Takashi Nishiyama | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Video game designer, director, producer |
| Employer(s) | Irem Capcom SNK Dimps |
| Known for | Fighting games Beat 'em ups Side-scrolling games Neo Geo |
Takashi Nishiyama (Japanese: 西山隆志), sometimes credited as"Piston" Takashi Nishiyama orT. Nishiyama, is a Japanesevideo game designer, director and producer who worked forIrem,Capcom andSNK before founding his own companyDimps. He is best known for developing thescrolling shooter titleMoon Patrol, thebeat 'em up titleKung-Fu Master, and thefighting game titlesStreet Fighter,Fatal Fury andThe King of Fighters. He also helped develop theNeo Geo system.
Nishiyama started his career atIrem. He worked on thegame design of the 1982scrolling shooterMoon Patrol, one of the first games withparallax scrolling. He was also the designer ofKung-Fu Master (1984), calledSpartan X in Japan.[1][2] It is based on twoHong Kong martial arts films: theJackie Chan andSammo Hung filmWheels on Meals (1984), calledSpartan X in Japan,[3] and especially theBruce Lee filmGame of Death (1972).[4]Kung-Fu Master is considered the firstbeat 'em up game,[4] becoming the prototype for most subsequent martial arts games in the late 1980s.[5] The NES port,Kung Fu, was programmed by aNintendo team under the direction ofShigeru Miyamoto, later influencing his work onSuper Mario Bros. (1985)[6] andZelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987).[7]
During the development ofKung-Fu Master, Nishiyama was invited to joinCapcom by its founderKenzo Tsujimoto, after he had left Irem. He eventually decided to leave Irem and join Capcom before the game was complete.[8] Following its release, Nishiyama was hired by Capcom.[1] He designed an arcade successor for Capcom,Trojan (1986), which evolved the basic gameplay concepts ofKung-Fu Master. The NES port included a one-on-one fighting mode, for the first time in a Capcom game.[9] He then came up with the concept for a game centered entirely around theboss fights inKung-Fu Master.[10] This led to his creation of theStreet Fighterfighting game franchise. Along with Hiroshi Matsumoto, he directed the originalStreet Fighter (1987). He created theHadouken special attack for the player characters, which he says was inspired by the Wave Motion Gun, an energy missile attack from the 1970sanime seriesSpace Battleship Yamato.[1] He then left Capcom and did not return to work on the sequelStreet Fighter II: The World Warrior.
Nishiyama then joinedSNK, after they had invited him to join the company. His first project there was theNeo Geo system, which he helped develop; he proposed the initial concept of an arcade system that usesROM cartridges like agame console, and also proposed ahome console version of the system. His reasons for these proposals was to make the system cheaper for markets such asChina,Hong Kong,Taiwan,Southeast Asia,Central America, andSouth America, where it was difficult to sell dedicated arcade gamesdue to piracy. Nishiyama then created theFatal Fury fighting game franchise, as aspiritual successor to the originalStreet Fighter. He also worked on the fighting game franchisesArt of Fighting andThe King of Fighters, as well as therun and gun video game seriesMetal Slug.[1] He then left SNK and founded the game development companyDimps in 2000.[1]
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