Merry Christmas from the Layer! The interview I have prepared for your reading pleasure on this day of merrymaking comes from the Vol. 9, December, 2007 issue of Japanese "Ultimate Game Life Magazine" GameSide (which is sadly on a current publishing hiatus). Who's the man of the hour, you ask? Why, Michihito Ishizuka, the programmer of the arcade classic "Wonder Boy" and co-founder of Westone, of course! Here he discusses his humble beginnings at Tehkan (the company currently known as TECMO, for those of you who don't know), the founding of Westone and development of Wonder Boy, and his current job at Matrix software. Notes are in parentheticals when necessary and I've provided a few Wikipedia links to some of the lesser-known games mentioned here. Enjoy, and have a wonderful day whatever you celebrate!
Ask a Game Developer!
Michihito Ishizuka
After handling the development of “Swimmer” and “Tehkan World Cup” at Tehkan Ltd. (currently known as TECMO), he helped found Westone, and there developed several popular series such as “Wonder Boy” and “Wonder Boy in Monster Land”. Currently he works as head of technological development in the consumer operations department at Matrix Software.
