Akira Kitamura

>>4052089
ty for posting this

>>4052089
Bmost back then got in for a job. Nowadays actual fans are making crappy games.

Can we stop sucking his dick just to spite Inafune yet? I'm tired of people treating this guy like he's responsible for every single aspect of Megaman.

Didn't some of the interviews with him confirm that he was a weirdo who didn't work well with others and THAT'S why he left the industry?

>>4052969
>I'm tired of people treating this guy like he's responsible for every single aspect of Megaman.
But he is. He created Megaman and every single aspect of Megaman. Inafune took control later on, and it's not like Megaman evolved in any significant way, so it's still all on Kitamura. Also, the vision that Kitamura had for Megaman was much more cooler in regards to his feelings and place in the world as a robot. All Inafune did was rehash the games and then attempt to let his Gary Stu Zero character take over.

>>4053754
>and it's not like Megaman evolved in any significant way,
Nigger what is Megaman X

>>4053762
Not made by him either. Zero and volnutts are his favs.

>>4053809
Inafune DESIGNED Zero.
You can't deny facts.

>>4052969
To be honest he was responsible for Megaman 1, 2, and the best parts of 3. And those are the only Megaman games I think are especially good outside of Megaman V for the gameboy.

>>4053872
>good outside of Megaman V for the gameboy.
Good fucking taste.

>>4052969

According to his blog, for MM1 and 2 he was responsible for:

>Proposal, planning, direction, setting, scenario, product responsible for character design

Him and Nobuyuki Matsushima (lead programmer) are responsible for most of what we see in MM1 and 2. MM is by far the most derivative repetitive series ever. MM1-6, 9-10 are extremely similar. X series is just a hip modern take on the series with some additional features.

And Kitamura's MM design is still relevant, as almost every MM protagonist design is extremely derivative of it or influenced by it.

File: kitamura mm2.jpg (728KB, 1879x1256px) Image search: [Google]

728KB, 1879x1256px

>>4052969
>Didn't some of the interviews with him confirm that he was a weirdo who didn't work well with others and THAT'S why he left the industry?

He didn't get along with some of the big wigs at Capcom, and was a bit weird. Producer Fujiwara didn't even want a second game, so Kitamura went over his head and petitioned the Vice President in charge of the department for permission. In this case, Fujiwara was 100% wrong and Kitamura was vindicated.

This also has nothing to do with whether he was talented or anything. It's just inter-personal drama.

File: 3673591-7560244213-MMX3[1].jpg (2MB, 1550x1367px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1550x1367px

>>4053762
>Nigger what is Megaman X

Which is a modern update to the series. The design and gameplay is still very similar to the original MM games, just updated for the SNES and made more "mature". Boy Robot becomes Man Robot. Dashing is the newest feature.

Even Zero's design is heavily "influenced" by Protoman.

>>4053872

The first three are the worst of the original six. They all have terrible design. Where did this meme come from? It's worse than the nostalgia circlejerking over DKC2.

>>4054239
>The design and gameplay is still very similar to the original MM games
Don't remember dash jumping or wall climbing in the original, hmm.

>>4054321
>The first three are the worst of the original six.

/vr/ has the most contrarian retards, I swear.

>>4054329

Are you trying to argue that MMX is some completely original game? It's obviously a sequel, that takes the MM formula, characters, designs, and remixes them while adding to it. And it's not THAT different in practice.

>dash

Which is specifically an update to the sliding, which was introduced in MM3.

>>4054330
>Are you trying to argue that MMX is some completely original game?
Megaman didn't invent jumping and shooting or even stealing enemies weapons for that matter.

>>4054335

>Hi, my name is Anonymous, and I like to move goalposts.

>>4054335

No Mega Man series, No Mega man X. How is this a hard concept to grasp?

You could argue that there could have been, say mega man battle network series without the mega man series, since the gameplay and story are very different. It even features a MM design that's vastly different. Alternate reality Battle network would just be called something else, and have some super ficially different features.

>>4054339
Doesn't change the fact Inafune desgined Zero and envisioned X.

>>4054339
Megaman X is a better game than the classic series anyway, it largely surpassed the original.

>>4054341

...and? The point is, for most of the Mega Man games, "Kitamura DNA" is still all over it. Even something like MM Legends, which features drastically different setting and gameplay, the Rock and Roll designs are still very similar to what Kitamura originally made like 15 years before-hand. It's only when you get to the spin-offs that are further and further away from Mega Man do you get less influence by Kitamura's original designs.

Hell, MM9 was a project set out to make a game as good or better than MM2.

