The Saturn graphics accelerator was real, as confirmed in this BEEP interview between Kenji Tosaki and Junichi Naoi! And Virtua Fighter 3 and Shenmue indeed were developed with the accelerator in mind. note.com/beep21/n/n5c... #sega #saturn #segasaturn #retrogaming #videogames #セガ #セガサターン

This article aptly captures the real state of Japanese game dev right now. For years, companies have prioritized outsourcing/contract hires because of fewer legal obligations. But as this piece describes, it also lets them skirt around layoff laws by ceasing to contract that external work at all.

In 2024, Masashi Mikami gave a lecture in which he discussed his years at SNK. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Cj... www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGGY... According to him, Shinkiro was also involved in game development when he started at SNK; for example, he did playtesting on Soccer Brawl. 1/5

Former SNK / Saurus / GLAM / Camelot graphic designer Masashi Mikami on SNK and Saurus: xcancel.com/JM_NewBreed/... xcancel.com/JM_NewBreed/...

And it's probably also well known the graffiti in Street Fighter 1 literally is him!

According to Akira Nishitani, Bill Bull from Final Fight was based on former Capcom USA VP of Sales & MarketingBill Craven. xcancel.com/game7650/sta...

In Fatal Fury 3, the characters' color palette varies depending on the lighting in the levels (dark or light). xcancel.com/ryo_redcyclo...

According to Kiyoshi Utata, who designed approximately 90% of the game's graphics (with some parts redone by director Kengo Miyata), Metal Storm was completed in 1989, but it was not initially released in Japan due to a lack of pre-orders. The game was finally released in the US in 1991, ... 1/2

Kōichi Yotsui is credited under 3 different names in Nostalgia 1907: Ren Con Ten Shin: character design Isuke (a pseudonym he also used at Capcom): scenario program Kōichi Yotsui: director

According to Kiyoshi Utata, the Mega-CD version of Nostalgia 1907 was outsourced. (Sometimes I make posts that are essentially or even solely intended for GDRI) xcancel.com/kurofunepai/...

Raiden Fighters Remix Collection illustration by Hidetaka Tenjin / 天神英貴 raiden.mossjp.co.jp/raiden_frc/

As promised, here is a thread on Blazing Star (Yumekobo, 1998), sometimes presented as the third episode in Aicom's shmup trilogy (after Viewpoint and Pulstar) according to its director, Wildran. First, a brief overview of the aborted Pulstar 2 project: bsky.app/profile/vgde... 1/18

I'll try to make a thread about Blazing Star tomorrow.

Viewpoint (NeoGeo, 1992), a thread The first game developed by Wildran at Aicom was A.B.Cop, an arcade game produced by Sega, on which he worked as a programmer. He then joined the development team for Gun-Dec/Vice: Project Doom (Famicom, 1991) as a sub-planner - he designed the car chase stage 1/10

According to Wildran, Pulstar 2 and Blazing Star were two different projects. As early as 1995 (the year Pulstar was released), Pulstar 2 had already been (more or less) announced in the NeoGeo CD version of Pulstar and graphics had been created, but the Pulstar 2 project was rejected by SNK 1/3

Regarding the relationship between Pulstar (Aicom) and R-Type (Irem), although Wildran had temporarily left Aicom during the game's development, they explained that, to their knowledge, there were no former Irem employees on the game's development team. 1/4

Over the past few months, a former employee of Aicom/Yumekobo has shared information and design docs for some of the games they worked on (Viewpoint, Blazing Star, Fatal Fury 1st Contact, and Love Hina Pocket, a game that includes a mini shmup with an isometric 3D view). xcancel.com/wildran3/sta...

A good example of what the Special Thanks section in a game's credits could be used for: in Sonic Drift 2, graphic designer Shinichi Higashi drew only one thing: Fang's portrait (he is their original character designer). xcancel.com/toumartcom/s...

Filled with memorable characters, fantastic visual effects, and a challenging quest, Shining in the Darkness was one hell of a debut title. It put Climax on the map and laid the foundation for a series that would run for the next three decades. www.sega-16.com/2026/02/behi...

One of the first (and rare) interviews given by Falcom composer Mieko Ishikawa, here alongside Tetsuya Igarashi and Tomoyoshi Miyazaki. archive.org/details/beep... Via @ozidual.bsky.social

Shout out to whoever at Taito was a fan of Boris Vallejo I guess

Back in January, illustrator Dev Madan shared on Facebook that he had sold his original paintings for the Super Nintendo package and advertising art for Final Fantasy III (the U.S. release of Final Fantasy VI): www.facebook.com/share/p/1DQz...

An unofficial Famicom Disk Writer put into service in 1987: xcancel.com/oroti_famico...

Famicom Disk Writer prototype with red cartridges and weird placeholder names. Via @gamingalexandria.bsky.social archive.org/details/comp...

Zelda celebrates its 40th anniversary today and we still don't have complete credits for its box art. Minoru Maeda / 前田実, an animator at Studio Junio (founded by the late Takao Kōzai, artist on Punch-Out!!), presumably drew Link, but it was probably another artist who drew the background.

