https://shmuplations.com/curseofdarkness/
https://shmuplations.com/supermariorpg/
Hey all! For the second update this month, I went back and added the Michiru Yamane portion of the Curse of Darkness interview we translated last month. I've also added a small update to the Super Mario RPG interview collection, in the for...
https://shmuplations.com/ffix/
These Final Fantasy IX interviews were originally published in Hyper Playstation magazine, shortly before the game's release in July 2000. As pre-release interviews, they contained a good deal of promotional fluff, so I have slightly edited them down to capture the more substantive parts. The conversation is largely focused on Sakaguchi's big-picture vision for FFIX, with interesting d...
Greetings to all patrons new and old! It's time again to offer suggestions and feedback re: what you'd like to see translated in the next few months. I'll still be referring to the previous voting posts, but it's never a bad idea to post again what you'd like to see translated. Also, if multiple people suggest the same interview, it's more likely to get translated, so feel free to second other patro...
2024-04-03 11:10:10 +0000 UTC View Post
https://shmuplations.com/persona4/
This mammoth Persona 4 interview with director Katsura Hashino was originally featured in the Persona Club P4 book. Hashino covers the character design, story influences, and larger themes in great detail. Please note that about half of this interview was privately commissioned by koda, who gave her permission for it to be hosted here for all to enjoy.
Hey all! These...
https://shmuplations.com/puyopuyofever/
Conducted in commemoration of Puyo Puyo's 25th anniversary, this Famitsu interview saw former Sonic Team boss Yuji Naka trading insider info with current series producer Mizuki Hosoyamada on the creation of Puyo Puyo Fever, the first mainline Puyo Puyo title developed by Sega after acquiring the series from original developer Compile, and their attempts to soft-reboot...
https://shmuplations.com/dk1994/
Taken from Shogakukan's official strategy guide, this interview saw members of Nintendo and co-developer Pax Sofnica discussing the making of Nintendo's 1994 Donkey Kong revival for Game Boy, with the discussion covering the genesis of the project, scrapped characters and concepts, utilizing the Super Game Boy and much more.
Hi guys! Just the one interview this month, ag...
Hey all! We've got two interviews to share today. These were on the shorter side, so I've combined them into one update for the purposes of patreon. All the translations this month were done by our editor GSK--give him a shoutout on twitter! My back is starting to feel better again, but I'm still taking it real easy for the time being. Otherwise, I'm almost done with that big Persona 4 interview, and partially through a long-requested FFIX interview series, so hopefully those will be read...
2024-01-31 05:54:35 +0000 UTC View Post
https://shmuplations.com/tekken/
Taken from Arcadia magazine, this 15th-anniversary roundtable discussion saw Tekken series steward Katsuhiro Harada and several prominent community members discussing their history with and memories of each title, from the 1994 original to the then-recent Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion. Their conversation touches upon the series' rocky rise, user feedback, play style between regiona...
Hey all,
I apologize for the delay with the voting thread this month. Unfortunately, I'm still having a lot of health issues with my back (sitting in the hospital waiting room for an MRI right now), which is going to diminish my translation output for the next few months. I'm going to skip the voting thread this cycle, but I'll probably still be able to get 1-2 translations out per month, and ...
https://shmuplations.com/akirasakuma/
This humorous Akira Sakuma interview from 2000 was originally sourced from the GSLA archive. Known in Japan for Momotaro Densetsu, an early Dragon Quest clone, and the train-themed board game Momotaro Dentetsu series, the discussion here highlights Sakuma's unusual entry into game development, his philosophy of RPG design, and the insights he brought over from his tenure ...
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxassault/
This lengthy Star Fox Assault interview with producers Takaya Imamura and Tsuyoshi Kobayashi and directors Toshiyuki Nakanishi and Yutaka Yoshida was originally featured in Nintendo Dream magazine. A joint development between Namco and Nintendo, the conversation explores that relationship while also looking at the character design, the changes from Adventure, and th...
https://shmuplations.com/donkeykong/
From December 1996 to April 1997, "bit" magazine published a series of articles titled "Arcade Game Technology", authored by Ikegami Tsuushinki programmer Hirohisa Komanome. The last article was an in-depth examination of the making of the original Donkey Kong arcade game. From design issues to the actual math function behind Mario's jump, it offers a close look at how Shig...
https://shmuplations.com/metalmax/
Hey guys! Wrapping up November with the second part of this mammoth Metal Max interview. This time the conversation revolves around the "lost" Metal Max games--MM3 for the PlayStation and Metal Max: Wild Eyes for the Dreamcast. Towards the end they also discuss the reason for having more mature writing/themes in Metal Max--be sure to check it out!
https://shmuplations.com/curseofdarkness/
This lengthy Castlevania: Curse of Darkness interview with producer Koji Igarashi and director Takashi Takeda originally appeared in the official Konami strategy guide. It mostly explores the individual character designs, but Takeda also takes time to talk about the new free camera, the Innocent Devils, and the Stealing/Weapon Synthesis gameplay systems. Please no...
https://shmuplations.com/residentevil4/
This lengthy RE4 interview with producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi (who also worked as a programmer on the earlier games) was originally featured in Nintendo Dream. The main topic of discussion is the complete overhaul that RE4 underwent, transforming the game from survival horror to action shooter. While Kobayashi's comments are somewhat general, they help illuminate the sh...
