Yuji Horii - Revision history

LiquidMetalSlime: Text replacement - "{{Dragon Quest series}}" to "{{DQSeriesNav}}"

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Text replacement - "{{Dragon Quest series}}" to "{{DQSeriesNav}}"

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	*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABji_Horii Wikipedia article on Yūji Horii]		*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABji_Horii Wikipedia article on Yūji Horii]

	{{~~Dragon Quest series~~}}		{{DQSeriesNav}}
	[[Category:Staff]]		[[Category:Staff]]

dragon>Follower of Light at 16:56, 19 May 2025

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	[[File:Sumoto City Monument of Dragon Quest.jpg\|right\|thumb\|200px]]		[[File:Sumoto City Monument of Dragon Quest.jpg\|right\|thumb\|200px]]
	*Horii describes himself as a mischievous man, and finds that shocking and surprising players to be one of the most rewarding parts of his career as a game designer.		*Horii describes himself as a mischievous man, and finds that shocking and surprising players to be one of the most rewarding parts of his career as a game designer.
	*Though admittedly his skills have deteriorated since his college days, Horii draws a [[~~Slime~~]] as part of his signature when signing autographs.		*Though admittedly his skills have deteriorated since his college days, Horii draws a [[slime]] as part of his signature when signing autographs.
			*Time travel is one of Horii's favorite themes in media, and he cites watching [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Tunnel\| The Time Tunnel] when it aired in Japan as an example<ref>編: 映画とかもかなりご覧になられるんですか?
			堀井: 映画は、最近忙しくてあまり見ないですけど。好きな映画てパターンがあって、時間旅行ものが好きなんですよ。タイムスリップものというのが大好きで。
			編: それが「クロノ・トリガー」などに出ているんですね。
			堀井: ええ。あと、昔テレビでやってた「タイムトンネル」が大好きで、毎週欠かさず見ていたんですよね。他には二面性があるものが好きなんですよ。水戸黄門(笑)とか、スーパーマンとか。映画では、「天国から来たチャンピオン」。小説だと司馬遼太郎さんとか好きです。
			編: では、二面性の魅力ってなんでしょう。ゲーム批評 volume 8, April 1996</ref>.
	*On July 15th, 2017, a bronze statue depicting a slime, alongside the sword and shield of [[Erdrick]], was built in Sumoto city of Hyogo prefecture to celebrate Horii as one of the city's finest sons.		*On July 15th, 2017, a bronze statue depicting a slime, alongside the sword and shield of [[Erdrick]], was built in Sumoto city of Hyogo prefecture to celebrate Horii as one of the city's finest sons.
	*In {{Dragon Quest VIII}}, an infamous king slime is named [[Hori (Recruit)\|Hori]], presumably after Yūji Horii.		*In {{Dragon Quest VIII}}, an infamous king slime is named [[Hori (Recruit)\|Hori]], presumably after Yūji Horii.

dragon>Follower of Light at 00:21, 13 January 2025

2025-01-13T00:21:28Z

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	{{ja\|'''Yuji Horii'''\|堀井雄二\|Horii Yūji\|also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954 in [[Wikipedia:Awaji Island\|Awaji Island]], Japan}} is a [[Wikipedia:Japan\|Japanese]] video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the {{DQSeries}}. A giant among industry veterans, he created the blueprint for the console role-playing game through his work on the ''[[Portopia]]'' series and the original {{Dragon Quest}}. He is the sole owner of the {{DQSeries}} via his private company, [[Armor Project]], which has an exclusive publishing contract with [[Square Enix]]. [[File:Yūji Horii.png\|right\|thumb\|240px]]		{{ja\|'''Yuji Horii'''\|堀井雄二\|Horii Yūji\|also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954 in [[Wikipedia:Awaji Island\|Awaji Island]], Japan}} is a [[Wikipedia:Japan\|Japanese]] video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the {{DQSeries}}. A giant among industry veterans, he created the blueprint for the console role-playing game through his work on the ''[[Portopia]]'' series and the original {{Dragon Quest}}. He is the sole owner of the {{DQSeries}} via his private company, [[Armor Project]], which has an exclusive publishing contract with [[Square Enix]].

