Interview: Alex aka Blackoak from Shmuplations.com

The Life & Times of Video Games

I speak to the creator of Shmuplations.com, a large repository of translated interviews with Japanese game developers, about his approach to doing the translations, his insights on the Japanese games industry, and the highs and lows (and struggles) of running a time-intensive side hustle.

This is the second entry in a new series of interviews I'm running alongside the main show — every month(ish) I'll talk to a different person who's exploring games history, in one way or another, to learn about the many ways people are preserving the games industry's past as well as to further our understanding of how this wonderful medium (and the industry that's built around it) has come to be the way it is now.

Links:

• Castlevania – Developer Commentary
• Kazuko Shibuya - Square Developer Interview
• Mega Man - 2011 Developer Interview
• Women and the Famicom – 1991 Special Interview
• Women of Game Design - 1990 Developer Interview — Yuki Ikeda; Hisako Takizawa; Reiko Oshida; Yuko Tataka; Sanae Nito; Kanae Saeda; Kaori Ikeda; Meiko Wada; Capcom Sound Team
• What is Game Design? Three Perspectives — Hideo Kojima; Kouichi Nakamura; Satoshi Tajiri
• Super Mario Kart - 1992 Developer Interview
• Rez - 2001 Developer Interview
• Shmuplations Patreon
• My book: https://secrethistoryofmacgaming.com/
• Life & Times of Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lifeandtimesofvideogames
• Twitter: @LifeandTimesVG
• Instagram: @lifeandtimesvg
• Podcast website: https://lifeandtimes.games

Please remember to tell other people about the show, and to leave a review by following the links at ratethispodcast.com/ltvg.

Thank you to all of my wonderful supporters on Patreon for making this possible, but especially to my $10+ backers Wade Tregaskis, Simon Moss, Vivek Mohan, and Seth Robinson. You can help, too — a contribution as little as $1 a month makes a big difference towards ensuring this show has a bright future ahead of it. (And as a Patron you'll get to skip those pesky cross-promotions from other shows on my network, among various other bonuses like transcripts and extra content.)