is a

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

, president of Game Studio and Mobile & Game Studio, and the director of Digital Games Research Association Japan. He formerly worked for

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

, where he created

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

s and is best known for ''

Xevious is a vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades in 1982. It was released in Japan and Europe by Namco and in North America by Atari, Inc. Controlling the Solvalou starship, the player attacks Xevious for ...

'' and ''

The Tower of Druaga is a 1984 Arcade game, arcade action role-playing maze game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling the golden-armored knight Gilgamesh, the player is tasked with scaling 60 floors of the titular tower in an effort to rescue the ...

'', which were important titles in the

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

and

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

genres, respectively.

Education

Endō graduated from the Yokohama Suiran High School and from the Department of Information & Image Science at the

Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from exist ...

Career

In 1981, Endō joined

. During his time with the company, in 1982 he created the wildly popular

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

game ''

'', single-handedly designing, programming and drawing the graphics for the game. Later he produced ''

'' and ''

Grobda is a 1984 multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. It is a spin-off from ''Xevious'', as the player's tank first appeared in that game as an enemy. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware but with a video syste ...

'', both released in 1984. ''Xevious'' set the template for vertical

s, while ''The Tower of Druaga'' laid the foundations for

s. After that he became independent, founding his own company called the Game Studio, where he continued to produce games in the Babylonian Castle Saga such as '' The Return of Ishtar'', '' The Quest of Ki'', and '' The Destiny of Gilgamesh'' (aka ''The Blue Crystal Rod''). In addition, he produced ''

Family Circuit is a top-down racing video game released for the Family Computer in 1988 by Namco in Japan only. The game was developed by Masanobu Endō, who previously developed ''Xevious'' and ''The Tower of Druaga'', and his company Game Studio. A sequel ...

'' and ''

Tenkaichi Bushi Keru Nagūru is a fighting video game developed by Game Studio and published by Namco. It was released for the Famicom on July 21, 1989, only in Japan. It is one of the earliest versus fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting ga ...

'' for Namco, '' Kidō Senshi Z-Gundam: Hot Scramble'' for

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

and '' Airs Adventure'' on the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

. Furthermore, he entered the mobile phone game market at an early stage, creating titles such as Sangokushi Nendaiki, Kētai Shachō, Unō Paradise, Beach Volley Girl Shizuku among others. In the recent years, he supervised the production of the anime '' The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk'' and the

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

'' The Tower of Druaga: The Recovery of BABYLIM''. When the final episode of the anime was broadcast on GyaO Jockey, he appeared on TV as a guest commentator with the name , explaining that it was his on-screen character.

References

External links

Masanobu Endō's blog

Masanobu Endō's official site

Game Studio's web site

Mobile & Game Studio

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Endo, Masanobu Japanese video game designers Japanese video game producers Japanese video game directors 1959 births Living people Chiba University alumni