WHAT ELSE DID TOMOHIRO NISHIKADO DO BESIDES SPACE INVADERS?

CHEER UP, LOVE...

Tomohiro Nishikado isn't a name you hear very often. And if you did, to Western ears it would just sound like somebody having a funny turn.

And no - that's not racist...

It's just a fact.

However, "Tom-Tom" Nishikado should be remembered, because he gave us what I proudly declare to be the single greatest video game of all time: Shaq Fu (Space Invaders).

Part of the reason his name might not be better known is that Nishikado was forbidden, at least initially, from revealing his part in the creation of the modern games industry. His contract with his bosses at Taito meant that Space Invaders, and the games he created prior to its release, were credited to the company rather than any individual.

This was standard policy at the time for the industry, and game creators only began to get their dues when a bunch of disgruntled Atari employees sodded off to form Activision in the late-1970s. 

Another reason that Nishikado isn't a household name is that, sadly, he never again scaled the heights of his iconic creation. After it became a worldwide hit, others took his baton, greased it up, and slid it in out of a gloryhole while playing a slidewhistle - leaving Taito playing catch-up with both game design and technology. Nishikado himself stayed off of the radar, slithering around behind the scenes as a jobbing producer for Taito, before setting up his own development studio, Dreams, in the mid-90s.

Here, then, are some of his other - less heralded - works.

DAVIS CUP (1973)

Look at that tennis player on the right; he looks like he's having an aneurysm. Sadly, this wasn't a feature of the game, which was - essentially - a four-player Pong clone.

It's somewhat ironic to consider that Nishikado contributed to the over-saturation of Pong copycats which caused the 1976 games industry to collapse in on itself, and gave many games company bosses an actual aneurysm. It was only the release of his Space Invaders which turned industry fortunes around. 

You know: like a record, baby!

SOCCER (1973)

Another take on Pong, albeit reconfigured to look like a football game. Sort of. This time, each player controlled two paddles simultaneously, trying to "kick" the "ball" into the opponent's "goal".

It's worth noting - though I don't know why you would, unless you were some obsessive documenter of everything you see, hear or read - that Soccer was the first video game to be controlled using a trackball. This control method would later be used in games such as Missile Command, Centipede, Marble Madness, and the little remembered isometric arcade racer, SegaSonic the Hedgehog.

SPEED RACE (1974)

An imposing sight in the arcades of the mid-70s, thanks to its oversized steering wheel, Speed Race felt just like real driving... providing you kept your eyes closed. Though it might look primitive to modern eyeballs, Speed Race was the first game to feature scrolling graphics - an effect so convincing in 1974 that many players died from an aneurysm.

Also: Speed Race? Surely "speed" is inherent in any race? That's what a race is: trying to be the fastest. This might be why Taito's US distributor Midway chose to rebrand it under the titles "Racer" and "Wheels". 

GUN FIGHT (1975)

Yes, I am old enough to remember playing this in the arcades thanks. Gun Fight was a big deal at the time, pitting two players against one another on opposite sides of the screen, as they fired deadly bullets at one another, aiming around obstacles such as cacti, wagons, trees and dysentery. It holds the honour of being the first game to feature both human vs human combat, and on-screen guns.

It was all downhill from there...

The version we got in Europe and the US was slightly different from the original Japanese release, where it was known as Western Gun. Unlike the American version, the Japanese edition didn't feature a microprocessor, which meant that the sprites were smaller and less detailed, and gave players an aneurysm.

The game was reworked for a later release, with a detailed printed backdrop, and retitled Boot Hill. Which I really hope somebody, somewhere, has nabbed as the name for a cowboy footwear emporium.

INTERCEPTOR (1975)

One of the earliest first-person shoot 'em ups, Interceptor placed players in the cockpit of a fighter jet - realised beautifully with the moulded plastic control panel and joystick - blasting at enemy planes and that. 

It was immediately after completing work on Interceptor that Nishikado set to work on the game which would define him.

