Yoshiaki Iwata

Yoshiaki Iwata is a graphic artist, game designer, and video game producer who has worked at Sunsoft since 1985. He was initially hired as a graphic artist and slowly worked up to game designer and producer.

Personal

I really admire Iwata's artistic abilities. In a time when games were mostly made from cute cartoonish graphics, he used a lot of darker palettes to give games a more sinister feel. He also made great use of dithering and drew backgrounds that spanned multiple tiles to better eliminate the obvious seams found in so many games of the time. However, he was also capable of drawing cute graphics when the game required it. The games where I think he most excelled in graphic design are Blaster Master and Batman: The Video Game.

Gameography

This gameography is missing Iwata's most recent games on portable devices and smart phones.

Released	Title	Contribution
1987-07-20	Fantasy Zone (NES)	Converted the arcade graphics to the NES.
1988-06-17	Blaster Master	Primary graphic artist and game designer.
1989-03-30	After Burner II	Art director for redesigning the arcade graphics.
1989-12-22	Benkei Gaiden	Primary artist.
1989-12-22	Batman: The Video Game (NES)	Graphics and game design.
1990-07-27	Batman: The Video Game (Genesis)	Primary background graphics.
1990-10-26	Nantettatte!! Baseball	All graphics.
1990-12-14	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Primary graphics and game design.
1991-08-23	Blaster Master Boy	Adviser.
1991-12-18	Lemmings (SNES)	Special thanks.
1991-12-20	Batman: Return of the Joker (NES)	Primary graphics and game design.
1993-02-26	Xak: The Art of Visual Stage	Planner.
1993-08-12	World Heroes (SNES)	Director.
1993-12-22	Hebereke's Popoon (Arcade, SNES)	Producer.
1994-05-??	Pirates of Dark Water	Special thanks.
1996-08-09	Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean	Chief designer, battle designer, 3D modeler.
1998-08-06	Shanghai Pocket	Special Thanks.
1998-12-03	T.R.A.G.: Tactical Rescue Assault Group - Mission of Mercy	Primary producer.

Examples

This is a collection of screenshots from various games where Yoshiaki Iwata created graphics.

Blaster Master

The Japanese introduction has the original launch site with nice perspective and detailed interior. The smooth edges contrast nicely with the rough textures in the underground areas. The tank and animation is remains the same in the North American release and is a joy to watch.
The mountain range in the background is great. It creates a nice break between the dark blue sky and the black shadowy land. It's dithered very well to give the illusion of more colors than are there, and there is a soft haze of black above them.
There is a clear distinction between the foreground and background. The background trees are fantastic, and the forced perspective gives the trunks a wonderful far-away look. Great use of dithering as well to give the illusion of several shades of red. The leaf boughs look fantastic as they fade into black.
The palette of orange and dark cyan looks fantastic together. The broken structures here give it a nice ancient look. The shading on the columns make them look quite round and the shadow behind them helps them stand out. The perspective shift on the gate to the right creates depth. The dithered bricks in the background keep them unobtrusive while the fade into black give the scene a clear delineation between the top and bottom. The added wrought iron spikes, picket fence, and portcullis add to the scene.
I like the overall coloration of dark green, gray, black, and dark red. The red brick had a nice fade to black before reaching the brick. The bricks themselves are a bit dull, but the real star of this scene is the winged gargoyle. It sits, arms folded, on an orb on a pedestal, its tail curled around it. Iwata uses highlight and shadow very well here to fit a lot of detail in a mere 16x32 pixels and uses only 4 colors.
More good palette choice, and both the background and foreground rocks are beautifully textured and well shadowed, but the real standout here is the surface of the water. It has a wonderful forced perspective with a reflection on the columns which are discolored near the surface. As you look down the screen, you can "see" under the surface where the water is dark and columns are murky. I also like the orange tunnel entrance with the hooks at the top.
Once again Iwata uses wonderful forced perspective to make these underwater tunnels look as though they go off well into the distance. The broken columns shrink behind the hills which are clearly behind the green seabed. The waves of the water are nice and sharp but nicely dithered into the black distance. The large green crystal stalactites turn dreary once they enter the water, and the whole scene is sandwiched between red rock which helps the play area stand out.
More wonderful depth from forced perspective. The ice stalactites are deeply layered and nicely shadowed. The foreground is clumpy like packed snow and bright enough to stand out from the darker background. The background bricks have a glare to them, indicating a frozen reflective surface, and the girders with their yellow and black warning paint add a little color accent to the scene.
In this scene, the hero has left to a tall prominence to see the once desolate planet turn lush and green again after the enemy's tower collapsed. The ending doesn't really fit with the American changes, but at least they added your frog to the screen. The art on the tank is especially great, but the rocks and trees also look good.