In September 2013, we came into contact with Satoshi Nakai, the freelance designer contracted by FLAGSHIP to work as a character, creature and level design artist for several games in the series, including BIOHAZARD 0, BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica and a scrapped BIOHAZARD 3 project. Mr. Nakai also kindly gave us permission to release never-before-seen concept art from his time with the series, although we can only release those permitted by CAPCOM.
Interview Transcript
Q1: What did you do before joining CAPCOM?
A1: Even before joining CAPCOM I was a freelance designer of illustrations and game graphics. That's the case today.
Q2: When did you begin working with CAPCOM? In addition, what did you work on before "BIO"?
A2: I don't remember specifically. If I check the dates of the files on my PC now, it seems to have been November 1997. (The date of early setting documents and sketches I drew early on). I have drawn many magazine cover arts and been making consumer games even before "BIO":
Last Armageddon (PC)
Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator (SNES)
Gynoug/Wings of Wor (Genesis)
Culdcept series (1997~, PS1, PS2, DC, 360, DS, 3DS)
Gunstar Heroes (DS)
Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
AstroBoy Omega Factor (DS)
Q3: How did you come to be involved with the "BIO" series?
A3: I was introduced to Nextech Co., Ltd. I was acquainted with representative director Katsuji Aoyama from when the company was still small. He received work with CAPCOM and called out to me as an outside designer. I'm still grateful to him. At the time, I was under contract with the scenario company FLAGSHIP and reported directly to Hirohisa Soda and Noboru Sugimura (who has passed away). I was only surrounded by scenario-related people.
Q4: Can you explain CODE:Veronica's development history in detail?
A4: Among the staff of CODE:Veronica, only director Hiroki Katoh and assistant Kaori Nishio (stage planner) were CAPCOM employees. The scenario was handled by FLAGSHIP while programming, polygons, textures etc were handled by Nextech and TOSE. Then there was me. As it was a long time ago I can't recall the clear schedule.
Q5: Can you comment on the scrapped "BIO3" cruise ship scenario (for example, concept and development?)
A5: The director of "CODE:Veronica" in those days was Katoh-san. "ZERO" was Kamiya-san. I don't remember whose idea the luxury cruise ship was (I'm sorry). In my initial sketches there are several pieces of design images of "Human Plants." I remember that plant monsters were planned at the time of that concept, before Zombies came into the picture.
Editor's Note: We've since learned that the director of this version of BIO3 was Masaaki Yamada, a planner on BIO1.
Q6: CODE:Veronica originally possessed many Germany and Nazi references. Can you explain this stage of the scenario in detail?
A6: Yes. It was I who showed the Nazi ideas. Why'd I think about such a thing? The reason I hit upon this setting was that there were opinions that some Nazis had escaped to a southern island via submarine. The Luger P08 and Tiger II also appear in the game. They didn't come out of my Nazi proposal so they must have been in the scenario from the beginning. In my position, I had to design the uniforms of enemy characters and so on. If such props appeared, I thought we needed to add a new person, "Alfred's Butler." The butler was a former Nazi who served under the father of Alfred (Hilbert at the time), and I thought it made sense for him to have influenced Alfred's tastes since his childhood and for Alfred to inherit his hobbies and habits, such as the use of a cane. But these weren't adopted!
Q7: Were there any problems designing enemies for the first fully 3D game?
A7: There were problems. For me there was no problem drawing 3D illustrations and designs. It was normal work. The problem was working with the 3D modeling department and the department in charge of motion.
1) I don't think normal mapping was in use at the time. The person in charge let me make solid "small protrusions" such as the eyes of the Hunter. However, the solids are almost invisible in-game. Since I was external staff, I was troubled and didn't know whether such an indication was good or bad.
2) When I was designing the enemy monsters, I thought about their movement at the same time. It's not easily conveyed in text. The person in charge of motion considered them first. Unfortunately, it didn't feel too good to me. I remember performances such as the Bandersnatch's breathing were before the motion.
I also revised the textures. There was no feeling of the skin or clothing wrinkles, and I had to correct them using the textures drawn by the person in charge as a guideline. That's not all of course! I had my job (design duties). I remember having a lot of work besides my own.
Q9: Nosferatu, Steve and Alexia have some insect and plant characteristics. Was this ordered by FLAGSHIP or your own imagination? (since t-Veronica was made with insect and plant DNA)
A9: I don't remember this either. However, I drew a large amount of designs on top of meetings with the staff. Perhaps... I don't think there was such an order.
Q10: Do you remember the specific times when CODE:Veronica and BIO0 began development?