>>4054348
Megaman X is better, doesn't matter where it originated from. Mario Bros originated in Donkey Kong but nobody gives a shit about that game.

>>4054349
>>4054347

MMX is a good game, but it's not as good as the best original series games.

X as a series also drops off quality wise VERY quickly.

>>4054353
>X as a series also drops off quality wise VERY quickly.
Too true, it started the drop right in there in the second game.

>>4054349
Donkey Kong was HUGE in its day. It's one of the representative titles of the golden age of arcades.

>>4054356

It's a terrible game only fucking old men care about.

>>4054359
>he says on /vr/

>>4054360
Not even /vr/ cares about it now.

>>4052969
>just to spite Inafune yet?

The hard work and talent of something around 30+ people got condensed and accreditted to Keiji Inafune falsely. He did lots of things, but he was massively over hyped.

Kitamura and Matsushima are part of a long line of "Forgotten fathers of Mega man" that we need to start remembering.

>>4054404
>The hard work and talent of something around 30+ people got condensed and accreditted to Keiji Inafune falsely.
To be fair, the gaming press does that a lot. Not the first time this happened.

>>4054405

Similar thing happened to Romero.

>Romero gives all the interviews and acts as the spokes person for ID
>Everyone, from publishers to the media think he did everything
>He starts to believe his own hype
>Eidos gives him like 30 million dollars on the hopes of making games on par with ID's hits
>Turns out he was severely limited by not having his own team mates who filled roles like programming, art, etc that he wasn't able to fill with new people
>game is delayed and flops, ruining his career

>>4054404
>>4054405
>>4054412
I really need to do a writeup about the people behind the old Capcom fighting game characters one of these days, because that's another area where lots of miscrediting has proliferated.

File: 1497199461819.jpg (55KB, 480x432px) Image search: [Google]

55KB, 480x432px

>>4053872

>2 is the best meme
>3 is the best meme

These games are the games most people stopped at so they write off the other ones as shit. Mega Man 5 and 6 are great and far more interesting than 2, but perhaps not 3. 2 is held back by meaningless final segments. Don't tell me you actually think the Alien fight is good. Do you ACTUALLY think the Alien fight is worth a shit? Come on man even 4 has a proper Wily machine.

>>4054321

>they all have terrible design

And then on the flipside we have this fucking guy. Look boys, stop with this shit. MM is a bit of a meh game, but 2-6 are fantastic classics. 2 and 3 get hyped a bit too much because MOST PEOPLE DID NOT PLAY 4-6, they STOPPED at 2/3. So naturally they'll default to what they played.

And by the way, DKC2 is amazing. Keep on being a bundle of shitfuck dude.

>>4054353

MMX1 is better than the original games man I don't really know what to tell you

My favorite Mega Man classic games are 3, 6, and 9. Funny how that works, but even they aren't as good as X to me.

>>4052089
fascinating stuff

>>4054527
nah NES games were the best

X1 is the best non-NES one

I'm curious if he had any role in "Little Sampson". The game was produced by Takeru, the company he founded with several other capcom employees, and it plays very much like a new take on a Mega Man game. However, his name is nowhere in the credits, not even as a special thanks. But I'd find its trange that a MM style game is made, with the MM1-2 director just down the hall, and he had no impact on the game?

http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/little-samson/credits

>>4054492
Any examples?

>>4055203

Nope. I mean i guess it boils down to opinion, but when i first played mega man x it was an upgrade in every perceivable way.

Sorry but i roll my eyes when people say mega man 2 is better than X let alone saying all of them are. 2 doesnt have a proper final boss and X is practically 16 bit perfection.

>>4055732
>but when i first played mega man x it was an upgrade in every perceivable way.

Wall jumping removes the platforming elements of the game, and leads to sloppy gameplay.

The graphics are the only real upgrade.

>>4054519
>wily machine
Come the fuck on those battles got repetitive as fuck along with the "but the villain was Wily all along!" meme

>>4055739

I love that though. The platforming isnt sloppy.

>>4053762
That wasn't an evolution at all, it just had slightly more colours on screen.

>>4053809
zero is bets

>>4055849
Id rather have 50 more wily machines than 1 more alien boss or something like it.

I have no idea why the crappy final moments of 2 arent brought up more often.

>>4053754
"Mega Man was also developed in a different, special way. It wasn’t made according to one mastermind’s whims and fancies; it was a melting pot of ideas from different people, and I think that also helps explain its appeal."

-Akira Kitamura (from the interview in OP's post)

>>4055881
What was wrong with the alien boss?

