, sometimes credited as Kihaji Okamoto, is a Japanese

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

. He is credited with producing popular titles for

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

, including ''

Gyruss is an arcade shoot 'em up game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. ''Gyruss'' was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion ki ...

'' and ''

Time Pilot is a multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1982. It was distributed in the United States by Centuri, and by Atari Ireland in Europe and the Middle East. While engaging in aerial combat, the ...

'', and for

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

, including '' 1942'', ''

Gun.Smoke is a 1985 vertical scrolling run-and-gun shooter arcade game produced by Capcom and designed by Yoshiki Okamoto. A Western-themed game, ''Gun.Smoke'' centers on a character named Billy Bob, a bounty hunter going after the criminals of the Wi ...

'', ''

Final Fight ''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of ''Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fights against the control and ...

'' and ''

Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...

''. He later founded the companies

Flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

and

Game Republic was an independent video game developer based in Tokyo, Japan. The company, which employed just under 300 individuals before its closure, was founded on July 1, 2003 by Yoshiki Okamoto after he departed from Japanese game developer and publis ...

, and then created the hit

mobile games A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone ( feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

''Dragon Hunter'' and ''

Monster Strike is a Mobile game, mobile Japanese role-playing game, Japanese role-playing physics game with elements of Puzzle video game, puzzle, strategy game, strategy and Cooperative video game, cooperative multiplayer. It is developed by Mixi, XFLAG for i ...

'' for

Mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded b ...

. He also played a role in the creation of

Rockstar Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to: Films * ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali * ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...

's ''

Red Dead ''Red Dead'' is a series of Western-themed action-adventure games published by Rockstar Games. The first entry in the series, ''Red Dead Revolver'', was released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May 2004. Originally developed by Capcom, ''Red Dea ...

'' franchise. Several franchises he helped create are among the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time, including ''Street Fighter II'', ''Monster Strike'' and ''Red Dead''.

History

Early career at Konami

His early games ''

'' (1982) and ''

'' (1983) innovated in the

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 ...

genre during the

golden age of arcade games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development and cultural influence of arcade video games, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The period began with the release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978, ...

. The

Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pl ...

included both ''Gyruss'' and ''Time Pilot'' in its list of top 100

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 of all time. Although these games turned out to be successful titles for

, Okamoto's employer was not happy as apparently Okamoto had been told to create a

driving game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

instead. Internal disagreements, financial and credible, caused his termination from Konami.

Career at Capcom

Joining

in 1984, Okamoto directed several arcade games such as '' 1942'' (1984), ''

SonSon is an arcade video game by Capcom released in July 1984. It is loosely based on the Chinese novel '' Journey to the West''. The player assumes the role of a monkey boy (who is patterned after Sun Wukong from the story) and fights their way from ...

'' (1984), and ''

Side Arms A sidearm is a weapon, usually a handgun, but sometimes a knife, dagger, sword, bayonet, or other melee weapon, which is worn on the body in a holster (in the case of a pistol or revolver) or sheath (in the case of a knife, dagger, sword, ...

'' (1986). His 1985 shoot 'em up ''

'' later inspired a spiritual successor, ''

Red Dead Revolver ''Red Dead Revolver'' is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first entry in the ''Red Dead'' series, and was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May 2004. Set in the 1880 ...

'', the first installment of the ''

'' series. The last game he directed was the 1989

CP System The is an arcade system board developed by Capcom that ran game software stored on removable daughterboards. More than two dozen arcade titles were released for CPS-1, before Capcom shifted game development over to its successor, the CP System ...

game ''

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

'' (1989). He would oversee the development of Capcoms subsequent games as a producer and was responsible for recruiting character designer

Akira Yasuda (born July 21, 1964) is a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and mecha designer, who works under the pen name "Akiman". Yasuda is a former employee of the video game company Capcom (joining in 1985) and has worked on many Capcom g ...

for Capcom. Okamoto and Yasuda developed some of Capcom's biggest hits, most notably the

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

game ''

'' (1989) and

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

'' (1991). ''Street Fighter II'' is estimated to have grossed as of 2017, making it the third highest-grossing video game of all time, after ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...

