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| − | '''Masahiko Kurokawa''' was a game designer and former [[Capcom]] member who was known under his pseudonyms '''Patariro''',<ref name=LSCM>Scion; Dire 51 (24 April 2010). [http://lscmainframe.kontek.net/features/kyotsui.html "Interview with Kouichi "Isuke" Yotsui"]. [http://lscmainframe.kontek.net LSCM 4.0]. Translated by Gaijin Punch. Accessed 24 Oct 2010.</ref> '''Kuro'''<ref name=GSLA>[http://chibarei.blog.jp/gsl/creator/ka/kurokawamasahiro/kurokawamindex.html "黒川 真圭 (Masayoshi Kurokawa)"] (in Japanese). [http://chibarei.blog.jp/gsl/ GSLA Japan]. Accessed May 23, 2016.</ref><ref name=Commando> |
+ | '''Masahiko Kurokawa''' was a game designer and former [[Capcom]] member who was known under his pseudonyms '''Patariro''',<ref name=LSCM>Scion; Dire 51 (24 April 2010). [http://lscmainframe.kontek.net/features/kyotsui.html "Interview with Kouichi "Isuke" Yotsui"]. [http://lscmainframe.kontek.net LSCM 4.0]. Translated by Gaijin Punch. Accessed 24 Oct 2010.</ref> '''Kuro'''<ref name=GSLA>[http://chibarei.blog.jp/gsl/creator/ka/kurokawamasahiro/kurokawamindex.html "黒川 真圭 (Masayoshi Kurokawa)"] (in Japanese). [http://chibarei.blog.jp/gsl/ GSLA Japan]. Accessed May 23, 2016.</ref><ref name=Commando>''[[Commando]]''. ([[Capcom]]). Nintendo Entertainment System. Level/area: End credits. (September 27, 1986).</ref> and '''MX-5''' (a reference to [[Ken]]'s code number in ''[[Street Fighter 2010]]'')<ref name=GSLA/><ref name=MagicalQuest>''[[Disney's Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse]]''. (Capcom). Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Level/area: End credits. (November 20, 1992).</ref>, and his work is often incorrectly attributed to "Masayoshi Kurokawa"<ref name=GSLA/> or "Masahiro Kurokawa"<ref name=ResidentEvil>''[[Resident Evil]]''. (Capcom). PlayStation. Level/area: End credits. (March 22, 1996).</ref>. He was best known for his work on ''[[Mega Man Series|Mega Man]]'', the NES port of ''[[Strider (NES)|Strider]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil]]'' and his frequent collaborations with [[Tokuro Fujiwara]]. |
==History== |
==History== |
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Revision as of 04:34, 2 August 2017
Masahiko Kurokawa was a game designer and former Capcom member who was known under his pseudonyms Patariro,[1] Kuro[2][3] and MX-5 (a reference to Ken's code number in Street Fighter 2010)[2][4], and his work is often incorrectly attributed to "Masayoshi Kurokawa"[2] or "Masahiro Kurokawa"[5]. He was best known for his work on Mega Man, the NES port of Strider and Resident Evil and his frequent collaborations with Tokuro Fujiwara.
History
Early Life
Masahiko Kurokawa was born in Osaka in 1963[2]. He went to the same university as Kouichi Yotsui and like him followed a career in film.[6]
Career at Capcom
Kurokawa went to work for Capcom in 1985[2]. His earliest known work for them was the Famicom port of their coin-op Commando. This project was his first with Tokuro Fujiwara, whom he would collaborate with for the duration of his career. Masahiko Kurakawa also planned Capcom's 1987 release, Higemaru Makaijima[7], itself a sequel to another Capcom coin-op, Pirate_Ship_Higemaru. These minor additions to Capcom's library led to his working on the Strider project with Kouichi Yotsui, Tatsumi Wada and the artist circle Moto Kikaku. Kurokawa's experience with the Famicom informed his decision to develop the "consumer version" of Strider for that system, which irked Yotsui. Taking advantage of their background in film, Yotsui and Kurokawa developed a detailed setting for the project together[6], and eventually each one wrote their own script for it[8]. Kurokawa and Wada, however, worked more together than with Yotsui for the duration of their work on Strider, tying their individual projects more closely to each other than to his[1]. For unknown reasons, Kurokawa's Strider was released only in the West, not in Japan.
After completing Strider, Kurokawa worked on Disney's Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers alongside Keiji Inafune[9]. When Akira Kitamura left Capcom in 1990 to start Takeru[10], Kurokawa took over Kitamura's planning duties on the Mega Man franchise[11] starting with Mega Man 3. He and Inafune did not see eye-to-eye during the development of Mega Man 3. Inafune had "a lot of preset notions about how things should be"[12] and claimed that Kurokawa "didn't really understand Mega Man the way his predecessor did". Kurokawa quit the production before the game was finished, leaving the remaining planning responsibilities for Inafune.[13]
Kurokawa returned to the Disney license for Capcom's 1992 SNES release, Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse[4]. He also served in an advisory capacity on the production of Mega Man 5[14] and Mega Man 6[15], and worked as producer in the 1996 joint Capcom/Toho live-action series Shichisei Tōshin Guyferd[16]. However, the capstone to his Capcom career was the 1996 PlayStation smash hit, Resident Evil.[5]
Freelance Years
Tokuro Fujiwara left Capcom after the release of Resident Evil and started his own company, Whoopee Camp. Masahiko Kurokawa followed him. There they created the Tomba! series. Kurokawa wrote the scenarios for both it[17] and its eventual sequel, Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return[18]. Tomba! was critically acclaimed and widely anticipated but suffered from poor distribution. Whoopee Camp went under after Tomba! 2.