>>4055870
>Just more colours
Are you a Britbong or a Canuck fuck? I just want to make sure before I delve further.

>>4055881
The alien boss tried something different and was a good twist instead of "here's Wily Machine 1009.85 Edition and btw the villain was Wily all along!"

File: 1497362860775.png (328KB, 426x489px) Image search: [Google]

328KB, 426x489px

>>4057161
>here's Wily Machine 1009.85 Edition

It was MM2. The 2nd in the series. There wasn't a thousand Wily machines.

All this arguing over the same old shit is cool and all but can someone post a list of these "obscure Japanese only" games he worked on after Mega Man before leaving the industry? I'd rather not have to pour over Japanese debates and personality cults just to get a chance to examine the guy's work, which is the only truly valid way to judge an artist.

>>4057213
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,394855/

Kitamura, plus Takashi Tateishi, Shin'ichi Yoshimoto, and Kouichi Yotsui formed takeru. They produced a few games:

>Cocoron
>Little Sampson
>Nostalgia 1907
> Rejection: Den-No Senshi

Cocoron was directed by kitamura directly. Capcom felt threatened enough by it that they rushed mega Man 3 out to beat it. Little Sampson was made by others at Takeru, but takes obvious influenced from Mega Man. What did takeru in was "Nostalgia 1907" a late Victorian themed Visual novel set on a boat. Why a bunch of platforming gods decided to make that, who knows. The game took the company with it.

The last confirmed game he worked on was 1994's "Nontan to Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle" a somewhat forgettable puzzle game released only in Japan. Past that, the story gets murkier. Mobygames has several other titles credited to "Akira Kitamura", but it may be a case of people having the same name, and not the same person. Some of these games appear to be hentai titles.

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,394855/

In 2011, he gave an interview to comic author Hitoshi Ariga. They appear to maintain a relationship,and he mentions A.K occasionally.

Kitamura's blog confirms many of the titles he worked on, but does not mention all of them. He says he was a planner/designer for many other titles, but doesn't list them, he's only listing the works he was a director for.

http://aknote.hatenablog.com/entry/gameplanning.002

>>4057218
>>Little Samson
I don't see his name mentioned in the credits here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Samson

File: Cocoron%20(J)%20[T-Eng1.0]-1[1].png (3KB, 256x224px) Image search: [Google]

3KB, 256x224px

Cocoron is a good game. There's been a t-eng for a long time.

>>4057213

The only confirmed Japanese only titles post capcom are:

>Cocoron (1991)
>Nontan to Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle (1994)

>>4057220

>Little Sampson was made by others at Takeru

Learn to read nigger.

>>4055707
The names that usually come up when people talk about Capcom fighting game artists (Kinu Nishimura, Bengus, Ikeno, Edayan, etc.) didn't actually design the characters or even have anything to do with the development of the games. They were promotional artists working in an entirely different department (the misleadingly-named "Design Room," which is in reference to graphic design, i.e. advertising material, not game or character design). The people who actually designed the characters, their animations, their movesets, basically everything about them were the members of the graphics teams of each respective game, the so-called "charamen." And aside from the foremost of them at the time (Akira Yasuda, akas Akiman) they have all remained obscure.

>>4057170
Yeah dude exactly learn how to understand arguments contextually he was talking about the thousand Wily machines that came after the Mega Man 2 title.

Kitamura's about page is strange, since he lists having worked on the Playstation. Was he really working on games well into the 90's?!

>>4053826
wtf I love inafune now

>>4053826
He designed the look of Edgy Mega Man.

Nice.

>>4057605
Why is Zero edgy? There's nothing wrong with him. Why do people hate him?
Why is it weird that the series he made focuses on the character he designed?

>>4057161
>>4057107


>A good twist
>the battle his just him looping in circles
>he's only weak to one weapon
>a one trick pony

It's a lame boss fight and its the weakest in the series. It's also the easiest. I am fine with it but its the weakest in the series.

All I'm saying is that people like to act like 4, 5,and 6 are garbage when the reality is they're fine games that built off of 2, which had some weak parts. Clearly capcom realized that a Wily Machine was more interesting than him pretending to be an alien.

>>4059305
>implying Mega Man boss battles are ever amazing
Come the fuck on, man. lol

The Alien boss was an interesting finale and a good twist thematically. If you want complex boss fights then I suggest you play something by Konami or Treasure.

>>4059829

Really? Thats your reply? That mega man bosses suck so the Alien boss is great?

Nice anon nice. You missed the point. Its an interesting twist but the weakest final boss in the whole series.