For those who don't already know, the main character in the Adventure Island games, Master Higgins, was molded after Takahashi Meijin. He's become synonymous with the game series over the years and will typically be called upon when Hudson rolls out any type of Adventure Island release, old or new. Now that Hudson is working on a new Adventure Island title for the WiiWare service, Takahashi Meijin has once again become the topic of conversations and interviews around the gaming community. 1UP recently conducted a very candid interview with Takahashi which revealed some very unique details about what we might expect from Hudson's future WiiWare offerings.
1UP: All right. Well, like I said before, American gamers aren't really familiar with you outside of the game character, so if you could, please, give us a brief history of where you came from and how you joined Hudson.
Takahashi Meijin: Around 1981, I was working for a supermarket in the produce section. I got really interested in computers and the BASIC programming language, so I started to teach myself by playing around with it. I was reading a bunch of magazines and books about computer programming, and one day, I found a classified ad. They were looking for a computer programmer at Hudson; at the time, I was living in Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan. So when I saw the classified ad, I realized it was for Hudson's office in Hokkaido. I kind of thought it was fate, so I grabbed the magazine and literally walked over to Hudson's office, knocked on the door, and said, "Will you hire me?"
Around 1983, I was commissioned to write a program, Family Basic, to allow kids to be able to put together programs on the Famicom. But because it was still a very difficult product to use, they asked me to put together a book - a manga - for the kids so that they could really embrace the system and embrace the product.
At the time at Hudson, the marketing team was actually very small. It only had one person, the marketing director, and two subordinates: One specialized in the computer-programming part of the business, while the other specialized in Nintendo, which was me. As a part of a marketing-strategy session, we decided it'd be fun to throw a nationwide tournament, or tour, to show off some of the games that we had. I brought up that "Hey, wouldn't it be kind of exciting if we could actually demonstrate how to play the games to score well?" And they were kind of brainstorming to see who would be that person, and they couldn't really find anybody. So, in the end, the marketing director basically just told me that I had to do it. So it's not like I volunteered. It's not like I was already good at it and they said, "Oh, you do that!" They just told me that that was what I was going do! [Laughs]
Takahashi seems to feel that new sequels to popular Hudson franchises are important, but also stressed that remakes of some of the classic Hudson titles were equally important, especially among the classic gaming audience and hardcore gamers. While he threw out the idea of using "realistic" graphics for updating some of the classic Hudson titles, it seemed to be the hope of the interviewer, not to mention most of us here at WiiWare World, that Hudson keep the cute cartoon-like visual theme of the classic titles, like those found in the original Adventure Island games. Takahashi did agree with the suggestion, so we can at least hold out hope that Hudson will stick with the classic visual stylings of the game and avoid the Bomberman Act Zero experiment with their future remakes and sequels.
1UP: Related to that, do you think it's important to keep the old brands fresh, like Adventure Island and Bomberman? Are you more interested in doing remakes and sequels than, say, collections of the old games? Hudson has new retro collections on PSP, for example.
TM: That's a difficult question. There's definitely room for both ways to revamp the classic games, because I feel like the market is really starting to divide into two very distinct groups: the casual gamers and the hardcore gamers who really want real-life graphics. Take, for instance, Bomberman Act: Zero, when they revamped it so that the graphics were a little bit more real, a bit more Americanized, muscular, and less comical. I feel it was perceived well in the American market. Bomberman embodies this lovable, cartoon-like character, yet it still does appeal to a lot of people, including younger kids. I feel that you can take one character, one game, and still parlay it into separate directions and still do both of them well.
So, I have a question for you: If we were to revamp Adventure Island, but with very realistic graphics with this [Points at himself, laughs] - this figure - would you like to play that game?
1UP: Well, that kind of leads into my second part of the question. I don't know if you've seen it, but in Mega Man 9, they're using an 8-bit art style; it looks just like a Famicom game. And I was going to ask if you thought, just hearing that, if that was a good idea for a Hudson sort of approach to that, to keep that 8-bit look? [Mega Man 9 was revealed in June a day before this interview. --Ed.]
TM: I feel like, if we're going to make Master Higgins really realistic, it's not going to be very cute. But with those sort of 8-bit and realistic styles, there's an audience for both worlds, and that's actually a good thing.
