Akira Yasuda – better known as Akiman – is one of Capcom's most famous artists and character designers and was employed with the Japanese company during what many fans feel was its 'golden era' for 2D games. Akiman worked on the likes of Final Fight, Street Fighter II, Darkstalkers and Marvel vs. Capcom before leaving the firm in 2003 to go freelance.
A short time ago, he spoke about a cancelled Capcom arcade beat 'em up by the name of Bao. He's now taken to Twitter to talk a little more about the game (thanks, VGDensetsu).
Bao was intended to be a project on which Capcom could train future character designers. While he wasn't directly involved in its production, he was the art director for producer Yoshiki Okamoto's division, and when Okamoto asked him for his opinion about the game, Akiman spoke honestly – he didn't like it.
Based on this feedback, Bao's development was scrapped – something which he feels might have caused resentment on behalf of those who worked on the game. "It seemed like they actually hated me," he says.
Darkstalkers, which began life as a replacement for Bao, was also focused on training new designers – only this time, Akiman was involved with the game from the start of production (he would later request not to be credited on it, however).
Akiman has also worked on the anime series Turn A Gundam, Overman King Gainer, Code Geass, Bodacious Space Pirates and Gundam Reconguista in G.