Yuji Horii
Yūji Horii (堀井 雄二 Horii Yūji) (also written as Yuuji Horii) (born January 6, 1954 in Awaji Island, Japan) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the seminal Dragon Quest series of console role-playing games,[1] as well as the first visual novel adventure game Portopia Serial Murder Case.[2][3]
History
Horii graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature. He also worked as a freelance writer for newspapers, comics, and magazines, including a video games column in Weekly Shōnen Jump.[4] He then entered in an Enix-sponsored game programming contest, where he placed with Love Match Tennis, a tennis video game, motivating him to become a video game designer. Horii then created Portopia Serial Murder Case, a game that later inspired Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame) to enter the video game industry.[2][3] It is the first part of the Yuuji Horii Mysteries trilogy, along with its successors Okhotsk ni Kiyu: Hokkaido Rensa Satsujin (1984) and Karuizawa Yūkai Annai (1985).[5]
After creating several more visual novel adventure games, Horii went on to create Dragon Quest, which is said to have created the blueprint for Japanese console role-playing games, taking inspiration from Portopia,[6] as well as Wizardry[6] and Ultima.[1] He was fan of Apple PC RPG games and was motivated to create Dragon Quest for ordinary gamers, who found such games difficult, and thus he worked on an intuitive control system,[7] influenced by his work on Portopia.[6]
His works also include the Itadaki Street series. Horii was also a supervisor of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, Chrono Trigger, which had multiple game endings, with Horii appearing in one of the endings with the game development staff.
Horii currently heads his own production company, Armor Project, a company that has an exclusive production contract with Square Enix,[8] a contract established with Enix before the company merged with Square. He is currently working on Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online for the Wii. He is on the selection committee for the annual Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award.
Published works
| Title | Year of release | Primary platform | Scenario writer | Game design | Producer | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love Match Tennis | 1983 | NEC PC-6001 | - | - | - | Developer |
| Portopia Serial Murder Case | 1983 | NEC PC-6001 |  | - | - | Developer |
| Okhotsk ni Kiyu: Hokkaido Rensa Satsujin Jiken | 1984 | NEC PC-8801 | | - | - | - |
| Karuizawa Yūkai Annai | 1985 | NEC PC-8801 | | - | - | - |
| Dragon Warrior | 1986 | NES | | - | - | - |
| Dragon Warrior II | 1987 | NES | | - | - | - |
| Dragon Warrior III | 1988 | NES | | - | - | - |
| Dragon Warrior IV | 1990 | NES | | - | - | - |
| Itadaki Street | 1991 | NES | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest V | 1992 | Super NES | | | - | - |
| Itadaki Street 2 | 1994 | Super NES | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest VI | 1995 | Super NES | | | - | - |
| Chrono Trigger | 1995 | Super NES | | - | - | Supervisor |
| Dragon Warrior Monsters | 1998 | Game Boy Color | | | - | Executive director |
| Itadaki Street: Gorgeous King | 1998 | PlayStation | - | | - | - |
| Torneko: The Last Hope | 1999 | PlayStation | | - | - | - |
| Dragon Warrior VII | 2000 | PlayStation | | - | - | Scenario director |
| Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 | 2001 | Game Boy Color | | | - | Executive director |
| Itadaki Street 3 | 2002 | PlayStation 2 | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart | 2003 | Game Boy Advance | | | - | Executive director |
| Dragon Quest VIII | 2004 | PlayStation 2 | | | - | - |
| Itadaki Street Special | 2004 | PlayStation 2 | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime | 2005 | Nintendo DS | - | - | - | Executive producer |
| Itadaki Street Portable | 2006 | PlayStation Portable | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker | 2006 | Nintendo DS | - | | | - |
| Itadaki Street DS | 2006 | Nintendo DS | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest Swords | 2007 | Wii | - | | - | - |
| Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | 2009 | Nintendo DS | | | - | - |
| Itadaki Street Mobile | 2010 | Mobile phone | - | | - | - |
| Fortune Street | 2011 | Wii | - | | - | - |
| Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3: Taikaizoku to Shippo Dan | 2011 | Nintendo 3DS | - | - | - | Executive producer |
| Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online | 2012 | Wii, Wii U | | | ? | General Director |
Awards
In 2009, Horii received a special award at Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association Developers Conference for his work on the Dragon Quest franchise.[9]
References
- "Square Enix Co., Ltd. 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). Square Enix. 2004-03-31. p. 70. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nintendo Power November 2007. Future US, Inc. 2007. pp. 77–80.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Szczepaniak, John (February 2011). "Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken". Retro Gamer (85). Retrieved 2011-03-16. (Reprinted at Szczepaniak, John. "Retro Gamer 85". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2011-03-16.)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kasavin, Greg (2005-03-21). ""Everything is Possible": Inside the Minds of Gaming's Master Storytellers". GameSpot. CNET Networks. p. 2. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ↑ Fujii, Daiji (2003). "Entrepreneurial Choices of Strategic Options in Japan's RPG Development" (PDF). p. 13. Archived from the original on 2008-12-30. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
- ↑ "Yuuji Horii Mysteries". Visual Novel Database. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "East and West, Warrior and Quest: A Dragon Quest Retrospective". 1UP.com. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
- ↑ Retro Gamer (Imagine Publishing) (97): 72–73. 2011.
- ↑ "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time". IGN. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
- ↑ Graft, Kris (2009-09-04). "CEDEC 09: Dragon Quest Creator Yuji Hori Headlines Awards". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
External links
- (Japanese) Archive of Yūji Horii's personal website
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