The minds behind Wario

And his biggest creation, Wario.

He was like Miyamoto to the Wario series a
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No. Every first-hand, reliable source (ie: not shitty sites like IGN) state Hiroji Kiyotake is Wario's sole creator.

Gunpei Yokoi was no doubt a genius, and a very productive and influential person... on hardware. By the time Nintendo had enterred the vidya market, he was pretty set in his role as a manager of R&D1 (he was in the company since 1965), and wasn't very involved in software beyond the usual producer function of supervising stuff - he was more involved in the development of handheld consoles. There's even a quote around saying Yokoi preferred designers to not have programming knowledge bcause their creativity wouldn't be hindered by the knowledge of what "can" or "can't" be done, and that he wouldn't show games from his department to the marketing team until they were finished. That doesn't exactly paint him as someone very hand-on in the development of the games he supervised.


Really, the only reason Yokoi is claimed to be the "creator" of Wario/Metroid/Kid Icarus is that he's the only truly well-known personality of the R&D1 department, and he's credited by default in games from R&D1 since he was its manager, and because of that, fanboys that don't know what the positions listed in the credits actually mean and bad sites assumed he had a bigger roles in those games than he actually did. I do intend to pay proper tribute to the man in the R&D1 thread, though : p.
 
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Yeah, that's right.

It does piss me off too when everyone credits Yokoi for all the things that team made. Yokoi was credited for working on the Game & Watch and Game Boy systems, but he never created any characters. Kiyotake and Sakamoto were the real creative geniuses behind those games. Also Makoto Kano and Toru Osawa, I think. But how many people actually want to know this?



Really, it's the same thing as people blaming everything in Smash Bros. on Masahiro Sakurai only. He's talked about a lot of things in those games lately that he wasn't even involved with himself. It's true that he does do certain things with it, but he's not the wizard that everyone makes him out to be.

It's a Japanese source, but he said that all he really does with Smash is state the general stuff. Specifications are left up to the other people. (Other examples include: Things like trophies and music aren't even his doing, Kazushige Nojima also wrote the SSE story in Brawl, adding Snake in Brawl was not as simple as Sakurai and Kojima just "being friends"...) So basically, his work involves thinking up of the general direction, state them, let them work, and check everything again.
Not only that, but they still check with the original games' developers with the contents of this game. So keep this in mind if you think a particular character feels off: their original developers approved all those. (Still don't get how people seriously expect one person to keep track of everything that the biggest gaming company has ever done. I'm pretty sure there are tons of other people on the team to take care of that)
 
Glowsquid said:
No. Every first-hand, reliable source (ie: not shitty sites like IGN) state Hiroji Kiyotake is Wario's sole creator.

Gunpei Yokoi was no doubt a genius, and a very productive and influential person... on hardware. By the time Nintendo had enterred the vidya market, he was pretty set in his role as a manager of R&D1 (he was in the company since 1965), and wasn't very involved in software beyond the usual producer function of supervising stuff - he was more involved in the development of handheld consoles. There's even a quote around saying Yokoi preferred designers to not have programming knowledge bcause their creativity wouldn't be hindered by the knowledge of what "can" or "can't" be done, and that he wouldn't show games from his department to the marketing team until they were finished. That doesn't exactly paint him as someone very hand-on in the development of the games he supervised.


Really, the only reason Yokoi is claimed to be the "creator" of Wario/Metroid/Kid Icarus is that he's the only truly well-known personality of the R&D1 department, and he's credited by default in games from R&D1 since he was its manager, and because of that, fanboys that don't know what the positions listed in the credits actually mean and bad sites assumed he had a bigger roles in those games than he actually did. I do intend to pay proper tribute to the man in the R&D1 thread, though : p.
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For that reason I said he was like Miyamoto from the other team.
 
It's also said that the real creator of the Metroid series was Makoto Kano or somebody.

And Toru Osawa was behind Kid Icarus. Heck, he was even listed under "Very Special Thanks" in Uprising's credits!
 
BooDestroyer said:
It's also said that the real creator of the Metroid series was Makoto Kano or somebody.
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The original Metroid was initially developed by Hiroji Kiyotake and Hirofumi Matsuoka (with the programming done by Intelligent Systems), who were mandated by management (which I think Makoto Kano was a part of) to make a "sci-fi shooting game" , but the game wasn't going anywhere. Sakamoto was brought on board after completing Wrecking Crew and suggested to shift the focus to exploration and collecting items. Satoru Okada is credited as the director on the final game.

Metroid Database has translated a fun interview about the game's development.

(Man, I wonder who tweeted this thread...)
 
Glowsquid said:
Incidentally, It's Coming™. I intend to start writing it after the end of my university year (ie: next week) Do the fine, dignified citizens of Wario forums have an expectation or suggestions?
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Today's the start of a week and half vacation, so I expect to complete what I started this week. Posting this here as an additional motivator for posting it on schedule ^_ ^;.

