What we talked about was just the very basic principles. After that, each person in charge was responsible for arranging his product to match the market it would be sold in. We of course developed ours with the idea that it was a competition, and that ours was the most important.
-The manga version was great, but the game version was full of surprises. He took down a lot of huge bosses.
Yotsui: I wanted everyone to feel that dynamism.
-There's no other mid-boss like Strobaya on stage 1 (laughs).
Yotsui: I was probably careless in considering those algorithms and settings for a game. I think it was after I had been in the industry for only 3 years. Evolving from [Space] Invaders to the CP System, we were able to make more images and performances. I was riding that wave, having just come from movies, and was pretty confident in my abilities. But making games in a group is difficult and everyone must understand the importance of teamwork. But I thought if they could just create what I told them we'd be fine. When we ranked first at some game show, all I could think to myself was "Of course!" (laughs).
-Looking back now, it made all the games around it look plain and simple.
Yotsui: However, we were running behind schedule. There was even talks that its production delay inversely affected sales, but you can't hold the regular employees responsible. But, considering costs is obviously important.
-Speaking of, I'd say the fact that it's overdone is the attractive part of Strider Hiryuu. I can't think of any other game that uses that many languages.
Yotsui: We were lucky with that. There was an employee that worked for general affairs I believe it was. He had graduated from a language academy, and when we asked him for help, he called on his friends, and he himself participated as well. We planned on having multiple languages from the beginning, but weren't planning on going as far as looking for voice actors. This was the era when you made a game entirely within your group.
-I always wondered why the Russian sounded better than the Japanese (laughs).
Yotsui: That part was fun.
-Why was only the African part done so randomly?
Yotsui: I wanted to do it in Swahili, but apparently depicting someone as primitive looked like discrimination. I thought, "what a boring age!" Look at the movie King Kong. Even the recent remake version draws the native people as undeveloped, but that wasn't considered discrimination.
-Was it hard making such an unprecedented game?
Yotsui: For every 10 drawings, only 1 would make it to the end user. The only way to get it done was to overdo it. Thankfully I was in a company that allowed me to do that. All the workers hated me for the long hours though (laughs).
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