The Game Designers Studio
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The Game Designers Studio
(also known under its American brand name SquareSoft) was a Japanese video game development studio and publisher. It was founded in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto, who spun off part of his father's electronics company Den-Yu-Sha. Among its early employees were Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiromichi Tanaka, Akitoshi Kawazu, Koichi Ishii, Kazuko Shibuya, Nasir Gebelli and Nobuo Uematsu. After several other projects, all of these employees would work on ''Final Fantasy'', a 1987 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System which would bring commercial and critical success and launch a franchise of the same name. Later notable staff included Yoshinori Kitase, Takashi Tokita, Tetsuya Nomura, Yoko Shimomura and Yasumi Matsuno. Initially developing for PCs, then exclusively for Nintendo systems, Square broke with Nintendo in the 1990s to develop for Sony's in-development PlayStation. Their first PlayStation project, ''Final Fantasy VII'', was a worldwide success, going on to sell ten million units, e ...
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Kabushiki Gaisha
A or ''kabushiki kaisha'', commonly abbreviated K.K. or KK, is a type of defined under the Companies Act of Japan. The term is often translated as "stock company", " joint-stock company" or "stock corporation". The term ''kabushiki gaisha'' in Japan refers to any joint-stock company regardless of country of origin or incorporation; however, outside Japan the term refers specifically to joint-stock companies incorporated in Japan. Usage in language In Latin script, ''kabushiki kaisha'', with a , is often used, but the original Japanese pronunciation is ''kabushiki gaisha'', with a , owing to rendaku. A ''kabushiki gaisha'' must include "" in its name (Article 6, paragraph 2 of the Companies Act). In a company name, "" can be used as a prefix (e.g. , '' kabushiki gaisha Dentsū'', a style called , ''mae-kabu'') or as a suffix (e.g. , '' Toyota Jidōsha kabushiki gaisha'', a style called , ''ato-kabu''). Many Japanese companies translate the phrase "" in their name as "Company, ...
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Kazuko Shibuya
is a Japanese video game artist. She is best known for her work with Square (now Square Enix), in particular with the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Biography Shibuya was born in 1965. While in middle school, she began creating illustrations and animations inspired by anime series including ''Space Battleship Yamato'' and ''Galaxy Express 999''. As a high schooler she enrolled in a technical school to study animation and worked part-time for animation studios on popular anime including ''Transformers'', ''Area 88'', and ''Obake no Q-taro''. In 1986, as she was losing interest in animation work, she was recruited by video game company Square. Shibuya's first work for Square was providing illustrations for ''Alpha'' game manual and graphics for several games in development. In 1987, prompted by the success of Enix's ''Dragon Quest'' the previous year, Square released ''Final Fantasy''. Shibuya created graphics including characters, spells, monsters, fonts, menus, and the game's ope ...
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Final Fantasy VII
is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertainment and is the first in the main series with a PAL release. The game's story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organization to stop a world-controlling megacorporation from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. Events send Cloud and his allies in pursuit of Sephiroth, a former member of the corporation who seeks to destroy the planet. During the journey, Cloud builds close friendships with his party members, including Aerith Gainsborough, who holds the secret to saving their world. Development began in 1994, originally for the Super Famicom. After delays and technical difficulties from experimenting on several real-time rendering platforms, Square moved production to pre-rendered video, necessi ...
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PlayStation (console)
The (abbreviated as PS, commonly known as the PS1/PS one or its codename PSX) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in Japan on 3 December 1994, in North America on 9 September 1995, in Europe on 29 September 1995, and in Australia on 15 November 1995. As a fifth-generation console, the PlayStation primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn. Sony began developing the PlayStation after a failed venture with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the early 1990s. The console was primarily designed by Ken Kutaragi and Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan, while additional development was outsourced in the United Kingdom. An emphasis on 3D polygon graphics was placed at the forefront of the console's design. PlayStation game production was designed to be streamlined and inclusive, enticing the support of many third-party developers. The console proved ...
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Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. After venturing into various lines of business during the 1960s and acquiring a legal status as a public company, Nintendo distributed its first console, the Color TV-Game, in 1977. It gained international recognition with the release of ''Donkey Kong (video game), Donkey Kong'' in 1981 and the Nintendo Entertainment System and ''Super Mario Bros.'' in 1985. Since then, Nintendo has produced some of the most successful consoles in the video game industry, such as the Game Boy, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Nintendo DS, the Wii, and the Nintendo Switch, Switch. It has created numerous major franchises, including ''Mario (franchise), Mario'', ''Donkey Kong'', ''The Legend of Zelda'', ''Pokémon'', '' ...