1UP: Well, then, to answer your question, I'd like Adventure Island to stay cute.
TM: I agree!
Of particular interest to a certain WiiWare World staff member, whose known to be somewhat of a shooter fan, was the section of the interview where Takahashi mentioned his continued love of the classic shoot 'em up genre and the possibility of Hudson bringing back more of their classic shooter titles. While he quickly made his dislike of the more modern "bullet hell" shooters that have become popular in recent years known, he did mention that he'd like to create shooting games more in the style of shooters he himself enjoys playing.
1UP: Earlier, you said you still play games. Hudson makes a lot of casual games these days, but outside of those and other Hudson games, do you still play new shooting games at all?
TM: Without sounding harsh, I want to say that I don't really think very much of the shooting games out there in general, because the genre's evolved to a point where it's become about dodging bullets. They're shooting at you so much that you don't have time to strategize and be an actual shooter. You're starting to compete based on how much you can dodge rather than how much you can really shoot. So, because of that obstacle, I don't really find any shooting games out there enjoyable, but I want to develop projects within Hudson and put shooting games out there that I enjoy.
The full interview is actually quite a read and very long and in-depth for anyone that wants to check it out. While there wasn't a lot of specific details regarding the WiiWare titles in development mentioned, you could see that Takahashi was trying to drop a few subtle hints throughout the interview to give Hudson fans something to speculate about. At the very least we can see that Master Higgins is still every bit as excited about video gaming now as he was almost two decades ago when he was first hired on by Hudson.
SOURCE: 1UP
Comments 17
That was an amazing interview by 1up. Master Higgins is always quite interesting when he speaks out. He is quite a funny chap.
The only thing I have to take exception with is this statement:
Take, for instance, Bomberman Act: Zero, when they revamped it so that the graphics were a little bit more real, a bit more Americanized, muscular, and less comical. I feel it was perceived well in the American market.
Cough o'rly?
So, I have a question for you: If we were to revamp Adventure Island, but with very realistic graphics with this [Points at himself, laughs] - this figure - would you like to play that game?
NNNNnnnnnoooooooooo!!
Yeah. Bomberman Act: Zero was an interesting idea that didn't deliver. it should not be repeated with other Hudson series.
Whats the developer of the WiiWare game Pop got to do with anything, Dazza?
Huh! I was of the impression that Bomberman Zero's graphical choices was widely ridiculed as one of the most retarded design choices of the decade?
Either way, a new Adventure Island (without "cool" graphics) does seem to have some potential. Even though it started out as little more than a Wonder Boy ripoff and while I personally have always preferred Bonk, it's a classic platforming series. And based on the limited time I've spent with Super Adventure Island 2, they seemed with that game to be taking the series in a pretty interesting direction and I'd love to see them taking that concept a bit further and possibly make it a WiiWare release... I'm just saying!
Take, for instance, Bomberman Act: Zero, when they revamped it so that the graphics were a little bit more real, a bit more Americanized, muscular, and less comical. I feel it was perceived well in the American market.
This has got me laughing.
Another Adventure Island. Cool. Now Hudson do not mess this up.
@Bass X0 - Only a true WiiWare geek would have made that joke
@Terranigma
i agree with you totally
games that are ment to have realistic graphics such as call of duty, halo, gears of war, and possibly metroid in order for the game to feel like what its suppose too.
realistic graphics make voice acting in games what its supposed to be and by that i mean seeing their mouth and tongue move correctly when pernouncing words.
@gameking23
Totally agree, if Hudson get it right it would be a cool game to buy.
@Bass X0
That was a good one .
@big=sexy
actually you bring up a brilliant point and well RE 4`s voice was really good i thought
The quality of voice-acting is so many times more important than the synching, though I appreciate when both are good. ATLUS does a really good job at getting good casts IMHO.
I never thought GTA wen't the realistic route.
YES, YES! I love this.
I just hope a more realistic Master Higgins doesn't mean we get to see his business hanging out under his leaf skirt.
It hints an 8-bit Adventure Island game. =P
Awesome interview, I'm glad to hear that the idea of retro style remakes is making waves in the industry. I'd way rather play an old school Adventure Island, but thats just me.
Takahashi Meijin = n00b
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