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Shigesato Itoi (糸井 重里,)
(Hobonichi, APE Inc.)
Creator, Scenario Writer
Shigesato Itoi is the creator of the MOTHER/EarthBound series and conceived the initial idea for EarthBound 64 during EarthBound’s development. Mr. Itoi is responsible for the scenario in EB64, every line of text in the game is written by him with assistance from Masayuki Miura and other Creatures staff. He also conceptualized all the key characters and locations in the scenario like Lucas, Flint, and Tazmily Village. Fun fact: He loves croquette rolls.
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Satoru Iwata (岩田 聡)
(HAL Laboratory)
Producer, Supervisor
Satoru Iwata was a producer for EarthBound 64 and the president of HAL Laboratory during its development until June 1999. Mr. Iwata was also referred to as on-site supervisor, often helping the team make decisions and comb through problems with the game. Towards the end of development, he was unable to be on-site due to being busy with other matters but he still tried to keep in touch with the team through email and phone.
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Shigeru Miyamoto (宮本 茂)
(Nintendo)
Producer
Shigeru Miyamoto was another producer for EarthBound 64 and creator of Super Mario and Zelda. A producer is responsible for project operations like managing the development team, marketing, and staffing. Mr. Miyamoto was also a producer on MOTHER and EarthBound but has said he grew more distant with each entry. He said in the cancellation discussion that he played the first half of EB64 but it’s unknown exactly what he meant by “first half”.
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Atsushi Kakuta (角田 敦)
(HAL Laboratory)
Director
Atsushi Kakuta was the director of the whole EarthBound 64 project between HAL Laboratory and Creatures Inc. As director, Mr. Kakuta makes various decisions relating to the project and directs the staff. Not too much is known about Mr. Kakuta’s role as director and the control of the EB64’s content he had in relation to Shigesato Itoi and others.
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Shogo Sakai (酒井 省吾)
(HAL Laboratory)
Composer
Shogo Sakai is the composer of almost all the music in EarthBound 64. According to the MOTHER3i liner notes, Mr. Sakai joined the team on November 12th, 1996. He composed the music for EB64 using the Roland SK-88 Pro keyboard and Logic Audio. In a 1997 Q&A, Shigesato Itoi said that Mr. Sakai reads his scenarios and always manages to build upon the image he was going for with his music. Mr. Sakai was also responsible for naming the magypsies. Fun fact: he loves cats and has lots of them.
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Takuto Kitsuta (橘田 拓人)
(Creatures Inc.)
Sound Programmer, Composer
Takuto Kitsuta is the sound programmer of EarthBound 64. Mr. Kitsuta’s job is to take the songs that Shogo Sakai makes, digitize them for the Nintendo 64, and also add effects such as reverb. He also composed all the techno and mechanical music in the game but it’s unknown if any of this made it into the GBA version. There is at least one song in EB64 which is a collaboration between Mr. Sakai and Mr. Kitsuta. In the December 1997 issue of 64DREAM, Mr. Kitsuta plays a song he says he contributed as a guest. Fun fact: he arranged some music for Super Smash Bros. Melee and Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver.
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Akihiko Miura (三浦 明彦)
(Creatures Inc.)
Game Designer
Akihiko Miura was the game designer of EarthBound 64 as well as EarthBound. As the game designer, Mr. Miura comes up with ideas for the gameplay and turns those ideas into specification sheets which tell the programmers at HAL how to program the game. Spec sheets are very detailed containing numbers and equations to specify things like how fast a character should run. Because of this, he purchased a book on mathematical equations and physics to improve his knowledge before starting on EB64. Once the programmer creates according to the spec sheet Miura either approves or disapproves of the result. While Mr. Miura is the one to consolidate the ideas for programming, the process of coming up with ideas was very collaborative, at least in the 64DD era. All the ideas put in the game by Mr. Miura and others are approved by Shigesato Itoi first. Fun fact: his nickname is miurani.
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Benimaru "ASHURA" Itoh (伊藤あしゅら紅丸)
(Creatures Inc.)
