Sound Creators That Pushed Hardware Limits: Yuzo Koshiro and Yasunori Mitsuda

In this interview, Yuzo Koshiro not only talks with us about music during the Super Famicom era, but also about working on the indispensable ActRaiser. Yasunori Mitsuda also talks about working on Chrono Trigger, a game that Koshiro said smashed his confidence to pieces. What have their journeys as creators been like, evolving along with the hardware? We've got the answers here. Yuzo Koshiro - The president of Ancient, and also a composer. He previously composed music for the Ys series with Nihon Falcom. Having gone freelance after that, he established Ancient in 1990 and got involved in games such as ActRaiser. In recent years he's composed music for the Etrian Odyssey series, and more. Yasunori Mitsuda - The president of Procyon Studio. After working at Wolf Team as a sound programmer, he joined Square (currently Square Enix), and made his debut as a composer with Chrono Trigger in 1995. He later went independent and formed his own company, Procyon Studio. In recent years he's worked on music for games such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Inazuma Eleven series, and more.

The Industry Shaking ActRaiser

Around when did the two of you first meet? (Koshiro) It was during the development of Kid Icarus: Uprising, which was released in 2012. Other composers were involved apart from me, but Mitsuda brought us all together. Procyon Studio even took care of all the recording. Continue Reading

A Top Composer, Beloved Worldwide – Nobuo Uematsu

Magazine Translations

Profile - The president of Dog Ear Records who has composed music for many games, including much of the Final Fantasy series from when he was with Square Enix. Recently he's also composed for games such as Granblue Fantasy and Terra Wars, and continues to receive attention worldwide for his talent as a composer and keyboardist. Composer Nobuo Uematsu is a pioneer in the world of game music, and an all around great person. The sudden extended time off that he took last year sent shock waves through the industry, but he's returned as of January 2019. He's shown the fans his energy as he went around to 11 venues in 8 cities, as a part of the "Bra*Bra Final Fantasy" series of brass band concerts. We talked to him about his current state, as well as what the future holds. Continue Reading

Takahashi Meijin Speaks: The Game Industry During the First Year of the Heisei Era

Magazine Translations

Interview/Text: Kaze no Iona Photography - Noriaki Watanabe Profile - Starting out in the game industry with Hudson in 1982, he was in the PR department when Hudson began releasing games on the Famicom, and was known to the media as "Takahashi Meijin". Since leaving Hudson in 2011 he's appeared on broadcasts as a game presenter, established his own company called DokiDoki Groove Works, and has otherwise continued to be active in the industry. 30 years ago, the name of the era changed to Heisei. What was the game industry like during that first year? We took a look back on it with someone who was on the front line as an employee of Hudson, Takahashi Meijin. Continue Reading

Our Nostalgic Games: Samurai Shodown

Magazine Translations

Our Nostalgic Games ~Retro Gamer Roundtable~ #202

Editors passionately discussing games playable on modern hardware that are just as good as they've ever been!

Arcade Archives Neo Geo (PS4) - Samurai Shodown

A weapons-based fighting game with a Japanese flavor that was released by SNK in 1993. With swords and daggers as your weapons and a single blow being fatal, many intense matches can unfold. Original Release Year: 1993 Hardware: Arcade Date of Digital Release: 12/08/2016 Maker: Hamster Continue Reading

The People Who Resurrected Samurai Shodown

Magazine Translations

Kaito Soranaka (Planner): He was primarily in charge of the battle system, and also served as the director of SNK Heroines. Nobuyuki Kuroki (Director): The director who supervised the entire project, also a long-time developer who worked on Fatal Fury, etc. Yumi Saji (Character Designer): She was in charge of the character design, and also worked on King of Fighters XIV. Taking a new look at what makes the series popular for the first time in about 10 years, a new Samurai Shodown game has been released. We bring you this interview with three of the staff members involved in its creation.

Hardships and Inside Stories of the Development that Created the Samurai Spirit

Please give us some details about how development on this game began. (Kuroki) I heard this from the producer Yasuyuki Oda, but apparently he was asked by a chairman within our company if we were finally going to release a new Samurai Shodown game. I guess it all began when Oda answered with "Let's do it!". The Samurai Shodown series has the most personality of all of SNK's titles when it comes to visuals and game play systems. So project planning began with us thinking about how it's so easy to distinguish from those other titles, and how it will be able to bring in new fans. Continue Reading