From creators, we always know a facet. Maybe two or three. But what we don’t know is the entirety of their inner world. There are always things they would like to do, ideas that interest them, but for one reason or another they have never developed. It is something absolutely normal and the world of video games is no exception. This has been demonstrated by the CEO of Level-5, a studio known for its children’s and youth games.
Recently, the Japanese publication Denfaminicogamer conducted an interview with Akihiro Hino and Goichi Suda. The reason is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the studios they are CEOs of: Level-5 in Hino’s case, Grasshoper Manufacture in Suda’s case. A very peculiar combination, only justified in that shared anniversary, because both companies couldn’t be more different. Level-5 specializes in RPGs and action games for a young audience. Grasshoper Manufacture creates all kinds of games, with a more experimental, mature, and violent tone.
That doesn’t stop Hino, in the interview, from expressing his admiration for Suda and Grasshopper Manufacture. Stating that “the creators who release such edgy titles to the world are fabulous,” he added with a laugh that “if I had to take it to the extreme, I could go as far as saying that I would like to make things like erotic games or games for adults over 18 with violence.” To which Suda asked if he had anything in mind, to which Hino replied yes. Because he has “an ‘abnormal world’ within him.”
The interesting thing is that the study that presides over and founded is known for doing just the opposite. Level-5 is known for making games for all audiences, including Yo-kai Watch, Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven and Ni No Kuni. RPGs and puzzle games with a family focus and exquisite care in their design and art.
That doesn’t mean that Level-5 hasn’t worked on slightly different games. Their contributions to Guild01 and Guild02, two collections of microgames for Nintendo 3DS, are interesting experiments in the concept of RPG, survival horror, and puzzles. Their mecha games, like Megaton Musashi, have been received as excellent action games. And their upcoming game, DecaPolice, promises to be a mix of JRPG and adventure in a cyberpunk world that, without getting into anything gory, has no problem addressing a slightly darker tone.
In addition, although they are not his most well-known works, Hino has worked in the past on darker and more violent games. In 1994, he was the lead programmer of Doctor Hauzer, a cult title for the 3DSO Interactive Multiplayer that is considered one of the pioneers of survival horror, much in the vein of Alone in the Dark. He would also reprise that role in Overblood, and would be the director of Overblood 2, a short-lived franchise of survival horrors for PSX with a less than stellar reception. The first game was almost entirely programmed by Hino, with the sequel having him as the director, writer, and planner for the entire game.
That’s why it shouldn’t surprise us that Hino has also added that he wants to eventually make a game that takes place in that dark and out of the ordinary world. Something he says he will do when “Level-5 is stable and I have space to do what I want to do”.
Perhaps it may be necessary for him to do it outside of Level-5. Perhaps he may never be able to do it. But what is evident is that Hino has a game in mind, very dark and strange, that is nothing like what he normally does in his company. Whether we will ever get to see it is a mystery. But what is evident is that we would love to see what someone with such a solid and fascinating track record as Hino is capable of in that field.