'' and ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

''. Okamoto worked on the 1996

survival horror Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...

game ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan). Additionally, he produced the

movie adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

and its sequel. In 1997, he resigned from Capcom to start his own video game development company,

. He continued to develop video games for Capcom through Flagship. Okamoto approached

Angel Studios Angel Studios is an American video streaming service, media company, and film distribution studio. The studio uses equity crowdfunding to finance its original productions by offering individual investors the opportunity to purchase shares in ...

with the idea for an original

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

entitled ''S.W.A.T.'' It later adopted a

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

theme at Okamoto's recommendation, redefining the acronym as "Spaghetti Western Action Team". It was intended to be a spiritual successor to ''Gun.Smoke''. Angel Studios began work on the game with Capcom's oversight and funding in 2000, and Capcom announced the game as ''Red Dead Revolver'' in March 2002. Okamoto then left Capcom, which canceled the game in August 2003.

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

acquired the rights to ''Red Dead Revolver'' in December 2003 and resumed development, releasing it for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

in May 2004. In 2003, he left Flagship to form another video game company.

Game Republic

In 2005, Okamoto's new independent game company,

, released its first game '' Genji: Dawn of the Samurai''. ''Genji'' is a game set in

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

with a similar playing style to the ''

Onimusha is a series of video games developed and published by Capcom. It makes use of the historic figures that shaped Japan's history, retelling their stories with supernatural elements. Most of the games are of the action-adventure genre, a combinat ...

'' series. A sequel, '' Genji: Days of the Blade'', was released on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

in late 2006. A new Game Republic game called ''

Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

'' (''Folkssoul'' in Japan) was released in 2007. Okamoto also developed a typical party game called ''

Every Party is a party video game developed by Game Republic and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was a Japanese launch title for the Xbox 360. Gameplay The game plays as a board game in which up to four players compete to be the first to reach a go ...

'', which was a

launch title This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 2007, Game Republic signed with

Brash Entertainment Brash Entertainment LLC. was an American video game publisher focused on licensed games. The company was co-founded in 2007 by Thomas Tull, Bert Ellis, President and COO Nicholas Longano, and CEO and Chairman Mitch Davis. Of the first three game ...

and started working on licensed games like '' Clash of the Titans''. But then in November 2008, Brash Entertainment went out of business, and Game Republic had to turn to

Namco Bandai is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

for the release of ''Clash of the Titans''. In 2011, Game Republic also shut down due to debt, and a year later, Okamoto announced that he had retired from making console games and started working on mobile games.

Mixi

In recent years, he created the

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

s ''Dragon Hunter'' and ''

'' (2013) for

. ''Dragon Hunter'' was a moderate success, before ''Monster Strike'' became a major hit, competing with ''

Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with role-playing and strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzzle & Dragons'' is a match-three puzzle game, requiring players t ...

'' for the top spot on mobile charts. By 2018, ''Monster Strike'' had grossed over $7.2 billion, surpassing ''Puzzle & Dragons'' to become the highest-grossing mobile app of all time.

Influences and style

Okamoto has said that he gets ideas from scenery from movies, citing particularly the works of

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

and Chinese ghost stories. He commented that "We don't make games for ourselves - I don't actually play games very much."

References

External links

Yoshiki Okamoto personal websiteYoshiki Okamoto
at MobyGames *
Game Republic homepage
(Japanese)

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

Yoshiki Okamoto: The Clown Prince of Gaming
Gamers Today
FAQ: Yoshiki Okamoto

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okamoto, Yoshiki 1961 births Living people Japanese chief executives Japanese video game designers Japanese video game producers People from Ehime Prefecture Capcom people Red Dead Street Fighter