, real name , is a former executive of

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company known for releasing numerous titles across video game consoles, home computers, and mobile phones. Headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo, it also maintained an office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. F ...

Biography

Joining Hudson Soft

While Toshiyuki Takahashi worked at a supermarket, he decided to invest in a Sharp brand computer. Since the investment was substantial, Toshiyuki decided to learn programming with the

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

language. At the same time, a friend of his was interviewed at

and invited him to come. The CEO recruited Toshiyuki for his "energy".

Career at Hudson soft

Toshiyuki Takahashi was primarily employed to sell computer software to resellers. He helped programmers with his programming skills after finishing his workday. After a year, he transferred to the marketing division. He convinced resellers to market Hudson Soft's first game for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

: ''

Lode Runner ''Lode Runner'' is a 2D puzzle-platform game, developed by Doug Smith and published by Broderbund in 1983. Its gameplay mechanics are similar to ''Space Panic'' from 1980. The player controls a character who must collect all the gold pieces in ...

''. Due to the success of his support, he became responsible for writing a book to learn BASIC with

Family BASIC is a consumer product for programming on the Family Computer video game console. ''Family BASIC'' was launched on June 21, 1984, to consumers in Japan by Nintendo, in cooperation with Hudson Soft and Sharp Corporation. A second version titled ' ...

. Thereafter he ran a section devoted to the Famicom and tips related to Hudson Soft games in the

CoroCoro Comic is a Japanese children's manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It was established in 1977 and several of its properties, like ''Doraemon'' and the ''Pokémon'' series of games, have gone on to be cultural phenomena in Japan. The name comes fr ...

. Following the success of this column, the

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

publishing house ceded stage time to the presentation of '' Championship Lode Runner'' at a festival. Toshiyuki Takahashi was appointed to present the game, and practiced to know the game by heart. It was very popular with the public (mainly made up of children). This success pushed Hudson Soft to organize tournaments dedicated to young audiences on the company's video games, the Hudson Caravan.

Gaining popularity

In August 1985, Toshiyuki Takahashi joined the Ohayō Studio team in which he presented games from Hudson Soft once a week. The show was watched by many middle school students and Toshiyuki Takahashi gained much popularity. The same year the first Hudson Caravans were organized. These were tournaments organized in several Japanese cities in which 250 young people attempt to achieve the best score. These tournaments were presented by Toshiyuki Takahashi and he used the nickname Takahashi Meijin. The popularity of Takahashi kept growing, and many derivative products emerged, such as a

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

(with Bug-tte Honey), in

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

, in film (in ''GAME KING'') and in

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

(with '' Adventure Island'' and ''Takahashi Meijin no Bug-tte Honey'').

2000s

In 1999, Toshiyuki Takahashi transferred to a new branch of Hudson Soft dedicated to card games, Future Bee Cards. In 2003, he was appointed communication manager and in 2006, he was awarded the title of Meijin by his company. On May 31, 2011, he left Hudson and joined Getcha Communications on June 1, 2011. He cited the disappearance of consumer games from Hudson's operations as the reason for his departure from Hudson. After negotiations with Hudson, he was allowed to continue to use the name "Takahashi Meijin."

16 shot per second

Takahashi became famous for his fast trigger finger speed of 16 shots per second during the 1980s and is particularly known for his use of this skill in the game ''

Star Soldier is a series of scrolling shooters mainly developed by Hudson Soft. Konami has owned the rights to the series since their absorption of Hudson Soft in 2012. The first game, '' Star Soldier'', was released in 1986 for the MSX and NES, and the s ...

'' and the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

version of ''

Star Force , also released in arcades outside of Japan as ''Mega Force'', is a 1984 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Tehkan for arcades. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Hudson Soft, with Tehkan's suc ...

''. In an interview with

Katsuhiro Harada is a Japanese game director and producer for Bandai Namco Entertainment. He is best known for his work with the fighting game series ''Tekken.'' Biography Harada was born in Osaka, Japan, and grew up within the Nara Prefecture region. He la ...

, the producer of the

Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The main games in the series follow the events ...

series, he revealed that his trigger finger speed was actually filmed and counted to be 17 shots per second, but he rounded down to 16 because it had a "computer sound" to it. Later on in his life, his trigger speed was reduced to 130 presses per ten seconds. In the 2005-12-8 edition of Yaguchihitori show, he was only able to fire 12 shots per second. During the '' Star Soldier R'' challenge event in 2008-3-28, he fired at 12.3 shots per second. In various fiction featuring Takahashi Meijin, the "16 shots per second" milestone became a key plot element.

Appearances

Video games

Takahashi appeared as a character in

's '' Hudson's Adventure Island'' series. In the US and Europe versions of the games, Takahashi's character was renamed "Master Higgins". In '' Wonder Boy Returns'', the character's name is just called "Boy". *'' Bug-tte Honey'' *''

Saturn Bomberman is an action video game by Hudson Soft for the Sega Saturn as the name implies. The twelfth installment in the ''Bomberman'' series, it was first released in Japan on July 19, 1996, in Europe in May 1, 1997, and in North America in September 4, ...

'' *''

DreamMix TV World Fighters is a 2003 crossover fighting video game developed by Bitstep and published by Hudson for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. Exclusively released in Japan on December 18, 2003, the game features characters from Hudson and Konami video game series ...

'' *'' Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidō'' The ''Adventure Island'' character was also turned into an animated series titled '' Bug-tte Honey''. Guest starring roles in civilian form include: *'' Quiz Derby'' *''

GameCenter CX , also known as ''Retro Game Master'' in other regions, is a Japanese gaming-variety show television program produced by Fuji Television and . The name is a combination of "game center" (the Japanese term for an arcade) and Fuji TV's call sign ...

'' *'' Pop Jam'' *'' Yaguchihitori'' *'' Culture SHOwQ'' *'' Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2'' (Live action) *'' Tetris Party Deluxe''

Anime

*'' Running Boy Star Soldier no Himitsu'' *'' Bug-tte Honey'' *'' Gintama Episode 98'' *'' Btooom!'' (Takanohashi) *'' Barakamon Episode 4''

Film

*'' Game King Takahashi Meijin vs Mouri Meijin''

: Shooting Watch *

Meiji Seika , formerly is a Japanese pharmaceutical company. It is currently a subsidiary of Meiji Holdings and a Japanese leader in the area of infectious disease with 18% market share. It markets treatments for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ...

: ''Falcon High Score'' and ''Falcon Impulse'' ads * Moonstar Shoes * Sharp: Twin Famicom

References

External links

* by Ameba *https://web.archive.org/web/20040727033752/http://www.hudson.co.jp/hde/vol006/omake/tr16/index.html *http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/10/meet-takahashi/ *http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/09/takahashi-meiji.html
gamasutra.com
*http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2009/03/takahashi_meijin_interview_hudsons_adventure_island Japanese mascots Video game mascots Real-life people mascots 1959 births Hudson Soft Living people People from Sapporo {{videogame-bio-stub