is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. He used to work at

Technosoft was a Japanese video game developer and publisher based headquartered in Sasebo, Nagasaki. Also known as "Tecno Soft", the company was founded in February 1980 as Sasebo Microcomputer Center, before changing its name to Technosoft in 1982. The c ...

Compile In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

and

Eighting , stylized as 8ing, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was formerly known as . It is known for its shoot 'em ups and its licensed fighting games. History Raizing and Eighting were formed in part by former staff of Compile, ...

, and is currently working at

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

since 2017. He is also a writer for the Game Culture Preservation Institute(IGCC).

Early years

Toyama started his path in the video game industry after his enjoyment of playing

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 ...

. He had read magazines that featured games like Space Invaders,

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

, and

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...

. He always wanted to enjoy those games at home. He originally wanted to either get a Sharp MZ-80 or an NEC PC-8001, but in the end, he started with a

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

Basic Master Level 2. After testing the games on it, he had no choice but to do game programming on his own.

Career

Technosoft (1987-1989)

Toyama started at

when he was a teenager. He started with being a designer for the game, Feedback, then later a planner and programmer for

Herzog ''Herzog'' (female ''Herzogin'') is a German hereditary title held by one who rules a territorial duchy, exercises feudal authority over an estate called a duchy, or possesses a right by law or tradition to be referred to by the ducal title. T ...

Compile (1989-1992)

Eighting (1994-2017)

Taito (2017-present)

Works

References

External links

(Japanese)
''Yuichi Toyama''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Yuichi Toyama''
Rap sheet at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toyama, Yuichi Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Japanese video game designers Japanese video game directors Japanese video game producers Japanese video game programmers Taito people