New Takahashi Meijin interview

[nectarsis]

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3177193

[Tatsujin]

Master Higgins...

[SignOfZeta]

Damn. I love reading these interviews. While I haven't enjoyed many Hudson games since the Saturn days, when I read stuff like this it give me hope:

"1UP: My final question is for all of you: Hudson has become increasingly involved in downloadable games, and I wonder -- could you see a point where you could be one of the first "old guard" game companies to go completely digital?

TM: Based on my own experience, what I remember fondly is when I saw the kids who grew up on the NES. They would get the actual cartridge, write their name on it, and then sort of have a swap meet with their friends. They had this agreement based on their friendship: "Well, we have these limited resources; I have this much money, you have this much -- why don't we share what we're going to buy?" I think that is one way to make sure that kids don't become completely digitally isolated from real people and real friends, because when you can just download and not really see anyone, you lose that personal touch. My prediction -- or hope, really -- is that we don't become completely digital, because that will take that personal feeling from the gaming experience. But I do predict that half of the titles released in the future will be digital."

[Tatsujin]

as much as I like meijin, hudson's product went down the river drastically after the 16-bit era was closed. although nice to hear of their (his) opinion about the physical vs. digital strategy.

[SignOfZeta]

I think Hudson did pretty OK in the 32-bit era, but after that...I don't really have much nice to say about them. I may have three of four of their games for Cube, PS2, GBA, etc. Not a lot.

[SignOfZeta]

Oh, btw, with that quote I didn't mean to say that I think he's onto something with the traditional media versus downloads...he's not. Downloads will fully take over very very soon. There is nothing we can do about it.

What I meant was that it was a great observation of how kids enjoy things. Its nice to see that someone still thinks about kids and quality games for kinds instead of industry standard crap aimed at pathetic 30-somethings that just want to kill arabs and hookers. I think he picked up on something more meaningful than a million dollar focus group funded by Nintendo...now it Hudson could just get back to making games as good as Nintendo.

[Necromancer]

An interesting read, thanks for sharing.

1UP: How about the PC-FX (Hudson's failed 32-bit successor to the PCE)?

TM: [Laughs] There weren't that many [games]! There are like, five, so this should be easy. [Pause] Team Innocent. Actually, that's the only one I remember. [Laughs]

It seems Master Higgins isn't much of a PC-FX fan. 

[Tatsujin]

An interesting read, thanks for sharing.

1UP: How about the PC-FX (Hudson's failed 32-bit successor to the PCE)?

TM: [Laughs] There weren't that many [games]! There are like, five, so this should be easy. [Pause] Team Innocent. Actually, that's the only one I remember. [Laughs]

It seems Master Higgins isn't much of a PC-FX fan. 

it really seems so. he even forgot about the other games hudson had made

[esteban]

1UP: All right, the next one should be easy: Your number one Famicom (NES) game.

TM: Hmm... number one? Milon...? No, Star Soldier.

1UP: Ah, of course.

TM: Number two would be Championship Lode Runner [a Japan-only semi-sequel to the original --Ed.].

1UP: Oh, are you good at Lode Runner? I'm not.

TM: With the first Lode Runner, I cleared the whole thing in three and a half hours -- the full 50 stages.

1UP: Again, of course!

[Laughter]

1UP: OK, next: PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16).

TM: R-Type.

1UP: Yes, many folks would call that memorable.

TM: [The PCE port] was made by the same team who later did Military Madness. Irem made the original R-Type in the arcade, and then the PC Engine team was inspired to make Military Madness.

1UP: Game Boy.

TM: Bonk's Adventure.

A few notes:

1. He cleared Lode Runner 1 on NES. That version has some TOUGH boards.

2. Wait, what the heck is Championship Lode Runner on Famicom? I haven't played it!

3. R-Type is Takahashi's favorite PCE game? Not one of the Hudson-developed shoot-em-ups? COME ON TAKAHASHI! I'm an R-Type fan, but DAMN, are you revealing that you secretly wanted Hudson to develop more horizontal shoot-em-ups? Well, goddammit, why didn't you make them do that back in the PCE glory days!?

3.5 Wait. What? The team that ported R-Type were inspired by their experience and then developed Nectaris (Military Madness). Wow. Never expected to hear about a connection between the two games.

4. Bonk's Adventure for GameBoy. Yup.

What I meant was that it was a great observation of how kids enjoy things. Its nice to see that someone still thinks about kids and quality games for kinds instead of industry standard crap aimed at pathetic 30-somethings that just want to kill ...

I totally agree. That was an interesting observation, and it certainly paralleled my own experience. Sharing was the only way to play a lot of games as a kid with no $$$.

We tried to find enjoyment in all of the games, even the crappy ones, because, well, at a certain point you get sick of playing the same game over and over.

A lot of games that left a very poor first impression (such as Cobra Command on NES), became favorites of mine.

ON TOPIC: Takahashi Meijin is one lucky bastard. I don't think too many "video game champions" have maintained prominent careers in the industry.