Difference between revisions of "Shiro Maekawa"

Revision as of 08:34, 26 August 2018

Shiro Maekawa

Place of birth: Hōfu, Yamaguchi prefecture
Company(ies): Sega of Japan
Role(s): Designer, director
Education: Yamaguchi University (1989-1993)

Shiro Maekawa (前川司郎) is a game planner.^[1] He joined Sega in April 1993 and left in March 2008, currently working at Marvelous.^[2] Originally wanting to become an animator, he gave up on that profession as he felt he lacked the required drawing skills, but upon learning that unit direction (storyboards) and storytelling does require great drawing ability, he took the opportunity of being in charge of Sonic Adventure 2's story. Prior to working on Sonic, he also wrote some event dialogue for Panzer Dragoon.

Production history

Games

Panzer Dragoon (Saturn; 1995) — 声 (as 前川司郎)
Panzer Dragoon (Saturn; 1995) — Voices^[3]
Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Saturn; 1996) — Special thanks to (as 前川司郎)
Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Saturn; 1996) — Special Thanks^[4]
Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn; 1998) — 原案/設定 (as 前川司郎)
Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn; 1998) — 企画 (as 前川司郎)
Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — Field designers
Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — A-LIFE system designers
Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — Visual memory game designer
Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast; 2001) — Scenario Writer
Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast; 2001) — Story Event Designer
Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast; 2001) — Visual Memory Game Support
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube; 2001) — Scenario Writer
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube; 2001) — Story Event Designer
Sonic Heroes (PlayStation 2; 2003) — Main Game Designer
Sonic Heroes (GameCube; 2003) — Main Game Designer
Sonic Heroes (Xbox; 2003) — Main Game Designer
Sonic Heroes (PlayStation 2; 2003) — Enemy Game Designer
Sonic Heroes (GameCube; 2003) — Enemy Game Designer
Sonic Heroes (Xbox; 2003) — Enemy Game Designer
Sonic Heroes (PlayStation 2; 2003) — Scenario Writer
Sonic Heroes (GameCube; 2003) — Scenario Writer
Sonic Heroes (Xbox; 2003) — Scenario Writer
Sonic Heroes (PlayStation 2; 2003) — Story Board Designers
Sonic Heroes (GameCube; 2003) — Story Board Designers
Sonic Heroes (Xbox; 2003) — Story Board Designers
Sonic Mega Collection Plus (PlayStation 2; 2004) — Special Thanks
Sonic Mega Collection Plus (Xbox; 2004) — Special Thanks
Sonic Heroes (Windows PC; 2004) — Director
Shadow the Hedgehog (PlayStation 2; 2005) — Development Support
Shadow the Hedgehog (GameCube; 2005) — Development Support
Sonic the Hedgehog (PlayStation 3; 2006) — Game Script
Sonic the Hedgehog (Xbox 360; 2006) — Game Script
Sonic Mega Collection Plus (Windows PC; 2006) — Special Thanks
Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii; 2007) — Game Designers
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo DS; 2008) — Special Thanks

Music

Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu (Vinyl; 1999) — Words by^[5]

Sonic Adventure (1998) — Field Designer, A-LIFE System Designer, Visual Memory Game Designer
Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) — Scenario Writer, Story Event Designer, Visual Memory Game Support
Sonic X (2003) — Supervisor
Sonic Heroes (2003) — Scenario Writer, Main Game Designer, Enemy Game Designer, Story Board Designer
Sonic Heroes (PC Version) (2004) — Director
Sonic Mega Collection Plus (2004) — Special Thanks
Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) — Development Support
Sonic Riders (2006) — Story Plotter [NOTE: Uncredited]
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) — Game Script
Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) — Story Plotter [NOTE: Uncredited], Game Designer
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008) — Game Mode Designer, Story Plotter, Story Board Designer
Sonic and the Black Knight (2009) — In charge of Story^[6] [NOTE: Uncredited]

Interviews

Shiro Maekawa interview by Sonic Channel (August 21, 2006) [Translated]

References

[https:.2F.2Ftwitter.com.2Fmizuhano-1] @mizuhano on Twitter

[https:.2F.2Fjp.linkedin.com.2Fin.2F.25E5.2589.258D.25E5.25B7.259D-.25E5.258F.25B8.25E9.2583.258E-657a4961-2] ttps://jp.linkedin.com/in/%E5%89%8D%E5%B7%9D-%E5%8F%B8%E9%83%8E-657a4961

[:File:Panzer_Dragoon_US_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-3] File:Panzer Dragoon US Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:Panzer_Dragoon_Zwei_US_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-4] File:Panzer Dragoon Zwei US Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:SonaMiAreruEcSancitu_vinyl_US_discB.jpg_p-5] File:SonaMiAreruEcSancitu vinyl US discB.jpg

[http:.2F.2Fsonic.sega.jp.2FSonicChannelOld.2Fcreators.2F028.2Findex.html-6] ttp://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannelOld/creators/028/index.html

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-'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (前川 司郎) is a game planner.{{ref|https://twitter.com/mizuhano}} He joined Sega in April 1993 and left in March 2008, currently working at Marvelous.{{ref|https://jp.linkedin.com/in/%E5%89%8D%E5%B7%9D-%E5%8F%B8%E9%83%8E-657a4961}} He initially wanted to become an animator, but gave up as he felt he lacked the required drawing skills. Other than Sonic, he wrote a bit of event scenario inside the Panzer Dragoon Saga of Saturn era. He joined Sonic Team since ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'', and the first time he was seriously in charge of story was ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]''. On originally wanting to become an animator, he stated, "But I knew that the so-called production (storyboard), story creation, and others were not related to drawing skill, and I became in charge of the story of Sonic Adventure 2 by chance. As long as I could do it, whatever I did myself, I learned scripting, how to draw pictures, and others by self-study". It is worth noting that in Sonic Adventure 2, he got to make the story first, and then the action stages afterwards. For Sonic Heroes, the game was mainly based on the action stages, making him have to fill in the "gaps" with a story. For his source of ideas for stories, there was a really big influence of manga, anime, and others that he read when he was little. A really fun fact he shared was, "In my favorite scenes of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, there is a scene in which Shadow and Maria view the earth from the Space Colony, but in this scene, the influence of one of my top three manga Please Save My Earth appears hugely. Actually, it turned out that the voice actress (Yuri Shiratori) of the heroin role of Please Save My Earth was also in charge of Maria’s voice and I felt that it seems like a destiny". Among the tasks he did, Sonic Adventure 2 left him the best impression.{{ref|https://www.sonicnotes.info/2006/09/shiro-maekawa-interview-adventure-2-sonic-channel.html}} In an interview on EmuEmi's channel on June 23rd, 2018; he said that if he could return, he definitely would write for Sonic again.
+'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (前川 司郎) is a game planner.{{ref|https://twitter.com/mizuhano}} He joined Sega in April 1993 and left in March 2008, currently working at Marvelous.{{ref|https://jp.linkedin.com/in/%E5%89%8D%E5%B7%9D-%E5%8F%B8%E9%83%8E-657a4961}} Originally wanting to become an animator, he gave up on that profession as he felt he lacked the required drawing skills, but upon learning that unit direction (storyboards) and storytelling does require great drawing ability, he took the opportunity of being in charge of Sonic Adventure 2's story. Prior to working on Sonic, he also wrote some event dialogue for [[Panzer Dragoon]].
 ==Production history==