In person, he is a playful, mischievous but also likably frustrating presence. Photograph: SonyĪfter meeting Ueda at E3, it’s clear why there is so little backstory about him. Ueda-san’s first game for Sony, Ico, was famous for its hand-holding mechanic, linking the eponymous protagonist with the prisoner he rescues, Yorda. But what of the thinking behind his own games? His own development process? This must surely have been another major influence. We know his first job in development was at cult studio Warp under the guidance of maverick designer Kenji Eno – creator of the D series and other strange experimental titles for the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. We know that, as a teenager, he was a huge fan of the Amiga computer and loved the acclaimed cinematic platformers Flashback and Another World (it is perhaps from French developer Delphine that he learned the art of oblique, highly mannered storytelling). It is unmistakably an Ueda game.īut who is Ueda? This 40-something developer, who joined the games industry two years after graduating from Osaka university of arts in 1993, gives few interviews. Little is known about this tale of a boy escaping from a ruined city with the help of a giant creature, but with its hazy, almost dreamlike lighting, vast plaintive landscapes and emphasis on a central relationship, it is very much in the style of Ico and its follow-up, Shadow of the Colossus.
Now, the designer behind that moment Fumito Ueda, is nervously awaiting the release of his third game for Sony, the long-delayed Last Guardian.
Most had never played anything that required one character to connect with another in such a tactile and protective way, and the idea that hand-holding could be a central mechanic was as revolutionary as it was quietly beautiful. For many players, when the eponymous protagonist takes the hand of the captive girl Yorda and leads her from her cage, it is a profoundly emotional experience. T here are very few games that become legendary for a single moment, a single unforgettable image, but Ico is certainly one of them.
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