Develop: what inspires Mizuguchi

by Ross Miller { Jul 14th 2006 at 1:25PM }

Tetsuya Mizuguchi has one of those game portfolios that bleeds creativity. Speaking at Develop, the game designer looked back on his career and discussed what inspired each game.

Ninety-Nine Nights was inspired by the television coverage of the Iraq war and all the opposing viewpoints that were given, as well as Kurosawa's film Rashomon.
Lumines was inspired by its platform, the PSP. Mizuguchi wanted to make a game that embodied the handheld.
Meteos was inspired by the prevalence of multitasking in society -- multi-screened 24-hour news networks, the TV show 24, and likely the multi-screened DS console for which it was developed.
Rez and Space Channel 5 were "influenced by dance culture, the idea of invasive media, the musical Stomp, jazz, surreal art and MTV music videos of the 1980s," according to the write-up provided by Next Generation

Mizuguchi is the perfect example of a developer who thinks "outside the box" and really adds positively to the argument of games as art. In his words, "The deeper you look at people, the more they are the game. A game should fulfill a deep human need or want. Then it can be successful all over the world."

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ill trooper @ Jul 14th 2006 1:31PM

I wish that article was longer and more in-depth...

Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Jul 14th 2006 1:37PM

ill trooper, we have an interview with Tetsuya coming soon. Stay tuned!

Pancakeshouse @ Jul 14th 2006 1:37PM

Mizuguchi is one of the best developers out there today. He's pretty much a superstar. I also wish he was my friend because he seems like an awesome guy.

spil @ Jul 14th 2006 1:40PM

isn't stomp a band who plays everyday items into percussion instruments?

Abbas @ Jul 14th 2006 1:40PM

PLEASE ask him what he smokes/intakes :)

epobirs @ Jul 14th 2006 2:13PM

And here I was thinking Ninety Nine Nights might have been inspired by, oh, I dunno, Dynasty Warriors 1 through 39?

James @ Jul 14th 2006 2:25PM

Well, looking at the graphic, there's a representation of (almost) every game in it.

And then there's Jon Stewart.

He must represent 99 Nights. ;-)

therpham @ Jul 14th 2006 2:36PM

This guy is more or less a genius. I recently got Meteos and I'm so in love with it that I see it in my sleep. When I see a tiled floor with alternating colours, I imagine using a stylus to cause them to launch. Maybe he sold his soul to the devil.

jp @ Jul 14th 2006 3:19PM

That's not a completely accurate article. LSD wasn't mentioned at all.

Levi @ Jul 14th 2006 3:22PM

Cool, Meteos is inspired by 24, and N3 is inspired by John Stewart.

GSI @ Jul 14th 2006 3:38PM

Well that's a pretty good track record...4 of the 5 games listed there are awesome. The one crappy one is 99 Nights...aka yet another Dynasty Warrios rehash that the gaming world could have done without.

ArC @ Jul 15th 2006 5:20PM

"I wish that article was longer and more in-depth..."

At least it wasn't as clumsily written as Next Gen's other piece about Mizuguchi:
http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3417&Itemid=2