OK, I’m going to start this text by making an important revelation for you.
I love Kirby. I love Kirby like…. VERY MUCH. Everyone has a series of games that mark us, and for me this series is Kirby, it’s always been…
And it marked me because 27 years ago, when in the land of video games everything was still bush, I played and finished my first game without the help of my parents, and that game was Kirby’s Adventure for NES.
This feat was what catapulted playing video games from a simple interest to a hobby I would never give up. The magic just happened there in such an impactful way that it did for me what no other game could do. The feeling of seeing Kirby return to Dreamland on Warp Star together with Dedede to return the Star Rod back to the source of dreams is one of the scenes I love the most in this world to this day. And I love revisiting that ending.
And why am I talking about Kirby at this time? It’s basically because I always talk about Kirby to everyone I know, but really, I’m talking about Kirby because it’s a franchise with lots and lots and lots of stories to tell from a developmental point of view, including lots of mysteries.
Having a game developed without a keyboard (only using a trackball) is something I find fascinating! And… on second thought, it’s kind of crazy too to be honest, but this is a story for another time, I’m digressing here! Let’s get back to the subject!
Today there won’t be any Business Intelligence itself, but we’re going after one of the biggest mysteries of the gaming industry, a mystery that hasn’t been solved until now. But then you must be wondering ‘Gee, but what does this have to do with Kirby, my friend?’ and to that I answer: EVERYTHING!
As everyone knows, Kirby’s stories always start with something silly, like someone stealing a cake from him and it ends with Kirby defeating an Eldritch god in some parallel dimension, right?
What? Not everyone knows this? Well… Maybe this is a second story for another day… Okay, I’m digressing again! Let’s get back to the topic!
The Kirby series has a trilogy of games called by fans the Dark Matter Trilogy. This Dark Matter Trilogy is a trio of games (Kirby’s Adventure 2, KIrby’s Adventure 3 and Kirby 64: Crystal Shards) that have some things in common, the most obvious is that they have Kirby as the protagonist and the main villain is always Dark Matter , a sphere of negative energy that wants to consume all of reality. But my main point is that these three games have the same director, Shinichi Shimomura.
This guy is responsible for creating some of the most outstanding features of the entire series, like Kirby’s animal friends (Kine the fish, Coo the owl, Rick the hamster, Gooey, a piece expelled by Dark Matter, Nago the cat, Pitch the bird and ChuChu which is a… Octopus? I still have no idea what it is hahahaha), among other things. Shinichi Shimomura is the source of this mystery that I would like to bring up today, so let’s investigate together, my friends!
A prominent person at Hal Laboratory, Shinichi Shimomura has served as director and map designer on several games developed by the studio, most notably the Kirby series. And yes… I said served. In the past. That’s because he just… Disappeared.
He disappeared from the gaming industry without a trace and no one knows what happened to him, not even his colleagues at Hal Laboratory. Very strange all this, right?
So like good Business Intelligence analysts, let’s go after the data and facts to at least try to assemble a part of this puzzle and get an idea of what happened!
Why did he disappear? Why doesn’t anyone talk about him? What actually happened here???
Did he leave the gaming industry on his own? He got fired from Hal and never got a job again? He died? I do not know. But I would love to know because his work impacted my life, like few other products in this industry have.
So let’s go after the most famous theories and see if they are plausible or not based on data that I and more other Kirby fans have gathered about this mysterious disappearance.
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Theory 1 – He was never credited in any games again because he died in late 2002, shortly after working on Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland. -> INCONCLUSIVE.
I checked all possible obituaries and had the help of friends and colleagues who speak Japanese in the search for people who died in Japan in the year 2002 (the game’s release year) until 2020, but we found nothing. And yes, I know that reading obituaries is kind of morbid, but Business Intelligence analyst work is not easy, right?
Anyway, back to the subject, we didn’t find any mention of Shimomura in any obituary. Whether through the Japan Times, whether through sites like obituare, through local newspapers… Nothing! Absolutely nothing to indicate his death notice.
Of course, there is always the possibility that his death was not notified, so I leave that theory here as inconclusive. There is simply not enough data to refute it.
Personally I believe that Shimomura is not really dead, I believe that co-workers in interviews could very well have commented something about it, if it really happened, after all he was director of several games in the series and worked together with Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Kirby, in a series of them, but in fact it is impossible to say if he really passed away or if he is still alive.
Theory 2 – Shinichi Shimomura is nothing but a code name used by the late Satoru Iwata and/or the creator of Kirby, Masahiro Sakurai -> FALSE.
Okay, the theory is indeed possible since in older games, especially from the time that ranges from the 80s to the mid 90s, people who worked on a game had a habit of putting their nicknames in the credits instead of their real names, mainly in Japan.
However, in the case of Shinichi Shimomura, this doesn’t make any sense, as he has been credited several times alongside these two names in the credits of the games he has worked on, as can be seen in most kirby games, such as Kirby’s Adventure.
I present the evidence here:
And this happens not only in Kirby’s Adventure, for NES, but it is the most iconic game as it shows the names of the three guys together in the credits. I mean… It doesn’t make sense for one of the two to use a second name to appear in the game’s credits as Map Designer. It’s not a job less important than a director, game designer or producer to the point of wanting to hide his name.