BREAKING: Xbox boss Phil Spencer is stepping down, will be replaced by Microsoft AI platform president Asha Sharma. Sarah Bond is also leaving. Matt Booty staying. Seismic news for the video-game industry.

Fallout 1 & 2 loading screens illustrated by Justin Sweet. xcancel.com/BrianFargo/s... www.artstation.com/artwork/gPQLG

Shinkiro drew a new illustration for City of the Wolves, using the same composition as the main illustration for Real Bout, which he himself had drawn 30 years earlier.

Ninja Master's Kanzen Kōryaku Manual cover signed 糸エ. I assume this is the artist who drew the portraits for the game. archive.org/details/ninj...

I haven't had time to do the statistics, but at a glance, out of the ~400 Mega Drive box art in this gallery (and out of a total of just over 900 games + regional variants), I would say that there are about 40-50 games where the artists are credited in the game, the manual or on the box.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of VGDensetsu, I have put online an illustration gallery dedicated to the Mega Drive with over 400 box art for which I have identified the artist(s), as well as various illustrations. vgdensetsu.net/megadrivegal... 1/3

Osman / Cannon Dancer main visual by Kouichi Yotsui / 四井浩一: xcancel.com/kurofunepai/...

This week we have a rare King's Field interview from 2001 with FromSoftware producer Shinichiro Nishida! Taken from the Verdite Trilogy Perfect Guide, it covers the development of the first three PlayStation games. shmuplations.com/kingsfield/

I have an early prototype of that controller!

as announced by online Sega history zine Beep21: Hideki Sato, the "father of Sega hardware" who stewarded the design of Sega's home consoles from the SG-1000 through to the Dreamcast & presided over the company from 2001~3, passed away on Feb.13 aged 77 🇯🇵 R.I.P.

Rayman preliminary sketch + box art for the Saturn, PS1 and DOS version. The sketch is signed "M"; the final illustration "M+A".

Are you team Link drawn by Shigeru Miyamoto or team Yoshi drawn by Takashi Tezuka? comics.ha.com/itm/video-ga... comics.ha.com/itm/video-ga...

We're saddened to learn Kevin Lydy passed away. He was the designer of the EverQuest logo and still working on the MMO 25 years after its launch. forums.everquest.com/index.php?th... Kevin was the focus of our MinnMax Spotlight from November 2024, a very sweet man. RIP. youtu.be/_18ZFndAzWU

New illustration by Capcom in-house artist Chisato Mita. www.capcom.co.jp/amusement/br...

afaik this wasn't public knowledge until now... as revealed by his son: Kazuo Sawa, veteran game composer/programmer whose works include the many Famicom Kunio-kun games, Battle of Olympus & many others (on & off-record), passed away at some point during the last couple years... R.I.P.

Hiroshi Ryūōin, mecha/character designer on Dennin Aleste, Spriggan 1 and 2, and Aleste Gaiden, worked on the Mark III version of R-Type—his first job in the video game industry. He also mentioned having worked briefly with Rieko Kodama shortly after joining Compile.

Speaking of Yōichi Kubo, shortly after he joined Technosoft in april 1990, he designed 2 stages for Thunder Force AC, the arcade adaptation of Thunder Force III. He drew the background for the 4th stage + another one for a scrapped level. xcancel.com/REONIDASPART...

After completing development of Thunder Force IV and before working on a prototype of Thunder Force V for Mega Drive, TFIV lead graphic designer Yōichi Kubo began developing a beat 'em up for Mega Drive at Technosoft featuring characters with mechanised arms and legs. xcancel.com/REONIDASPART...

Years ago, Atsushi Seimiya gave an interview for issue 133 of Retrogamer, and his profile states that he worked on Phantasy Star I, something I have never read anywhere else (he is not credited in the game). Does anyone have more information on this?

Dragon Hopper box art by Mike Takagi: vgdensetsu.net/miketakagi/

The Strong is honored to announce the acquisition of the Curt Vendel Atari Collection. Curt was a pioneer in video game preservation. The collection contains retail material, schematics, documentation, prototypes, and more. www.museumofplay.org/press-releas...

I have just discovered that Theme Park is one of those titles that has had two different adaptations on the same console, in this case on SNES with a version exclusive to Japan and cover art by 宇都隆 (also used for the PS1 and Saturn versions).

I wrote a series about Ayano Koshiro, a graphic designer, illustrator and chara-designer who worked on series such as Ys, Streets of Rage, Actraiser and Thor. The first 2 parts (out of 8) are now available and cover her time at Falcom. vgdensetsu.net/ayanokoshiro/ VF : vgdensetsu.net/ayanokoshiro...

An unofficial Famicom Disk Writer put into service in 1987: xcancel.com/oroti_famico...

Graphic designer Takako Kawaguchi / Choko was one of the employees who recorded voice messages for the Sega Joy Joy Telephone service in the late 80s. As a result, she was the only developer at Sega to be recognised by the public at the time. vgdensetsu.net/takakokawagu...