Hidemaro Fujibayashi

Hidemaro Fujibayashi (藤林 秀麿 Fujibayashi Hidemaro, born October 1, 1972 in Kyoto Prefecture) is a Japanese video game designer working for Nintendo.[1] He is best known for his contributions to the action-adventure game series The Legend of Zelda, for which he served as planner, writer and director.[1][2] Before he entered the video game industry, Fujibayashi had designed layouts of haunted attractions for Japanese theme parks.[2] At that time, he had considered finding an occupation involving production, and came upon a job opening from a company that developed video games.[2] He was fascinated with the fact that his application for employment had to include a sample of his work that would be inspected directly upon transmittal, and he became enamored with the idea of being a game designer.[2] Fujibayashi eventually joined Capcom in 1995, where he gained experience as planner for the interactive movie Gakkō no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!! and the mahjong game Yōsuke Ide Meijin no Shin Jissen Maajan.[2][3] Later, he became part of the company's Production Studio 1, and designed and directed the puzzle game Magical Tetris Challenge.[2]

Fujibayashi's first involvement with the Zelda series was with the Game Boy Color games The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.[2] In the initial development stages, he acted as sort of a clerk, who gathered all staff ideas and created presentations to propose the game concepts to producer Shigeru Miyamoto.[3] Fujibayashi eventually became the director, participated as planner and scenario writer, and devised a system to link the two games for consecutive playthroughs.[3] During his time at Capcom, he also directed and planned the Game Boy Advance games The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.[4][5] Following his switch to Nintendo, Fujibayashi became subdirector and story writer for the Nintendo DS game The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.[1][6] Afterward, he made his directorial debut for a home console Zelda with the Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.[7] According to Fujibayashi, the most important aspect of game design is making the fundamental rule set of a video game absolutely clear to a player.[2] He has a special fondness for the first The Legend of Zelda, which he described as "novel" and "groundbreaking" for its time.[2]

Works

Year Title Platform Role
1995 Gakkō no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!! PlayStation, Sega Saturn Planner[3]
1996 Yōsuke Ide Meijin no Shin Jissen Maajan PlayStation, Sega Saturn, 3DO Planner[3]
1998 Magical Tetris Challenge Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color Director, planner[3]
2001 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages 		Game Boy Color Director, planner, scenario writer[3]
2002 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Game Boy Advance Director, planner
2004 The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Game Boy Advance Director, planner, writer
2007 The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Nintendo DS Subdirector, story writer[1]
2011 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Wii Director[7]
2017 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Wii U, Nintendo Switch Director[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計 開発スタッフインタビュー". Nindori.com (in Japanese). Kabushiki-gaisha Ambit. August 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "クリエイターズファイル 第106回". Gpara.com (in Japanese). March 17, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "任天堂マガジン表紙 (No.30) – インタビュー3 ディレクター インタビュー" (in Japanese). Nintendo Co., Ltd. February 2001.
  4. ↑ Nintendo Co., Ltd.; Capcom Co., Ltd (December 2, 2002). The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords. Nintendo of America Inc. Scene: Four Swords staff credits.
  5. ↑ Capcom Co., Ltd (January 10, 2005). The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Nintendo of America Inc. Scene: staff credits.
  6. ↑ "ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計 開発スタッフインタビュー". Nindori.com (in Japanese). Kabushiki-gaisha Ambit. September 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Harris, Craig (June 16, 2010). "E3 2010: Eiji Aonuma's "Trapped in the Zelda Cage"". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
  8. ↑ Otero, Jose. "E3 2016: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Might Be The Open World Zelda We Always Wanted". IGN. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
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