25 Years Since The Release Of Final Fantasy VI – Looking Back At The Passion

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25 years ago, Final Fantasy was already a hugely popular series. But with FFVI you can really feel the determination of the staff to not rest on their laurels due to the series' reputation. These legendary creators took a look back at their memories of the development of this title with us. Eiji Nakamura - As the sound engineer for FFVI, he was responsible for the sound effects and sampling. He's currently the president of Sound Racer. Kasuko Shibuya - Square Enix's "Pixel Artisan". As the graphics director for FFVI, she was in charge of the character pixel graphics. Hironobu Sakaguchi - As the father of Final Fantasy, he needs no introduction, and he served as the producer of FFVI. He's currently the president of Mistwalker. Yoshinori Kitase - An executive officer at Square Enix, he served as the director for FFVI. He also put together the event team. Minoru Akao - He was in charge of the sound programming for many Square titles, beginning with FFVI. He's currently the president of RedSpark. Continue Reading

Seikima II: Akuma no Gyakushuu

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Hardware: Famicom
12/25/1986 (Japan)
聖飢魔II 悪魔の逆襲
Seikima II: The Demons' Counterattack

One of the earliest examples of a licensed game based around a Japanese band or musician is Seikima II: Akuma no Gyakushuu. Now this isn't part two of a game called "Seikima", the band itself is called "Seikima II". The intended pronunciation is "seikimatsu", which means "end of the century". The kanji used in the band's name as the ones in that word, but rather those for "holy", "starve", and "demon". This is all short for the phrase 聖なる物に飢えている悪魔がII(ふたた)び蘇る (seinaru mono ni ueteiru akuma ga futatabi yomigaeru), or "Demons starving for that which is holy are resurrected once again". Continue Reading

Shooting Live 2019 – Vertical Shooting Night: An Event Packed With Shooting Love

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Shooting Live 2019 - Vertical Shooting Night was held on 02/21/2019 at AREA in Tokyo's Takadanobaba. This event was the second in Famitsu's series of concerts (following the first one that was centered around pixel-drawn RPGs), and was centered around vertical scrolling shooters. There was a live music section featuring performances by two bands that know the sounds of an arcade better than anyone, a DJ set featuring wonderful composers, and a talk segment featuring some shooting game-loving celebrities. We're bringing you coverage of this event that was packed full of shooting love. Continue Reading

The Holy Land Of The Darius Series: Hey Staff Interview

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Store Manager M - The 6th store manager for the Hey arcade. They've been making great efforts to spread word of Hey since taking over, sending out information and exclusive goods that are for sale their via social media. Store Employee S - A senior staff member that has been around since the arcade opened, who is in charge of the maintenance of various games. Their skills are indispensable to the continued functioning of retro games.

Until We're The Holy Land Of The Darius Series

Today we'll be speaking with some staff members of the Hey arcade, which has many different entries in the series setup, and is known as the holy land of the Darius series. (M) We opened the arcade in 2001, amidst the last vestiges of "electric town". At that time the home electronics stores were beginning to leave the area. Continue Reading

Game Center CX 15th Anniversary – Special Long Interview With Shinya Arino

Interview - Kiyoshi Tane Photography - Hiroyuki Matsuzaki Shinya Arino was born in Osaka on 02/25/1972. In 1990 he formed a comedy duo called Yoiko with Masaru Hamaguchi, a friend since middle school. In addition to his activities as a part of said comedy duo, he also regularly appears on Game Center CX (aired on CS Fuji TV One), as well as a wide variety of other things.

The Kacho's Skills Have Actually Improved?

Congratulations on the 15th anniversary of Game Center CX! You've had many hard challenges in recent seasons, haven't you? Like Chou Aniki (Episodes 220-221) (Arino) Hard? As in difficult? Well my techniques have improved, after all! (Laughs) The ADs said that you've been keeping a good eye on enemies lately. They even say that you're getting better at shoot'em ups, which you're known to be not very good at. (Arino) I get complimented on that from the youngest person on the production staff. I wonder if it's because I've been backing off when it's time to back off, since my feelings of not wanting to die have been coming out. Continue Reading