The excellent Live A Live remake released last month after almost 30 years of being a Japan-exclusive game. In a recent interview, director Takashi Tokita explained how the remake came to be, with a couple other tidbits. We have them here, courtesy of ResetEra user Jubern. In summary:
- It was the first game he directed, and was really attached to it as a result (even though as a producer he also recognized it was a commercial flop). He never thought it’d get a remake.
- The impulse for a remake began in 2015 when Nintendo asked for a rerelease on Virtual Console for the Wii U in Japan. Apparently the game had a lot of fans in the Big N. It would also get rereleased on 3DS Virtual Console.
- The game is (of course) a melting pot of influences, as Tokita wanted people to experience a range of possibilities as to what the medium of video games could be.
- He originally wrote the game’s script to be like a manga or anime, impactful (hence moments like “Let’s finish this, Matsu!”). It was always written to be voiced, and Tokita actually wanted to be a voice actor before entering the game industry (knowing a lot about voice actors as a result).
- Almost all the (Japanese) voice actors chosen were either those Tokita imagined playing characters back in the day (veterans like Akio Otsuka or Kazuhiko Inoue) or younger voice actors who grew up loving Live A Live (presumably the likes of Tomokazu Sugita or Yuichi Nakamura).
- They took care with the remake in adjusting dialogue, both by expanding it (some areas that fit one dialogue box now fit two) and tweaking music to time entry with A-presses (hence why every Megalomania needle drop goes hard).
- Dragon Quest is the game that steered Tokita towards making games. He outright admits the basic structure of LAL was taken from Dragon Quest IV.
- The reveal of the game in Asano’s HD2D engine was a real “you did it!” moment.
- Development was relatively smooth for the remake. They took extra care with the soundtrack, trying to figure out which tracks should have live instruments or not.
Live A Live is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
Via: Nintendo Everything
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
