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Thanks for taking the time to interview with me, Mr. Tanaka. It's rare we get somebody as famous as you.
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It's no problem Ben. I'm happy to be here... after all, you and Hawk are practically putting my kids through college.
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So Mr. Tanaka I understand that you have been with Capcom for 15 years. Is that right?
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Yes, it has been a super-fantastic company.
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Whats the best thing about working for Capcom?
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The people, absoulutley the people. After 15 years they've become my family in many ways.
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How so?
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Well in 15 years you see a lot of people grow and change, like Ryu for example... Here's this young kid working in the mail room and one day while holding auditions for a new genre called "Street Fighter" he shows up in his white uniform. At the time, we had only cast four people and none were from Japan yet, so the big man says let's put the kid in the game.
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Well, next thing you know we start shooting the preliminary footage and he KO's the star of the game, Sagat. Well, his moves were so good we rewrote the whole game. It was great--the public loved it and Ryu really got a good start. He's grown from the weird kid from the mail room to an icon of a genre over the years. It was awesome to be part of that.
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That's amazing! So were there ever any real tough times at the company?
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Naturally, of course. I remember when we started the Mega Man X project it nearly caused me to quit... It was plauged from the get go.
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Really? I loved that game series.
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It nearly didn't happen. You see, Megaman was getting old for one, and when we decided to do the X series we knew we'd have to do some serious upgrades to him to keep him in the game. He didn't take the news well. He hit the Columbian Anti-freeze pretty hard, and Roll eventually took Rush and left him. It resulted in a severe depression. His hard drive crashed twice before we got him into rehab.
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Production was already started though, and we were getting behind schedule. We decided to hire Zero and do some rewrites to keep things moving along. He provided a valuable plot-filler while Megaman was getting the help he needed. Things were looking good as we neared the release date but then tragedy struck again. Dr. Wily, our villan, passed away in his sleep the night before the final stage was done. His death hit everyone hard but Dr. Light the most... he promptly retired. Without his nemisis he just wasn't the same... (later the roles of both men would be played by a computer-altered Christopher Lloyd). So with mere days to go we were short a final boss.
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Well thankfully Megaman was back into the swing of things and called in a favor from Sagat who owed Megaman his life after he saved him in the Console Wars of the mid 90's. We dressed him up and he took on the role of Sigma our new boss baddie. He did a remarkable job given the short rehersal time and only suffered a mild concusuion in production. At any rate had it not been for my wife's encouragement I'd likely have walked away from the whole thing.
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Oh, that's right... You met your wife at Capcom, didn't you? What's it like being married to one of the hottest videogame stars?
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Morrigan? It's great! She is super-hot!
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So, does she wear the outfit around the house?
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Only when I have been a bad boy...
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...
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What's your next question?
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So what attracted you to her initially aside from the obvious?
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Well physically you have to love a woman with bat wings on her head, but the green hair, that always gets me... Oh and her mind--yeah, that too.
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So are there any down points to being married to a succubus?
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Well she is slowly sucking the life out of me, leaving me a hollow shell of a man and eventually I'll become here eternal slave whose only purpose is to fullfill her every whim and take out the trash... but my other married friends say the same thing so it's not so bad. I get more bothered when she gets together with Chun Li and the girls. They get really competitive and sometimes blood gets drawn. When I was single it was a lot of fun to watch but now I can do with out it.
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So, is Cammy seeing anyone right now?
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Oh, you havn't heard then?
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No, what?
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Let's just say you have a better shot with Vega. They "came out" on the same day.
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So is Cammy seeing anyone?
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Uhh... not that I know of...
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Can I have her number?
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I don't think I should...
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Not even for a dollar?
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A dollar?! Thats more than we made off of Final Fight 3! You have a deal! Let's talk after the interview...
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Excellent!!!
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So which of our games have you liked the most?
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HEY! I'll ask the questions around here pal!
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Sorry, I was in Cammy mode... I would have to say Street Fighter 3 4th Strike.
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We never made a Street Fighter 3 4th strike...
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Yes! Yes you did! And Fei Long came back and kicked everyone else's head in especially that waste of RAM Sean!!! Fei Long is the best!!! You hear me?! And in the end he married Cammy!!!!! That's how it should have been!!!!
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Sorry Mr. T, he really liked Fei Long a lot...and don't even mention Charlie...
Charlie!!!! I'll kill you Bison, you son of a...
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I think we better wrap this up before his sedative wears off.
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I agree. I'd hate to see Ryu come in here and hurt your friend.
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He ain't so tough. I could kick his butt....
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Thanks for your time Mr. Tanaka
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Don't mention it
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