Does this irrefutably demonstrate that in fact Sakurai, Iwata or anyone else can use this nickname to actively participate in the development of a game? No. It’s circumstantial evidence, and I understand that it actually is, at least. And that brings us directly to the next popular theory about Shimomura.
Theory 3 – In fact, REALLY, Shinichi Shimomura is a code name used by Shigesato Itoi, Japanese celebrity present in various media and creator of the video game series Mother (Earthbound) -> INCONCL—- folks, this is FALSE too. I am really sorry.
Okay, I’m putting Shigesato Itoi’s name here because he is certainly the most famous of the other names mentioned in theories about Shinichi Shimomura and he differs from the theory of Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata for the simple reason that in the case of the two colleagues from the HAL Laboratory team, it is easily proven that it is not a code name. Just look at the game credits.
In the case of Shigesato Itoi, this is not possible due to the fact that Itoi has little presence in the game industry, basically staying ahead of the mother series as a creator, but he is a very busy guy with other media, he writes books, is an actor, is a voice actor, is president of the Japanese association of Monopoly (yes, the famous board game) and even created a social media called Dokonoko, basically an instagram for dogs in Japan.
What I mean by listing Itoi’s résumé is that he is a super busy guy and is present in several areas other than games, including his work in the industry has always been in directing positions, acting as a producer or even as a concept creator in a game. He’s never been a programmer and/or map designer, so it doesn’t make sense for him to be credited for a job he’s never done in his life.
Itoi only fits this theory because some themes used in Kirby’s stories during the Dark Matter trilogy are similar in tone to themes covered in Itoi’s game stories, which would open up a possibility for Itoi to be the director of these games specifically. A very weak argument in my view, without any basis of proof.
Theory 4 – Shinichi Shimomura just retired from the industry and now lives a good life away from the spotlight of the gaming industry -> MOST LIKELY THEORY.
Very little is known about Shinichi Shimomura and he probably just opted to silently withdraw from the gaming industry altogether after working on Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland alongside Sakurai.
It is possible that he is working in another area completely different from games, it is also possible that today he lives in the mountains training his mind and body to escape the daily stress of the city, it is possible that today he works as a visual artist or simply left work as a developer of other types of software. Who knows?
The possibilities are endless and we may never know what actually happened to him. Maybe he doesn’t even want and/or like to be in the spotlight. Maybe he didn’t find himself in the gaming industry. Maybe he looked for something different to dedicate himself to, something that made more sense…
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Acting as a Business Intelligence analyst for so long here at GamePlan makes me think a lot about these things. Analyzing all these data and interpreting them is to be face to face with all kinds of mystery and that’s where we discover our own limitations. It’s fascinating how grateful I am to have the opportunity to work with this.
We, who follow the game market very closely, are used to worshiping some of the big names in the industry (and with good reason, they DO deserve all the praise they receive), but hardly these other people who are little known are actually recognized for their hard work.
I wanted to dedicate a part of this space that was given to me to exalt these people who touched my life in a positive way, who filled it with the most diverse experiences and who helped, in part, to shape what I am today.
I wouldn’t be working with games, and therefore at GamePlan, if I hadn’t single-handedly beat the maps developed by Shinichi Shimomura in 1992 at Kirby’s Adventure. I wouldn’t be here today writing about it if I hadn’t been so deeply touched by the credits of Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (with the cutest cartoons in the world) in 1997 to the point of making me cry.
I don’t know how to end this article. I actually didn’t expect to get this emotional, much less that he would be this intimate, but I hope I brought out a little bit of one of the mysteries of the gaming industry and a little appreciation for the guy. So I’ll finish by thanking you.
Thank you, Shinichi Shimomura, for the experiences and for becoming a gamer at heart, not just a consumer. I hope you have lived or are living your life as lightly and happily as possible, wherever you are.
And thanks to all of you who made it this far. I hope this story has awakened in you an unsettling curiosity to know a little more about these people who are part of this game industry that we love so much. There are lots of other people like Shinichi Shimomura out there, hard at work with games and with so many stories to discover… Stories worth telling.
Image credits:
- [1] Kirby Detective Pikachu : Usato 21 (https://twitter.com/usato21)
- [2] Shinichi Shimomura: Own YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChwwkfqXF8TPcA8vT-n5UqA)
- [3] Kirby Boo : Magolor and More (https://i.pinimg.com/564x/51/8c/4b/518c4b781aa3370336998f0b70feba3f.jpg)
- [4] Images of Kirby’s Adventure credits were taken from the game itself through the Kirby’s Dream Collection – Special Edition.
- [5] Image taken from an interview with Itoi, conducted by Satoru Iwata, in 2009 (https://www.1101.com/nintendo/nikonikori/2009-04-22.html)
- [6] Kirby’s Dream Land 3 credits image was taken from the game itself through the Kirby’s Dream Collection – Special Edition.
- [7] Kirby’s Dream Land 3 credits image was taken from the game itself through the Kirby’s Dream Collection – Special Edition.