Art Director
Benimaru “ASHURA” Itoh is the art director for EarthBound 64. Mr. Itoh decides the look of most of the game, its characters, locations, and presumably items. He first draws the concept art based on Shigesato Itoi’s scenarios and then that concept art gets turned into 3D models by modellers at Creatures. He also uses concept art to pitch his own ideas for EarthBound 64 to Mr. Itoi and other team members. He was responsible for the English name “EarthBound 64”. He said that the name came from the image of children jumping on the Earth. Mr. Itoh illustrated the MOTHER2/EarthBound manga ‘Ness’s Adventure Memoirs’. Fun fact: he loves leopard print and has a 3D model of himself wearing leopard print.
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Toshinao Aoki (青木 俊直)
(Freelance)
Enemy Designer
Toshinao Aoki is the enemy designer for EarthBound 64. He designed all the enemies in the game. According to a 2011 interview, he was responsible for designing the Pigmasks, Porky, Porky’s spider mech, and the ‘place where Porky lives’ (presumably New Pork). Mr. Aoki would design many of the enemies after learning of the locations in the game. In an interview with Dengeki 64, Mr. Aoki said that he designs enemies in EB64 by first thinking of an attack method and then drawing an enemy that would use that attack method. Sometimes Shigesato Itoi would ask Mr. Aoki to make changes to enemies like that an enemies head should be bigger but otherwise he had complete freedom. Fun fact: his favorite enemy is the kraken.
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Shigenobu Kasai (葛西 重忍)
(HAL Laboratory)
Sound Manager
Shigenobu Kasai is the sound manager of EarthBound 64. It’s likely that Mr. Kasai was in charge of programming sound effects to play in the game such as the crunch of the grass beneath a character’s feet, the beeps and boops that play when dialogue appears on screen, or the boom of a large explosion.
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Masakazu Ebihara (海老原 正和)
(HAL Laboratory)
Window Manager
Masakazu Ebihara is the window manager for EarthBound 64. The role of window manager is said by the MOTHER3 Times to involve programming windows and the text within them to appear on screen like the dialogue window and the inventory window.
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Seiji Otoguro (乙黒 誠二)
(HAL Laboratory)
Development Tools
Seiji Otoguro was in charge of development tools for EarthBound 64. Mr. Otoguro presumably programmed these development tools himself to aid with the project. Examples of development tools you might find on a game project are things like file format converters and editors, debugging tools, and custom plug-ins for programs. Development tools are helpful in speeding up development and increasing efficiency.
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Isao Takahashi (水澤 和弘)
(HAL Laboratory)
General Manager of Maps and Terrain
Isao Takahashi was the general manager of maps and terrain in EarthBound 64. This role likely involved programming of the maps made by Creatures to work in the game like Tazmily Village. Mr. Takahashi was probably responsible for handling how players, enemies, etc. interact with the terrain of the maps, like making sure a character will tumble down a steep hill. This role might have also involved programming exits and entrances in maps that transition to other maps such as doors and cave entrances.
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Shimei Tei (鄭 志明)
(HAL Laboratory)
Battle Manager
Shimei Tei was the battle manager for EarthBound 64. Mr. Tei was responsible for programming everything to do with the battle scenes in EB64.
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Yoshiya Taniguchi (谷口 祥也)
(HAL Laboratory)
Player Manager
Yoshiya Taniguchi was the player manager for EarthBound 64. According to the MOTHER3 Times, Mr. Taniguchi was in charge of coordinating player movements and operations. This probably included things like walking, jumping, running, animations, making party members follow, and collision.
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Satoshi Mitsuhara (三津原 敏)
(HAL Laboratory)
Main System Programmer
Satoshi Mitsuhara is the main system manager of EarthBound 64. The main system manager is responsible for programming the game system (also known as game engine) which combines the work of all the programmers into a playable game. Creating a system involves programming how 2D and 3D graphics are displayed on screen, the size of the screen, and many things that aren’t seen by the player such as how files in the source code are accessed and loaded by the game. In the MOTHER3 Times, Mr. Mitsuhara said he was chief of the programming team and also in charge of characters (likely NPCs not playable characters), weapons, and backgrounds. Fun fact: He liked playing with radio-controlled cars when he was younger.
