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{{ja|'''Yuji Horii'''|堀井 雄二|Horii Yūji|also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954 in [[Wikipedia:Awaji Island|Awaji Island]], Japan}} is a [[Wikipedia:Japan|Japanese]] video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the {{DQSeries}}. A giant among industry veterans, he created the blueprint for the console role-playing game through his work on the ''[[Portopia]]'' series and the original {{Dragon Quest}}. He is the sole owner of the {{DQSeries}} via his private company, [[Armor Project]], which has an exclusive publishing contract with [[Square Enix]]. | {{ja|'''Yuji Horii'''|堀井 雄二|Horii Yūji|also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954 in [[Wikipedia:Awaji Island|Awaji Island]], Japan}} is a [[Wikipedia:Japan|Japanese]] video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the {{DQSeries}}. A giant among industry veterans, he created the blueprint for the console role-playing game through his work on the ''[[Portopia]]'' series and the original {{Dragon Quest}}. He is the sole owner of the {{DQSeries}} via his private company, [[Armor Project]], which has an exclusive publishing contract with [[Square Enix]]. | ||
On December 17, 2024 Horii was honored with the [https://archive.is/U2kQb|Cultural Affairs’ Commissioner’s award] for his contributions to Japanese culture. [[File:Yūji Horii.png|right|thumb|240px]] | On December 17, 2024 Horii was honored with the [https://archive.is/U2kQb|Cultural Affairs’ Commissioner’s award] for his contributions to Japanese culture. Less than a year later on November 3rd, 2025 Horii was decorated with the prestigious [https://www8.cao.go.jp/shokun/en/orders-of-the-rising-sun.html Order of the Rising Sun], being the first member of the vidoe game industry to be awarded the honor. [[File:Yūji Horii.png|right|thumb|240px]] | ||
==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
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After reaching the limits of the built-in word processing program Horii began to explore the capabilities of the machine, teaching himself BASIC as he went along. The idea of creating a game of his own dawned on Horii as he played through various bits of software that were available at the time, such as an early ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' title and a licensed ''Star Trek'' game. The most realized of these early efforts was ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス), which Horii would enter into an [[Enix]]-sponsored programming contest he was reporting on in 1983. Much to his surprise, he discovered his title had placed second when he arrived to report on the awards ceremony. It was there that he met [[Kōichi Nakamura]], whose ''DOOR-DOOR'' (ドアドア) had won first place. The two became fast friends, and decided to work together in the growing world of entertainment software. | After reaching the limits of the built-in word processing program Horii began to explore the capabilities of the machine, teaching himself BASIC as he went along. The idea of creating a game of his own dawned on Horii as he played through various bits of software that were available at the time, such as an early ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' title and a licensed ''Star Trek'' game. The most realized of these early efforts was ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス), which Horii would enter into an [[Enix]]-sponsored programming contest he was reporting on in 1983. Much to his surprise, he discovered his title had placed second when he arrived to report on the awards ceremony. It was there that he met [[Kōichi Nakamura]], whose ''DOOR-DOOR'' (ドアドア) had won first place. The two became fast friends, and decided to work together in the growing world of entertainment software. | ||
Horii's first success at Enix was the Portopia serial murder case, released in June of 1983. The game is a screen-by-screen adventure that tasked the player with unraveling the mysterious circumstances of a violent murder in the eponymous seaside town. The title proved to be a watershed moment for the young Horii, garnering him well deserved respect at Enix thanks to the sophisticated title being written, designed, and programmed by just himself. | Horii's first success at Enix was the ''[[Portopia]]'' serial murder case, released in June of 1983. The game is a screen-by-screen adventure that tasked the player with unraveling the mysterious circumstances of a violent murder in the eponymous seaside town. The title proved to be a watershed moment for the young Horii, garnering him well deserved respect at Enix thanks to the sophisticated title being written, designed, and programmed by just himself. | ||
===The Road to Dragon Quest=== | ===The Road to Dragon Quest=== | ||
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Horii would commit to the Famicom on November 29 1985 by porting ''Portopia'' to the platform, aided Nakamura's personal studio [[Chunsoft]]. The Famicom version of the title marked the first time the two friends worked together on a commercial product, and the game immediately gained attention thanks to the machine's software library primarily being action titles. Notable is that the Famicom controller possessed only four buttons and necessitated the ditching the keyboard-based input structure of the original in favor of the intuitive [[Command Menu|command menu]] found in it's sequel, ''[[The Hokkaidō Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance]]'' (オホーツクに消ゆ), released earlier in 1984. Every action a player needed to make in the game was easily accessible from the command menu instead of being assigned to a specific keyboard key in a disjointed fashion, greatly streamlining the experience. The Famicom version of ''Portopia'' would eclipse the original computer version's sales figures by selling 600,000 copies in the first year and reaching 800,000 copies by 1989<ref>『89年版 ヒット商品「88」』講談社、1988年、31頁。