Published in Gamest issue 180 (September 30, 1996). Special interview with Capcom director and general manager Yoshiki Okamoto regarding the state of the game industry.
In America, you can’t release it if it’s not polygonal. Why!?
An urgent interview with Capcom’s company director and general manager Yoshiki Okamoto.
“Don’t you think society leans too hard towards 3D?”
I’d like to see more of a focus on playability.
Capcom Development Headquarters Company Director and General Manager
Yoshiki Okamoto
You could say Okamoto’s history in video games and Capcom’s history in video games are one and the same. Of course he had a direct hand in classics like Exed Exes and SonSon, but he’s been in command of everything from Street Fighter II to Darkstalkers. As of this spring, he’s also overseeing the home console division as well as the arcade one.
On a certain day in June, we received a message from Capcom PR, saying “our employee, Mr. Okamoto, has some secret… well, maybe not secret, but it seems he has some things he’d like to say. So how about an interview?”. Our talks with Mr. Okamoto are always fascinating, but so many of them are off-the-record and can’t be made into articles. But if he has something he wants to say, we can make it an article for sure! And while we’re at it, we can ask about upcoming titles! So, on a sweltering July day, we went to Capcom’s development headquarters. And what unraveled that day was…
Interviewer/Article Editor: Senji Ishii, Munetatsu
A shocked reaction to SFIII being 2D
Munetatsu: This is a bit of a sudden question, but what are your feelings on the current game industry?
Okamoto: Don’t you think society trending towards a preference for 3D? The issue isn’t that Capcom can’t do 3D. We have Resident Evil on PlayStation and Star Gladiator on arcades. But Capcom is just very attached to 2D… to the extent that I think it creates the impression that we can’t do 3D.
Senji: Speaking as someone who’s working at Gamest and has gotten the opportunity to speak with you many times, I don’t feel that way. But you think the general public does?
Okamoto: Like, I’ll have people ask me “so, will the next follow-up to SFII be 2D? Will it be 3D? It’ll be 3D, right?”, like they have suspicions about us. Like they’ve already decided that it has to be polygonal. So when I go “no, it’s 2D” they’ll respond like “huh!?”.
People will talk about it like it’s obviously going to be 3D. But if you look at the arcade boards currently out there, the kind of 3D Street Fighter III we’d hope for just isn’t possible. Well, maybe it’s possible if you spend enough. But at that kind of price I don’t think operators would be very happy.
But we want to bring a “Street Fighter III” into the world soon. So if we look at the kind of Street Fighter III we could make with current 3D arcade boards, and the Street Fighter III we could make in 2D, and try to determine which is more like the sort of thing we’re trying to create, there’s no doubt that the answer is the 2D one.
We don’t believe that 3D is inherently superior, or 2D is inherently inferior.
Whether it’s 2D or 3D, in the end what you’re talking about is a game. It’s something you play. Personally, we find it easier to express our concepts of “play” and “games” in 2D.
But still, people say Capcom has no technical prowess. Even when we make Resident Evil or Star Gladiator. It’s just that for the feel we’re aiming for in our games, a lot of them can only be done in 2D.
Munetatsu: I think there’s a trend where people consider 3D a foregone conclusion on home systems in particular.
Okamoto: We’ve had cases where we can’t sell games in America because they’re not polygonal. Major titles are exceptions. So we were able to sell Street Fighter Alpha 2 in America, but some of our other 2D action games weren’t allowed.
Senji: … huh?
Okamoto: You can’t sell it because it’s not polygonal. Even if it’s part of a series and is sold in both Japan and America on other systems. It’s no good.
Munetatsu: That seems particularly extreme.
Okamoto: There’s something I’ve been worrying about. What exactly is a game? Can you not call something that doesn’t use the latest tech a game? For instance, between Ridge Racer and Tetris, which would you call more of a “good game”? It’s that kind of problem. I don’t think it’s possible to choose.
I want to think more on the question of what exactly a game is. If you make a good game that takes full use of available technology, then of course that’s the best thing of all. But if you just make something like “it’s 3D”, “it’s polygonal”, does that alone make it a game? That kind of thing. I feel like people have lost focus.
So, all these casual comments people make on this matter turn into huge cuts to my heart. Oh, not so much the stuff about us not knowing how to use technology (laughs). It’s the part where people say we’re not thinking at all about the industry as a whole that hurts. Every time I talk about Street Fighter III I get hurt (laughs).
Munetatsu: You get tired of it, huh.
Let’s talk more about games together!
Okamoto: Moving away from the heavy talk, I think it would be nice if there were more people around who talked seriously about games. After all, you all are spending however many hours a day studying games, right? Though some might call it playing (laughs). Are these people just playing games without thinking at all?
That can’t be the case, right? These games are full of all kind of sensations, and all kind of messages that we drive into them. But are people really not feeling them at all?
I mean, I’ll talk about things dealing with 2D and 3D from time to time, but what I want to talk about is if a game is fun or not. And I want to see more of that kind of talk from others as well.
Senji: The other day, we had Gamest Expo, an event celebrating 10 years of Gamest. The expo had stuff like hundreds of classic arcades cabs, but we also asked people attending the event to fill out a questionnaire. And there were some responses like “every developer is all ‘polygon’ this and ‘polygon’ that… how about instead of just worrying about polygons, you release more new games!?”.
Okamoto: Whew, I’m really happy to hear that. I’m glad those kind of gamers are out there.
Back in the day, games were really limited by their hardware. Now that we don’t have those restrictions, designers should be thinking about how the game feels to play instead.
Our own Star Gladiator was actually extremely Virtua Fighter-like at the start. I asked the person in charge “why’s this like Virtua Fighter?” and they were like “well, it’s polygonal, so it’s gotta have this many buttons and…”. And I thought “what’s wrong with 6 buttons and using the stick to guard?”. I figured it would be good to have a little bit of 3D design philosophy in there, and then have the rest be 2D-like. Because it’s a Capcom game.
Senji: I think that even for Capcom’s polygonal games, players have certain expectations. Not that it would be like Virtua Fighter, but rather that it would feel like a Capcom game.
Munetatsu: The modeling and texturing look great too, so it feels plenty Capcom.
Okamoto: And if we make a sequel, it’ll be even more Capcom-like.
Senji: So you’ll be continuing to work in 3D?
Okamoto: For games where polygons suit the feel, yes. From a development standpoint, 3D is quite a bit easier than 2D.
Senji: What kind of games will you be making in 2D?
Okamoto: Some games that will get everyone excited. I’ll be able to show everyone what that means at AM Show.