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Koichi Nakamura

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Koichi Nakamura
中村 光一
Born (1964-08-15) August 15, 1964 (age 60)
Alma materUniversity of Electro-Communications
Occupations
Years active1982–present
EmployerSpike Chunsoft
Known forFounder of video game company Chunsoft
Notable workDragon Quest
Mystery Dungeon

Koichi Nakamura (中村 光一, Nakamura Kōichi, born August 15, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer. Nakamura gained fame as a programming prodigy while still in high school; in 1982, he entered Enix's first national programming contest and claimed runner-up prize with his entry, Door Door. In 1984, he founded the video game company Chunsoft.[1]

Early game development

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

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.

During spring break of his first year in high school, Nakamura cloned the arcade video game Space Panic as ALIEN Part II. It was published in the May 1981 issue and released on cassette tape, earning ¥200,000 in royalties. In the January 1982 issue, his clone of Konami's Scramble (later renamed to Attacker) was also released on cassette, earning royalties of ¥1 million. A clone 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.[2] Due to his activities with I/O, he became well known among young PC enthusiasts.[3]

Nakamura entered the first Annual Hobby Program Contest held by Enix during his 3rd year of high school in 1982.[4] 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.[5]

Career

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In 1983, Nakamura moved to Tokyo and entered the University of Electro-Communications. He ported Door Door to various computer systems resulting in his annual royalties as a university student exceeding ¥10 million.[6]

Nakamura released his 2nd PC game Newtron and founded the 5-person 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.[7] 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[8]

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.[9][10] Prior to its release, Nakamura also cited Masanobu Endō, creator of action role-playing game The Tower of Druaga, as his favorite game designer.[11] 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

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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.[12]

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

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From 2005 to 2010, Chunsoft had teamed up with Sega's home video game business, where Sega funded and published eight games with Chunsoft.[13] In one of them, Nakamura served as producer for the Wii game 428: Shibuya Scramble.

Works

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Year Title Role
1983 Door Door Game designer, programmer
1984 Newtron
1985 The Portopia Serial Murder Case Programmer
1986 Dragon Quest Director, programmer
1987 Dragon Quest II Director, chief programmer
1988 Dragon Quest III Director
1990 Dragon Quest IV
1991 Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin
Tetris 2 + Bombliss
1992 Otogirisō Director, producer
Dragon Quest V Supervisor
1993 Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon Producer
1994 Kamaitachi no Yoru
1995 Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
1996 Shiren the Wanderer GB: Monster of Moonlight Village
1997 Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon Supervisor
1998 Machi Producer
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 Supervisor
1999 Torneko: The Last Hope Executive producer
2000 Shiren the Wanderer 2
2001 Shiren the Wanderer GB2: Magic Castle of the Desert
2002 Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka the Swordswoman Supervisor
Kamaitachi no Yoru 2: Kangoku-jima no Warabe Uta Executive producer
Torneko's Great Adventure 3
2004 Shiren Monsters: Netsal Producer
3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei: Densetsu no Kyoudan ni Tate!
2005 Homeland
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team
2006 Kamaitachi no Yoru x 3: Mikatzuki-jima Jiken no Shinsō
2007 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness
Imabikisō Executive producer
2008 Shiren the Wanderer 3
428: Shibuya Scramble Producer
2009 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Adventure Team
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors Executive producer
2010 Shiren the Wanderer 4
Trick × Logic
Shiren the Wanderer 5
2011 Zombie Daisuki
2012 Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Supervisor
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Producer
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 Etrian Mystery Dungeon
Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon Producer
Grand Kingdom
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky Executive producer
2016 Zero Time Dilemma Supervisor
2017 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Executive producer
2018 Zanki Zero: Last Beginning
2019 Tech Tech Tech Tech Producer[14]

References

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  1. ^ "中村光一", Wikipedia (in Japanese), 2022-01-22, retrieved 2022-01-27
  2. ^ Eikyuu Hozon-ban Minna ga Kore de Moeta! NEC 8-bit Personal Computer PC-8001/6001, 2005, ASCII, pp.62-65 interview w/ Nakamura
  3. ^ Game Maestro, Vol. 1: Producer/Director Edition (1) by Hidekuni Shida, 2000, p.138 interview w/ Yuji Horii
  4. ^ "すべては『ドアドア』から始まった――チュンソフト30周年のすべてを中村光一氏と振り返るロングインタビュー【前編】 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). 2014-06-08. Archived from the original on 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2023-03-14. (Translated by Shmuplations. Archived on 2018-09-29)
  5. ^ Eikyuu Hozon-ban Minna ga Kore de Moeta! NEC 8-bit Personal Computer PC-8001/6001, 2005, ASCII, p.65
  6. ^ Eikyuu Hozon-ban Minna ga Kore de Moeta! NEC 8-bit Personal Computer PC-8001/6001, 2005, ASCII, p.66
  7. ^ Terebi Geemu no Kamigami: RPG wo Tsukutta Otoko-tachi no Risou to Yume by Yutaka Tama, 1994, Koei, pp.102-104
  8. ^ "Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary Special". NHK TV Specials (in Japanese). 2016-12-29. NHK General TV. (Translated by Shmuplations. Archived on 2020-01-20. Retrieved on 2023-03-14)
  9. ^ Geemu Ookoku Nippon: Kamigami no Koubou, 2000, Seishun Publishing, pp.102-104
  10. ^ Game Maestro, Vol. 2: Producer/Director Edition (2) by Hidekuni Shida, 2000, p.16 interview w/ Koichi Nakamura
  11. ^ "59 Developers, 20 Questions: 1985 Interview Special". Beep. October 1985.
  12. ^ Game Maestro, Vol. 2: Producer/Director Edition (2) by Hidekuni Shida, 2000, p.24
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ ""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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