, 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 video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

, including '' Gyruss'' and '' Time Pilot'', and for Capcom, including ''

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...

'', ''

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''. He later founded the companies Flagship and Game Republic, and then created the hit mobile games ''Dragon Hunter'' and '' Monster Strike'' 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 ...

. He also played a role in the creation of Rockstar'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 '' Time Pilot'' (1982) and '' Gyruss'' (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 charac ...

genre during the golden age of arcade games. The Killer List of Videogames included both ''Gyruss'' and ''Time Pilot'' in its list of top 100 arcade games 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 instead. Internal disagreements, financial and credible, caused his termination from Konami.

Career at Capcom

Joining Capcom in 1984, Okamoto directed several arcade games such as ''

'' (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'' (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 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

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 so ...

'' (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 game ''

'' (1989) and fighting game '' Street Fighter II'' (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 an ...

'' and '' Pac-Man''. 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 and its sequel. In 1997, he resigned from Capcom to start his own video game development company, Flagship. He continued to develop video games for Capcom through Flagship. Okamoto approached Angel Studios 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 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 ...

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

Game Republic

In 2005, Okamoto's new independent game company, Game Republic, released its first game '' Genji: Dawn of the Samurai''. ''Genji'' is a game set in Feudal Japan with a similar playing style to the '' Onimusha'' 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 Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

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'', which was a launch title 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 generati ...

in Japan. 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 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 games ''Dragon Hunter'' and '' Monster Strike'' (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
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 ...

{{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