Hisashi Nogami

Hisashi Nogami
Hisashi Nogami for Nintendo (2019)
Born		1971 (age 51–52) Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Notable work		Animal Crossing series
Title		Manager at Nintendo EAD (2013-2015) Manager of Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 5 (2015–2019) Deputy General Manager at Nintendo (2019–present)

Hisashi Nogami (野上恒, Nogami Hisashi, 1971) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer; he is the current Deputy General Manager at Nintendo and producer of the Animal Crossing series and Splatoon series.

Nogami was previously manager of Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) Group No. 5 from its inception in 2015 until 2019, when he was promoted, and succeeded by Aya Kyogoku.

Nogami joined Nintendo in 1994 and has been involved with the Animal Crossing series since its original inception, serving as co-director of Doubutsu no Mori and Animal Crossing (2001), alongside series creator Katsuya Eguchi. Nogami worked as system director and art director of Doubutsu no Mori.

Biography

Nogami was born circa 1971 in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan and attended the Osaka University of Arts. He has been employed at Nintendo since 1994, after he was hired during the Nintendo Dentsu Game Seminar. His first project was Yoshi's Island, released in 1995, working as a character and background designer.

Work on the Animal Crossing series

Illustration by Nogami for the launch of New Horizons (2020)

Nogami began working on the Animal Crossing series since its inception in the late 1990s. Doubutsu no Mori was developed by an inexperienced team at Nintendo EAD, led by Nogami, Katsuya Eguchi, and Super Mario co-creator Takashi Tezuka. The project began after the release of Yoshi's Story in 1997, in-which Nogami served as CG designer.

Nogami went onto solely direct 2005's Animal Crossing: Wild World, with Eguchi instead serving as producer. Eguchi would also produce Animal Crossing: City Folk, with Nogami co-directing alongside Isao Moro in 2008. Nogami did not work on New Leaf, which was instead directed by Isao Moro and Aya Kyogoku, but was credited with special thanks.

In 2013, Nogami succeeded Animal Crossing series creator Katsuya Eguchi as manager of Nintendo EAD Group No. 2, where he oversaw the creation and development of Splatoon. In 2015, Nintendo EAD 2 was restructured into Nintendo EPD Group No. 5, of which Nogami managed.

Nogami returned to the Animal Crossing series as producer for 2015's Happy Home Designer, with Aya Kyogoku, and amiibo Festival. He would also serve as co-producer for Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo in 2016, and supervisor for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in 2017, both alongside Kyogoku.

By 2019, Nogami was promoted to Deputy General Manager at Nintendo and succeeded as manager of Nintendo EPD Group No. 5 by Aya Kyogoku. At this time, development was progressing on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, whereby Nogami served as its sole producer.

Works

Animal Crossing series

• 2001: Doubutsu no Mori – Director (with Katsuya Eguchi)
• 2001: Animal Crossing – Director (with Katsuya Eguchi)
• 2003: Doubutsu no Mori+ – Director (with Katsuya Eguchi)
• 2005: Animal Crossing: Wild World – Director
• 2008: Animal Crossing: City Folk – Director (with Isao Moro)
• 2012: Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Special thanks
• 2015: Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer – Producer (with Aya Kyogoku)
• 2015: Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival – Producer
• 2016: Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo – Producer (with Aya Kyogoku)
• 2017: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp – Supervisor (with Aya Kyogoku)
• 2020: Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Producer

References

Companies and personnel

Companies Nintendo DeNA iQue NDcube OLM, Inc. Prima Games Sanrio Shogakukan Developers Katsuya Eguchi Aya Kyogoku Isao Moro Hisashi Nogami Takashi Tezuka Makoto Wada Composers Atsuko Asahi Sayako Doi Shiho Fujii Asuka Hayazaki Yasuaki Iwata Manaka Kataoka Toru Minegishi Kenta Nagata Shinobu Nagata Masato Ohashi Yumi Takahashi Kazumi Totaka Voice actors Mari Adachi Hisao Egawa Takaya Hashi Saori Hattori Yurika Hino Yui Horie Mitsup Iwata Takatoshi Kaneko Mika Kanai Yuichi Kimura Yū Kobayashi Takashi Miike Fukuen Misato Yuko Mizutani Kenichi Ogata Shun Oguri Fumiko Orikasa Otoha Tetsuo Sakagachi Akio Suyama Wataru Takagi Yasuhiro Takata Kazuya Tatekabe Junpei Takiguchi Naoki Tatsuta Masaki Terasoma Yuji Ueda Kappei Yamaguchi Other personnel Reggie Fils-Aimé Jōji Shimura Staff lists Doubutsu no Mori Doubutsu no Mori+ Animal Crossing Doubutsu no Mori e+ Wild World City Folk New Leaf Happy Home Designer New Horizons Category (companies) • Category (personnel)