John Andersen

according to Taito, today marks 39 years since Darius was first unveiled at the Amusement Machine Show in 1986.

Illustration: a portrait of Rieko Kodama with some of the games she has worked on. The dominant colors are yellow, purple and red. Counterclockwise from top left: Rieko Kodama, Alis and Lutz from Phantasy Star, Sonic in a maze, Alex Kidd and his motorbike next to Flicky on a waterfront pier, Joe Musashi and his dog near the Statue of Liberty facing a skyline, the three playable characters from Golden Axe seen from behind on the edge of a cliff, and one of the flying ships from Skies of Arcadia.

I wrote a long article about Rieko Kodama, her career at Sega, the evolution of her company, the games she worked on (including some canceled games and/or games for which she is not credited), the status of women and working conditions in the video game industry, etc.
vgdensetsu.net/riekokodama/

Today the company primarily works with Nintendo Cube (NDCube) and parent company Nintendo. It maintain a branch studio in Fukuoka. One of its earliest titles for the SEGA Saturn (Bulk Slash) is highly regarded by many and needs a re-release in my personal opinion.
Website: www.caproduction.co.jp

This CAProduction office in Nagasaki dates back to 1998, and may go back to 1994 when the company worked with Hudson Soft. They outgrew this space in the 2000's, opening a second office, going from 27 employees in 2001 to 52 in 2013. It outgrew this space, and built a three-story office in 2013.

The director of CAProduction is Tecno Soft veteran Osamu Tsujikawa, joining him from Tecno Soft were programmers Izumi Fukuda and Takashi Iwanaga (all still with CAProduction presently). They all worked together going back as far as 1988 on the Herzog series, as well as Thunder Force II & III.

The current office of CAProduction in Nagasaki, Japan. <A small thread>. Established in July 1993 by a few former Tecno Soft employees from Nagasaki, they've developed everything from Hagane (SNES), Bulk Slash (Saturn), DECA Sports (Wii) to assisting with Clubhouse Sports and the Mario Party series.

cover image by Amanda Neipris: the Hudson bee flies in front of the TurboGrafx-16 box artwork

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Join Jeremy, Kurt and I as we rank the NES launch line-up! With some controversial choices from me that made the audience cringe. I'll say it again: DK Jr. Math got me an NES, the same NES I've kept to this day. The NES "Education Series" deserved more.

That music…. Just bobbing my head to the rhythm.

The owner of this Commodore Amiga store in Tokyo, whose door still features GVP and Video Toaster stickers, used to sell Amigas in Japan back when.

I've just walked into him closing the store to head to a filming, he's a video maker now.

What serendipity!

#retrocomputing

Yes, that's the one! Their buyback price for Donkey Kong Jr. Math when I was a kid was something I could not resist (and I regret it!). Donkey Kong Jr. Math FTW!

Henk Rogers mentions in his autobio that Sega had produced 300k cartridges of the Mega Drive version of Tetris. That seems like a lot to me for a console that had been released 6 months earlier and was only available in Japan at the time. He adds that Tengen had produced the same number for the NES.

Niigata Joypolis

Photos from the front of the Niigata Joypolis, which opened in 1995.

I heard things went goofy at Tokyo Game Show. This happened right in front of Makuhari Meese. What game is this?

Masanobu Endo playing Virtua Fighter 2 on his gaming setup in 1996. On the shelf of board games he apparently has an autograph of Yu Suzuki with advice that reads "Fight standing up". Via: 64DREAM, 1996-06

Speaking of Shigesato Itoi, here he is wearing a Pulp Fiction shirt in 1996.
Via: Nintendo Dream #075

Would anyone have this March 1998 issue of 64Dream?
There is a feature that goes into details of the developers on each floor of Nintendo Kanda.
I'd like to take a look and share it here.
Table of contents:
Creatures Inc. - 6th and 7th floor.
Tokyo Development - 5th floor.
HAL Labs - 3rd floor.

Image via: @noritoriJP on X.

It's unknown what will become of this site, the Nintendo Kanji signs are gone. Nintendo appears to still own the property, and demolition is expected to finish by May 2026(?). For reference, this building was eight floors, with a basement and penthouse. It underwent a renovation in 2003.

Via: Nintendo Dream #089 May 21 2003 05 21

Most importantly, game development happened here at Nintendo Kanda. Shigesato Itoi's company Ape Inc. (later Creatures Inc.) started here, HAL Labs Tokyo Development office was here. Itoi and Satoru Iwata recalled stories of having to sleep here (in the president's empty office) when it got late.

Nintendo Kanda also became the home of Nintendo's own product service center. People could literally visit this building, drop off their Nintendo product for repair and pick it up once the repair was completed. I wonder if that door on the right was for service center visitors?

The Nintendo Kanda address is: 千代田区神田須田町1-22.
I do not have an exact date on when Nintendo Kanda was built, but it at least goes back to 1970. This was once Nintendo's Tokyo office, a short walk from Akihabara. The main office of Nintendo's arcade division (Nintendo Leisure Systems) was based here.

Image via @Z61p on X.

News: Nintendo's Kanda Building in Tokyo is currently being demolished. (A history thread). This building was a big part of Nintendo's legacy. Mother 2 (Earthbound), Pokemon Snap and more were made here. For anyone in Tokyo wishing to take photos, this is your last chance (please be respectful).

Fun fact: Mitsubishi Electric, Odakyu Hotels and the male chrous group The Dark Ducks were financial backers of Meldac.

Best desktop image ever.

Jugemu Magazine (じゅげむ) 1995 09 September

Sometimes you really want a picture of game development from 1995, but you have to settle for a company showroom instead. I give you Human Entertainment's game showroom from that year, complete with Dracula Judgement-Chair of Truth on the far-left, Fire Pro Gaiden: Blazing Tornado on the far-right.

We expect a concert immediately, complete with refreshments of cake, pie, ice cream and Hawaiian Punch.

I think I'll just have cereal

Who wants Parappa toast?