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Tomoaki Imakuni (今国智章)
(Creatures Inc.)
3D Modeller
Tomoaki Imakuni was one of the 3D modellers at Creatures Inc. who worked on EarthBound 64. He was confirmed to be a 3D modeller for EB64 in the September 1997 issue of the MOTHER3 Times. He also contributed to the MOTHER3 Times with a 1 panel comic called “MOTHER-san”. Mr. Imakuni is the only confirmed 3D modeller. A tweet from Akihito Toda who also worked on EB64 reveals that Mr. Imakuni named the Chipichupyoi Temple. Another tweet from GBA staff member Akiyuki Suzuki confirms Mr. Imakuni named the temple during the Nintendo 64 days. Fun fact: Mr. Imakuni contributed art to Pokemon cards, some featuring his own likeness known as ‘Imakuni?’
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Izuru Kumasaka (熊坂 出)
(Creatures Inc.)
Animator
Izuru Kumasaka is the only known animator for EarthBound 64. This information comes from his website which states he worked on the game as an animator. Fun fact: he went on to become a filmmaker after working at Creatures.
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Yōichi Kotabe (小田部 羊一)
(Nintendo)
Unknown Role
Yoichi Kotabe’s role in EarthBound 64 is unknown. He is only known to have been involved because Izuru Kumasaka mentioned working under him on his website. His role in EB64’s development can be speculated based on his role as a character supervisor on Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium, and Pokemon Stadium 2. In an Iwata Asks interview, Mr. Kotabe, Satoru Iwata, and Shigeru Miyamoto chatted about the beginning of N64 graphics and Mr. Kotabe’s work on Pokemon. While Mr. Kotabe wasn’t a modeller; he used his understanding of 2D animation and how 2D characters should look from different angles to help with translating 2D Pokemon designs to 3D for the first time. His role in EB64 may have been similar, assisting with translation of Benimaru Itoh’s 2D concept art into 3D. His role may have also be that of an animation supervisor giving feedback to the animators working on the cinematic cutscenes, and character animations. It’s also possible that Mr. Kumasaka was misremembering his time working under Mr. Kotabe on Pokemon Snap.
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Masayuki Miura (三浦 昌幸)
(Creatures Inc.)
Script Editor, Assistant Scenario Writer
Masayuki Miura is the script editor and assistant scenario writer for EarthBound 64. His job is to type Shigesato Itoi’s written lines onto a computer spreadsheet so that they can be accessed by the programmers and put in the game. Mr. Miura sometimes adds temp dialogue while drafting and organizing all the text on the computer and Mr. Itoi reviews everything he writes. He was also involved in deciding which parts of the game to showcase in the Spaceworld ‘99 demo. He was an assistant scenario writer during MOTHER2/EarthBound’s development also.
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Akihito Toda (戸田 昭吾)
(Creatures Inc.)
Unknown Role
Akihito Toda’s role is unknown but it is likely text related like his role in MOTHER2/EarthBound and MOTHER3 on the GBA. It’s known he was involved in EB64 because Shogo Sakai mentioned it in the MOTHER3i liner notes.
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Tōru Hashimoto (橋本 徹)
(Nintendo)
Unknown Role
Tōru Hashimoto is a former Nintendo engineer who went on to open his own bar called 84 Hashi. The bar is decorated with lots of Nintendo related stuff. It’s known he worked on EB64 after an EB64 fan named Picto visited the bar. Picto noticed a rare EB64 DCMC shirt. When he asked Mr. Hashimoto where he got the shirt, the translator at the bar said he got it from working on the game. Mr. Hashimoto was involved in EarthBound’s development as a member of the Nintendo Debugging Team. It’s possible that his role was the same for EB64. It’s known that Chapter 1 of EB64 was playable to end because of Brendan Setcher who worked on the GBA version and because of the Mecha Drago cancellation screenshot. It’s a possibility that the Nintendo Debugging Team may have started combing through Chapter 1 due to its level of completeness.
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