Undeterred, Fujiwara started another company, "Deep Space". Kurokawa followed him to the new company, where he revisited many of the themes from Resident Evil in Deep Space's 2001 PlayStation 2 game, Extermination.[19] Kurokawa also contributed to Deep Space's 2003 PlayStation 2 release, Hungry Ghosts[20], a first-person horror game geared more towards exploration and "virtual experience" than survival.[21] Deep Space ended up folding as well. Many of its staff went on to form Access Games.
After Deep Space, Kurokawa worked as a professor for several Japanese vocational schools. He taught in the gaming career departments of ECC Computer College and Human Academy Co.[2], and was also a contributing member of the "Neko No Mori" drama troupe.[22] He has since passed away.[1]
Gameography
Capcom
| Year | Title | Developer | Publisher | System | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Commando (Senjō no Ōkami) |
Capcom | Capcom | Nintendo Entertainment System | Planner |
| 1987 | Higemaru Makaijima (Makaijima Nanatsu no Shima Daibōken) |
Capcom | Capcom | NES | Game Design |
| 1988 | Titan Warriors (cancelled) |
Capcom | Capcom | NES | Designer |
| 1989 | Strider | Capcom | Capcom | NES | Designer |
| 1990 | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Chippu to Dēru no Daisakusen) |
Capcom | Capcom | NES | |
| 1990 | Mega Man 3 (Rokkuman Surī Dokutā Wairī no Saigo!?) |
Capcom | Capcom | NES | Planner |
| 1992 | Disney's Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse (Mikkī no Majikaru Adobenchā) |
Capcom | Capcom | SNES | |
| 1992 | Mega Man 5 (Rokkuman Faibu Burūsu no Wana!?) |
Capcom | Capcom | NES | Advisor |
| 1993 | Mega Man 6 (Rokkuman Shikkusu Shijō Saidai no Tatakai!!) |
Capcom | Capcom | NES | Advisor |
| 1993 | Mega Man 7 (Rokkuman Sebun Shukumei no Taiketsu!!) |
Capcom | Capcom | SNES | Planner |
| 1995 | Mega Man X (Rokkuman Ekkusu) |
Capcom | Capcom | SNES | Planner |
| 1996 | Resident Evil (Baiohazādo) |
Capcom | Capcom | PlayStation | Supervisor |
Post-Capcom
| Year | Title | Developer | Publisher | System | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Tomba! (Ore! Tonba) |
Whoopee Camp | Sony Computer Entertainment | PlayStation | Writer |
| 1999 | Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return (Tonba! Za Wairudo Adobenchā) |
Whoopee Camp | Sony Computer Entertainment | PlayStation | Writer |
| 2001 | Extermination (Ekusutāminēshon) |
Deep Space | Sony Computer Entertainment | PlayStation 2 | Game Design |
| 2003 | Hungry Ghosts (Hanguri Gōsuto) |
Deep Space | Sony Computer Entertainment | PlayStation 2 | Planner |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Scion; Dire 51 (24 April 2010). "Interview with Kouichi "Isuke" Yotsui". LSCM 4.0. Translated by Gaijin Punch. Accessed 24 Oct 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "黒川 真圭 (Masayoshi Kurokawa)" (in Japanese). GSLA Japan. Accessed May 23, 2016.
- ↑ Commando. (Capcom). Nintendo Entertainment System. Level/area: End credits. (September 27, 1986).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Disney's Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse. (Capcom). Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Level/area: End credits. (November 20, 1992).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Resident Evil. (Capcom). PlayStation. Level/area: End credits. (March 22, 1996).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Robson, Daniel (October 2014). "The Making of...Strider". Edge (271). Pg. 96-99.
- ↑ Higemaru Makajima. Level/area: End credits. (April 14, 1987).
- ↑ Szczepaniak, John (January 10, 2016) "Interview with Roy Ozaki and Kouichi Yotsui". Hardcore Gaming 101 official YouTube page. Accessed May 23, 2016.
- ↑ Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. (Capcom). NES. Level/area: End credits. (June 8, 1990).
- ↑ CRV (August 21, 2009). "Company:Takeru". Game Developer Research Institute. Accessed 17 Dec 2010.
- ↑ Mega Man 3. (Capcom). Level/area: End credits. (September 28, 1990).
- ↑ Mega Man: Official Complete Works. Udon Entertainment. January 6, 2010. pp. 16–21. ISBN 978-1-89737-679-9.
- ↑ "Power Profiles: Keiji Inafune". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) (220): pp. 79–81. October 2007.
- ↑ Mega Man 5. Level/area: End credits. (December 4, 1992).
- ↑ Mega Man 6. Level/area: End credits. (November 5, 1993).
- ↑ "Shichisei Tōshin Guyferd (1996)" (Japanese). allcinema.net. Accessed May 23, 2016
- ↑ Tomba! Level/area: End credits. (December 25, 1997).
- ↑ Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return. Level/area: End credits. (October 28, 1998).
- ↑ Deep Space. Extermination Level/area: End credits. (March 8, 2001).
- ↑ Deep Space. Hungry Ghosts. (Sony Computer Entertainment). PlayStation. Level/area: End credits. (July 31, 2003).
- ↑ Hamamura, Hirozaku (2 July 2003). "The Lair of Hungry Ghosts". Famitsu. Translated by Fox, Fennec. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ↑ "メンバー紹介" (in Japanese). "劇団猫の森 HP". Accessed 23 Nov 2012.