Keiji Inafune

From The Rockman EXE Zone Wiki

Keiji Inafune with both versions of Mega Man Battle Network 4 (2004).

Keiji Inafune (稲船 敬二) is a former series producer of the Mega Man franchise. He worked on Mega Man 1 as an illustrator, and eventually moved up to becoming a Capcom producer. In late 2010, Inafune left Capcom to start his own game studio, Comcept. In 2017, Comcept was acquired by Level-5, becoming Level-5 Comcept.

Contribution to Battle Network

  • Did the original sketches these Battle Network 1 enemies: Hardhead, ColdBear, Cloudy, Ratty, Puffy.[1]
  • Did the original sketch for Punk.EXE. Apparently Classic Punk was a personal favorite of Inafune's, so he drew a reference for the Battle Network version himself.[2]
  • Commented that the box art for BN1 was a little too cute and wanted the art to be a little "cooler", resulting in illustrations such as the Battle Network 2 concept art.[3]
  • Aimed for 1 million copies with Mega Man Battle Network 4 and to cram the game with a lot of content. The staff had to tell him to stop throwing in more stuff if they can't increase the game pak's capacity.[4]
  • Inafune's son praised the design for Battle Network 4's SparkMan.EXE. Concept artist Yuji Ishihara suspects this influenced the team being told to have Navi designs to be more bulky armored rather than wearing full-body leotard.[5][6]
  • Proposed the Boktai crossover idea to Hideo Kojima, after Kojima asked him on how to make his new series attract younger audiences.[7]

Contribution to Star Force

  • Recommended edits for Mega Man's Omega-Xis arm, making the design closer to the finalized state.[8]
  • Was consulted with the Star Force 3 Noise feature's initial proposal and was unimpressed. "Is the way to get the Battle Cards the same as before?", eventually leading to the Illegal Data system.[9]

Gameography

Year Game Platform Developer Role
2001 Mega Man Battle Network Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2001 Mega Man Battle Network 2 Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2002 Mega Man Battle Network 3 Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2003 Mega Man Network Transmission Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2003 Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2003 Rockman EXE N1 Battle WonderSwan Color Capcom Producer
2003 Mega Man Battle Network 4 Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2004 Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django Game Boy Advance Konami Development Cooperation
2004 Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2004 Mega Man Battle Network 5 Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2005 Shin Bokura no Taiyoh Gyakushuu no Sabata Game Boy Advance Konami Capcom Cooperation
2005 Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS Nintendo DS Capcom Producer
2005 Mega Man Battle Network 6 Game Boy Advance Capcom Producer
2006 Lunar Knights Nintendo DS Konami Cooperation: Capcom Co., Ltd. (Japanese version only)
2006 Mega Man Star Force Nintendo DS Capcom Executive Producer
2007 Mega Man Star Force 2 Nintendo DS Capcom Executive Producer
2008 Mega Man Star Force 3 Nintendo DS Capcom Executive Producer
2009 Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star Nintendo DS Capcom Executive Producer

References

  1. Mega Man Battle Network Official Complete Works pg. 151, 152
  2. Mega Man Battle Network Official Complete Works pg. 074, 134
  3. Mega Man Battle Network Official Complete Works pg. 004
  4. Nintendo Dream (November 2003)
  5. Rockman EXE 6 Ultimate Navigation COMP interview
  6. Mega Man Battle Network Official Complete Works pg. 077
  7. Weekly Famitsu (December 3rd, 2004)
  8. Mega Man Star Force Official Complete Works pg. 131
  9. Shooting Star Rockman 3 Ultimate Guide Battle Black Box interview