Shin-ichiro Tomie | |
|---|---|
| 冨江 慎一郎 | |
| Born | 1961 (age 63–64) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Employer | Spike Chunsoft |
| Notable work | Tecmo Bowl Mystery Dungeon |
Shin-ichiro Tomie (冨江 慎一郎,Tomie Shinichirō; born 1961) is a Japanese game director, writer and part ofSpike Chunsoft's affiliation. Since 1995, he contributes to the company with theMystery Dungeon franchise as the main writer for theShiren the Wanderer, andPokémon Mystery Dungeon series. Prior to his affiliation to the company in 1992, he has also contributed inTecmo'sTecmo Bowl series of sport games.
Tomie enjoyedassociation football since his youth, with theCaptain Tsubasa series was his initial source of inspiration.[1]
Tomie joinedTecmo after graduating from university. During that period, he created football-centric games likeTecmo Bowl in 1987 andCaptain Tsubasa II in 1990.[2][3] During the development ofTecmo Super Bowl, released in 1991, despite limitedNFL coverage in Japan during the late 1980s, he and programmer Akihiko Shimoji recorded games fromNHK satellite broadcasts to accurately recreate them within the game. Tomie's passion on sports also helped the team to work onTecmo Super Bowl.[3]
Later in 1992, Tomie was transferred to Chunsoft and consistently worked on the scenario of theShiren the Wanderer series since its first title in 1995. The reason of working as a writer comes from the company'sSound Novel series, as he was not inspired ofOtogiriso, but thought it was an innovative game, in addition to the lack of writers in the company.[2] His hobby for sport games is particularly noticeable inShiren the Wanderer 2: Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion andShiren Monsters: Netsal, where he oversaw both games as the director.[4][5]
The scenarios present throughout theMystery Dungeon series were written so they would not interfere too much into the franchise's roguelike genre. The scenario for theShiren the Wanderer series is smaller but also intriguing for each title as they are mixed with its difficulty.[2] Initially, he has suggested to put the setting of the series infeudal Japan, compared to the earlierMystery Dungeon title,Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon.[6] In thePokémon Mystery Dungeon series, the scenario has more presence in the gameplay than the former series and its appeal comes from "their directions and sounds" rather than the scenario alone.[7] Furthermore, the series does not have a linear timeline between the mainlinePokémon franchise and this series so newcomers would be introduced easily into the series and the genre.[8] In an interview held in 2022, Tomie claimed he was not aware of the western fanbase but was able to receive messages from Japanese fans of the series via letters, with some of them claimingPokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, and its sister gamePokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, his "magnum opus".[2]
In 2012, during the firstNico Nico Game Master event, him andKaoru Hasegawa appeared in the finale of a real-time attack of the firstShiren the Wanderer game.[9] Even if both series have not received a brand new title since 2010 and 2015 respectively, Tomie left a secret message in the 2020 port ofShiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate, indicating he would still be able to work on the next games if there are enough voices from the fans to green-lit a newMystery Dungeon game in the company.[10][11] It eventually happened later with itsNintendo Switch version being better received than anticipated, leading to the completion ofShiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island with Tomie being the lead scenarist of that game.[12]
中村 これは、開発にサッカー好きのメンバーがいたんですよ。『シレン』のシナリオを担当している冨江（冨江慎一郎氏）がサッカー大好きで、以前テクモ（現コーエーテクモゲームス）に務めていたのですが、そのころに『キャプテン翼』を作っていた人物なんですね。サッカーを語らせると、うるさいんです（笑）。
長谷川 いえ、最初はぜんぜん決まっていなくて、『トルネコの大冒険』に引き続き、西洋の世界観をイメージしていました。『風来のシレン』が和風になったのは、シナリオを担当していた冨江（慎一郎氏）というスタッフの提案がきっかけです。
Shinichiro Tomie : Il n'y a pas de références spécifiques ou d'indices cachés dans Donjon Mystère. Au contraire, le jeu a été conçu comme un titre indépendant afin qu'une personne qui n'aurait jamais touché à un jeu Pokémon précédemment puisse se lancer sans problème.
