1UP.com did an interview with Takashi Nishiyama the creator and designer for the original Street Fighter. They discuss various topics from where the fireball and dragon punches come from to the more recent work he's done on Street Figther 4. 1UP: OK so apart from the story, what were your main contributions on the team?
TN: My biggest contribution was pushing for the eight-directional joystick and six buttons. But initially I created a cabinet that used pressure-sensor mechanics. At the time, Capcom didn't have any experience making large arcade machines, only tabletop games, and we had a mission to make a large machine. So we worked with Atari to make a punching bag where the game used pressure-sensor mechanics to measure the player's punch strength.
Unfortunately, that didn't sell too well because it was expensive, and it had a low replay value because playing the game was exhausting. On top of that, Capcom didn't have expertise in selling large machines, so we shifted our direction and went for the joystick and buttons.
1UP: In recent years, Dimps has been known for its work on Street Fighter IV. I was looking through some old notes the other day, and I saw an interview on 1UP with Yoshinori Ono from Capcom where he said you were one of the main reasons that game got off the ground. How did that come about?
TN: Keiji Inafune worked under me when I was at Capcom, and in the old days after Street Fighter III didn't do so well and the fighting game market shrunk, Capcom decided to leave the genre behind. But later he took over the company's development and proposed Street Fighter IV, and I don't think Capcom had people available to form an in-house team to develop it, so Mr. Inafune proposed that they should have Dimps make it, and Capcom approached us with the proposal.
Tip submitted by Happy Orange.
Devil May Cry - Hideki Kamiya, Masaaki Yamada, Shinji Mikami and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, all but Hiroyuki Kobayashi have left Capcom
Monster Hunter - Tanaka Tsuyoshi and Noritaka Funamizu, both have left Capcom
God Hand - Shinji Mikami, Hiroki Kato and Atsushi Inaba, all have left Capcom
Okami - Hideki Kamiya, Hiroshi Shibata and Atsushi Inaba, all have left Capcom
Onimusha - Jun Takeuchi, Noboru Sugimura and Keiji Inafune, all but Jun Takeuchi have left Capcom
Viewtiful Joe - Hideki Kamiya, Atsushi Inaba and Shinji Mikami, all have left Capcom
Resident Evil 4 - Shinji Mikami, Hiroshi Shibata, Shigenori Nishikawa and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, all but Hiroyuki Kobayashi have left Capcom
original street fighter creator: Takashi Nishiyama - left Capcom for SNK.
pattern? Tells me alot about Japanese Capcom CEOS.
enjoyed reading the full interview.
also would like to say, as of late we've been getting games with comeback mechanics (xfactor, pandor). That replace skill with cheapness. I'm not saying that there isn't any strategic element into activating xfactor or pandora but the bottom line is, it powers up your remaining characters to help you win the game.
In the past, if you came back from being down so much it's cause you pulled yourself together and utilized every ounce of skill you possessed to win.
hey, i loved the idea of one attack button and the strength is determined by how hard you hit it. when people are enraged, they will do nothing but fierce and roundhouses lol.
Great article. Looking forward to see what Dimps's project will be.
I played the big button version when I was a kid @ major magics, now I -have arthritis and my horrible hooked fingers frighten all that have the dismay of seeing them. I've sent my medical bills your way guy.
this is VERY interesting for many reasons. thanks for pointing this out
I read in this interview that he never got along with his boss, which made him go work at SNK.