Masato Kato (加藤 正人,Katō Masato; born March 28, 1963) is aJapanesevideo gameartist,scenario writer anddirector. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".^[1] He then joinedSquare, and was most famous for penning the script ofChrono Trigger (based on a story draft byYuji Horii), as well asRadical Dreamers,Xenogears,Chrono Cross,Final Fantasy XI and parts ofFinal Fantasy VII.

Kato first worked forTecmo onCaptain Tsubasa and theNinja Gaiden series. On his first three games, he moved from graphics, to graphics and scenario writing, to also directing the action elements. He went on to work forGainax.

Masato Kato's first title at Square wasChrono Trigger as the game's story planner and script writer. The game's composer Yasunori Mitsuda have considered Kato to be one of the game's directors.

Kato stated thatChrono Cross development encountered difficulty in expanding the game world due to hardware limitations, and that they crammed as much data as they could onto the game disk.^[2] Conversely, developing the multiple game endings was seen as easier, on par withChrono Trigger as a bonus for players who finished the game.^[2]

Kato left Square after designing the plot ofFinal Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart to become a freelance scenario writer. In addition to games for different companies, he has continued to work onSquare Enix projects such as theWorld of Mana series, an enhanced port ofChrono Trigger for the Nintendo DS, and three more expansion chapters forFinal Fantasy XI.

In 2017 he released a spiritual successor to theChrono series for iOS and Android, titled "Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space." Similar to the SNES hit Chrono Trigger, Another Eden also involves time travel, where players get to explore three time periods out of ancient, contemporary, and the future. Additionally, the game features an opening theme created by Yasunori Mitsuda, who also worked on Chrono Trigger‘s music.^[3]

In 2005, Masato Kato also collaborated withYasunori Mitsuda, longtime friend and music composer, to write ashort story titledFive Seasons of kiЯitɘ, which Mitsuda accompanied with music on his albumkiЯitɘ. The story and soundtrack have also been presented inopera form.^[4] Prior to this, Mitsuda composed the soundtrack for several of Kato's games, includingChrono Cross andXenogears.

Kato has been credited for the following games:^[5]

• Captain Tsubasa (1988): animation sprites^[5]
• Ninja Gaiden (1988): pictures^[5]
• Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (1990): movie director, scenario, pictures^[5]
• Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (1991): director of action sequences^[5]
• Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1992): assistant director, planner, script writer, graphics^[6][5]
• Princess Maker 2 (1993): planner, script writer, graphics^[5]

• Chrono Trigger (1995): director (uncredited), story planner, script writer^[5]
• Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki (1996): director, scenario and script writer^[5]
• Final Fantasy VII (1997): event planner, script writer^[5]
• Xenogears (1998): event planner, script writer, lyricist^[5]
• Chrono Trigger (PlayStation enhanced port) (1999): supervisor^[7]
• Chrono Cross (1999): director, scenario and script writer, event planner, FMV storyboard^[8]
• Final Fantasy XI (2002): plot conception and events, lyricist^[9]
• Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart (2003): plot conception and events^[9]

• Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (2003): scenario writer, screenplay^[10]
• Deep Labyrinth (2006): scenario writer^[11]
• Dawn of Mana (2006): scenario writer^[11]
• Children of Mana (2006): scenario writer^[12]
• Heroes of Mana (2007): scenario writer^[13]
• Sands of Destruction (2008): scenario writer^[14]
• Chrono Trigger (Nintendo DS) (2008): supervisor^[15]
• A Crystalline Prophecy: Ode to Life Bestowing (2009): plot conception^[9]
• A Moogle Kupo d'Etat: Evil in Small Doses (2009): plot conception^[9]
• A Shantotto Ascension: The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born (2009): plot conception^[9]
• Shiren the Wanderer (2008): scenario writer^[16]
• Shiren the Wanderer 4 (2010): scenario writer^[17]
• Ninja Gaiden 3 (2012): story^[18]
• The Legend of Legacy (2015): writer^[19]
• Another Eden (2017): director, scenario, script writer, concept artist^[20]

• 1963 births
• Japanese video game directors
• Japanese writers
• Living people
• Square Enix people

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• Articles with short description
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