GDC 10: Metroid Designer Talks Creative Inspiration

[IndustryGamers would like to thank EA Sports for sponsoring our trip to GDC this year]

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Yoshio Sakamoto is fairly well known in gaming circles in the U.S. as one the principle designers of the Metroid series. However, Metroid's less prominent nature in Japan means he's very differently perceived in his homeland.

“It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Metroid is the only series I’m known for outside of Japan,” said Sakamoto during GDC [thanks Gamasutra]. “Over there, I might be considered a guy who only makes niche games… my true identity might be as a game designer with a strong tendency for niche games.”

Sakamoto's work is more diverse than the Metroid series, also including the quirky WarioWare games. His predilection for odd games apparently puzzles even Nintendo President Satoru Iwata.

“I’m well aware that Mr. Iwata thinks of me as someone only with a comical touch,” noted Sakimoto. who mentioned that filmmaker Dario Argento (Suspira, Deep Red) is one of his biggest inspirations. “I decided that without a doubt, I wanted to create things in the same manner as Argento did.”

Specifically, Argento uses mood with his music, timing, and foreshadowing to connect events and contrast for dramatic tension. Sakamoto made Famicom Detective Club as an homage, and continues to use him as inspiration for Metroid: Other M. “The reason I am sharing this is to show you how deep my desire was to find the ideal method of conveying fear, and how that led me to find my own creative style,” he said.

Sakamoto's film appetite led him to seek out films by Luc Besson, Brian De Palma, John Woo and other Hong Kong directors. “It might sound like a joke, but I started to have dreams viewed from an objective point of view, with edited scenes and even their own background music. Maybe my affinity for niche things extends even beyond games,” said Sakamoto, adding, “I haven’t seen any more movies than the average person. I have great admiration for these directors, but it’s not like I have a complex about it or try to become one,” he says. “They’ve helped bring that out in me.”

Along with his love for horror films, Sakamoto says he's a big comedy fan. “I love things that are funny and things that make me laugh – I’m always thinking, ‘is there a laugh hidden here? Can I find something funny in this?’ I just want to make other people laugh the most,” said Sakamoto. “I’m not a comedian… I’m just happy to add a little spice to my day and make the people around me have a good time.”

He notes that he's meticulous in getting a laugh and that he uses the mood, timing, foreshadowing and contrast principle regardless of what type of emotion he's trying to convey. “When it occurs to me I will take my best material in my head and simulate the situation… in which I will find my best delivery,” detailed Sakamoto. “I want to control audience reaction; I want to engineer the laugh.”

Many attending were eager to hear about Sakamoto's “ultimate” Metroid project in Metroid: Other M but he suprisingly noted that there's no difference in approach for him whether he's making a WarioWare game or a Metroid title. "It’s more about technique; I think this is the real answer,” said Sakamoto. “As long as one is open to the possibility of new experiences and is willing to feel them deeply, you can use a single toolset to move people’s hearts in a great many different ways. I’d like to leave it to you to decide if this is true or not."

As an example of foreshadowing he noted the story set between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion that he's helping to compose, and he reintroduces Adam Malkovich from Fusion. “I tell the story of Samus as a young girl and reveal her relationship with Adam, but that’s just a portion of Other M," he says.

Speaking generally about his own art, he said, "Developing games is all about giving shape to images. Throughout the course of my life I've come across many things: moments from movies or music, things created by people, human beings themselves, objects, living creatures et cetera."

"My spirit has been moved by these interactions… I think these experiences create individual images that stick with us,” continues Sakamoto. “From the perspective of someone who makes games, I believe that it’s our job to take those moments that our spirits have been moved, and represent them with understandable forms. It’s our mission to give our images shapes that can be conveyed to other people.”

When a woman sent his team a valentine's gift of chocolate becase she liked Famicom Detective Club, he realized that "what we create touches the heart and spirits of people," he says. Since then he's tried to visualize "the best possible reaction on the faces of my imagined audience.”

“I hope that you will continue to convey the beautiful and fun things stored in your heart to the players who love games,” he concluded.