{"id":56372,"date":"2026-02-02T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56372"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:24:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T01:24:55","slug":"i-was-amazed-umamusume-managed-to-pull-it-off-developer-of-classic-famicom-horse-racing-series-on-legal-difficulties-of-using-real-racehorse-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/i-was-amazed-umamusume-managed-to-pull-it-off-developer-of-classic-famicom-horse-racing-series-on-legal-difficulties-of-using-real-racehorse-names\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0“I was amazed Umamusume managed to pull it off.” Developer of classic Famicom horse racing series on legal difficulties of using real racehorse names"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Decades before the craze for Umamusume: Pretty Derby<\/strong>, there was the Derby Stallion series. Debuting in 1991 with the launch of Derby Stallion: Best Race<\/strong> for the NES (Famicom), the long-running horse race and breeding simulator series was originally developed and published by ASCII. The franchise was huge in Japan during the 90s, selling millions of copies, and is considered one of the pioneers of the horse racing genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, it\u2019s not rare to see fans of Umamusume developing a love for horses and horse racing after learning about them through the game characters \u2013 which are all based on actual competing racehorses, past and present. However, back in the 90s, it was difficult even for big titles like Derby Stallion to put real life horses inside the game. In a recent interview with Game*Spark<\/a>, ASCII developer Takeshi Kaneda talks about the struggles his team went through trying to make a realistic horse racing game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaneda says that, ever since the beginning of the Derby Stallion, ASCII had been using real-life names for the studs appearing in the game. However, when it came to naming conventions for everything else \u2013 particularly racehorses and jockeys \u2013 they had to settle for pseudonyms. \u201cI remember Sonobe (Derby Stallion series creator Hiroyuki Sonobe) wanted to have the real names of the horses, if possible, but even in case of the BestPlay Baseball series, we went through quite some trouble trying to implement real names of actual players (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Derby
Derby Stallion ’96<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order to use the real names of the horses, we went on to negotiate with the JRA (Japanese Racing Association). They told us they had no problem with it, but of course, directed us to discuss it with the horse owners as well,\u201d Kaneda explains. Apparently, the responses from horse owners to ASCII\u2019s requests were all different, and Kaneda remarks one of them even said \u201cYou can use the horse\u2019s name however you like, but we don\u2019t want you to assign it ability stats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith all that said, it was really a bumpy road, but when it came to names of racehorses in particular, actual jockeys who were playing Derby Stallion at the time put out a good word for us saying it would be \u2018beneficial for the industry.\u2019 So, we continued our negotiations, but I remember it was extremely tough, because we even had cases where parties other than horse owners held trademark rights,\u201d Kaneda recalls. Luckily, the franchise started using actual names of racehorses and jockeys with the release of Derby Stallion \u201996, five years after the series\u2019 first installment launched in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having gone through so much struggle to gain the rights for horse names alongside his peers at ASCII, Kaneda says the launch of Umamusume: Pretty Derby was quite a surprise for him. \u201cPersonally, I was amazed that they actually managed to pull it off from the start. It\u2019s already difficult enough to have the horses simply appear as they are, but they went as far as to turn them into girls, so I\u2019m certain they had to go through all kinds of trouble to achieve that. But I have so much admiration for the fact that they were able to carry it out and are currently thriving,\u201d Kaneda comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real-life racehorse from Umamusume: Pretty Derby has an official diary kept by her owners, and it\u2019s super adorable<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does Umamusume: Pretty Derby have specific rules against sexual or violent fanart? 
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derby Stallion developer Takeshi Kaneda talks about the struggles ASCII went through trying to make a realistic horse racing game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":56377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-56372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u00a0"I was amazed Umamusume managed to pull it off." 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