			On December 17, 2024 Horii was honored with the [https://archive.is/U2kQb\|Cultural Affairs’ Commissioner’s award] for his contributions to Japanese culture. [[File:Yūji Horii.png\|right\|thumb\|240px]]

	==Biography==		==Biography==

dragon>Follower of Light at 16:47, 13 October 2024

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	==External Links==		==External Links==
	*[http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~~%7Eyubon~~/ Yuji Horii's personal website]		*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090330061535/http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~yubon/ Yuji Horii's personal website]
	*[https://www.waseda.jp/inst/weekly/feature-en/2017/05/15/25708/ An interview conducted by current members of Waseda's Kenkyu-kai]		*[https://www.waseda.jp/inst/weekly/feature-en/2017/05/15/25708/ An interview conducted by current members of Waseda's Kenkyu-kai]
	*[http://archive.is/Ke47L an archive of part 1 of the above interview]		*[http://archive.is/Ke47L an archive of part 1 of the above interview]

dragon>Follower of Light at 16:46, 13 October 2024

2024-10-13T16:46:39Z

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	After reaching the limits of the built-in word processing program Horii began to explore the capabilities of the machine, teaching himself BASIC as he went along. The idea of creating a game of his own dawned on Horii as he played through various bits of software that were available at the time, such as an early ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' title and a licensed ''Star Trek'' game. The most realized of these early efforts was ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス), which Horii would enter into an [[Enix]]-sponsored programming contest he was reporting on in 1983. Much to his surprise, he discovered his title had placed second when he arrived to report on the awards ceremony. It was there that he met [[Kōichi Nakamura]], whose ''DOOR-DOOR'' (ドアドア) had won first place. The two became fast friends, and decided to work together in the growing world of entertainment software.		After reaching the limits of the built-in word processing program Horii began to explore the capabilities of the machine, teaching himself BASIC as he went along. The idea of creating a game of his own dawned on Horii as he played through various bits of software that were available at the time, such as an early ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' title and a licensed ''Star Trek'' game. The most realized of these early efforts was ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス), which Horii would enter into an [[Enix]]-sponsored programming contest he was reporting on in 1983. Much to his surprise, he discovered his title had placed second when he arrived to report on the awards ceremony. It was there that he met [[Kōichi Nakamura]], whose ''DOOR-DOOR'' (ドアドア) had won first place. The two became fast friends, and decided to work together in the growing world of entertainment software.

	Horii's first success at [[Enix]] was the Portopia serial murder case, a screen-by-screen adventure ~~game~~ that tasked the player with unraveling the mysterious circumstances of a violent murder in the eponymous seaside town. The title proved to be a watershed moment for the young Horii, garnering him well deserved respect at [[Enix]] and strengthening his working relationship with top company programmer Kōichi Nakamura. Further more, the simple menu-selection system implemented in the game would become a corner stone of the {{Main Series}} series' user input.		Horii's first success at Enix was the Portopia serial murder case, released in June of 1983. The game is a screen-by-screen adventure that tasked the player with unraveling the mysterious circumstances of a violent murder in the eponymous seaside town. The title proved to be a watershed moment for the young Horii, garnering him well deserved respect at Enix thanks to the sophisticated title being written, designed, and programmed by just himself.

	===The Road to Dragon Quest===		===The Road to Dragon Quest===
	In 1983, Enix sent Horii and Nakamura to Applefest; a trade show hosted by Apple computers in San Fransisco that allowed attendees so sample new business software, computer architecture, and computer games being developed. It was here that Horii encountered his first ~~RPG~~--''[[Wikipedia:Wizardry\|Wizardry]]''. Having never ~~encountered~~ a game of this kind before, where success depended on strategy and thorough planning rather than quick reflexes, Horii became so enamored with the seemingly endless mysteries of the ~~game~~ that he purchased an Apple II immediately upon his return to Japan just to play the ~~game~~.		In October of 1983, Enix sent Horii and Nakamura to [https://www.apple2history.org/appendix/ahb/ahb3/ Applefest]; a trade show hosted by Apple computers in San Fransisco that allowed attendees to sample new business software, see emerging computer architecture, and demo computer games being developed. It was here that Horii encountered his first RPGs--''[[Wikipedia:Ultima I\|Ultima]]'' and ''[[Wikipedia:Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord\|Wizardry]]''. Having never seen a game of this kind before, where success depended on strategy and thorough planning rather than quick reflexes, Horii became so enamored with the seemingly endless mysteries of the games that he purchased Apple II-compatible hardware immediately upon his return to Japan just to play them. 1983 would also see the launch of the {{Famicom}} hardware by Nintendo, marketed as a more affordable alternative to the traditional computer that was compatible with ports of the company's popular arcade games. Horii continued to work on traditional computers during the first few years of the Famicom's existence, but kept an eye on the rising star hardware nonetheless thanks to it's break out success.

