Super long feature in the latest issue of Edge (received today) about Toshihiro Nagoshi and his long career.
Games covered are Virtua Racing, Daytona USA, Scud Race, Shenmue, Spikeout, Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero GX, Yakuza, Yakuza 6, and the new Yakuza. So I'm only covering a few bits, and really recommend getting the magazine for the full read.
Super Monkey Ball:
Ryu Ga Gotoku New Project:
A lot more in the magazine for the other games.
Games covered are Virtua Racing, Daytona USA, Scud Race, Shenmue, Spikeout, Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero GX, Yakuza, Yakuza 6, and the new Yakuza. So I'm only covering a few bits, and really recommend getting the magazine for the full read.
Super Monkey Ball:
F-Zero GX:Around that time our CEO kept changing, and the newest one asked me why making games cost so much money. I told him we couldn't do it any cheaper, but at the same time I was quite upset about it. I decided to make a game with minimum resource, minimum time and minimum budget.
(...) Looking back, that's no way to work (laughs). But there are some huge fans of this game. When we gave up on making hardware, we knew the Gamecube was coming, and when it would be launched. We didn't think we had enough time to get a game ready for release day, but (...) Super Monkey Ball came to mind. I think we had ten people on the game, maybe less. We made it just in time somehow
Compared to us, in the big picture, we are similar. But in the finer details - their decision-making and timing - things are different, and I learned a lot from them. In short, it's about objectivity. (...) It's hard to describe, but when I'd say about some part of the game, "It's okay like this, isn't it?" they'd say, "Our company does not allow this kind of thing. Ever." I didn't manage to change their minds about anything. Not even once. But that's why Nintendo has such a solid brand, even after all these years. That is why we lost the hardware war.
I really liked the Super Famicom game, and while we made a few proposals - Metroid for instance, and others - I was most confident in making a driving game because of my experience in the genre, though I'd never make a sci-fi one.
Even though we'd lost the war in the hardware market, I wanted Nintendo to see how great Sega was as a company. We made lots of characters and courses, and we did the best we could for the graphics using the best technology of the time.
Even though we'd tried really hard making games for Sega hardware, they never sold too well, but F-Zero sold over 1.5 M copies worldwide. We realised the only thing we needed to admit was that Sega did not have the ability to sell hardware (laughs). That as a developer (...) we did not need to be pessimistic at all.
Yakuza (1):After it released, I got a call from Nintendo. They said they wanted to see all the source code for the game, and wanted me to explain how we'd made that game, in that timeframe and with that budget, in detail. They were wondering how we'd done it - they couldn't figure it out. We were able to achieve something a lot higher than what Nintendo had expected.
It became difficult for Japanese companies to compete with western games of high quality and big budgets (...) if we wanted to do, it would have to be sports, or military, or fantasy (...)and it would need to release worldwide. (...) since everyone was thinking the same things, everyone was making similar games (laughs).
But I thought it wasn't right to follow that direction. So, first, I abandoned the idea of selling worldwide. Next, I decided I wouldn't mind if female players didn't like the game; then that no children were allowed. When I decided all that, the only target left was the japanese male.
My bosses took some convincing. I did a presentation twice, and didn't get approval. (...)
Sega was struggling for cash and was very close to bankruptcy, so it merged with Sammy. As soon as it happened, I went to see the new owner and presented the game to him, looking for his approval. Professionally, this was highly irregular and quite wrong. But I knew if the owner said "yes", it would be good for the entire company. (...)
I got his approval, but our CEO was really mad about it (laughs). He said it was unfair.
I've never said this before, but while we released this game with Sony, I'd done presentations about it to Microsoft and Nintendo. Back then they said "No we don't want it." Now they say, "We want it!" (laughs) They didn't understand the reason why I created it.
I'm often asked how I did all the research, but it's Japanese culture (...) but I did some of my own, yes. I like drinking. I also like women. I was having lots of fun in my life for a long time - whether to shake off my stress from work, or deepen the connection with my subordinates. (...) I learned a lot of interesting stories from the people I met. And some surprising stories, and some sad ones. They became elements of Yakuza's story. The name Kiryu is one of them (...). I often do that in my games - I use the name of a person I liked or who looked after me well. I still do that today.
Ryu Ga Gotoku New Project:
It will still be quite hardcore at the beginning, but I want the player to think "Oh this game seems really interesting" - that's what I'm aiming for this time. That goes for the technology too, though I don't want to say more as it will spoil the fun. By introducing a new and more current systems, I'd like to increase the number of players. And if I do that, I can re-introducing Kiryu-san to some new fans. That would be ideal.
A lot more in the magazine for the other games.
