is a Japanese game artist and part of

Spike Chunsoft is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwango ...

's affiliation. Since 1994, he contributes to the company, with the ''

Mystery Dungeon ''Mystery Dungeon'', known in Japan as , is a series of roguelike role-playing video games. Most were developed by Chunsoft, now Spike Chunsoft since the merging in 2012, and select games were developed by other companies with Chunsoft's permis ...

'' franchise as the main character designer for the ''Shiren the Wanderer'' series since its first title in 1995, and as an artist for other video game titles.

Career

Before working in the ''Mystery Dungeon'' franchise, Hasegawa has contributed in ''

Kamaitachi no Yoru , released in English as ''Banshee's Last Cry'', is a visual novel created by Chunsoft. It was first released for Super Famicom (the Japanese version of the Super NES) and was later ported to other consoles. An English localized version of the ...

'' as an artist. He later took part during the production of '' Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer'' for the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

. In an interview with Chunsoft, they wanted someone who could work on the then sequel of '' Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon'', but he was not familiar with the title, nor the

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player charac ...

genre at the time of the interview. After being interested in the genre by playing through the game and being employed in the company, he was able work in the game. The game was set in

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inve ...

, as the game's scenarist

Shin-ichiro Tomie is a Japanese game director, writer and part of Spike Chunsoft's affiliation. Since 1995, he contributes to the company with the '' Mystery Dungeon'' franchise as the main writer for the ''Shiren the Wanderer'', and ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'' s ...

decided to set the game in this theme instead of a western art style, like Akira Toriyama's '' Dragon Quest'' characters. Many drafts were made for the silent protagonist of the eponymous game, and its mascot monster the Mamel, but most of them were lost. Since then, he has contributed to the series as a character designer, occasionally as an art director like in '' Shiren the Wanderer 2''. Hasegawa has taken part in few events related to the series. In 2012, during the first Nico Nico Game Master event, him and Tomie appeared in the finale of a real-time attack of the first ''Shiren the Wanderer'' game. For the 20th anniversary of the ''Shiren the Wanderer'' series, he appeared in an exhibition of the series' artworks and performed a live painting on July 11, 2015. Likewise for the series' 25th anniversary, another exhibition was hold featuring his works where he took part shortly in the event. Additionally, he has contributed a new artwork for the Steam and Nintendo Switch port of '' Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate''. Unrelated to the ''Mystery Dungeon'' franchise, he would contribute as an artist in other video games and media. One such was a towel featuring both ''Shiren the Wanderer''′s Koppa and '' Danganronpa''′s

Monokuma is a fictional identity adopted by several characters in the Danganronpa, ''Danganronpa'' series, serving as the mascot and main antagonist of the series. Monokuma first appears in ''Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc'' as a disguise used by "Depr ...

during an exhibition of goods from the company and the release of ''Kenka Bancho Otome''. Another artwork was made for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

's 20th anniversary, along with many other video game artists.

Works

Video games

Other media

References

External links

Kaoru Hasegawa
profile at MobyGames {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasegawa, Kaoru Living people 1971 births Video game artists