The Segagaga director Tetsu "Tez" Okano has had an extraordinary but unconventional career in video games.
As a kid growing up in 1970s Japan, he fell in love with arcade games like Space Invaders and Galaxian but never initially considered that he would be able to make a career for himself in video games. As a result, he put his growing fascination with the burgeoning new industry to one side for a number of years, finishing his education and later going on to land a job with the Japanese publisher Kodansha as a manga artist contributing stories to "Morning" magazine between 1990 and 1991. Very quickly, though, as he has said in the past, he ended up discovering, that the occupation of an manga artist offered very little in the way of job security and decided that he should probably start looking for some more stable employment. Because of this, he soon found himself applying for a job at the arcade company Sega, which he claims was on the search for unusual talent at the time, eventually getting a job at Sega's AM Research & Development No. 3 in 1992.
As Okano readily admits. his first few games for the company weren't particularly successful. But, in 2001, he would eventually break this streak, making a name for himself in the world of games as the creator of the cult Japanese-exclusive Dreamcast RPG Segagaga. This was a game that saw players take control of Sega Taro, a young boy, tasked with saving a struggling Sega from losing the console market to their biggest rival, the developer DOGMA — a parody of Sega's then-competitor Sony. The game went on to generate a ton of attention and praise for its self-referential humour and put Okano on the map as one of the most unique creative voices working in games.
Following that, he then went on to work on various other notable titles for Sega, including the excellent Astro Boy: Omega Factor and Gunstar Super Heroes and has also been responsible for the development of other projects like the obscure Nintendo DS title Black Jack Hi no Tori Hen and the divisive Thunderforce VI for PS2. We recently spoke to Okano to hear more about his impressive career in games, learning from failure, and whether he would ever consider working for a big corporation like Sega again.
You can read the full interview below, translated by the Japanese-to-English translator Liz Bushouse.
Time Extension: You’ve previously stated that after joining SEGA in the ‘90s, your first few titles including Dragon Ball Z V.R.V.S, Rail Chase 2, and Dirt Devils weren’t necessarily standout successes. We’re wondering, what lessons did you learn from working on these games?
Okano: I'd say I learned my limits as a creator. I joined the company in 1992. Sega had momentum then, and no one knew what the future held for games, so they were gathering all kinds of unconventional talent. I was probably an extreme example of that. But as the industry developed, certain trends started to rear their heads. I think of myself as a creator, but only in the sense that my desire is to express myself. And I learned that that desire is not always in agreement with the needs or requests of game players and companies who congregate more towards optimal solutions for things. In other words, I was not at all what one might call a craftsmanlike director.
Time Extension: Segagaga is perhaps the game you’re the most well-known for. It’s a game you’ve talked about extensively elsewhere, so we won’t linger too long on it. We’d love to know, however — what were your initial reasons for wanting the project to become an official SEGA product? Did you expect it to be a success or was it more about finally making your mark at the company?
Okano: To be frank, it's because all I had was ideas. I didn't have any outstanding accomplishments, so it was impossible to get a large budget or team. But I had an infinite amount of ideas, so I went "What's the game that would sell the best based only on an unconventional idea?" and worked backwards from there. I didn't think it would fly off the shelves, but I figured it would do well enough to become an established product. And AM3's director, Oguchi, accepted me and my ideas despite me not bringing any profit to the company, and pushed the plan through, as unconventional as it was.
Time Extension: We’re not sure if you’re aware, but there is currently a group of Segagaga fans who are trying to create an English fan patch for Segagaga. It will basically allow people who already own a copy of the game to replace the Japanese text with English text. Do you have any opinions on people modifying/patching your games?
Okano: Personally, it makes me happy to know that people love something I worked on. But also, as someone who neither works for Sega nor holds any rights over Segagaga, I don't want to inconvenience Sega by taking any sort of action because I was one of the developers. Both of these feelings are mixed together, so I don't want people to misunderstand me. I'm an active game developer, so I can help with a Segagaga translation or remake at any time as long as it's an official project. On the other hand, I have no intention of being involved in anything that infringes on Sega's rights. A number of overseas developers have said, "We want you to make a sequel; we'll get permission from Sega for you to do it" so I'm praying that their efforts pan out.
Time Extension: Astro Boy: Omega Factor for the Game Boy Advance is another classic game you worked on that is talked about a lot in the West. How did you first get introduced to Osamu Tezuka’s work?
Okano: My parents, especially my mother, liked Osamu Tezuka. Manga as a whole wasn't held in very high esteem back then, but Osamu Tezuka was an exception. Sega had a contract that gave them full rights over Tezuka Productions for seven years, to use as they saw fit, but there weren't many who were familiar with Tezuka's classic works, so I did my best to make something that would stand up even in the eyes of die-hard fans. The reason why the game turned out as well as it did is of course largely thanks to everyone at Treasure, as well as the team I assembled: Saito, Nakai, Mibu, Yokokawa, and others.
Time Extension: You’ve recently been opening up about the experience of developing Astro Boy: Omega Factor on social media, such as bringing attention to the work of the freelance artist Tomoharu Saito, who unfortunately is no longer with us. What was it like working with Saito-san on the project? Did you keep in touch after the project ended or work together on any other titles?
