Koichi Nakamura

Koichi Nakamura (中村 光一, Nakamura Kōichi, born August 15, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer. A programming prodigy, Nakamura gained fame while still in high school; in 1982, he entered Enix's national programming contest and claimed first place with his entry, Door Door. In 1984, he founded the video game company Chunsoft, where he remains its president.

Koichi Nakamura
Born (1964-08-15) August 15, 1964
NationalityJapanese
OccupationVideo game designer
Known forFounded the video game company Chunsoft, where he remains its chairman

Career

Amateur projects

Nakamura was a member of the math club at Marugame High School in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. There he ported the video game Galaxy Wars to the BASIC programming language on a Tandy TRS-80, among other projects.

In order to play games such as Galaxian that were ported to the NEC PC-8001 by Geimu Kyoujin from I/O magazine, Nakamura bought a PC-8001 using money he'd saved up by delivering newspapers. It was on that PC-8001 that he developed his program submissions. He submitted a machine code input tool to I/O magazine, which was published in the February 1981 issue as his debut publication, earning him ¥20,000 for his work.

From that experience, spring break of his first year in high school found Nakamura porting the arcade game Space Panic as ALIEN Part II, published in the May 1981 issue. The program was released on cassette tape and brought in royalty income of ¥200,000. Then in the January 1982 issue, Scramble (later renamed to Attacker due to legal issues) was also released on cassette, earning royalties of ¥1 million. Furthermore, the port of River Patrol called River Rescue was published in the Maikon Game Book 4 special edition of I/O, bringing Nakamura's total high school earnings from submissions to I/O to over ¥2 million.[1] Due to his activities with I/O, he became preeminent among young PC enthusiasts.[2]

With his royalty earnings, Nakamura purchased a PC-8801 and decided to become a professional video game developer, entering the 1st Annual Hobby Program Contest held by Enix during his 3rd year of high school in 1982. Submitting his first original game, Door Door, Nakamura was selected as the runner-up prize winner for programming excellence, and received ¥500,000 in prize money.[3]

Enix

In 1983, Nakamura moved to Tokyo and entered the University of Electro-Communications. Porting his prize-winning Door Door to various PC platforms, his annual royalties as a university student exceeded ¥10 million.[4] After that, Nakamura released his 2nd PC game Newtron and founded the 5-person-strong Chunsoft on April 9, 1984, during spring break of his 2nd year of university. He started to work out of a room in a condominium in Chōfu, Tokyo. The first Chunsoft release was the 1985 PC-6001 version of Door Door mkII. Following that, joining Enix on the Famicom, Chunsoft began development on home video game consoles.[5] While the PC version had sold 80,000 copies, the Famicom version recorded sales of 200,000 copies, leading subsequent development to focus on home consoles. From that, fellow Enix program contest winner Yuji Horii joined Nakamura in collaborating on the Famicom port of The Portopia Serial Murder Case.

At the time, Nakamura and Horii were fans of the computer role-playing games Wizardry and Ultima, and so set out to develop a full-blown Famicom RPG called Dragon Quest.[6][7] Prior to its release, Nakamura also cited Masanobu Endō, creator of action role-playing game The Tower of Druaga, as his favorite game designer.[8] Nakamura continued development on the Dragon Quest series through to Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, before breaking away from Enix products.

Post-Enix

Otogirisō marked Chunsoft's debut brand. Following that, successive genre-trailblazing titles Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, Kamaitachi no Yoru, and Shiren the Wanderer established the company's good reputation. Nakamura himself had to move away from programming in order to run the company.[9]

For a time, the company's products were considered mediocre, but 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei: Densetsu no Kyoudan ni Tate! was a hit that showed signs of recovery.

SEGA×CHUN PROJECT

From 2006 to 2008, Chunsoft had tied up with Sega's home video game business, where Sega funded and published eight games with Chunsoft.[10] In one of them, Nakamura served as producer for the Wii game 428: Shibuya Scramble.

