Masters of the game: Treasure interviewed!
Sega Saturn Magazine speaks exclusively to Treasure's President,
Mr. Masato Maegawa. Japanese Editor Warren Harrod reports.
SSM: Why did you decide to create Radiant Silvergun?
Mr. Maegawa: At Treasure, we've been creating action games from the
very beginning, but there's always been talk of doing a shoot 'em up. However,
from a sales perspective, shooting games are always a little risky so we
haven't been able to do one up to now. This time we had a good game we wanted
to produce and an opportunity to go for it.
At the arcades, there are still a lot of shooting game fans. So we wanted
to appeal to those users first, then after that we hoped to convey to home
users that shoot 'em ups are still interesting to play.
SSM: Did you choose the ST-V
board simply because it would be easier to port to the Saturn?
MM: Of course we had porting in mind, but Treasure has always created
games for Sega and in fact ever since we did Gunstar Heroes, they've
wanted us to produce an arcade game. We've had a lot of experience producing
Saturn games, and, to a certain extent, that knowledge makes some areas
much easier to do so we can devote more time to making the game as opposed
to learning about the hardware.
SSM: What are the main differences between the arcade version
and the Saturn game?
MM: The biggest difference is that we've included an opening movie
and made the scenario element a lot more interesting and deeper. There's
only so much you can put into an arcade version because no matter what you
do, the game has to be fast. Arcade players don't like waiting and they
hate these kind of intro demos. All these movie sequences were cut from
the arcade version.
SSM: How many people worked on Radiant Silvergun?
MM: The team was fairly small. There were three programmers, four
designers and one person working on the sound.
SSM: For a long time you only produced Sega games, but with titles
for the N64 and PlayStation you've now become a multi-platform company.
What are your plans for the future?
MM: (Laughs) That's difficult to say. Fundamentally, we'd
like to keep Sega as the core of our company, but we'd also like to produce
a variety of games by becoming free of any one platform. Yes, we've done
N64 and PS games and from now on we couldn't continue only making Sega games.
The other day, Sega announced the Dreamcast and we are certainly interested
in that. We definately intend to keep making lots of Sega games.
SSM: What's your impression of the Dreamcast hardware?
MM: Well, first of all the hardware specification is very good. However,
at the end of the day, it's not the hardware but the software that I'm most
interested in. At the moment, the Dreamcast has the highest specifications
of any home console available, and that's interesting. It's an exceptionally
good piece of hardware, but that's just the machine itself.
SSM: Everyone is talking about the 3D abilities of the Dreamcast,
but will 2D games get better as well?
MM: Of course they'll improve, I believe. Even though it has a lot
of special 3D capabilities, a machine with a spec as powerful as that will
be able to do anything.
SSM: Do you plan to create any more Saturn games?
MM: I don't really know. It's difficult to answer that question.
It really does depend on so many conditions. At the moment, Sega isn't doing
so well and it's difficult to release Saturn titles. I'd love to keep on
producing Saturn games, but you can't run a company just on feelings. Personally
speaking, I don't like companies to keep releasing new hardware so often.
Just as we get used to developing in one hadrware environment, the next
platform comes along and we have to start from the beginning.
SSM: What is everyone working on at the moment?
MM: Most of the people are working on a new project right now. The
PlayStation Silhouette Mirage team is very small because it's only a Saturn
port.
SSM: Finally, do you have any message for your English fans?
MM: If you consider Treasure's users then you have to say that we
are more popular abroad then we are in Japan. Certainly, our overseas sales
have really helped to support the company. We wouldn't be where we are to
day without all your readers' help, so I'd like to say a big thank you and
hope that they'll continue to support us in the future as well!
© Sega Saturn Magazine
2004 Silver Translations