A10: Work on Veronica was finished and I think ZERO newly began and overlapped at the time. Since at this time I was also taking charge of other game designs and music CD jackets, I don't have a clear memory of each individual job. My work on ZERO was character and design concepts of creatures. There were a lot, such as indoor sections and parts of clothes. I made the basic settings of Marcus and Leech Marcus. With concept art, we each brought plans and continued discussions. Fortunately, my idea was adopted, though I didn't do "young Marcus." The planning meetings were held 1 or 2 times a week and produced a lot of ideas; but they were also a conflict zone. I gave a lot of ideas and a lot were adopted, but there were also many that weren't.
Q11: Do you remember the studio and director of the Nintendo 64 version of BIO0?
A11: Wasn't ZERO on the GameCube!? Though I do remember there was talk about "things being half-made."
Q12: Did you work with TOSE and Nextech or were they separate from CAPCOM?
A11: I didn't work directly with TOSE or Nextech. The middle man was FLAGSHIP, like so:
Nextech/TOSE←→FLAGSHIP←→Nakai
I left because, from 1998, I had one more year of work on a large PlayStation 2 RPG, and afterwards I had some work on the Dreamcast. That's freelancing for you.
Q13: Do you have any favorites among your designs?
A13: I like the Bandersnatch and Nosferatu.
Q14: Did you have anything you regretted not being able to use in the game?
A14: I liked an unused monster called the "Mass-Production Type Tyrant" which had a mechanical heart.
Q15: Did you have any special inspirations for your designs, and do you like the work of any other BIO artists?
A15: I don't know a lot about many other people's illustrations (I've been told they change often). Photographs of existing creatures are my source of inspiration, so, quite basic.
Q16: Do you have a favorite aspect of the series such as story or gameplay?
A16: I'm actually not good at playing BIO! I'm ultra-unskilled!! I needed an enormous amount of time to complete CODE:Veronica!! It's a sad memory. I usually prefer games like Skyrim, Far Cry 3 or FPS's. Conversely, I hardly play Japanese games.
Q17: Do you have any stories of your time working with Sugimura-san and Soda-san?
A17: What I write now may be slightly different from the question. Someone like me, an artist, isn't often called a "teacher/mentor." I didn't go through school especially for art. Mr. Sugimura and Mr. Soda had many students in FLAGSHIP. They were strict teachers but looked after their students. To me, it was very enviable. I was quite impressed.
Q18: Do you have any current work?
A19: Now I mainly draw pictures and designs for smartphone and 3DS games! Even now I'm drawing monsters and creatures!
Q19: Do you have any message for BIO fans?
A19: A long time has passed since its release. Isn't it 16 years!? Even with so much time passed, I thank everyone who loves these games. If "CODE:Veronica" and "ZERO" are loved as much, I'm very glad. I'm grateful for being involved in such good work. Even now, working with the director, producers, scenarists, composers and various others are still wonderful memories!
A1: Even before joining CAPCOM I was a freelance designer of illustrations and game graphics. That's the case today.
Q2: When did you begin working with CAPCOM? In addition, what did you work on before "BIO"?
A2: I don't remember specifically. If I check the dates of the files on my PC now, it seems to have been November 1997. (The date of early setting documents and sketches I drew early on). I have drawn many magazine cover arts and been making consumer games even before "BIO":
Last Armageddon (PC)
Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator (SNES)
Gynoug/Wings of Wor (Genesis)
Culdcept series (1997~, PS1, PS2, DC, 360, DS, 3DS)
Gunstar Heroes (DS)
Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
AstroBoy Omega Factor (DS)
Q3: How did you come to be involved with the "BIO" series?
A3: I was introduced to Nextech Co., Ltd. I was acquainted with representative director Katsuji Aoyama from when the company was still small. He received work with CAPCOM and called out to me as an outside designer. I'm still grateful to him. At the time, I was under contract with the scenario company FLAGSHIP and reported directly to Hirohisa Soda and Noboru Sugimura (who has passed away). I was only surrounded by scenario-related people.
Q4: Can you explain CODE:Veronica's development history in detail?
A4: Among the staff of CODE:Veronica, only director Hiroki Katoh and assistant Kaori Nishio (stage planner) were CAPCOM employees. The scenario was handled by FLAGSHIP while programming, polygons, textures etc were handled by Nextech and TOSE. Then there was me. As it was a long time ago I can't recall the clear schedule.
Q5: Can you comment on the scrapped "BIO3" cruise ship scenario (for example, concept and development?)
A5: The director of "CODE:Veronica" in those days was Katoh-san. "ZERO" was Kamiya-san. I don't remember whose idea the luxury cruise ship was (I'm sorry). In my initial sketches there are several pieces of design images of "Human Plants." I remember that plant monsters were planned at the time of that concept, before Zombies came into the picture.
Editor's Note: We've since learned that the director of this version of BIO3 was Masaaki Yamada, a planner on BIO1.
Q6: CODE:Veronica originally possessed many Germany and Nazi references. Can you explain this stage of the scenario in detail?
