Hiromasa Shikata is a planner and director at Nintendo.
Biography[]
Hiromasa Shikata studied commercial design at university, covering a range of subjects including package design, commercials, and train ads. While it wasn't part of his university course, Shikata also studied computer graphics in his own time, and did a study of CG production as part of his graduation project.[1]
After graduating, Shikata was hired by Nintendo and assigned to work on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as a 3D background designer.[2] During this time, he also learned to create real-time 3D computer graphics, and the technical implications of high-quality 3D CG.[3]
Following his work on Ocarina of Time, Shikata served as a field designer on Majora's Mask, and then as a map designer on Pikmin and The Wind Waker, being in charge of the map of Windfall Island in the case of the latter game.[4] Following this, Shikata served as an assistant producer on Geist, a first-person shooter developed in collaboration with n-Space, Inc and published by Nintendo.
On Twilight Princess, Shikata served as one of the game's sub-directors and then went on to be a planner for Spirit Tracks.
After the development of Spirit Tracks concluded in 2009, the majority of its development staff moved on to Skyward Sword. Only three members of the team stayed back, Shikata among them.[5] Shikata, along with the other two developers, began to brainstorm ideas for a new Zelda game for the Nintendo 3DS. During the course of this process, Shikata chanced upon the idea of Link merging into walls, and a prototype was created around this idea, which led to A Link Between Worlds being greenlit for production.[6][7] Shikata would temporarily leave the project to serve as a planner on Nintendo Land for the Wii U, and following his return was made the director of A Link Between Worlds.[8] As director, Shikata would pitch the idea of A Link Between Worlds being a non-linear game that would allow players to complete its Dungeons in any order they desired.[9]
Following the completion of A Link Between Worlds, Shikata would serve as director on Tri Force Heroes, a project for which he would focus on the idea of cooperative multiplayer, as well as the idea of players communicating with one another using icons inspired by Japan's Line messenger application.[10][11]
Notable Achievements[]
Shikata has been involved with The Legend of Zelda series since 1997. His most notable contribution to the series was as the director of A Link Between Worlds, pitching the idea for the game's wall-merging mechanic, and for the game to be less linear and more open-ended. A Link Between Worlds would go on to sell over 4.16 million units on the Nintendo 3DS and helped demonstrate to the public that Nintendo was capable of breaking the conventions of the Zelda series, which in turn helped build faith in the brand prior to Breath of the Wild.[12][13][14][15]
The Legend of Zelda Games[]
| Game | Position |
|---|---|
| Ocarina of Time | Field Designer |
| Majora's Mask | Field Design |
| The Wind Waker | Map Design |
| Twilight Princess | Sub-Director |
| Spirit Tracks | Planning |
| Nintendo Land | Planning |
| A Link Between Worlds | Director |
| Tri Force Heroes | Director |
Gallery[]
2016 New Year greeting card for Nintendo Dream made by developers of Tri Force Heroes, featuring Hiromasa Shikata portraying the Links with Keisuke Umeda and Eiji Aonuma
Hiromasa Shikata portraying the Links with Eiji Aonuma and Shiro Mouri
References
- ↑ "商業デザインと呼ばれるものですね。パッケージデザイン、ＣＭ、電車の中吊り広告などを作る勉強をしていました。ＣＧは全然教えてもらわなかったんですが、興味があって、自分で勉強していました。卒業制作は視界３００度のＣＧ制作の研究です。" —Hiromasa Shikata (ハードデザインからアートワークまで 個性豊かなデザイナー紹介)
- ↑ "『ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ』最初はグチャグチャの地形しか作れなくて、大変でした。でも、大きなタイトルに関わることができて、しんどいというよりも嬉しい気持ちが大きかったので、最初の１年は一瞬のうちに過ぎ去っていきましたね。先輩たちは仕事には厳しく、そのほかではやさしく接してくれました。" —Hiromasa Shikata (ハードデザインからアートワークまで 個性豊かなデザイナー紹介)
- ↑ "リアルタイムで動かす３ＤＣＧは会社に入ってから覚えました。最初はポリゴン（※注釈）数が増えると処理が重くなることも知らなかったですし、まったくの素人でしたね。" —Hiromasa Shikata (ハードデザインからアートワークまで 個性豊かなデザイナー紹介)
- ↑ "魔獣島魔獣島とか、タウラ島ですね。思わずそこに行ってみたくなるような風景をめざしています。魔獣島のシルエットにはこだわったので、そこはぜひみなさんに見てほしいと思います。" —Hiromasa Shikata (ハードデザインからアートワークまで 個性豊かなデザイナー紹介)
- ↑ "When The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was over, much of the staff went to develop Sword. The only ones left were Mouri-san, another programmer and I. The Nintendo 3DS wasn't out yet, but our goals was to make a Zelda game for the handheld that would follow the Nintendo DS, so for about the first year, we thought a lot about what to do." —Hiromasa Shikata ("Sounds Like an Idea That's 20 Years Old")
- ↑ "We decided to rethink it from the start, and one day when the three of us were having a meeting, I suddenly said, "What about having Link enter into walls?" Mouri-san and the other programmer were like "That's great!" and got into it. But even though I had brought it up, it didn't quite make sense to me." —Hiromasa Shikata ("Sounds Like an Idea That's 20 Years Old")
- ↑ "When we showed this to Miyamoto-san, he said, 'Let's do it.' And we were stoked, too. But before two weeks had passed, we got involved in launch titles for the Wii U." —Hiromasa Shikata ("Don't Forget Us!")
