Question about Arcsystem Works

[Kyosuke Kagami]

Well, I am not sure if this thread belongs here, but there's something that's always bothered me.

1.- I've read in a lot of sites that Daisuke Ishiwatari himself (THE MAN) got his first VG experience working for SNK in The Last Blade, and IMO this was a clear influence to him when he created Guilty Gear. Did Daisuke leave SNK, he got fired or that never happened?

2.- How did he get his first staff, which would later become Team Neoblood (GG)?

3.- I remember reading somewhere (forgot, though) that most of Team Neoblood / Daisuke team members are former employees from both Capcom and SNK (mainly people from Team Galapagos and Team Dirty Beret... yes, Samurai Shodown and Darkstalkers). Is this true? Because this would partially explain Guilty Gear's (and probably the rest of the titles they've programmed) aesthetics.

Thanks

[C0R]

I'm pretty sure there was an extensive interview that covers almost all of your questions, I forget where though.

[Kyosuke Kagami]

I am actually more interested in the Team Galapagos and Dirty Beret thing more.

That would explain a lot of things about Arcsystem Works' philosophy on gaming design.

[Blade]

You probably got that info here but, there's been some controversy over the information.

Okay for now I have to refresh my memory of the details, but recent memory is that some ArcSysWorks employees (who posted HERE of all places), deny his getting fired from SNK or even WORKING for them.

Now, I don't know if that's a cover-up or not...but I do know many devs went by aliases back then. And it was "said" at one point that Daisuke worked on the stage design of Last Blade 2, I don't know how much of that can be confirmed. He worked with Hideyuki Abe, so I don't know the history of those two (cross-reference him?).

If he did work for SNK, it would be OLD SNK, as in the original makers of KOF and Samsho...not SNK-Playmore as they exist today. Old SNK went out of business due to Capcom's essential domination of the arcade market back then, and SNK's business mistakes with the NeoGeo. And most likely if he DID work for SNK, he wasn't fired, more likely laid off as the company broke up.

To understand this better you have to understand Daisuke's involvment with Sega. Keep in mind the original publisher stateside for Guilty Gear was Atlus, I've asked them about their relationship with NeoBlood back then, but they seem to keep quiet about it. On top of this, I've played the original Japanese version of Guilty Gear, and there is no mention of a publisher. It's something of a mystery.

First you had Sega and its Naomi Board, then you had Sammy and Majesco working together for a while (XX era), then you get Sega-Sammy-Holdings, what it's currently called today. The U.S. Sammy corp became High Moon Studios responsible for Wild 9 and the like.

[Kyosuke Kagami]

>>If he did work for SNK, it would be OLD SNK,

Eh... yeah, I already know that. I never mentioned anything about SNK-Shitmore.