Interviews// Team Ninja's Head, Yosuke Hayashi

SPOnG: Where do you think Japan stands on the global gaming stage today?

Yosuke Hayashi: I got into the games industry because I love games, and I love Japanese games a lot. It really upsets me when people say ‘Oh, those games were good back in the day, but not so much anymore,’ because while I feel there are many good games being developed overseas, there are games that only the Japanese can create. I’d like to show that to the whole world, and allow them to play games that we as Japanese are really capable of.

When people say Japan is in decline with these things, they talk about the ‘old-style’ games that are being made. Titles that always contain the same gameplay style and elements throughout each iteration. Many of these ‘old-style’ games were created by a lot of Japanese developers who saw success, and now they’re stuck maintaining that same experience and can’t get out of their shell.

There are two characteristics of the Japanese - one is that they dislike change, the second is that they learn and study things very closely. We know that Western games are extremely good, so I feel that old-style developers will learn elements from the West and believe they can create games, in keeping with the old style but also accommodating new-style elements too.


SPOnG: Team Ninja has worked with Nintendo directly on Metroid: Other M. How was that experience for you and the resulting product, and would you like to do a similar collaboration in the future?

Yosuke Hayashi: We have a history of creating games that cater towards a more mature audience, so when we make projects we’re always thinking of how to stimulate feelings through violence.

But this experience in creating Metroid with Nintendo, this was different - we learnt about using emotions and delicate feelings to push a story and create the atmosphere.

Sakamoto-san, who was also part of the team, had put much emphasis on the delicate side of people’s feelings, and that was a great learning curve for me. I’d like to take more of these aspects into consideration in development and create games that are more diverse in people’s feelings, not just violence.


SPOnG: You’ve mentioned in the past that you’d like to make games more accessible without trying to get rid of the hardcore elements that Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive have within them. How challenging is it to make that balance work?

Yosuke Hayashi: What’s important when developing games is how exciting we can make the game. The reason why there are old-style games repeatedly being created is because developers are just doing what worked in the past and that’s where we’re going wrong. We have to create games that we ourselves feel are fun, regardless of what worked in the past.


SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time.

Yosuke Hayashi: Thank you very much.

Dead or Alive Dimensions is hitting the Nintendo 3DS on 20th May.