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Yoshiki Okamoto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yoshiki Okamoto (born June 10, 1961 in Ehime Prefecture, Japan) is a video game designer credited with designing a number of the most popular games in the industry.
Okamoto's early games such as Gyruss and Time Pilot set new and innovative standards in the shoot 'em up genre during the golden age of arcade games. Although these games turned out to be successful titles for Konami, Okamoto's employer was not too happy as apparently Okamoto had been told to create a driving game instead. Internal disagreements, financial and credible, caused his termination from Konami.
Joining Capcom in 1984, Okamoto continued to direct innovation. His first game for Capcom was 1942. He also created the Street Fighter series which remains one of the most important and successful video game franchises ever. Of course, the idea of two players fighting each other was hardly a new idea, having always been an integral part of arcade, home, and computer games. Indeed, PONG, Combat, and Computer Space pioneered such competitive formats in their respective video game genres, while Karate Champ and Yie-Ar Kung Fu predated Street Fighter by many years in terms of employing a martial arts theme. Nonetheless, Street Fighter and its more successful sequel Street Fighter II (in fact the first incarnation is largely forgotten) elevated graphics and gameplay to a worldwide phenomenon and established the fighting game genre as an institution within the industry.
Okamoto continued to develop video games for Capcom through Flagship, including Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan). Additionally, he produced the movie and its sequel. In 2004, he resigned from Capcom to form his own video game company.
Okamoto's new independent game company, Game Republic, has released its first game Genji. Genji is a game set in Feudal Japan, plays a lot like Onimusha and is hailed for its graphics and gameplay. A sequel is coming soon for the PS3.
Okamoto also developed a typical party game called Every Party, which was a launch title for the Xbox 360 in Japan.