Tsuyoshi Sawada

Tsuyoshi Sawada (right) is pictured with Shining series artist Tony Taka (left).

Tsuyoshi Sawada (澤田剛, Sawada Tsuyoshi) is known for his role at Sega as Shining series producer starting with Shining Tears.

Sawada began his work at Sega in 1992 within the company's marketing department, where he oversaw market research and launch strategy. Shining Tears was the first game for which Sawada served as producer.

Sawada has stated that under his leadership, Sega intended to split the series into two separate branches. Games titled Shining Force were to serve as a revival of the more traditional direction of the series, which had become dormant in between the end of the Saturn's lifespan and Sega's departure from the hardware market following the discontinuation of the Dreamcast. Meanwhile, another section of Shining games beginning with Shining Tears would seek to align the series with a modern audience and capture a newer market.

Tsuyoshi Sawada left Sega following the release of Shining Resonance sometime after 2014 to work more closely with Shining series illustrator Tony Taka at his art studio.

Observers have noted that a developer of the same name has quality control and testing credits on Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it is dubious whether the names belong to the same individual.

Production of Shining Tears

The following translation comes from an interview published in the Sega Voice series on Sega's Japanese website.

[Sawada] When Sega stopped manufacturing hardware and started over as a software producer, RPGs were a very important genre in the domestic market. That's why Sega wanted to publish RPGs too. So I saw it as my mission to revive the Shining series, which had once been Sega's flagship RPG series.

澤田■　セガがハードメーカーを辞めてソフトメーカーとして新たに出発しようとしたときに、国内向けのRPGというのはやはり、とても重要なジャンルでした。ですので、 セガとしてもRPGをブランド化したかった。そこで、かつてはセガの看板RPGであった 『シャイニング』 シリーズを再生するということが使命だと思ったわけです。

Sega does have another RPG brand, Phantasy Star, but that brand had already continued to live on through the new direction of PSO. The Shining series also needed new direction for its revival. And so, making the most of my sensibilities, it was my intent to create a title that incorporates plenty of elements that suit the present audience and the times while carefully upholding the essence of the Shining series. Development started with that idea in mind.

セガが持つRPGのブランドとしてはもうひとつ 『ファンタシースター』がありますが、こちらは 『PSO』 という新しい切り口での再生を実現しました。シャイングも新しい切り口で復活を果たさなければならない、そこで知恵をふりしぼり、私としては 『シャイニング』 シリーズのエッセンスを大切に引き継ぎながら、今のユーザー、時代にマッチした要素をふんだんに盛り込んだ作品にしようと、そのようなコンセプトを考えて開発はスタートしました。

Shining Tears is a new series within the Shining series, and it's intended to be enjoyed by a completely new audience, so although it is part of the Shining series, it strikes me as something of a starter title.

『シャイニング・ティアーズ』 は、『シャイニング』 のなかの新しいシリーズで、全く新しいユーザー層に楽しんでもらうことを想定していますので、『シャイニング』シリーズではありますがほとんどルーキーのようなタイトルだと思っています。

Tamaki's Collaboration with Tony

Sawada describes artist Yoshitaka Tamaki's wishes to pass the Shining series on to new artists.

[Interviewer] Shining Force fans will recognize Mr. Tamaki as the character designer of the enemies.

——敵キャラクターのデザインは、『シャイニング・フォース』 ファンにはおなじみの玉木さんということですが。

[Sawada] That's right. Right now there's still a lot I can't talk about—I hope you get to enjoy playing the game once it's released—but I asked Yoshitaka Tamaki and the young Kiyofumi Hino from Salamander Factory to do enemy character designs.

澤田■　はい。ここはまだ話せないことも多いんですが（発売後のお楽しみにしてください）、敵キャラのデザインは、サラマンダーファクトリーの玉木美孝さん＆若手の樋野清史さんにお願いしています。

Tamaki had said about the Shining series, "I want to pass it on to a new generation," and I agreed . . . That's why Tony went with a completely new style, together with Tamaki and Hino, who has also developed the new style and who is taking over for Tamaki. Their characters combined make the reborn Shining world—the world of Tears.

玉木さんがシャイニングを 「新しい世代に引き継ぎたい」 とのことで、私もそれに賛同したんです。 ……だから、完全に新しいイメージをつくるTonyさんと、玉木さんを受け継ぎながらも新しいイメージを生み出した樋野さん、そして玉木さん。これらのキャラクターが融合して新生 『シャイニング』 ワールド、今回の 『ティアーズ』 の世界をつくっているというわけです。

Involvement with Tony Taka

In order to reinforce the new direction of the Shining series, Sawada employed known pornographer Tony Taka to provide character designs and illustrations. The following is excerpted from a series of interviews with 4Gamer.net.

