Game Center CX Season 1 – Back to Contents
#8
Chun Soft

This episode focuses on Chun Soft, the developers of the Fushigi no Dungeon series and home of Koichi Nakamura, one of the minds behind Dragon Quest. Arino steps into the company’s very modest office to talk to Nakamura regarding his big break with Enix (via the Famicom game Door Door) and of course, Dragon Quest. Arino learns interesting bits from his interview, such as the fact that Door Door was partly inspired by Dig Dug, and that "Chun Soft" comes from Nakamura’s old nickname, Chun. A lot of time is also spent discussing the company’s sound novels, particularly the 32-bit hit Machi.

Arino also talks to Shinichiro Tomie, creator of the Fushigi no Dungeon series and most recently, the GBA animal-soccer game Netsal. Arino plays a Netsal match against Tomie, but just can’t one-up the man.

Chousen

The challenge isn’t Dragon Quest; instead, Arino jumps into Door Door. While clearing the levels, he must also try and get the bonus items that appear on each one. As soon as Arino starts to buckle under the pressure at Round 9, help appears in the form of the director for the cell phone port of Door Door. Unfortunately he’s not much help at the controls (he gets them all sweaty, in fact), so another staffer, the game’s debugger, steps in to help, and is much more adept.