Thread by @gosokkyu

I've been combing the @shmuplations archive for Genesis Mini-related research and as you can probably imagine, a ton of interesting material has been amassed over the years shmuplations.com/games/ a lot of y'all have read these interviews before but let's revist them (thread)

first off, former Sega president and chief consumer hardware designer Hideki Sato's reflections on the consoles he designed, including the Mega Drive shmuplations.com/segahistory

Treasure's elusive programmer Hideyuki "NAMI" Suginami & president Masato Maegawa lament the "premature birth" of the cult hardcore action game Alien Soldier shmuplations.com/aliensoldier/

the team behind Game Arts' fantasy action game Alisia Dragoon discuss the tools behind their craft, the collaborative process with animation studio Gainax and how their plans shifted away from mecha shooting to RPG-tinged fantasy shmuplations.com/alisiadragoon/

the team behind Castlevania Bloodlines shares some brief insight into how they put their own spin on the series shmuplations.com/bloodlines/

(bonus: Bloodlines fanfic by composer Michiru Yamane! shmuplations.com/chinorondo/)

Contra Hard Corps team leader "Oh!Aji" (Nobuya Nakazato, presumably) talks about wanting to surprise players at every turn and reassures Japanese players that this isn't another game for those damn yankees shmuplations.com/contrahc/

the designers of the arcade version of Taito's classic shooting game Darius discuss, among other things, the many bosses that were left out of the final game—those designs were revisited in future home versions, including the new port produced for MD Mini shmuplations.com/dariusii/

this pair of interviews captured Treasure's thoughts on a few new or in-production Mega Drive titles, including brief words on Gunstar Heroes and more in-depth discussions on McDonalds Treasureland Adventure and the goofy puppet action game Dynamite Headdy shmuplations.com/treasureroundu…

former Sega localization producer Ryoichi Hasegawa discusses his special connection to Ecco the Dolphin, the work that went into changing it for Japanese audiences and the general nature of Mega Drive-era loc work shmuplations.com/ecco/

the core team behind Compile's samurai-meets-mecha shooting game M.U.S.H.A. outline the evolution of the project from port to original game and the birth of 𝐄𝐃𝐎 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋 shmuplations.com/compilestg/

Phantasy Star IV's development team look back at their work and their mission to reunite the original team to make the definitive (and ultimately final) entry in the classic Phantasy Star RPG series shmuplations.com/phantasystariv/

company president Moo Niitani outlines the history of Compile & briefly discusses the moment he realised their modest puzzle game Puyo Puyo could be a hit shmuplations.com/rootsofcompile/

(bonus: Treasure president & puzzle maniac Maegawa shares his love of Puyo shmuplations.com/maegawapuzzle)

director Noriyoshi Ohba details the very deliberate design of The Revenge of Shinobi, adapting the series for consoles vs. arcades and the game's lax approach to appropriating copyrighted characters shmuplations.com/shinobi/

the co-developers of the original Shining Force discuss their love of European fantasy, their relative disinterest in hardcore strategy and making a SRPG in a post-Dragon Quest world shmuplations.com/shiningforce/

in these two interviews, several key members of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games discuss the inception of the classic Sonic cast, their success in America and Yuji Naka's unrequited dreams of being headhunted by Nintendo

shmuplations.com/sonic/

shmuplations.com/sonicteam/

planner/designer Ayano Koshiro looks back at her work on Streets of Rage II and developing for the Mega Drive, as well as some of the game's less obvious influences shmuplations.com/streetsofrage2/ (also includes a ton of translated art & design docs)

there's nothing specifically pertinent to the Mega Drive port but these interviews with mastermind Akira Nishitani cover the design of Street Fighter II, early attempts at balance & how 🇯🇵 players were initially cool on playing versus others at arcades

shmuplations.com/streetfighteri…

the last interview for now: Technosoft alum Naosuke Arai offered some brief reflections on the making of Thunder Force III & working on the Mega Drive shmuplations.com/thunderforceiii

…& that's it, but there are many more MD & retro game interviews on the main site & tons more in the queue to translate, which you can vote on by supporting @ patreon.com/shmuplations

(full disclosure, I tinker at the edges of some of these but blackoak does all the real work!)

oh and please give this a look/forward if you haven't already, much obliged

https://twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1174561919367168000