Game credits

Year Title Original platform(s) Programmer Director Producer Other Ref.
N/A Door Door mkII - - - -
Newtron - - - -
1983 Door Door Y - - Designer
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken - - - -
1986 Dragon Quest Y Y - -
1987 Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line Y Y - -
1989 Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation - Y - -
1990 Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen - Y - -
1991 Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin - Y - -
Tetris 2 + BomBliss - Y - -
1992 Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - - - Supervisor
Otogirisō - Y Y -
1993 Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon - - Y -
1994 Kamaitachi no Yoru - - Y -
Elevator Action Returns - - - Executive producer
1995 Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer - - Y -
Space Invaders: Virtual Collection - - - Executive producer
1996 Shiren the Wanderer GB: Moonlight Village Monster - - Y -
Puzzle Bobble - - - Executive producer
1997 Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon - - - Supervising director
1998 Machi: Unmei no Kousaten - - Y -
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 - - - Supervising director
1999 Torneko: The Last Hope - - - Executive producer
2000 Shiren the Wanderer 2: Demon Invasion! Shiren Castle! - - - Executive producer
2001 Shiren the Wanderer GB2: Magic Castle of the Desert - - - Executive producer
2002 Kamaitachi no Yoru 2: Kangoku-jima no Warabe Uta - - - Executive producer
Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko's Great Adventure 3 - - - Executive producer
Shiren the Wanderer Side Story: Swordswoman Asuka Arrives! - - - Supervising director
2004 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei: Densetsu no Kyoudan ni Tate! - - Y -
Shiren Monsters: Netsal - - Y -
The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigi no Dungeon - - - Special thanks
2005 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team - - Y -
Homeland - - Y -
2006 Kamaitachi no Yoru x 3: Mikatzuki-jima Jiken no Shinsō - - Y -
2007 Imabikisō - - - Executive producer
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness - - Y -
2008 428: Shibuya Scramble - - Y -
Shiren the Wanderer 3: The Sleeping Princess and the Karakuri Mansion - - Y -
2009 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - - Y -
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Adventure Team - - Y -
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - - - Executive producer
2010 Shiren the Wanderer 4: The Eye of God and the Devil's Navel - Y - -
Shiren the Wanderer 5: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate - - Y -
Trick × Logic - - - Executive producer
2012 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - - Y -
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward - - - Executive producer
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - - - Supervisor
2013 Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars - - - Executive producer
Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains - - - Supervisor
2014 Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls - - - Executive producer
2015 Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon - - Y -
Etrian Mystery Dungeon - - - Executive producer
Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics - - - Executive producer
Grand Kingdom - - Y -
2016 Zero Time Dilemma - - - Supervisor
2017 Zero Escape: The Nonary Games - - - Executive producer
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - - - Executive producer
2018 Zanki Zero: Last Beginning - - - Executive producer
2019 Tech Tech Tech - - Y [11]
2020 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX - - - Special thanks

References

  1. Eikyuu Hozon-ban Minna ga Kore de Moeta! NEC 8-bit Personal Computer PC-8001/6001, 2005, ASCII, pp.62-65 interview w/ Nakamura
  2. Game Maestro, Vol. 1: Producer/Director Edition (1) by Hidekuni Shida, 2000, p.138 interview w/ Yuji Horii
  3. Eikyuu Hozon-ban Minna ga Kore de Moeta! NEC 8-bit Personal Computer PC-8001/6001, 2005, ASCII, p.65
  4. Eikyuu Hozon-ban Minna ga Kore de Moeta! NEC 8-bit Personal Computer PC-8001/6001, 2005, ASCII, p.66
  5. Terebi Geemu no Kamigami: RPG wo Tsukutta Otoko-tachi no Risou to Yume by Yutaka Tama, 1994, Koei, pp.102-104
  6. Geemu Ookoku Nippon: Kamigami no Koubou, 2000, Seishun Publishing, pp.102-104
  7. Game Maestro, Vol. 2: Producer/Director Edition (2) by Hidekuni Shida, 2000, p.16 interview w/ Koichi Nakamura
  8. "59 Developers, 20 Questions: 1985 Interview Special". Beep. October 1985.
  9. Game Maestro, Vol. 2: Producer/Director Edition (2) by Hidekuni Shida, 2000, p.24
  10. "セガ・チュンソフトプロジェクト | セガXチュンプロジェクトとは?". Chun Sega (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 18, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  11. ""歩くドラクエ"だった『テクテクテクテク』が『ポケモンGO』と共存する"一生歩けるRPG"になるまで──『不思議のダンジョン』生みの親・中村光一×麻野一哉が贈る"リアルな冒険"の開発秘話". 電ファミニコゲーマー (in Japanese). Retrieved November 22, 2020.
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