NDLJP:11984310/18</ref>. | Horii would commit to the Famicom on November 29 1985 by porting ''Portopia'' to the platform, aided Nakamura's personal studio [[Chunsoft]]. The Famicom version of the title marked the first time the two friends worked together on a commercial product, and the game immediately gained attention thanks to the machine's software library primarily being action titles. Notable is that the Famicom controller possessed only four buttons and necessitated the ditching the keyboard-based input structure of the original in favor of the intuitive [[Command Menu|command menu]] found in it's sequel, ''[[The Hokkaidō Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance]]'' (オホーツクに消ゆ), released earlier in 1984. Every action a player needed to make in the game was easily accessible from the command menu instead of being assigned to a specific keyboard key in a disjointed fashion, greatly streamlining the experience. The Famicom version of ''Portopia'' would eclipse the original computer version's sales figures by selling 600,000 copies in the first year and reaching 800,000 copies by 1989<ref>『89年版 ヒット商品「88」』講談社、1988年、31頁。NDLJP:11984310/18</ref>. | ||
With the success of the Famicom port of ''Portopia'', proving that a "slow game" can dominate the sales charts in an action game market, Horii and Nakamura agreed that the timing was right to begin development of the Famicom's first genuine RPG. After a lengthy process of convincing Enix supervisor Yukinobu Chida of the project's potential for success, the unnamed project was given the greenlight to begin development with Horii as sole scenario writer and Nakamura as lead programmer through Chunsoft. Instead of the common ''Wizardry'' clones that saturated the computer market in America, the two decided to combine the best aspects of both the aforementioned series and it's chief competitor ''Ultima'' and eliminate the largest design flaws of both in the process. To accomplish this it was decided to use the simple menu-driven command system of the Famicom Portopia, the first-person battle screen of ''Wizardry'', and the bird's-eye view map exploration of ''Ultima''. Development would officially begin in November of 1985 with a staff of five men. | With the success of the Famicom port of ''Portopia'', proving that a "slow game" can dominate the sales charts in an action game market, Horii and Nakamura agreed that the timing was right to begin development of the Famicom's first genuine RPG. After a lengthy process of convincing Enix supervisor Yukinobu Chida of the project's potential for success, the unnamed project was given the greenlight to begin development with Horii as sole scenario writer and Nakamura as lead programmer through Chunsoft. Instead of the common ''Wizardry'' clones that saturated the computer market in America, the two decided to combine the best aspects of both the aforementioned series and it's chief competitor ''Ultima'' and eliminate the largest design flaws of both in the process. To accomplish this it was decided to use the simple menu-driven command system of the Famicom ''Portopia'', the first-person battle screen of ''Wizardry'', and the bird's-eye view map exploration of ''Ultima''. Development would officially begin in November of 1985 with a staff of five men. | ||
As development on the unnamed RPG continued, Horii was working as a copywriter for a video game section within ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. This section, titled ''Famicom Shinken'' (ファミコン神拳) after the popular manga [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_of_the_North_Star Fist of the North Star], was edited by Horii's friend [[Kazuhiko Torishima]]. The two had bonded over games after being introduced by their mutual friend [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%95%E3%81%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%82%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89 Akira Sakuma] and previously wrote articles for [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%88%E5%88%8AOUT ''Monthly OUT''], which led to Torishima contracting Horii to write for ''Famicom Shinken''. As luck would have it, working with Torishima would catapult Horii's RPG project into becoming a cornerstone of Japanese culture in just a few short years: ''Famicom Shinken'' was facing fierce competition from the video game section of rival magazine [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoroCoro_Comic CoroCoro comics] and needed something to give ''Shonen Jump'' a sales advantage. After a period of brainstorming, Torishima concluded that the magazine's young readers would want to learn of how games are made and, having already known of Horii's passion project, convinced his superiors within upper management to dedicate page space to the title. | As development on the unnamed RPG continued, Horii was working as a copywriter for a video game section within ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. This section, titled ''Famicom Shinken'' (ファミコン神拳) after the popular manga [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_of_the_North_Star Fist of the North Star], was edited by Horii's friend [[Kazuhiko Torishima]]. The two had bonded over games after being introduced by their mutual friend [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%95%E3%81%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%82%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89 Akira Sakuma] and previously wrote articles for [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%88%E5%88%8AOUT ''Monthly OUT''], which led to Torishima contracting Horii to write for ''Famicom Shinken''. As luck would have it, working with Torishima would catapult Horii's RPG project into becoming a cornerstone of Japanese culture in just a few short years: ''Famicom Shinken'' was facing fierce competition from the video game section of rival magazine [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoroCoro_Comic CoroCoro comics] and needed something to give ''Shonen Jump'' a sales advantage. After a period of brainstorming, Torishima concluded that the magazine's young readers would want to learn of how games are made and, having already known of Horii's passion project, convinced his superiors within upper management to dedicate page space to the title. | ||