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61 Frames Per Second

Where is Shuichi Sakurazaki, Creator of Ninja Gaiden?

Posted by John Constantine

While they might not be rock stars quite yet, it’s great that videogame developers are becoming more and more recognizable by name. Many, many people know who Hideo Kojima is and what Kojima Prodcutions makes. Sega didn’t just contract Platinum Games to make a few killer titles for them, they signed them on for the name recognition, for the artists’ cred. Back in the day, it wasn’t the people who created games that got recognized. It was only franchise names and publishers that got the love. In 2008, it’s widely known that Tomonobu Itagaki is the head honcho behind Ninja Gaiden. But who is the brain behind Ninja Gaiden on the NES?

After doing a bit of digging, I found that Ninja Gaiden and its first sequel were designed by a fellow named Shuichi Sakurazaki and Tecmo’s Team Strong. The game’s trademark cutscenes, arguably the first of their kind, were penned by Sakurazaki himself. But that’s where the information trail ends, with nary an interview with or a Wikipedia page on the man to be found. I found only two other games credited to Sakurazaki, and surprising ones at that. If IMDB is to be believed, Sakurazaki is the writer behind two of videogames’ strangest scripts, namely Namco’s Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2. Platformers with adorable anthropomorphic characters, the original Klonoa games hid tragic stories underneath a playful façade.

Who is Shuichi Sakurazaki? Where has he gone and what was his inspiration for such memorable and strange games? If anyone out there knows, I am all ears.

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Comments

Nemo Incognito said:

As a Klonoa fan it's really amazing to discover it has this kind of pedigree.  Now I have a nice piece of trivia to toss out while I'm trying to convince more people to try this very under-appreciated series.

August 27, 2008 2:11 PM

Amber Ahlborn said:

Klonoa on the PS and it's PS2 sequel are a pair of my favorite platformers.  They are fantastic games and I need to whip them out soon.  Maybe I'll even write up a retrospective.  Anyway, this is interesting trivia.  I still have the first Ninja Gaiden game sitting on my Wii unplayed.  Part of my monster backlog.

August 27, 2008 4:15 PM

John Constantine said:

It is absolutely criminal that there hasn't been a proper Klonoa game in seven years. The Wonderswan game, its GBA remake, subsequent sequel, and that crummy action RPG just don't do the platformers justice. Not sure if you all remember that rumor blog that popped up late last year penned by "SurferGirl", but one there was a piece of heresay that showed up there that Klonoa Team was working on a new platformer for Wii. I would freak out if that came to pass.

I'm still astounded by the original whenever I replay it. Possibly the most tragic and effed up ending I've ever witnessed in a game.

August 28, 2008 12:38 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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