Okano: Tomoharu Saito was both a wonderful person and a great developer, and was often the life of the project, balancing out me and my eccentric ideas. Because he was a freelance artist, he was more of a drinking buddy than someone I constantly worked with, and I had him do the art for Segagaga too. Black Jack didn't use pixel art, so I really wanted to work with him again on the project after that, but it never happened.
Time Extension: After your successful collaboration with Treasure on Astro Boy, you later worked with the studio again on Gunstar Super Heroes. This was a sequel to the 1993 run and gunner Gunstar Heroes for the SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis. Were you familiar with the previous game before starting work on the sequel?
Okano: I'm a huge Sega fan, so I was well aware of Gunstar Heroes back then. I love that game. I threw an homage to it in Astro Boy GBA too, but maybe people didn't pick up on that.
I became Gunstar Super Heroes' lead within Sega, what with my ties to Atom and all that, but I wasn't an initial member of the team. I've heard that Treasure voluntarily worked on it themselves for several years beforehand. Over half of it was already finished thanks to Hideyuki "NAMI" Suganami, an extremely gifted developer who could both program and do art.
The game was already packed with homages to other Sega titles at this point.
Time Extension: Gunstar Super Heroes features some references to other SEGA properties like Flicky, Thunder Blade, and Afterburner (even more overt references were also apparently planned, but removed). Whose idea was this? SEGA’s or Treasure's?
Okano: So basically, the references were Treasure's idea. This may be a little difficult to follow, so I'm going to go into more detail.
Because NAMI is such a unique prodigy, the controls were somewhat difficult. For Sega, who picked it up from Treasure (I think that's why it was already packed with Sega references), the game was great but was going to be really hard to finish. They were scared of not recuperating all the money they put into it. I was approached to be the lead on it within Sega, and I was a fan of the previous game, so I took up the challenge of managing it, while trying to use as much of the already completed game as possible.
In the end, as a part of Sega's staff, I kept the limited budget and schedule given to me and succeeded in putting the game out into the world. We edited the story to make it easier for younger players to understand, what with all the ambiguities between friend and foe, and appointed Shinya Kaneko to unify the character images. But the fact that we messed with it like that was probably disappointing to NAMI, who put his heart into making it. My first priority was getting it done and out the door, but as a result, a lot of people hated me for that job.
I desperately tried to stop NAMI who wanted to cut all the Sega references he'd gone to the trouble of making. It's hard to explain the nuance of this, but I remember discovering awesome half-finished-then-abandoned bosses and rejected stages from Alien Soldier after the fact. I never ended up working with Treasure again after that.
Because of everything that happened, I'm not really in a position to speak all that much about the game. I'm sure the other developers, Treasure, NAMI, and even others have their own opinions, so please keep in mind that this is all only from my perspective.
Time Extension: What many Western players probably won’t know is that Astro Boy was actually one of two titles that you developed for SEGA based on the work of Osamu Tezuka — the other being Black Jack Hi no Tori Hen for the Nintendo DS. This made extensive use of the DS’s touchscreen feature to allow players to perform surgeries. What was it like developing a game for the DS-dual screen?
Okano: This was right in the middle of the DS's "Brain Training" gaming trend which targeted the middle-aged and the elderly. At the time, it was difficult to do projects other than ones like that, but I managed to get the game through by framing it as "a manga you can play."
There was also the intention to use that contract that granted full rights over Tezuka Productions. Because it wasn't an action game at all, we teamed up with Genki. I'm still incredibly grateful to the staff at Genki for fulfilling all my annoying demands and working really hard on it.
Time Extension: Of course, after your work in the handheld space, you eventually went to work on Thunder Force VI for PS2 – the last mainline entry in the Thunder Force series and the first to be developed by someone other than Technosoft. Was it daunting to step into this role given how beloved this series was? The game ended up proving divisive among long-time fans. Do you have any thoughts on what went well in retrospect, and what you’d improve given the opportunity?
Okano: Of course, that's exactly right. As for what didn't go well, not being able to live up to the fans' expectations was definitely one thing, and for that I apologize. The responsibility lies totally with me, so I'm content to take any complaints.
As for what went well, I'd say it showed that old games can be remade depending on how you do it. (Back in 2008, there wasn't a resurgence of interest in retro games and indie games hadn't risen in popularity yet)
Also, it was such a low-budget project that staff members would pay out of their own pocket for additional characters, but the project as a whole didn't incur any losses, so I guess you could say that was another thing that went well.
Time Extension: You later ended up leaving SEGA and establishing HUGA Studio to work on your own independent projects, including the film Final Re:Quest, and mobile games like The Girl From Gunma Kai (which you’re now porting to Steam). How does life as an independent creator compare to working for a company like SEGA? Would you ever consider going back to working for a large corporation? Or are those days behind you?
Okano: To put it simply, I have all the freedom and no power. I've finally seized my dream of being able to create whatever I want with no limitations, but I also lost the power of the large corporation that protected me. I regret what I've lost, but considering my main motive, I'm not really thinking of ever returning. Yet, I haven't cut ties with my past, and as the creator of Segagaga and other games, I want to maintain a good relationship with Sega.
Time Extension: Thank you again for your time! It's been a pleasure speaking with you.