Yasumi Matsuno

Yasumi Matsuno
Born	1965 (1965)
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Video game designer

Yasumi Matsuno (松野 泰己, Matsuno Yasumi) (b. 1965) is a video game designer.

He is one of the only two designers to have two games receive a perfect score by Famitsu magazine, which has to date only given perfect scores to thirteen games in its twenty-year history. Matsuno's Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII were critically acclaimed by the magazine with a 40/40 score. Matsuno has been rated by the website Next Generation as the 13th most important and anticipated video game developers of 2007. In March 2006, the Japanese Famitsu magazine readers voted on their 100 all-time favorite games, and Matsuno's game Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was named number seven.

Career

Early projects

Matsuno began his career at the Japanese video game developer Quest, where he created the Ogre Battle series of tactical role-playing games.

Square Co. and Square Enix

In 1995, Matsuno joined Squaresoft Co., Ltd. after quitting Quest. His colleagues at Square Enix usually called him by his nickname "YAZZ".

At Squaresoft, Matsuno oversaw the development of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PlayStation. Similar in design and gameplay to Tactics Ogre, it was lauded for its highly intricate and convoluted story.

After the release of Final Fantasy Tactics, Matsuno and his team began development on Vagrant Story. Smaller in scope than Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story was still highly regarded by critics and has gained somewhat of a cult following since its release.

Matsuno supervised Square's PlayOnline project prior to its first beta release in 2001. He then produced Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Game Boy Advance system, which shares the Final Fantasy Tactics system but has an entirely different storyline.

Final Fantasy XII was co-directed by Matsuno and Hiroyuki Itō, and written by Matsuno, though his official credits are listed as "Story and Concept". He had to bow out of the game's staff, ostensibly due to health issues. According to e-mail responses from the Square Enix Information Center, Matsuno left Square Enix on August 31, 2007, following his step-down from directing Final Fantasy XII but a developer implies he had no longer appeared in the front of the team by the end of 2004. On February 25, 2010, Matsuno spoke out on his departure from the Final Fantasy XII project on his Twitter page, although the message is in Japanese.[2]

Current

Matsuno has most recently stated that he was developing for the Wii console. Hitoshi Sakimoto has revealed that he is currently working on an undisclosed project with Matsuno.

On February 13, 2009, GameSpot's preview of Platinum Games' Nintendo Wii exclusive game MadWorld revealed that Matsuno is one of the title's story developers.

Miscellanea

• As a jab at Matsuno, the development team included an optional boss in Final Fantasy XII called Yazmat (a play on his aforementioned nickname, Yazumi Matsuno). In-game information about Yazmat (localized as Yiazmat in the North American version) is accompanied by a subtitle which reads, "Farewell to a Legend." Montblanc, who assigns the player the task of slaying Yiazmat, tells a story of how he and his moogle siblings once worked with a wise leader and mentor with whom they did many wonderful things. Montblanc explains that Yiazmat became mad, came along and killed that master, causing them all to break up and "robbing Montblanc of all Joy in Life".

• One of Matsuno's trademarks is to pay homage to the rock band Queen in his works. His first game was titled Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. Both Ogre Battle and March of the Black Queen are song titles from the album Queen II. His next game was Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Let Us Cling Together being a song from the album A Day at the Races. His game Final Fantasy Tactics had a chapter called "Somebody to Love", also a song title from A Day At the Races. In the game Vagrant Story, the lead character begins the game with a sword called Fandango, which is a reference to a lyric in the song "Bohemian Rhapsody", from A Night at the Opera. In Final Fantasy XII, the earth elemental summon Hashmal uses an attack called "Rock You", a nod to the song We Will Rock You from the album News of the World. "Rock You" has been changed to "Roxxor" in the localized English game, a likely play on internet slang.

Credits

• Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen: Director, scenario and game design
• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together: Director, scenario and game design
• Final Fantasy Tactics: Director, script and game design
• Vagrant Story: Producer, director and battle design
• Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber: Script, scenario design
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: Producer, original concept
• Final Fantasy XII: Original concept, scenario plotter, and supervisor
• MadWorld: Story

External links

• 1UP.Com feature on Yasumi Matsuno's career
• Yasumi Matsuno profile, interviews, and photo gallery at the Square Haven People Database
• Madworld Updated Hands-On