	In 1985 ''Portopia'' ~~was ported~~ to the {{Famicom}}, ~~greatly improving~~ the machine's software library ~~from the handful of obtuse~~ action titles. ~~This porting success gained Horii further recognition among~~ the ~~gaming community, prompting him to be inaugurated in Weekly ''Shonen Jump's'' ''{{~~Famicom~~}} KamiKen'' periodical. This bi~~-~~monthly article was reflection on current hot titles, game trends, and developer gossip~~ of the ~~period that allowed readers to send~~ in ~~their own essays to be printed~~ in ''~~Shonen Jump~~''. ~~When Horii sent~~ in ~~his own article, he~~ was ~~quickly hired as~~ a ~~staff writer. From this connection Horii would put his college education to good use and free-lance his writing skills out to various manga-ka~~ in the ~~magazine as he worked on his games, eventually meeting acclaimed artist [[Akira Toriyama]] at an~~ ''SJ'' ~~new year~~'s ~~party. The two became fast friends~~, and ~~Toriyama would contribute character, monster~~, ~~and location designs to the series~~.		Horii would commit to the Famicom on November 29 1985 by porting ''Portopia'' to the platform, aided Nakamura's personal studio [[Chunsoft]]. The Famicom version of the title marked the first time the two friends worked together on a commercial product, and the game immediately gained attention thanks to the machine's software library primarily being action titles. Notable is that the Famicom controller possessed only four buttons and necessitated the ditching the keyboard-based input structure of the original in favor of the intuitive [[Command Menu\|command menu]] found in it's sequel, ''[[The Hokkaidō Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance]]'' (オホーツクに消ゆ), released earlier in 1984. Every action a player needed to make in the game was easily accessible from the command menu instead of being assigned to a specific keyboard key in a disjointed fashion, greatly streamlining the experience. The Famicom version of ''Portopia'' would eclipse the original computer version's sales figures by selling 600,000 copies in the first year and reaching 800,000 copies by 1989<ref>『89年版ヒット商品「88」』講談社、1988年、31頁。NDLJP:11984310/18</ref>.

	With the success of the Famicom port of ''Portopia'', proving that a "slow game" can dominate the sales charts in an action game market, Horii and Nakamura agreed that the timing was right to begin development of the Famicom's first genuine RPG. After a lengthy process of convincing [[Enix]] supervisor Yukinobu Chida of the project's potential for success, the unnamed project was given the greenlight to begin development with Horii as sole scenario writer, Nakamura as lead programmer~~, and Toriyama as illustrator~~. Instead of a common ''Wizardry'' ~~clone~~, the two decided to combine the best aspects of both the aforementioned series and it's chief competitor ''Ultima'' and eliminate the largest design flaws of both in the process. To accomplish this it was decided to use the simple menu-driven command system of Portopia, the first-person battle screen of ''Wizardry'', and the bird's-eye view map exploration of ''Ultima''. Coincidentally, acclaimed composer [[Kōichi Sugiyama]] had filled out a consumer response card packaged in the back of ''~~Portopia~~'', and was quickly approached for the possibility of composing the music for the ~~ambitious title~~. ~~Accepting the challenge~~, ~~Sugiyama meets~~ with the ~~team and begins his composition work~~, ~~even going as far as to play the scores on~~ his ~~piano over the phone for group approval~~.		With the success of the Famicom port of ''Portopia'', proving that a "slow game" can dominate the sales charts in an action game market, Horii and Nakamura agreed that the timing was right to begin development of the Famicom's first genuine RPG. After a lengthy process of convincing Enix supervisor Yukinobu Chida of the project's potential for success, the unnamed project was given the greenlight to begin development with Horii as sole scenario writer and Nakamura as lead programmer through Chunsoft. Instead of the common ''Wizardry'' clones that saturated the computer market in America, the two decided to combine the best aspects of both the aforementioned series and it's chief competitor ''Ultima'' and eliminate the largest design flaws of both in the process. To accomplish this it was decided to use the simple menu-driven command system of the Famicom Portopia, the first-person battle screen of ''Wizardry'', and the bird's-eye view map exploration of ''Ultima''. Development would officially begin in November of 1985 with a staff of five men.

