Table Of ContentPOWER-UP
HOW JAPANESE VIDEO GAMES GAVE THE WORLD AN
EXTRA LIFE
Author’s note: After the original publication of Power-Up, I took a copy of the book around with me
whenever I interviewed the game design luminaries mentioned in its pages, and had them sign its title
page. This is what my original copy looks like today, with the signatures of Japan’s most legendary
game creators. Clockwise from top left: Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto, Hironobu Sakaguchi,
Fumito Ueda, Koji Kondo, and Kenji Kaido.
To my parents
Copyright
Copyright © 2005, 2016 by Chris Kohler
Foreword Copyright © 2016 by Shuhei Yoshida
All rights reserved.
Bibliographical Note
This Dover edition, first published in 2016, is a revised and updated republication of the work
originally published by BradyGAMES Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2004. A new Foreword by
Shuhei Yoshida has been specially prepared for the present edition. In addition, the author has added a
new Introduction to the 2016 edition, additional material for Chapter 7, and a bonus Chapter.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kohler, Chris.
Title: Power-up : how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life / Chris Kohler ; foreword by
Shuhei Yoshida.
Description: Mineola, New York : Dover Publications, 2016. | “This Dover edition, first published in
2016, is a revised and updated republication of the work originally published by BradyGAMES
Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2004. A new Foreword by Shuhei Yoshida has been specially
prepared for the present edition. In addition, the author has added a new Introduction to the 2016
edition, additional material for Chapter 7, and a bonus Chapter.”—Title page verso. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019668| ISBN 9780486801490 (paperback) | ISBN 0486801497 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Video games—Design. | Computer games—Design. | Computer Games—Japan—
Marketing. | Video games—Japan—Marketing. | BISAC: GAMES / Video & Electronic.
Classification: LCC QA76.76.C672 K62 2016 | DDC 794.8/1536—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019668
Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications
80149702 2017
www.doverpublications.com
• • • • Contents • • • •
Foreword
Introduction to the 2016 Edition
Introduction to the 2004 Edition
Chapter 1
Super Mario Nation
Chapter 2
An Early History of Cinematic Elements in Video Games
Chapter 3
The Play Control of Power Fantasies: Nintendo, Super Mario, and
Shigeru Miyamoto
Chapter 4
Quests and Fantasies: The Japanese RPG
Chapter 5
Game Music, Music Games
Chapter 6
A Tale of Two Gaijin
Chapter 7
Adventures In Akihabara: The Japanese Game Marketplace
Chapter 8
Lost in Transration: This Game Are Sick
Chapter 9
Pokémon: Shikaku Sedai No Sekai Shôhin
Chapter 10
Future Games
Conclusion
Thank You, Mario [But Our Profits Are In Another Country]
Bonus 2016 Chapter
Iwata Dreams of Video Games
Bibliography
Index
• • • • Foreword • • • •
I started to notice Chris Kohler right after I moved back to Japan in 2008,
after eight years working in Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Bay
Area office. As I became president of WWS, Kaz Hirai, the president of SCE
at that time, asked me to base in Tokyo to be able to work closely with
PlayStation’s hardware team. SCE was just starting the development of
PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, and Kaz wanted to change SCE so that
new platform development would be done in collaboration between the
hardware and game development teams.
I was afraid that by moving to Japan, I might become detached from the
new developments in the Western video game market. So I started to listen to
podcasts while I commuted to the office every day. I quickly became a fan of
Chris Kohler, the host of the Game|Life Podcast for WIRED. His deep
understanding of how the video game industry works, shown in his
commentary on the news and delivered in his radio voice, made my train
commute entertaining and informative every week. It had become such a part
of my life that once when he was busy and skipped a couple of episodes, I
tweeted to him demanding that he not skip any more!
Oftentimes on the podcast, he showed his love of Japanese games and
culture and his almost obsessive level of collector mentality for classic video
game cartridges. It was well beyond a typical geek American video game
journalist. I only recently learned about his experience living in Japan as a
student and his Japanese language skills when we had a dinner in a Tokyo
restaurant during Tokyo Game Show week in 2015.
So when he asked me to write a foreword for the re-release of his first
book, I was very happy and excited, as he offered me a copy of both the
original English version and the Japanese localized version to read. No need
to mention that both copies were kept in mint condition!
This book, written from 2001 to 2004, analyzes classic Japanese games
released during the NES-SNES-PS1 era, focusing on the innovation that
games like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, Dragon Quest, and the
Final Fantasy series have brought to the game industry. Rich in data and
meticulously dissecting the game design of some of the early games (who
would have thought Donkey Kong was the start of video game narrative!), the
book is full of his respect and affection for these Japanese games and the
game developers who were the pioneers of the time.
The year 2016 is looking like a potential resurgence of Japanese games,
seen in the passionate reactions to the E3 announcements of Final Fantasy
VII Remake, Shenmue III, and The Last Guardian. This book will provide a
compelling explanation why the classic Japanese games still fill a special
place in the hearts of Western gamers today. In the future, I would like to see
Chris write about Japanese games’ “decline” and potential “resurgence” that
followed the periods covered in this book, and I would be very happy to write
a foreword again.
SHUHEI YOSHIDA
President
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Worldwide Studios
