Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode ending. I got curious about just who made this stilted, kind of wonderful game, so I watched the credits, then looked up some of the names of the people involved. It turns out that ANGELA, Shoichi Yoshikawa, and Nao Kuramoto all worked together on other games, including the Bonk series starting with 3.

It also turns out, according to this GDRI interview, that they’re all the same person! “Nao Kuramoto is my pen name,” Yoshikawa said. “I’ve been using this name for a long time when I write lyrics and scenarios. ‘Angela’ is also a pen name of mine. I used it when I was working as the director on a project, doing the work I would normally use both names for. In other words, it’s three names for one person.”

While Golgo 13 was made for Seibu Lease, Yoshikawa would go on to work for A.I., which co-developed Bonk 3, along with Bonk games for Super Famicom and Game Boy. All of these games were collaborations between various small developers and publishers, suggesting that the kind of outsourcing done by developers like Platinum and Mistwalker is nothing new.

A.I. also worked on a Bonk game for N64, which ended up being Bomberman Hero!

See also: Golgo-13 for Sega’s SG-1000, Golgo 13: Top Secret Microgame

tags / golgo 13 / jc / a.i. / bonk / seibu lease