			As development on the unnamed RPG continued, Horii was working as a copywriter for a video game section within ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. This section, titled ''Famicom Shinken'' (ファミコン神拳) after the popular manga [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_of_the_North_Star Fist of the North Star], was edited by Horii's friend [[Kazuhiko Torishima]]. The two had bonded over games after being introduced by their mutual friend [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%95%E3%81%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%82%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89 Akira Sakuma] and previously wrote articles for [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%88%E5%88%8AOUT ''Monthly OUT''], which led to Torishima contracting Horii to write for ''Famicom Shinken''. As luck would have it, working with Torishima would catapult Horii's RPG project into becoming a cornerstone of Japanese culture in just a few short years: ''Famicom Shinken'' was facing fierce competition from the video game section of rival magazine [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoroCoro_Comic CoroCoro comics] and needed something to give ''Shonen Jump'' a sales advantage. After a period of brainstorming, Torishima concluded that the magazine's young readers would want to learn of how games are made and, having already known of Horii's passion project, convinced his superiors within upper management to dedicate page space to the title.

			As an extra incentive to sweeten the deal, Torishima used his authority as the editor of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga to assign [[Akira Toriyama]] to the project as the artist was under a very strict publishing contract that only allowed his work to be printed through Shueisha. This guaraunteed that ''Shonen Jump'' would have the best coverage of the game legally possible, and Horii suddenly found his RPG was getting attention via one of the most widely-circulating magazines in Japan in addition to being personally illustrated by one of the most popular artists in the world.

			Coincidentally, acclaimed composer [[Kōichi Sugiyama]] had filled out a consumer response card packaged in the back of an Enix-published game called ''Kazuo Morita's Shogi'' (森田和郎の将棋), and was quickly approached by an Enix representative for the possibility of composing the music for the company. One of these games was Horii's RPG, now formally titled ''Dragon Quest'', on Chida's suggestion after being personally disappointed with the soundtrack composed by Chunsoft. With this, Horii found his game being carried forward by two luminaries of their respective fields.

	After a rough development period and countless hours contemplating the feedback of Enix staff and playtesters, {{Dragon Quest}} was released on May 27th, 1986. Sales were slow at first, but strong word of mouth and a healthy advertising campaign in ''Shonen Jump'' magazine lead to a steady increase throughout the year, selling 1.5 million copies in total before production of the cartridge ceased in the early 90's. The title was an unprecedented sensation in Japan, leading to a cultural craze that lead to a boom of interest not only in RPG software, but tales of swords & sorcery, European myths and culture, and fantasy literature. For all this influence on his country's zeitgeist, Horii has remained a humble man, happy to give players new quests to venture out on as long as he can.		After a rough development period and countless hours contemplating the feedback of Enix staff and playtesters, {{Dragon Quest}} was released on May 27th, 1986. Sales were slow at first, but strong word of mouth and a healthy advertising campaign in ''Shonen Jump'' magazine lead to a steady increase throughout the year, selling 1.5 million copies in total before production of the cartridge ceased in the early 90's. The title was an unprecedented sensation in Japan, leading to a cultural craze that lead to a boom of interest not only in RPG software, but tales of swords & sorcery, European myths and culture, and fantasy literature. For all this influence on his country's zeitgeist, Horii has remained a humble man, happy to give players new quests to venture out on as long as he can.
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	Horiipimp4.jpg\|		Horiipimp4.jpg\|
	</gallery></center>		</gallery></center>

			==References==
			<references/>

	==External Links==		==External Links==
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	{{Dragon Quest series}}		{{Dragon Quest series}}

	~~{{Wikipedia}}~~
	~~{{Wikipedia-ja}}~~

	[[Category:Staff]]		[[Category:Staff]]

dragon>Follower of Light: /* Gallery */

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Gallery

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	Horiiautographboard.png\|		Horiiautographboard.png\|
	Horiiinterview.jpg\|		Horiiinterview.jpg\|
	HowVidGames11.jpg\|Yuji Horii and his ~~daughters~~.		HowVidGames11.jpg\|Yuji Horii and his daughter Marina and son Nanpei.
	HowVidGames10.jpg\|		HowVidGames10.jpg\|
	HowVidGames09.jpg\|		HowVidGames09.jpg\|

dragon>Follower of Light: /* Post-graduation Career */

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Post-graduation Career

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	In early 1981 Horii read an article in one of the magazines he wrote for that detailed the then-upcoming rise of microcomputer systems and how they were expected to affect the daily life of the common individual. Having considered himself to be competent at mathematics and not being intimidated by the user-unfriendly campus computer at Waseda, Horii opted to purchase a model for himself.		In early 1981 Horii read an article in one of the magazines he wrote for that detailed the then-upcoming rise of microcomputer systems and how they were expected to affect the daily life of the common individual. Having considered himself to be competent at mathematics and not being intimidated by the user-unfriendly campus computer at Waseda, Horii opted to purchase a model for himself.

