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Shigesato Itoi is a notorious Japanese copywriter. While he has done a variety of jobs over his carrer, he is best known for being the creator of the Mother series.
History
In March 1989, Itoi stablished the company Ape, Inc. as a venue for external developers to help make games for Nintendo. Among the projects Ape worked on were included the original Mother and Mother 2 (known as EarthBound in the west), the latter of which would also recieve programming assistance from HAL Laboratory. Itoi acted as the main director of those two titles and wrote all the scenario. He would also develop his own bass-fishing game with Nintendo. With the birth of the Pokémon series, Ape would eventually become Creatures Inc. under Tsunekazu Ishihara.
Itoi was also involved in the creation of EarthBound 64 as the intended third entry in the series; however, due to various technical problems and delays the game entered development hell and was eventually canceled. Despite this, the project was repurposed for the Game Boy Advance and was finally released as Mother 3 on 2006.
After his work on Mother 3, Itoi announced that he was done with the Mother franchise. Despite this, he still has a good relationship with Nintendo, and has appeared as co-host on various interviews like Iwata Asks. He also runs a website known as "Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun" (Almost Daily Itoi News).
Games
- Mother (1989) - Director, Game Designer
- EarthBound (1994) - Producer and Director, Writer, Concept of Saturn Font, Sampling Voice
- Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 (1997) - Supervisor
- Super Smash Bros. (1999) - Original Game Staff ("EarthBound" Producer, Title, Story Concept; Advice)
- Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 Ketteihan (2000) - Supervision
- EarthBound 64 (canceled) - Creator, Scenario Writer
- Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Original Game Staff (Producer: EarthBound)
- Mother 3 (2006) - Story, Scenario & Message
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Senior Supervisor
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) - Senior Supervisor
Special Thanks
- Game Boy Camera (1998) (Japanese Version)
External links
- Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun, Itoi's website