Final Fantasy and Castlevania Creators Discuss the Rise, Decline and Revival of Japanese Video Games

ign.com:

During a panel at the Monaco Anime Game International Conferences 2023 (MAGIC 2023), two legends of the Japanese videogame industry looked back on 30 years of history they helped shape. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night creator Koji Igarashi gave their opinions on how Japanese video games became a worldwide phenomenon, how things went wrong in the early 2000s, and how Japan made a comeback over the last decade.

Sakaguchi said that the release of Dragon Quest in 1986 greatly inspired him. Before Yuji Horii’s domestic hit, Sakaguchi believed that developing RPGs for the NES (or Famicom in Japan) would not be possible. The Legend of Zelda, which was released in that same year, was a game he greatly enjoyed as a player, but did not directly inspire him.

“Nintendo and (Shigeru) Miyamoto’s games were on another level,” Sakaguchi said.

“Mario already kind of had a story,” he added. “I think that the story in Zelda was an extension of that. In these games, the story is not the most important component. I personally wanted to make a game in which the story comes first, which is why Dragon Quest felt closer to what I wanted to achieve. The music and systems are of great importance as well, but it is the scenario and story by Yuji Horii that made Dragon Quest special.”

For Igarashi, it was quite the opposite. He has previously stated that he was influenced by The Legend of Zelda when creating Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

“In my games, action is the most important component,” said Igarashi. “I think that action games can be compared to boot camp training, as you have to jump and dodge at the exact right moment. Without a purpose it simply becomes a penance, which is why we need to have