Developer Profile / Shinji Mikami50 / wfmag.cc
orn in the Yamaguchi
prefecture of Japan in
1965, Shinji Mikami
didn’t start playing video
games in any real sense
until he was 20. He’d dabbled, sure –
who hadn’t? – but it wasn’t the man’s
calling. No, young Mikami had initially
dreamed of being a Formula One driver
and, once that particular fantasy had
been sidelined, worked on a degree in
development of commercial science
at Doshisha University. Was his major
software development? Theory of
horror? Not quite. It was the study
of merchandise.
From 1985, though, Mikami began on
the path he still wanders to this day – a
lover of games, a player of games, and,B
King of survival horror: the man
who hates being scaredShinji Mikami
Developer ProfileInterface
Developer Profile / Shinji Mikamifrom 1990, a maker of games. Hired by
Capcom about halfway through 1990
after being told a week or two prior he
wasn’t getting a job there, the 25-year-
old set to work on... well, it was a quiz
game on the Game Boy. An inauspicious
start? Maybe. But everyone begins
somewhere, and there was enough
going on in this tiny, largely forgotten
title that the brass moved him on to
better things.
A stint on Disney licensed properties
followed, with Mikami bringing his
influence to the likes of Who Framed
Roger Rabbit and the vastly overlooked
SNES near-classic (though that might
be an exaggeration), Goof Troop. The TV
cartoon tie-in mixed inventive puzzles
and combat with a serious Legend of
Zelda vibe, and proved an early example
that it was possible to make something
worthwhile from an existing license.
Disney’s Aladdin followed not long
after, this one with Mikami in position
as planner and showing us a friendlier,
swordless version of the street rat’s
adventures in Agrabah when compared
to the US-developed Mega Drive version.
1993 proved the turning point for
Mikami, though, as he was called in to
discuss working on a project based on
a 1985 Capcom NES title, Sweet Home.
This new game was to bring horror
gaming to the mainstream, using
systems like the item management of
the NES game, and Mikami was asked
to head up the project. Naturally,
he... was unenthusiastic, as he had
zero experience making anything
related to horror, and admitted