Tony's Hiring

[Sawada] I first became aware of Tony when I played a fantasy game for adults released in 2000 called Arcana: Ecstasis of Light and Darkness (アルカナ ～光と闇のエクスタシス～). So I decided to reach out to him. I remember it well. After seeing Tony post a bunch of his work on his personal website in 2001, I contacted him. By 2002, he had became fully involved in the game's production. I'm pretty sure that's how it happened.

澤田氏：僕がTonyさんを知ったのは，2000年に発売されたファンタジー世界観の成人向けゲーム「アルカナ ～光と闇のエクスタシス～」でしたね。それで声をかけてみようと思ったので，よく覚えています。Tonyさんが個人サイトで色々と作品を発表しているのを見て，実際にコンタクトをとったのが2001年。翌2002年には，本格的にゲーム制作に関わっていただいた。確かそんな流れでした。

Tony's Shining Collectible Figurines

Tony's Heroine Works Means High Quality (「Tony'sヒロインワークス」から生まれたハイクオリティ)

[4Gamer] Speaking of Mr. Tony, I think 4Gamer readers are familiar with him as the character designer for the Shining series, but I've heard that a lot of his popularity comes from his active development of figurines. When did you first start thinking of working on figurines?

4Gamer：Tonyさんと言えば，「シャイニング」シリーズのキャラクターデザインで，4Gamer読者にもお馴染みだと思うのですが，フィギュア展開にも積極的で，高い人気を博しているとお聞きします。フィギュアへの取り組みというのは，いつ頃から意識されたのでしょうか。

[Tony] I think that it was largely due to the foresight of our producer, Mr. Sawada.

Tony氏：それはプロデューサーである澤田さんに，先見の明があったのが大きいと思います。

[Sawada] About a month after the release of Shining Tears—it was the end of 2004, and Max Factory's figurine of Kasumi from Dead or Alive had become a big hit. I saw it and I thought, "This is it!" And that's when the Shining series of figurines started.

澤田氏：「シャイニング・ティアーズ」を発売した1か月後くらい――2004年末頃に，マックスファクトリーさんの「かすみ（DEAD OR ALIVE）」の完成品フィギュアが大ヒットしたんです。それを見て「これだ！」と思ったところから「シャイニング」シリーズのフィギュア化がスタートしました。

[. . .]

[Sawada] Especially common in the figurines is Tony's "beautiful woman turning to look behind herself" angle, where you can see the different parts like the legs, butt, and breasts all at once.

澤田氏：脚，尻，胸と，色々なポイントを一度に見られる「Tony's見返り美人」的なアングルは，フィギュアではとくに多いですよね。

Game Credits

JP Release	Title	Credits
July 1996	NiGHTS into Dreams	Market Research
Nov. 1996	Christmas NiGHTS	Market Research
Nov. 1999	ChuChu Rocket!	"Monitor Test" (Marketing)
April 2000	Samba de Amigo (DC)	"Monitor Test" (Marketing)
June 2000	Animastar	Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (Organization Credit)
Dec. 2000	Phantasy Star Online	Special Thanks
June 7 2001	Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2	Special Thanks
June 23, 2001	Sonic Adventure 2	Marketing Research
Dec. 2001	Sonic Advance	Marketing Research
March 2002	Shining Soul	Special Thanks
Sept. 2002	Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II	Special Thanks
Dec. 2002	Sonic Advance 2	Marketing Research
July 2003	Shining Soul II	Special Thanks
Aug. 2003	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 2	Special Thanks
Sept. 2003	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 5	Special Thanks
Oct. 2003	Sonic N	Marketing Research
Dec. 2003	Nightshade	Research
Jan. 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 6	Special Thanks
Feb. 26, 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 8	Special Thanks
Feb. 26, 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 9	Special Thanks
March 25, 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 10	Special Thanks
March 25, 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 11	Special Thanks
May 24, 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 12	Special Thanks
May 27, 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 13	Special Thanks
June 2004	Sonic Advance 3	Marketing Research
July 2004	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 15	Special Thanks
Aug. 2004	Shining Force (GBA)	Special Thanks
Nov. 2004	Shining Tears	Original World Concept, Coordinating Producer
Jan. 2007	Shining Force EXA	Coordinating Producer (プロデュース協力)
May 2007	Shining Wind	Total Producer, Original Work
Dec. 2010	Shining Hearts	Producer
March 2012	Shining Blade	Lyrics:「光と闇の輪舞~SHADOW~」("Rondo of Light and Darkness: Shadow"), Producer
Feb. 2013	Shining Ark	Producer
Nov. 2014	Blade Arcus from Shining	Producer
Nov. 2015	Blade Arcus from Shining EX	Producer
March 2018	Shining Resonance Refrain	Producer, Special Thanks

Staff Directory

Seeː Who Made the Shining Series?