Curated playlist
Japanese video game directors
- Hideo KojimaKonami reportedly barred Hideo Kojima from The Game Awards 2015, where his Metal Gear Solid V won two prizes.
- Motoi OkamotoMotoi Okamoto went from Mario and Zelda games to leading Silent Hill.
- Yoshinori KitaseYoshinori Kitase set Final Fantasy X in Southeast Asia to widen what "fantasy" could mean.
- Hiroyuki ItoHiroyuki Ito began at Square in 1987 as a debugger hunting bugs in Final Fantasy.
- Takashi NishiyamaThe Hadouken in Street Fighter took its energy blast from an anime spaceship's cannon. Takashi Nishiyama borrowed it.
- Hiroshi MinagawaHiroshi Minagawa goes by the nickname Nigoro, and his name sits in the credits of some of the most admired role-playing games to come out of Japan. He is an artist, a designer, and a director. His earliest credit in the list of his works…
- Keiichiro ToyamaKeiichiro Toyama went from Silent Hill horror to Gravity Rush, where the heroine changes which way is down.
- Shigeru MiyamotoDonkey Kong began as a way to use up unsold arcade machines.
- Hironobu SakaguchiHironobu Sakaguchi named his film's heroine after his mother, who died in a house fire.
- Yoshitaka MurayamaYoshitaka Murayama pitched Suikoden using a Chinese novel his boss might know.
- Satoru IwataSatoru Iwata walked onto the stage at E3 in 2005 and lifted the Wii above his head, so the audience could see for themselves how small and light it was. It was a fitting gesture for the man who ran Nintendo as its fourth president while…
- Tetsuya NomuraTetsuya Nomura started at Square as a debugger, not a designer. A hand-drawn plan book later got him noticed.