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Yasumi Matsuno
is a Japanese video game designer. Matsuno was first introduced to video games in arcades while waiting for the train, and first played ''Space Invaders'' and ''Xevious'' there. He attended Hosei University for foreign policy but dropped out, and after working for a time as an economic reporter, he joined Quest Corporation. As an employee at video game companies Quest in 1989 and later Square in 1995, Matsuno became well known for his work in the tactical role-playing game genre, specifically the '' Ogre Battle'' (1993) and ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' (1997) series, in addition to ''Vagrant Story'' (2000) and ''Final Fantasy XII'' (2006). After disruptions from staff leaving his development team, he resigned from Square Enix due to prolonged illness. During a freelance period, he worked on games for Nintendo's Wii such as ''MadWorld'' (2009). He joined Level-5 in 2011 where he helped create ''Crimson Shroud'' for the Nintendo 3DS. In 2016, he created his own company called Alg ...
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Yoko Shimomura
is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. She wrote music for several games there, including ''Final Fight'', ''Street Fighter II'', and ''The King of Dragons''. Shimomura left Capcom and joined Square (now Square Enix) in 1993, with her first project there being ''Live A Live''. She would later become better known for writing the music for '' Kingdom Hearts'', which was her last game at Square before leaving to become a freelancer in 2002. She founded a music production company, Midiplex, the following year. Despite leaving Square Enix, she has continued to compose for the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series and other games such as ''The 3rd Birthday'' and ''Final Fantasy XV''. Other well-known games Shimomura has worked on include ''Super Mario RPG'', the ''Mario & Luigi'' series, ''Parasite Eve'', ''Legend of Mana' ...
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Tetsuya Nomura
is a Japanese video game artist, designer and director working for Square Enix (formerly Square). He designed characters for the ''Final Fantasy'' series, debuting with ''Final Fantasy VI'' and continuing with various later installments. Additionally, Nomura has led the development of the '' Kingdom Hearts'' series since its inception in 2002 and was the director of the 2005 film '' Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children''. Early life Nomura's father influenced his interest in art and games early on, creating little drawings and unique Sugoroku board games for him. Nomura started drawing at the age of three years and developed his own Sugoroku games during his elementary school years. As a child, he spent much of his free time playing baseball, swimming, fishing and building fortresses. When he was in middle school, his father told him that an era of computers would come and bought him his own computer. Nomura played ''Legends of Star Arthur: Planet Mephius'' on it and start ...
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Takashi Tokita
(born 24 January 1965) is a Japanese video game developer working for Square Enix. He has worked there since 1985, and has worked as the lead designer for ''Final Fantasy IV'' as well as the director of ''Parasite Eve'' and ''Chrono Trigger''. Career Tokita joined Square in 1985 as a part-time employee, not becoming full-time until the development of ''Final Fantasy IV''. For the first three ''Final Fantasy'' games, he worked on graphic design, testing, and sound effects, respectively, before becoming lead designer of ''Final Fantasy IV'' in 1991. Tokita wanted to make a career as a theater actor, but working on ''Final Fantasy IV'' made him decide to become a "great creator" of video games. He was one of only 14 people working on the game. Tokita feels that ''Final Fantasy IV'' is the first game in the series to really pick up on drama, and the first Japanese RPG to feature "such deep characters and plot". He also felt that ''Final Fantasy IV'' was so good because it was the cu ...
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Yoshinori Kitase
is a Japanese game director and producer working for Square Enix. He is known as the director of ''Final Fantasy VI'', ''Chrono Trigger'', ''Final Fantasy VII'', ''Final Fantasy VIII'' and ''Final Fantasy X'', and the producer of the ''Final Fantasy X'' and ''Final Fantasy XIII'' series. Kitase is a vice president, a member of the board of directors and an executive officer at Square Enix. He is currently the head of Square Enix's Creative Business Unit I and the ''Final Fantasy'' series Brand Manager. He was the head of Square Enix's Business Division 1 during its entire existence as well as a Corporate Executive. He is also part of the ''Final Fantasy'' Committee that is tasked with keeping the franchise's releases and content consistent. Biography In July 1978, at the age of 11, Kitase watched the movie ''Star Wars'' for the first time and was deeply impressed with it. He later examined the making-of video to it and became interested in the creative process of the film indust ...
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Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The Final Fantasy (video game), first game in the series was released in 1987, with 15 numbered main entries having been released to date. The franchise has since branched into other video game genres such as tactical role-playing game, tactical role-playing, action role-playing game, action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing game, massively multiplayer online role-playing, racing video game, racing, third-person shooter, Fighting game, fighting, and Rhythm game, rhythm, as well as branching into other media, including Computer-generated imagery, CGI films, anime, manga, and novels. ''Final Fantasy'' primary installments are generally stand-alone anthology series of role-playin ...
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Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American test markets on October 18, 1985, before becoming widely available in North America and other countries. After developing a series of successful arcade games in the early 1980s, Nintendo planned to create a home video game console. Rejecting more complex proposals, the Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi called for a simple, cheap console that ran games stored on cartridges. The controller design was reused from Nintendo's portable Game & Watch games. Nintendo released several add-ons, such as a light gun for shooting games. The NES was one of the best-selling consoles of its time and helped revitalize the US game industry following the video game crash of 1983. It introduced a now-standard business model of licensing third-party d ...
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