Level-5’s CEO hopes to make erotic and violent games someday
In a recent joint interview with Grasshopper Manufacture’s Goichi Suda, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino expressed some of his personal ambitions as a creator. While Level-5 are generally known for their safe and marketable games, it seems that on a personal level, Hino would like to try his hand at edgier content, including games with erotic and violent themes.
Level 5 is the studio behind widely palatable IPs such as Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven and Yo-Kai Watch, while Goichi Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture targets a more niche audience with dark titles such as The Silver Case, Killer7 and No More Heroes. Hino and Suda have been on friendly terms for years, but they are seemingly opposites in regard to the content they create. Recently, the two CEOs were invited to a joint interview organized by Denfaminicogamer, where they both expressed unexpected sentiments.
When asked about the reason he decided to establish his own game company, Level-5’s Hino explains, “I didn’t want to be told what to make by superiors, I wanted to make what I want, especially the kind of RPGs I love.” Hino also expresses admiration for Suda’s bold work, commenting, “Creators who can release such edgy titles into the world are amazing.”
Hino goes on to reveal that he too is keen on creating edgier and more niche content. “If I were to put it in extreme terms, I would go as far as to say that I want to make things like erotic games and 18+ games with violence,” the creator comments while laughing. At the same time, he mentions that his current situation does not exactly allow him to do whatever he wants, as he is responsible for continuing ongoing series and developing new IPs with his collaborators.
When asked by Suda if he has any ideas “on stock” in his head, Level-5’s CEO amusingly explains, “I do, there’s an ‘abnormal world’ inside of me, but I’m trying not to go there, only making things from the righteous part of my mind instead. However, deep down, I really want to visit that abnormal world.”
Despite current circumstances and his responsibility as CEO, Hino seems optimistic that he will start his dark arc someday, as he comments, “I want to go to that dark, abnormal world, and I think I will definitely end up doing so. Once I feel that Level-5 is stable, and I have the room to make what I want…I will do it (laughs).”
In response, Goichi Suda exclaims that a mature game by Hino would be revolutionary, and it really is an interesting possibility to look forward to.
I do think with Megaton Musashi and Victory Road we will see those games sooner than later.
An erotic game with Yokai Watch’s art style, sign me up ;_;
No, part of the charm of Level 5 is that they DON’T do that sort of thing, and that is a good thing because not even Nintendo does that, and they’re usually considered as a “family-friendly” company. About as dark as what Level 5 gets to is maybe Rogue Galaxy. Moreover, there is a line that needs to be made, not by censorship per se, but as for human decency, as well as learning some compassion, empathy, and sympathy for your fellow human beings, and there are some anime/manga that kind of don’t get that, i.e., Metamorphosis, Higehiro, Road to Kingdom, plus an anime that was so disturbing that it was also banned by Japan as well, but I forget the name of that franchise. Also, if anything, I would like a video game in which people that end up in a variety of bad situations, ranging from unintentionally, being involved with criminal elements, to having bad things being done to them against their wills, having disasters happen to them, having diseases happen to them, and other disturbing events happen to them, and saving those people from those things in their lives, as well as changing the hearts, minds, and lives of the people that try and make such things happen to those people that are in such situations, in a combination of ways that are like Ni No Kuni (Another World): Wrath of the White Witch, the Darkness novels (This Present Darkness/Piercing the Darkness), and series like Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya/Knights of the Zodiac, but that they go through time and space in a combination of Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross, Doctor Who, and Quantum Leap, via a special vessel that is infinitely expandable, and that all of the people that get saved become immortal, as well as can also change their ages, in order to disguise themselves to help saved each of the people that are in each parallel world, with the ultimate goal to change his own world, so, in a way, it is kind of like an inter-dimensional and time skipping version of One Piece as well. I would call this franchise The Patchwork Academy.
Oh, and by the way, I don’t want Level 5 to make my kind of game like that, to be honest.
Maybe Hino can pick up the rights to some of the old Riverhillsoft stuff he worked on and do something with it.
FF7 Rebirth-ify Overblood 2 or something, maybe even a sequel to the franchise. It’s not like Althi (company formed by ex-RHS employ) is doing anything with it.