Greetings to all patrons new and old! It's time again to offer suggestions and feedback re: what you'd like to see translated in the next few months. I'll still be referring to the previous voting posts, but it's never a bad idea to post again what you'd like to see translated. Also, if multiple people suggest the same interview, it's more likely to get translated, so feel free to second other ...
2023-10-06 08:08:53 +0000 UTC View Post
https://shmuplations.com/shadowofthecolossus/
This Shadow of the Colossus interview originally appeared in the 10/05 edition of The Playstation 2 magazine. It sees producer Kenji Kaido and director Fumito Ueda expounding on the merits of their just-released epic, discussing the project's origins, the design philosophy of the colossi battles, and how it differs from their previous hit ICO. Keep your ey...
https://shmuplations.com/klonoa2/
These two vintage Klonoa 2 interviews were originally featured in The Playstation and Namco Games magazines, shortly after the game's Japanese release in March 2001. Producer and director Tsuyoshi Kobayashi and art director Yoshihiko Arai discuss their approach to making a sequel, their design and development process, and new additions like the jump-assist feature and action butt...
https://shmuplations.com/metalmax/
This Metal Max interview with creators Hiroshi Miyaoka and Tomoki Tauchi originally appeared in Roleplaying Gameside #1, a short-lived offshot of Shooting Gameside. The interview covers the pair's post-apocalyptic and sci-fi influences, how the series got started, and their favorite characters and scenes. Please note, this is only the first part of the interview: we'll publish ...
Greetings everyone! Just a quick note: I only managed to get one interview out last month, thanks to a visit from the family, a brief illness, and the adoption of two (very rambunctious) new tortie kittens that are just now starting to let me sleep, haha. I also devoted some time in early August to collecting more interviews at the Diet Library, this time focusing entirely on the 2000-2006 era--and yes, that is a Nintendogs interview there, haha. It's several hundred pages to scan but I shoul...
2023-09-02 12:19:29 +0000 UTC View Post
https://shmuplations.com/yojishinkawa/
This interview with famed Konami illustrator and designer Yoji Shinkawa first appeared in volume 4 of the Game Maestro book series. The thoughtful questions trace a path through Shinkawa's career, from catching Hideo Kojima's eye at Konami, doing touch-up work on Policenauts, the differences between mecha and normal character design, his latest efforts on Zone of Enders...
https://shmuplations.com/jumpingflash2/
This interview with the three Jumping Flash! 2 teams of MuuMuu, Exact, and Sony was originally featured in The Playstation magazine. In what appears to have been a very congenial development, the teams here discuss character design and their motivation in making JF!2. Overall it's a bit light on info, but consider this an appetizer to the longer JF interview we'll be ...
https://shmuplations.com/dkjunglebeat/
This rollicking Donkey Kong Jungle Beat interview originally appeared in Nintendo Dream magazine, shortly after the 2004 E3 exhibition. The game was still in-development, so the discussion largely focuses on the response from players at E3, but the enthusiasm of legendary tag-team duo of Koizumi and Shimizu is hard to resist as they relate the origins of the project and...
https://shmuplations.com/burningrangers/
This Burning Ranger interview (actually a composite of two interviews) originally appeared in Saturn Fan magazine about six months prior to the game's release the following year. Led by producer Yuji Naka, the Sonic Team members engage in a light-hearted discussion about their design goals and inspirations. I've also added some commentary from the game's three compo...
Greetings to all patrons new and old! It's time again to offer suggestions and feedback re: what you'd like to see translated in the next few months. I'll still be referring to the previous voting posts, but it's never a bad idea to post again what you'd like to see translated. Also, if multiple people suggest the same interview, it's more likely to get translated, so feel free to second other ...
2023-07-07 00:19:15 +0000 UTC View Post
https://shmuplations.com/bahamutlagoon/
This is an update to the Bahamut Lagoon interview--I've added a brand new interview with the entire staff, taken from Famitsu's Bahamut Lagoon Fanbook. Some of the lore questions at the end are very silly, but overall there's a lot more to read now about how it was made. Check out the unique dragon illustrations from famous JP illustrators that were commissioned for t...
https://shmuplations.com/desks/
In the late 90s, the Japanese gaming magazine "The Playstation" ran a monthly feature on the workspaces of famous gaming devs. I've collected four of these here and translated the original editorial commentary (which include some remarks from the devs themselves). I've also left the images at their full-size so all the neat time-capsule details can be appreciated. I hope to post more...
https://shmuplations.com/miyamotoxnagoshi/
Before the Yakuza series, Toshihiro Nagoshi was mostly known for his arcade work at Sega, and this hardware-centric discussion originally published in Game Hihyou magazine reflects that history. In addition to the N64 and Dreamcast controller design, Miyamoto and Nagoshi also talk about their favorite arcade games, their management styles, and their thoughts on ...
https://shmuplations.com/dimahoo/
This colorful Dimahoo interview originally appeared in the Great Mahou Daisakusen OST liner notes. It features commentary from programmer Yuichi Toyama and designer Kenichi Yokoo, as well as composers Kenichi Koyano and Atsuhiro Motoyama. Toyama shares a number of fascinating ideas that ended up getting axed, while the composers talk about their general approach to the music and ...
https://shmuplations.com/silenthill/
This vintage Silent Hill interview with director Keiichiro Toyama, designer Takayoshi Sato, and sound director Akira Yamaoka comes from the GSLA, a Japanese archive of interviews from older print sources. Although short, it contains several intriguing musings from Toyama on how realism and dreams informed the setting. Sato and Yamaoka also expound on this theme in the domai...