Kenichi Nishi (西 健一, Nishi Ken'ichi, born June 20, 1967) is a Japanese video game designer. He has helped found a number of notable video game companies and develops games at Route24, his own private limited company. The number 24 in the title comes from its founder's name: "Ni" (2) and "Shi" (4).[1]
Kenichi Nishi | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 20, 1967 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation(s) | Founder of Love-de-Lic, Skip, Ltd., Route24 Game designer and director |
| Website | http://www.route24.jp/ |
Career edit
Nishi previously worked for both Telenet Japan and its subsidiary Riot. He was later hired by Square as a field designer for two of its larger releases.[1][2] After leaving Square in 1995, Nishi helped establish Love-de-Lic, Inc. with many of his former Square coworkers. There, he designed two of the small company's three game releases: Moon: Remix RPG Adventure and L.O.L.: Lack of Love.[1][3][4] He also helped design and write the script for the 1999 Polygon Magic title Incredible Crisis.[5] Nishi then co-founded skip Ltd., a second-party developer for Nintendo. Acting as vice president of the company, he also directed GiFTPiA and co-directed Chibi-Robo!.[2] Shortly thereafter, he left skip and founded Route24 on February 23, 2006.[3] According to Nishi, he felt that working on large projects with a large group of people such as those at skip limited his freedom in designing games.[6]
At Route24, Nishi and a staff of four other people developed LOL for the Nintendo DS, which was published by skip in 2007.[7] He recently worked on Newtonica and Newtonica2 for the iPhone and iPod Touch with Kenji Eno, among other independently developed mobile games. In 2010, Nishi expressed interest in developing a sequel to Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, asking fans to voice their support via Twitter.[8]
Personal life edit
Nishi lives in Meguro, Tokyo. He is a fan of British rock music and once had a dog named Tao, who Nishi featured as a character in many of his games including Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, GiFTPiA, L.O.L.: Lack of Love, Chibi-Robo and Captain Rainbow.[4][6][7] Tao died in October 2009 due to kidney complications.[9] It is said that Dragon Quest III is Nishi's favorite game.[1]
Credits edit
- Tenshi no Uta (1991)
- Exile (1991)
- Psycho Dream[10] (1992)
- Chrono Trigger[6] (1995)
- Super Mario RPG[6] (1996)
- Moon: Remix RPG Adventure[6] (1997)
- Incredible Crisis[11] (1999)
- L.O.L.: Lack of Love[6] (2000)
- GiFTPiA[6] (2003)
- Chibi-Robo![6] (2005)
- LOL[6] (2007)
- Captain Rainbow[12] (2008)
- Newtonica[13] (2008)
- Takurou Morinaga DS (2008)
- Newtonica2[11] (2008)
- Wacky World of Sports (2009)
- PostPet DS[14] (2009)
- iCLK (2010)
- geotrion[15] (2010)
- Followars (2010)
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012) - special thanks
- "Cobits" (2013)
- Pixel Game Maker Series Puzzle Pedestrians (2021)
References edit
- ^ a b c d Bruno de Figueiredo. "Hardcore Gaming 101: Love De Lic". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
- ^ a b Riley, Adam (July 22, 2006). "Skip, Ltd Talks Nintendo, Chibi-Robo DS, GiFTPiA & More! (Transcript)". Cubed3. Retrieved 2008-09-06.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Route24OfficialBlog Profile" (in Japanese). Route24. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-09-06.
- ^ a b "Behind the Scenes – LOL: Lack of Love". GamesTM. The Ultimate Retro Companion. No. 3. Imagine Publishing. 2010. p. 117. ISSN 1448-2606. OCLC 173412381. Archived from the original on 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2011-04-22.
- ^ Hoffman, Chris (March 2006). "Breaking the Mold: Chibi-Robo". Nintendo Power. No. 201. Redmond Washington: Nintendo of America. pp. 28–33.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Alexander, Patrick (March 14, 2008). "Feature: Kenichi Nishi and Archime-DS Interview (Part One)". Eegra. Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-09-11. He apparently still collaborates with them though, seeing Captain Rainbow (2008) credited him for the game's script.
- ^ a b Riley, Adam (May 3, 2007). "Kenichi Nishi on Archime-DS". Cubed3. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-09-06.
- ^ Parkin, Simon (October 13, 2010). "JRPG Producer Looks To Twitter To Help Secure A Publisher". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
- ^ Caoili, Eric (November 16, 2009). "All Dogs Go To Heaven: Kenichi Nishi's Tao Passes". GameSetWatch. Archived from the original on 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
- ^ "Psycho Dream Release Information". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ a b Caoili, Eric (November 24, 2008). "Best Of FingerGaming: From Aurora Feint to Dr. Awesome". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- ^ キャプテン★レインボー (in Japanese). Nintendo Software DataBase. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "NEWTONICA: De Motu Corporum in Gyrium". Coregamer. August 21, 2008. Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
- ^ Nishi, Kenichi (September 10, 2009). "お知らせ086 : PostPetDS 夢見るモモと不思議のペン" (in Japanese). Route24. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "リアルタイムGPSゲーム iPhoneアプリ［geotrion］GameComplex". 2013-06-08. Archived from the original on 2013-06-08. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
External links edit
- Route24 Official Blog (in Japanese)
- Kenichi Nishi's blog at Studio Voice Online (in Japanese)
- Kenichi Nishi's dual blog with Kenji Eno (in Japanese)