Hiroshi Minagawa


Hiroshi Minagawa, also known by the nickname Nigoro, is a Japanese video game artist, designer and director.

Career

Minagawa had worked at Quest Corporation alongside his colleagues Yasumi Matsuno and Akihiko Yoshida before they all decided to switch to Square in 1995. He continued collaborating with his co-workers as the art director of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. For the Final Fantasy XII project, he was originally the graphics and real-time visual director. However, when the original director Matsuno left the company due to an illness, Minagawa was put in charge of directing the game in cooperation with Hiroyuki Ito. He felt that the pressure of working on a Final Fantasy installment helped him and influenced his decisions. Minagawa most enjoyed the period in which the team continued to come up with new ideas, but he ultimately had to decide to abandon many features in order to finish the game.
Following the positive reception of ', a decision was made to remake Quest's '. Minagawa directed the game and took on the laborious task of assembling the original 1995 staff members—including Matsuno—who were now working at different companies. Upon finishing his work on the project, Minagawa was asked to join the Final Fantasy XIV team as the lead user interface and web designer. This was part of a plan to salvage the game after its initial negative reception by critics and players. Director Naoki Yoshida considered the fact that one of the Final Fantasy XII directors was now solely responsible for one aspect of Final Fantasy XIV an indication of how serious Square Enix was about improving the game. The new and improved version of the game called was eventually released to critical acclaim.

Works

ReleaseTitleSystemCredit
1991Magical ChasePC EngineDirector, game design, art direction, CG design
1993'Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemArt direction, main graphics design, image effects
1995'Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemArt direction, system CG design
1997Final Fantasy TacticsPlayStationArt direction, event direction
2000Vagrant StoryPlayStationArt direction, character model supervisor, artistic supervisor of menu and layout
2000Final Fantasy IXPlayStationSpecial thanks
2003Final Fantasy Tactics AdvanceGame Boy AdvanceArtistic supervisor
2006Final Fantasy XIIPlayStation 2Director, visual design, character texture supervisor
2007'PlayStation PortableOriginal staff: Art director, event director
2007Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job SystemPlayStation 2Director, visual design, character texture supervisor
2007'Nintendo DSVisual design supervisor
2009GyromancerXbox 360, WindowsSpecial thanks
2009Final Fantasy XIIIPlayStation 3, Xbox 360Crystal Tools development staff
2010Final Fantasy XIVWindowsSpecial thanks: Crystal Tools
2010'PlayStation PortableDirector
2013'Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Mac OS XLead UI designer, lead web designer
2015'Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Mac OS XLead UI designer
2016Dragon Quest BuildersPlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation VitaSupervisor
2017'Windows, PlayStation 4, Mac OS XArt director
2017Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac AgePlayStation 4Supervisor
2018Dragon Quest Builders 2PlayStation 4, Nintendo SwitchSpecial thanks
2019Windows, PlayStation 4, Mac OS XArt director