- ↑ "When we showed this to Miyamoto-san, he said, 'Let's do it.' And we were stoked, too. But before two weeks had passed, we got involved in launch titles for the Wii U." —Hiromasa Shikata ("Don't Forget Us!")
- ↑ "Every time we make a new Zelda game, we always look for a different approach, and looked for a long time. When it was time to make this game, I had the vague idea that in A Link to the Past, you could clear multiple dungeons in parallel. But when I played the game again, that wasn't very true. So I thought it would be good to do that for this game and we made it so that when it comes to the seven dungeons in the latter half, you can go to any of them as you like." —Hiromasa Shikata ("Rethinking the Unquestioned")
- ↑ "「ゼルダの伝説 大地の汽笛」で，リンクとファントムを切り替えながら遊んでいくシステムがあったんですが，僕はあれを2人で同時に遊べたら面白いだろうと思っていました。 でも青沼さんが以前，「マーヴェラス ～もうひとつの宝島～」というゲームを作っていて，あれが3人だったんですよね？" —Hiromasa Shikata (なぜ今，マルチプレイなのか。そして“ゼルダのリアリティ”とは？ 「ゼルダの伝説 トライフォース3銃士」，青沼英二プロデューサーと，四方宏昌ディレクターに聞いた)
- ↑ "When we started, we considered using voice chat. However, the idea came up when I was playing Four Swords with someone on the development team, someone who knew the game very well. What happened was, there was a difference between someone that knew the game and someone that didn't -- the person who knew the game was pretty much just telling the person who didn't, 'Just do this. Do that.' And the other person would just follow. I didn't think that was a very fun gameplay experience. So I thought, 'Perhaps there's another way to communicate that would be fun for both parties.' Instead of voice chat, I came up with communication icons to convey the messages among the players." —Hiromasa Shikata (The Story Behind Triforce Heroes: An Interview With Aonuma and Shikata)
- ↑ Metacritic, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS, retrieved June 5, 2021.
- ↑ "Over the years, Zelda dungeon exploration has devolved into a rote formula: Find the map, find the compass, find the special item, beat the boss—but A Link Between Worlds forces you to rethink your entire strategy. Instead of waiting to procure a particular item in order to find the right path, you know that you’ve likely already got the right tool in your possession. In most Zelda games, you’re waiting on the dungeon to deliver the item you need. In A Link Between Worlds, the dungeon is waiting on you to crack its code." — Andrew Fitch, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, AusGamers, published November 14, 2013, retrieved June 5, 2021.
- ↑ "A rare accomplishment that recaptures the spirit of classic Zelda. It takes the series into new territory much like its SNES counterpart did two decades ago, and it might be the most significant revision to Zelda’s structure since the landmark release of Ocarina of Time." — Michael Damiani, Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review, Gametrailers, published November 19, 2013, retrieved June 5, 2021.
- ↑ "This approach is partnered with an immense design shake-up, a series of changes that fundamentally alter the Zelda experience while still maintaining the series’ most familiar charms." — The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, AusGamers, published November 27, 2013, retrieved June 5, 2021.
Nomenclature[]
 Names in Other Regions 
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|---|---|---|
| Language | Name | |
 |
Japanese | 四方 宏昌 (Shikata Hiromasa) |