	After reaching the limits of the built-in word processing program Horii began to explore the capabilities of the machine, teaching himself BASIC as he went along. The idea of creating a game of his own dawned on Horii as he played through various bits of software that were available at the time, such as an early ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' title and a licensed ''Star Trek'' game. The most realized of these early efforts was ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス), which Horii would enter into an [[Enix]]-sponsored programming contest he was reporting on in ~~1982~~. Much to his surprise, he discovered his title had placed second when he arrived to report on the awards ceremony. It was there that he met [[Kōichi Nakamura]], whose ''DOOR-DOOR'' (ドアドア) had won first place. The two became fast friends, and decided to work together in the growing world of entertainment software.		After reaching the limits of the built-in word processing program Horii began to explore the capabilities of the machine, teaching himself BASIC as he went along. The idea of creating a game of his own dawned on Horii as he played through various bits of software that were available at the time, such as an early ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' title and a licensed ''Star Trek'' game. The most realized of these early efforts was ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス), which Horii would enter into an [[Enix]]-sponsored programming contest he was reporting on in 1983. Much to his surprise, he discovered his title had placed second when he arrived to report on the awards ceremony. It was there that he met [[Kōichi Nakamura]], whose ''DOOR-DOOR'' (ドアドア) had won first place. The two became fast friends, and decided to work together in the growing world of entertainment software.

	Horii's first success at [[Enix]] was the Portopia serial murder case, a screen-by-screen adventure game that tasked the player with unraveling the mysterious circumstances of a violent murder in the eponymous seaside town. The title proved to be a watershed moment for the young Horii, garnering him well deserved respect at [[Enix]] and strengthening his working relationship with top company programmer Kōichi Nakamura. Further more, the simple menu-selection system implemented in the game would become a corner stone of the {{Main Series}} series' user input.		Horii's first success at [[Enix]] was the Portopia serial murder case, a screen-by-screen adventure game that tasked the player with unraveling the mysterious circumstances of a violent murder in the eponymous seaside town. The title proved to be a watershed moment for the young Horii, garnering him well deserved respect at [[Enix]] and strengthening his working relationship with top company programmer Kōichi Nakamura. Further more, the simple menu-selection system implemented in the game would become a corner stone of the {{Main Series}} series' user input.

dragon>Antiyonder at 08:18, 3 January 2024

2024-01-03T08:18:50Z

Show changes

dragon>Antiyonder at 08:45, 2 June 2023

2023-06-02T08:45:37Z

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	*'''Favorite item:''' [[Sage's stone]].		*'''Favorite item:''' [[Sage's stone]].
	*'''Least liked items:''' [[Kerplunk bracer]], [[Dieamend]].		*'''Least liked items:''' [[Kerplunk bracer]], [[Dieamend]].
	*'''Most hated dungeons:''' [[Galen]]'s grave in ''I'' and the [[Cave to Rendarak]] in {{II}}.		*'''Most hated dungeons:''' {{Galen}}'s grave in ''I'' and the [[Cave to Rendarak]] in {{II}}.

	==Other works==		==Other works==

2603:9000:9201:1774:801D:7C69:D8A:7A1E: /* Trivia */

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Trivia

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	*On July 15th, 2017, a bronze statue depicting a slime, alongside the sword and shield of Erdrick, was built in Sumoto city of Hyogo prefecture to celebrate Horii as one of the city's finest sons.		*On July 15th, 2017, a bronze statue depicting a slime, alongside the sword and shield of Erdrick, was built in Sumoto city of Hyogo prefecture to celebrate Horii as one of the city's finest sons.
	*In {{DQ8}}, an infamous king slime is named [[Hori (Recruit)\|Hori]], presumably after Yūji Horii.		*In {{DQ8}}, an infamous king slime is named [[Hori (Recruit)\|Hori]], presumably after Yūji Horii.
			*In [[Dragon Quest Treasures]] a [[King Slime]] named after and voiced by Yuji Horii himself can be recovered by entering the code YUB. This marks the first and only time where Yuji Horii’s voice is heard in the Dragon Quest series as well as his first and only voice role in any video game.

	==Gallery==		==Gallery==

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:07, 7 October 2024
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	Horiiautographboard.png\|		Horiiautographboard.png\|
	Horiiinterview.jpg\|		Horiiinterview.jpg\|
	HowVidGames11.jpg\|Yuji Horii and his ~~daughters~~.		HowVidGames11.jpg\|Yuji Horii and his daughter Marina and son Nanpei.
	HowVidGames10.jpg\|		HowVidGames10.jpg\|
	HowVidGames09.jpg\|		HowVidGames09.jpg\|