Yuji Horii
Yuji Horii | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 堀井 雄二 January 6, 1954 Sumoto, Hyōgo, Japan |
| Other names | Yuuji Horii |
| Education | Waseda University |
| Occupation | Video game designer, writer, author |
| Known for | Creator of Dragon Quest |
Notable work | The Portopia Serial Murder Case Dragon Quest series Chrono Trigger |
Yuji Horii (堀井 雄二, Horii Yūji) (also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the Dragon Quest series of role-playing games,[1] supervising and writing the scenario for Chrono Trigger, as well as the first visual novel adventure game Portopia Serial Murder Case.[2][3]
History[]
Horii was born in Awaji Island, Japan. He graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature. He also worked as a freelance writer for newspapers, comics, and magazines, including the Famicom Shinken video games column that ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1985 to 1988.[4]
He then entered in an Enix-sponsored game programming contest, where he placed with Love Match Tennis, a tennis video game, motivating him to become a video game designer.
Horii then created The Portopia Serial Murder Case, a game that later inspired Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame) to enter the video game industry.[2][3] It is the first part of the Yuuji Horii Mysteries trilogy, along with its successors Okhotsk ni Kiyu: Hokkaido Rensa Satsujin (1984) and Karuizawa Yūkai Annai (1985).
After creating several more visual novel adventure games, Horii went on to create Dragon Quest, which is said to have created the blueprint for Japanese console role-playing games, taking inspiration from Portopia,[5] as well as Wizardry[5] and Ultima.[1]
He was a fan of Apple PC role-playing games and was motivated to create Dragon Quest for ordinary gamers, who found such games difficult, and thus he worked on an intuitive control system,[6] influenced by his work on Portopia.[5]
His works also include the Itadaki Street series. Horii was also a supervisor of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, Chrono Trigger, which had multiple game endings, with Horii appearing in one of the endings with the game development staff.
Horii currently heads his own production company, Armor Project, a company that has an exclusive production contract with Square Enix,[7] a contract established with Enix before the company merged with Square. He is on the selection committee for the annual Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award.
Works[]
| Year | Title | Original platform(s) | Scenario writer | Design | Producer | Other | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Love Match Tennis | NEC PC-6001 | - |  |
- | ||
| The Portopia Serial Murder Case | |
|
- | ||||
| 1984 | Okhotsk ni Kiyu: Hokkaido Rensa Satsujin Jiken [ja] | NEC PC-8801 | |
- | - | - | |
| 1985 | Karuizawa Yūkai Annai | |
- | - | - | ||
| 1986 | Dragon Quest | NES |
|
|
- | - | |
| 1987 | Dragon Quest II | |
|
- | - | ||
| 1988 | Dragon Quest III | |
|
- | - | ||
| 1990 | Dragon Quest IV | |
|
- | - | ||
| 1991 | Itadaki Street: Watashi no Omise ni Yottette | - | |
- | - | ||
| Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin | |
- | - | Supervisor | |||
| 1992 | Dragon Quest V | Super NES | |
|
- | - | |
| 1994 | Itadaki Street 2 | - | |
- | - | ||
| 1995 | Dragon Quest VI | |
|
- | - | ||
| Chrono Trigger | |
- | - | Supervisor | |||
| 1998 | Dragon Quest Monsters | Game Boy Color | |
|
- | Executive director | |
| 1998 | Itadaki Street: Gorgeous King | PlayStation | - | |
- | - | |
| 1999 | Torneko: The Last Hope | |
- | - | - | ||
| 2000 | Dragon Quest VII | |
|
- | Scenario director | ||
| 2001 | Dragon Quest Monsters 2 | Game Boy Color | |
|
- | Executive director | |
| 2002 | Itadaki Street 3 | PlayStation 2 | - | |
- | - | |
| 2003 | Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart | Game Boy Advance | |
|
- | Executive director | |
| 2004 | Dragon Quest VIII | PlayStation 2 | |
|
- | - | |
| Itadaki Street Special | PlayStation 2 | - | |
- | - | ||
| 2005 | Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime | Nintendo DS | - | - | - | Executive producer | |
| 2006 | Itadaki Street Portable | PlayStation Portable | - | |
- | - | |
| Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker | Nintendo DS | |
|
- | General Director | ||
| Itadaki Street DS | - | |
- | - | |||
| 2007 | Dragon Quest Swords | Wii | - | |
- | - | |
| 2009 | Dragon Quest IX | Nintendo DS | |
|
- | - | |
| 2010 | Itadaki Street Mobile | Mobile phone | - | |
- | - | |
| 2011 | Fortune Street | Wii | - | |
- | - | |
| Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3 | Nintendo 3DS | - | - | - | Executive producer | ||
| 2012 | Dragon Quest X | Wii, Wii U | |
|
- | General director | |
| 2015 | Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below | PlayStation 3 | - | - | - | General director | |
| Dragon Quest of the Stars | iOS, Android | - | - | - | General director | ||
| 2016 | Dragon Quest Heroes II | PlayStation 3 | - | - | - | General director | |
| 2017 | Dragon Quest XI | Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 | |
|
- | - | |
| 2018 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | Nintendo Switch | - | - | - | Original Game Supervisor | |
| 2019 | Dragon Quest Walk | iOS, Android | - | - | - | General director |
Awards[]
In 2009, Horii received a special award at Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association Developers Conference for his work on the Dragon Quest franchise.[8]
References[]
- "Square Enix Co., Ltd. 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). Square Enix. March 31, 2004. p. 70. Retrieved September 18, 2006.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Nintendo Power November 2007. Future US, Inc. 2007. pp. 77–80.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Szczepaniak, John (February 2011). "Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken". Retro Gamer. Retrieved March 16, 2011. (Reprinted at Szczepaniak, John. "Retro Gamer 85". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved March 16, 2011.)
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kasavin, Greg (March 21, 2005). ""Everything is Possible": Inside the Minds of Gaming's Master Storytellers". GameSpot. CNET Networks. p. 2. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
- ^ Fujii, Daiji (2003). "Entrepreneurial Choices of Strategic Options in Japan's RPG Development" (PDF). p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 30, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2006.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "East and West, Warrior and Quest: A Dragon Quest Retrospective". 1UP.com. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
- ^ "Yuji Horii". Retro Gamer. Imagine Publishing (97): 72–73. 2011.
- ^ "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time". IGN. Archived from the original on March 5, 2009. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
- ^ Graft, Kris (September 4, 2009). "CEDEC 09: Dragon Quest Creator Yuji Hori Headlines Awards". Gamasutra. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
External links[]
- "Yūji Horii's personal website" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 30, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2011.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
| show Authority control  |
|---|
- 1954 births
- Japanese video game designers
- Japanese video game directors
- Video game writers
- Living people
- Dragon Quest
- People from Hyōgo Prefecture
- Waseda University alumni