An exclusive interview with Takehiro Shiga, creator of Devil Blade Reboot.
Takehiro Shiga—or "Shigatake" if you prefer—is one of the founding members of esteemed game maker Vanillaware. A graphic designer by trade, Shigatake's resume includes 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Dragon's Crown, and Odin Sphere among others. What you may not discern from his list of credits, though, is that he also happens to be very fond of shoot-em-ups.
Cue Devil Blade Reboot—a gorgeous vertical shmup that Shigatake has spent over six years working on in his free time. A remake of a game that he originally conceived when he was in his teens, Devil Blade Reboot was made using Shooting Game Builder, a piece of software that allows one to create their own shoot-em-ups without any programming knowledge required. Both thrilling and easy to pick up, the game has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most well-balanced shoot-em-ups in recent memory, and has gone on to sell over 10,000 units on Steam as of June 8, 2024.
After spending several hours with Devil Blade Reboot myself, I reached out to Shigatake to ask if he would be willing to indulge a few questions about the game and his thoughts on the shoot-em-up genre—and to my delight, he was.
 |
| Protoblade, the very first version of Devil Blade, made in 1993 using Dezaemon (FC) (Source) |
What games were you inspired by when you made the original Devil Blade, and what did you want to accomplish with the design of that game?
Shigatake: I've loved home system shoot-em-ups ever since my childhood and always dreamed of creating one myself one day. In 1991, Dezaemon (FC), a shoot-em-up creator game, was released, and while it was a challenge to create a proper game amidst all of its constraints, I was still moved to see a working game using my pixel art. At the time, I believe I was influenced by games like Blazing Lazers and Super Star Soldier, both of which were on the PC Engine.
 |
| Devil Blade, created in 1996 for a contest, using the PlayStation version of Dezaemon. (Source) It was subsequently included in Dezaemon+ Select 100, a collection of contest entries that came with the PlayStation version of Dezaemon Kids. |
There are a few different versions of Devil Blade. Could you provide an overview of each?
In the year 1993, the game that would become the core of Devil Blade was created in Dezaemon (FC). Then, in 1996, Devil Blade was created using Dezaemon+ (PS). It is this game's levels and world setting that were remodelled to create Reboot. In 2003, Devil Blade 2 was created in Dezaemon 2 (Saturn). Although this game shares a connection with the original Devil Blade in terms of its setting, it was fairly different due to the fact that it was a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up.
Devil Blade Reboot is a remake of the PS1 version of Devil Blade, and you've said it is your "ideal" shoot-em-up. What makes it ideal?
Back in 1996, Dezaemon+ (PS) was a fairly complete game creation tool; however, it also had pretty strict restrictions—texture-size limitations among them. The Shooting Game Builder software on which I made Reboot gives you infinitely more freedom than Dezaemon+ did, so I was finally able to put in all the graphic effects and systems I'd wanted to use, but couldn't, back in the day.
 |
| The same stage in Devil Blade Reboot. |
What was your design process for Devil Blade Reboot? Did you design things like the bullet patterns and stage layouts on paper first, or did you just start trying things out in Shooting Game Builder?
There would be no point to doing things that couldn't run on Shooting Game Builder, so many elements or tricks in the game are the result of trying things out on it and picking ideas from the results. For example; being able to calculate the distance between the player and enemy ships gave me the idea of having the takedown score vary based on that distance. For the bosses' attack patterns, though, I did create sketches of their bullet trajectories on paper first.
 |
| Big, chunky enemies and bullets make the screen easy to decipher. |
Something I love about the game is how big everything looks, from the enemies to the bullets to the explosions. It makes it easy to read everything that's on the screen. How did you arrive at that style?
Flashy enemy attacks or explosions are important to bring out a feeling of exhilaration; however, too much of that could also impede screen clarity and ruin everything in the process, so I was very careful when it came to balancing those two aspects properly.
For example; 50% alpha blending is great for expressing light effects; however, it is also easily impacted by the background, which can make things hard to see. So I used 50% alpha blending for effects where a loss in clarity wasn't a problem (like explosions), but for effects that needed to be easy to decipher (like enemy bullets) I tried to avoid using it as much as possible. (I do use it for some attacks as well, but was careful to tweak the background in parallel, in order to maintain clarity.)
 |
| Devil Blade Reboot informed the user interface of 13 Sentinels. |
When I first played Devil Blade Reboot, I immediately felt that the look and feel of certain elements on the screen reminded me of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. You were the UI designer for that game—what learnings did you take from 13 Sentinels while making Devil Blade Reboot?