Of course, ,writing about children videogames has taken a large toll on my manchild lifestyle, so for early reveals and additional insight in the Glowsquid lores, you can support me at https://www.patreon.com/itsfuckingnothing
 
NEVER KEEP A SCHEDULE

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I mentioned it elsewhere, but Game & Wario has some pretty creative credits and I've got nothing to do so... why not upload them here?

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(Chart explaining what the signs at the bottom means. From left to right, top to bottom: Wear glasses, has a moustache, Man, Woman, writes with left hand, likes cats, is sedentary, hates green peas, is a sweet tooth, is the elder child, has long hairs, motormouth, cry easily, has at least one child, scientifical mind, speaks more than one language, doesn't sweat over the small details, doesn't know how to skip, is not a morning person)

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(Shy, aren't we?)

And as a bonus...

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I decided to rewrite the OP a bit, as well as update things based on recent news and add the other entries I posted throughout this thread. I also added two new profiles, which I'll post here for convenience:

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Naoko Mori

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What’s her deal?: Mori was a game and graphic designer on the Warioware series, starting with Twisted! For Smooth Moves, she assumed the role of art director.


For Game & Wario, Naoko Mori assumed the role of co-director. Her task was to take Goro Abe’s idea and work to implement them into the game.


What else did she do?: Mori is credited in the Special Thanks of Paper Mario Sticker Star and Planet Puzzle League, and was a graphic designer on Mario Kart Super Circuit and Pokemon Puzzle League. That’s it.

Where she is now?: Presumably still employed by Intelligent Systems.


Katsuya Yamano

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What’s his deal: Sakamoto’s right-hand at SPD1, Katsuya Yamano was the main programmer of Wario Land II to 4, and the supervisor of all the Warioware games starting with Twisted!. He is also credited as a gamer designer on Touched!


What else did he do: Yamano followed a similar career path for the 2D Metroids. He was the assistant director of Game Boy Wars, and did the music and sound effects for Teleroboxer.


Where is he now? He was reportedly promoted to manager of Nintendo SPD1 after Sakamoto’s promotion to Deputy Manager of SPD. Following the EPD restructure, Yamano’s current role at Nintendo is unknown.
 
Glowsquid said:
I decided to rewrite the OP a bit, as well as update things based on recent news and add the other entries I posted throughout this thread. I also added two new profiles, which I'll post here for convenience:

----

Naoko Mori

photo5.jpg



What’s her deal?: Mori was a game and graphic designer on the Warioware series, starting with Twisted! For Smooth Moves, she assumed the role of art director.


For Game & Wario, Naoko Mori assumed the role of co-director. Her task was to take Goro Abe’s idea and work to implement them into the game.


What else did she do?: Mori is credited in the Special Thanks of Paper Mario Sticker Star and Planet Puzzle League and was a graphic designer on Mario Kart Super Circuit and Pokemon Puzzle League. That’s it.

Where she is now?: Presumably still employed by Intelligent Systems.


Katsuya Yamano

UNf0WMc.jpg


What’s his deal: Sakamoto’s right-hand at SPD1, Katsuya Yamano was the main programmer of Wario Land II to 4, and the supervisor of all the Warioware games starting with Twisted!. He is also credited as a gamer designer on Touched!


What else did he do: Yamano followed a similar career path for the 2D Metroids. He was the assistant director of Game Boy Wars and did the music and sound effects for Teleroboxer.


Where is he now? He was reportedly promoted to manager of Nintendo SPD1 after Sakamoto’s promotion to Deputy Manager of SPD. Following the EPD restructure, Yamano’s current role at Nintendo is unknown.
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Yeah... Sticker Star is what broke the camel's back for me? XD
 
I didn't make an entry for him because he only worked on two Wario games, but here's a fun fax: Ryuichi Nakada (chief director of WarioWare: Touched) was transferred to Nintendo SPD 3 in 2007. He oversaw the development of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, Sticker Star, and Metroid Prime: Federation Forces.
 
Kouichi Kawamoto

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Kouichi Kawamoto involvement in the actual WarioWare games is marginal, only being credited as "prototype programmer" on the original game and a vague "Concept" credit on Twisted!, but he's notheless notable for effectively being the creator of the series: his first job at Nintendo was programmer on Mario Artist Polygon Studios, for which he came up with the concept of the "Sound Bomber" mode, which was the direct basis of the games

What else did he do

He first worked as a programmer for EAD, programming Luigi's Mansion and Four Swords Adventures. Following tha game he was moved to Nintendo SDD, where he was director of the Brain Age games and the producer of Rusty's Real Deal Baseball.

Where is he now

Kawamoto is the producer of the Nintendo Switch launch title, 1-2-Switch.
 
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