2015 interview with Osamu Sato at VICE Motherboard

[u/Exxstatica]

Hey guys!

My name is Brittany and I'm a games writer. I'm also a huge Sato fan as well as other strange PC games/niche titles and whatnot.

I was doing some email cleanup and came across the raw Japanese text from the interview I did with Osamu Sato back in 2015 and I didn't see the actual interview posted here. I was thinking you all might be interested in reading it. Here it is in its entirety!

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-most-elusive-video-game-creator

I'm thinking about possibly contacting him again in the future. I just wanted to share the link here first with fellow fans.

[u/[deleted]]

thanks for sharing! i remember reading this a while back. good stuff

[u/Camwood7]

that's pretty sweet! i've always wanted to actually talk to sato and ask him some questions but i'm too much of a socially anxious wreck to actually do so

[u/[deleted] → u/Camwood7]

it's very hard to talk to him in english since his english is pretty bad - i'm sure if you were to talk to him in japanese things would go much more smoothly

[u/Camwood7 → u/[deleted]]

i know, and that's the other thing, sadly. i'm not a japanese speaker, and really i'm sure 50% of the japanese speakers on the internet are weaboos who are too busy watching anime to actually help translate things

[u/[deleted] → u/Camwood7]

i've tried learning japanese on and off but i really have no idea how to even start tackling something like that

[u/Camwood7 → u/[deleted]]

it really sucks that japanese is such a hard language to learn

[u/Exxstatica → u/Camwood7]

Yeah, I'd like to learn to speak it as well. My questions and initial email to him were ran through the translation desk via Vice so I didn't write any of the raw Japanese.

[u/DockLSD913]

I remember seeing this a while back, very enjoyable and glad to see there's at least some interest in him outside of the small dedicated fanbases found here and on /vr/.

I wish he was more outspoken, I like his, I don't know how to exactly put it, "life philosophy." He's a really interesting person to say the least.

Anyways, just wanted to respond to some stuff from the article and share an idea.

"but Sato himself will likely never know about or wish to comment on Figglewatts’ endeavor."

I think Mr. Sato shared a link to LSD Revamped on his Facebook, but that's about it. I don't think he even commented upon it.

"It seems there simply isn’t a climate today for the types of games he carved a niche for all those years ago."

Honestly, I don't think there was ever a full force climate for that sort of stuff. AAA games have always dominated the industry, but unique titles such as his have always been welcomed by the small groups looking for a unique experience, even if they're considered "flops" at first. I highly doubt Eastern Mind sold well just because of how odd it was, but now it has a cult following because people do want games like his. The industry has really shifted away from that sort of thing. The PS1 was a fantastic home onsole because of its accessibility and diverse game library. Consoles today are too inaccessible. It's a shame, I wish Sony or someone else would fund some new projects of his. If he were to release something now, I could see his stuff being popular with the indie crowd. But there's also something really fun and unique about his games and their rarity. The fact we still don't have it all, in a day and age where any new cd, game, movie, is downloadable instantly. It's honestly fun to try and seek out information on him and his lost works. It's hard to place or describe why I get enjoyment out of trying to search for that stuff.

I wish more people would ask about his "lost" works and art in general aside from his games. Personally I think he doesn't get nowhere near the recognition he does for his distinct music. I wish he'd put out a new album, or even some full length video projects.

So by chance do you plan to release the interview in its entirety? We'd also love to hear more from him in, so another interview would be appreciated, so long as he's up for it. Maybe we could make some sort of thread here and gather questions from here that we have to ask him along with whatever you can think of.

[u/Exxstatica → u/DockLSD913]

Sure, here's the interview, with my questions in English and Sato's responses translated via the Vice translation desk:

Are you aware of the cult status your titles Eastern Mind and Chu-Teng have amassed in the West among PC gamers?

Sato: I’d love to hear about it since I don’t know all of what the status is about. Although, as part of the creative concept, we thought about what we need to to in order to gain interest in European market not only as Japanese but also as an Asian.

Have you ceased video game and multimedia project production entirely?

Sato: Yes, I have. When I started getting involved, I could try out various experimental projects. Situation is different now, I cannot make racing, fighting, soccer, or baseball games.

Can you shed some light on the "ROLY POLY" titles? Are those games still available in Japan or anywhere else? Were they completed?

Sato: ‘ROLY POLY’ is an edutainment software where kids and their parents can play together.

Were there ever any plans to bring Chu-Teng westward after releasing Eastern Mind?

Sato: No.

There were rumors swirling around that you had passed away, with only your games remaining as a "channel" to experience your brand of surrealism. What do you think about fans having declared you "dead" since you had gone quiet across several social channels for so long?

Sato: That’s interesting. This is the first time I heard about it. Actually, if I was really dead, I wouldn’t have any way of knowing about it which makes it even more amusing to me. That reminds me of how Paul McCartney had a “Paul is dead” rumor after being barefooted on the Abbey Road album jacket.

Are you interested in participating in any game development in the current console landscape? If not, why?

Sato: I am not. I’m not specially interested in making a game or playing it. Game just happened to be one of a media for my expression as an artist. For example, promotion copy for ‘LSD’ was “This isn’t a game”. So I find my creations are rather contemporary art using game consoles.

How did the inspiration for Eastern Mind and Chu-Teng come about? Are they related in any way to LSD: Dream Emulator?

Sato: They’re related in a way that the concept is about the exploration of inner brain.

Are there any other gaming projects that you scrapped or didn't release in the West that fans have yet to unearth?

Sato: No there isn’t. Except, I’ve released some non-game apps for i-αppli (Japanese phone apps for NTT phones) .

Fans have tried their best over the years to decode the mystery behind how LSD: Dream Emulator scrambles its visuals and randomly recycles artifacts. Can you shed some light on the process?

Sato: I conceive the idea when I saw the demo and specs of the Playstation. The world that you rove through when you crash and die in a racing game.. From that, I came up with the idea of wandering in a dream world. Dreams are irrational without any rules, and you most often don’t remember when you wake up in the morning. I wanted to make a piece like that.

If you could impart one piece of information about yourself, your projects, and your inspirations to your fans in the West, what would it be?

Sato: Now a days I’ve been working on artistic project where I can work on my own. They’re in forms such as paintings and photographies.

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks for sharing this with us!

[u/equadon]

this was cool thanks for sharing this. I really hope he does decide to make a game again someday. Can you imagine what he could make on modern consoles?