Hidemaro Fujibayashi | |
|---|---|
| 藤林 秀麿 | |
.jpg) Fujibayashi in 2017 | |
| Born | October 1, 1972 |
| Occupation(s) | Video game designer, director |
| Employers | |
Hidemaro Fujibayashi (藤林 秀麿, Fujibayashi Hidemaro, born October 1, 1972) is a Japanese video game designer and director working for Nintendo.[1] He is best known for his contributions to The Legend of Zelda franchise, for which he has served as director of several games.[1][2]
Before he entered the video game industry, Fujibayashi had designed layouts of haunted attractions for Japanese theme parks.[2] At that time, he had considered finding an occupation involving production, and came upon a job opening from a company that developed video games.[2] He was fascinated with the fact that his application for employment had to include a sample of his work that would be inspected directly upon transmittal, and he became enamored with the idea of being a game designer.[2] Fujibayashi joined Capcom in 1995, where he gained experience as planner for the interactive movie Gakkō no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!! and the mahjong game Yōsuke Ide Meijin no Shin Jissen Maajan.[2][3] He became part of the company's Production Studio 1, and designed and directed the puzzle game Magical Tetris Challenge.[2]
Fujibayashi's first involvement with the Zelda series was with the Game Boy Color games The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.[2] In the initial development stages, he acted as sort of a clerk, who gathered all staff ideas and created presentations to propose the game concepts to producer Shigeru Miyamoto.[3] Fujibayashi eventually became the director, participated as planner and scenario writer, and devised a system to link the two games for consecutive playthroughs.[3] During his time at Capcom, he also directed the Game Boy Advance games The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Minish Cap.[4][5] Following his switch to Nintendo, Fujibayashi was assigned to The Legend of Zelda team and became the subdirector and story writer for Phantom Hourglass.[1][6] He has since directed Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom.[7][8][9] According to Fujibayashi, the most important aspect of game design is making the fundamental rule set of a video game absolutely clear to a player.[2]
| Year | Game | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Gakkō no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!! | Planner[3] |
| 1996 | Yōsuke Ide Meijin no Shin Jissen Maajan | Planner[3] |
| 1998 | Magical Tetris Challenge | Director, planner[3] |
| 2001 | The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages | Director, planner, scenario writer[3] |
| 2002 | The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords | Director, planner |
| 2004 | The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap | Director, planner, writer |
| 2007 | The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass | Subdirector, story writer,[1] multiplayer director[10] |
| 2011 | The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword | Director, writer[7] |
| 2017 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Director |
| 2020 | Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity | Scenario supervisor |
| 2023 | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | Director |