Space Invaders consumed the next few years of Tom-Tom's life as he sought to follow it up with sequels, and subtle takes on the original formula. However, he mostly stayed out of view, and his name doesn't crop up again in video game credits until the late-80s - by which time took a broader overview of the design process as producer.

Oh, Nishikado... you're such a shy boy! No-body loves you! Spend-ing your life pro-du-cing games! 

MASTER OF WEAPON (1989)

An arcade shoot 'em up, which later got a Mega Drive incarnation, the stupidly-named Master of Weapon was a scrolling take on the Space Invaders formula (like many games before it admittedly), and was mostly unremarkable, save for the number of aneurysms it gave players.

Bizarrely, the game begins by telling the player that the action is set on "September 11th 199X" - and it's vital to consider that players are able to topple skyscrapers by shooting at them. Let us add "seer" to the list of Nishikado's many attributes.

Or "terrorist mastermind, still at large"...

​One or the other. 

S.C.I. - SPECIAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION (1989)

A sequel to the classic Chase HQ, S.C.I. saw the return of top police cops Tony Gibson - who sounds more like somebody you'd hire to fit a kitchen - and Raymond Brody, this time driving a Nissan instead of the previous game's Porsche.

The promotional flyer for S.C.I. claimed... "You have the speed... TURBO. You have the fire-power... 44 MAGNUM. NOW... clean up the streets. At last a full of action driving shooting game!"

PARASOL STARS (1991)

A well-regarded sequel to the classic Bubble Bobble (though unlike its predecessor it was never released in arcades), Parasol Stars found players armed with a colourful parasol which could be used as both a weapon and a shield. Notably, its main theme tune was a version of the irritating song Lambada by the French pop group Kaomo. Which probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

DARIUS TWIN (1991)

The first game Nishikado produced for the Super NES, Darius Twin was the third game in the Darius shoot 'em up series. Next to the likes of R-Type and Fantasy Zone - and, indeed, its arcade predecessors - it was hard to find a reason to recommend the game, beyond the fact that it was fine for what it was, and probably wouldn't give you an aneurysm.

SONIC BLAST MAN II (1994)

A Super NES-only sequel to the generally pretty decent and interesting arcade hit Sonic Blast Man, Sonic Blast Man II was completely different to its predecessor. Whereas the original had been a test of physical strength - requiring players to punch a pressure pad, which would result in on-screen destruction and an aneurysm - the sequel was a fairly bog-standard scrolling beat 'em up.

Understandable, given that they probably didn't want people punching their TV screens or SNES controllers. It did, however, feature bonus levels which attempted to recreate the arcade gameplay by forcing players to rotate the d-pad. 

"Rotating the d-pad" sounds like urban slang for something dirty.

POP'N POP (1998)

Generously described as a mix of Breakout, Space Invaders - which was of course inspired by Breakout - Puyo Puyo, and Puzzle Bobble, Pop'n Pop required players to burst balloons by firing balloons of the same colour at them (not sure how that would work unless there were needles Sellotaped to the balloons, but never mind). Match three balloons of the same colour and they'd burst. You know the sort of thing by now. Or, at least, you will do... if you've ever suffered an aneurysm!!!!

It featured characters from Taito's Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island franchises, and began with the legend "Tiki and PyuPyu are at the river playing with their friends"...

Nobody drowned.

BUST-A-MOVE MILLENNIUM (2000)

Given that he's now in his 70s, Bust-A-Move Millennium is likely to go down in legend as the final game Nishikado will ever work on. It was a nice enough puzzler - obviously part of the Bust-A-Move franchise - but something of an inglorious end to his career, given that it only ever got a release on the Game Boy Color.

Like Pop'N Pop, it featured appearances by characters drawn from other Taito tiles, including Sonic Blast Man and Bubble Bobble... though sadly, there seemed to be no room for Tony Gibson.

​Perhaps he was busy fitting a kitchen. And that is the end of this. Yes, goodbye!