It was while I was in the process of making a shoot-em-up as a hobby project that I was asked to work on the battle portions of 13 Sentinels. And it was through Devil Blade Reboot that I got the hang of how to express certain effects and UI elements unique to sci-fi games, and was able to apply that experience to the battles of 13 Sentinels. (Specifically lock-on markers, lasers, crosshair light effects, etc.)
A lot of people say that Devil Blade Reboot is one of the prettiest and most polished shoot-em-ups they've played in years. If a studio were to formally develop a shoot-em-up with the same specs and level of polish, how much do you think that would cost, in terms of budget? How much would it need to sell to make its money back?
I made Reboot entirely on the side as a hobby, working on it until I was completely satisfied with the end result, which ultimately took me six-and-a-half years. I couldn't say how many copies would need to be sold, but if you were to create a shoot-em-up at a company, the budget would depend on the size of the team and length of development. So, if you can develop a high-quality game with a small team over a short period, you should be able to keep your production costs and break-even point relatively low. I heard that Ikuraga was made in three years with a small team, Never Awake by pretty much one person in one-and-a-half years, and Drainus in half a year with a small team.
 |
| The little orange light is the ship's hitbox. You have a lot more leeway than you'd think! |
I was recently talking to a friend who's a big fan of shoot-em-ups, and he let me in on a secret of sorts—that the ship's hitbox in most games is actually quite tiny, and usually indicated by a small blinking light on top. I would never have figured that out by myself, and once I knew about it I started to be much more daring and have a lot more fun. Do you feel shoot-em-ups need to do a better job of easing newcomers into the genre than they are at present?
Ever since bullet-hell shoot-em-ups, the trend has been to reduce the size of the ship's hitbox. In bullet-hell games, the barrage of bullets tends to be much more intense, and so people tend to see them as games that require extremely precise evasion manoeuvres. Quite a few players believe shoot-em-ups are hard because of those bullet showers, so I personally feel that, rather than putting too much emphasis on bullet hell, we need different types of shoot-em-ups released in order to bring new players into this genre.
As a fan of shoot-em-ups yourself, have you had the opportunity to play any by overseas developers? What do you feel the differences are, between those developed in Japan and the ones made overseas?
An overseas shoot-em-up I love is Geometry Wars. Overseas, I feel that twin-stick shoot-em-ups are the norm, as opposed to auto-scrolling shoot-em-ups in Japan. While Japanese shoot-em-ups have evolved from games like Xevious or Gradius, I get the feeling that those developed overseas have been built atop the first-person shooter culture, which uses twin-stick controls. Of course, I'm aware that many overseas shoot-em-ups take after Japanese-style ones, too.
 |
| Devil Blade 2, created for the Sega Saturn. (Source) |
Unlike Devil Blade, Devil Blade 2 was a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up. What do you feel the key differences are, between designing a vertical and horizontal-scrolling game?
From my perspective as a graphic designer, besides gameplay, I feel that vertical-scrolling shoot-em-ups and horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-ups both require different areas of expertise. For example; it's difficult to express the immersive effects of RayForce in a horizontal game, while it would be difficult to express the design utilising the fish motif of Darius in a vertical shoot-em-up.
 |
| A parody of DeathSmiles, starring Hatsune Miku, for the Game Boy Advance. (Source) |
Speaking of horizontal shmups... You were once involved with MikuSmiles, an unreleased doujin game that was a parody of DeathSmiles. What kind of game was that going to be?
While I did make some MikuSmiles concepts as a joke, it was someone else that actually made a game using those concepts as reference. As a result, I provided some animation material for their game, too. I could make it myself using Shooting Game Builder now, but I'd rather work on an original game, rather than a doujin project.
For newcomers who want to explore more shoot-em-ups, what games would you personally recommend as an introduction to the genre?
I believe the following games on Steam or current consoles would be fun even for genre newcomers:
• Kamui (Steam Link)
• Eschatos (Steam Link)
• Drainus (Steam Link)
• Neko Navy (Steam Link)
I have to ask: are there any plans to bring Devil Blade Reboot to consoles?
I can't provide a clear answer at the moment, but I'm considering it.
Please keep an eye out for further information.
Interview and edits by Ishaan Sahdev. Translation by Claire Rouveyrol.
Protoblade, Devil Blade, Devil Blade 2, and MikuSmiles images sourced from Shigatake's portfolio.