A6: Yes. It was I who showed the Nazi ideas. Why'd I think about such a thing? The reason I hit upon this setting was that there were opinions that some Nazis had escaped to a southern island via submarine. The Luger P08 and Tiger II also appear in the game. They didn't come out of my Nazi proposal so they must have been in the scenario from the beginning. In my position, I had to design the uniforms of enemy characters and so on. If such props appeared, I thought we needed to add a new person, "Alfred's Butler." The butler was a former Nazi who served under the father of Alfred (Hilbert at the time), and I thought it made sense for him to have influenced Alfred's tastes since his childhood and for Alfred to inherit his hobbies and habits, such as the use of a cane. But these weren't adopted!
Q7: Were there any problems designing enemies for the first fully 3D game?
A7: There were problems. For me there was no problem drawing 3D illustrations and designs. It was normal work. The problem was working with the 3D modeling department and the department in charge of motion.
1) I don't think normal mapping was in use at the time. The person in charge let me make solid "small protrusions" such as the eyes of the Hunter. However, the solids are almost invisible in-game. Since I was external staff, I was troubled and didn't know whether such an indication was good or bad.
2) When I was designing the enemy monsters, I thought about their movement at the same time. It's not easily conveyed in text. The person in charge of motion considered them first. Unfortunately, it didn't feel too good to me. I remember performances such as the Bandersnatch's breathing were before the motion.
I also revised the textures. There was no feeling of the skin or clothing wrinkles, and I had to correct them using the textures drawn by the person in charge as a guideline. That's not all of course! I had my job (design duties). I remember having a lot of work besides my own.
Q9: Nosferatu, Steve and Alexia have some insect and plant characteristics. Was this ordered by FLAGSHIP or your own imagination? (since t-Veronica was made with insect and plant DNA)
A9: I don't remember this either. However, I drew a large amount of designs on top of meetings with the staff. Perhaps... I don't think there was such an order.
Q10: Do you remember the specific times when CODE:Veronica and BIO0 began development?
A10: Work on Veronica was finished and I think ZERO newly began and overlapped at the time. Since at this time I was also taking charge of other game designs and music CD jackets, I don't have a clear memory of each individual job. My work on ZERO was character and design concepts of creatures. There were a lot, such as indoor sections and parts of clothes. I made the basic settings of Marcus and Leech Marcus. With concept art, we each brought plans and continued discussions. Fortunately, my idea was adopted, though I didn't do "young Marcus." The planning meetings were held 1 or 2 times a week and produced a lot of ideas; but they were also a conflict zone. I gave a lot of ideas and a lot were adopted, but there were also many that weren't.
Q11: Do you remember the studio and director of the Nintendo 64 version of BIO0?
A11: Wasn't ZERO on the GameCube!? Though I do remember there was talk about "things being half-made."
Q12: Did you work with TOSE and Nextech or were they separate from CAPCOM?
A11: I didn't work directly with TOSE or Nextech. The middle man was FLAGSHIP, like so:
Nextech/TOSE←→FLAGSHIP←→Nakai
I left because, from 1998, I had one more year of work on a large PlayStation 2 RPG, and afterwards I had some work on the Dreamcast. That's freelancing for you.
Q13: Do you have any favorites among your designs?
A13: I like the Bandersnatch and Nosferatu.
Q14: Did you have anything you regretted not being able to use in the game?
A14: I liked an unused monster called the "Mass-Production Type Tyrant" which had a mechanical heart.
Q15: Did you have any special inspirations for your designs, and do you like the work of any other BIO artists?
A15: I don't know a lot about many other people's illustrations (I've been told they change often). Photographs of existing creatures are my source of inspiration, so, quite basic.
Q16: Do you have a favorite aspect of the series such as story or gameplay?
A16: I'm actually not good at playing BIO! I'm ultra-unskilled!! I needed an enormous amount of time to complete CODE:Veronica!! It's a sad memory. I usually prefer games like Skyrim, Far Cry 3 or FPS's. Conversely, I hardly play Japanese games.
Q17: Do you have any stories of your time working with Sugimura-san and Soda-san?
A17: What I write now may be slightly different from the question. Someone like me, an artist, isn't often called a "teacher/mentor." I didn't go through school especially for art. Mr. Sugimura and Mr. Soda had many students in FLAGSHIP. They were strict teachers but looked after their students. To me, it was very enviable. I was quite impressed.
Q18: Do you have any current work?
A19: Now I mainly draw pictures and designs for smartphone and 3DS games! Even now I'm drawing monsters and creatures!
Q19: Do you have any message for BIO fans?
A19: A long time has passed since its release. Isn't it 16 years!? Even with so much time passed, I thank everyone who loves these games. If "CODE:Veronica" and "ZERO" are loved as much, I'm very glad. I'm grateful for being involved in such good work. Even now, working with the director, producers, scenarists, composers and various others are still wonderful memories!