is a widely known and acclaimed
JapaneseThe are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries are referred to as...
manga artistis the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
known mostly for his creation of
Dragon Ballis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 through 1995, and later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha...
in 1984. It is difficult to pin point the source of Toriyama's artwork inspiration. He admires
Osamu Tezukawas a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Godfather of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese...
's
Astro Boy and was impressed by
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder Walter Elias...
's
One Hundred and One DalmatiansOne Hundred and One Dalmatians is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...
, which he remembers for the great art.
Jackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer....
's early movies had a noticeable influence on Toriyama's stories.
He debuted in 1979 with the story
Wonder Island, published in
Weekly Shōnen Jumpis a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.7 million readers...
, and first gained popularity for the
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
and
mangaManga consist of comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century...
series
Dr. Slumpis a Japanese gag manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. The title was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984. The series helped launch Toriyama's career and was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen and shōjo manga in 1982.-Themes:Dr...
, originally serialized weekly in
Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984.
is a widely known and acclaimed
JapaneseThe are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries are referred to as...
manga artistis the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
known mostly for his creation of
Dragon Ballis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 through 1995, and later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha...
in 1984. It is difficult to pin point the source of Toriyama's artwork inspiration. He admires
Osamu Tezukawas a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Godfather of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese...
's
Astro Boy and was impressed by
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder Walter Elias...
's
One Hundred and One DalmatiansOne Hundred and One Dalmatians is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...
, which he remembers for the great art.
Jackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer....
's early movies had a noticeable influence on Toriyama's stories.
Biography
He debuted in 1979 with the story
Wonder Island, published in
Weekly Shōnen Jumpis a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.7 million readers...
, and first gained popularity for the
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
and
mangaManga consist of comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century...
series
Dr. Slumpis a Japanese gag manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. The title was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984. The series helped launch Toriyama's career and was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen and shōjo manga in 1982.-Themes:Dr...
, originally serialized weekly in
Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984. In 1982, he won the
Shogakukan Manga AwardThe Shogakukan Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...
for
Dr. Slump for best
shōnen or
shōjo manga series of the year.
In 1984, Toriyama was responsible for developing
Dragon Ballis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 through 1995, and later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha...
which was initially serialized in
Weekly Shōnen Jump. It became an instant accomplishment—primarily selling over 35,000,000 copies in Japan,
Dragon Ball eventually became a record-breaking best seller with over 120,000,000 copies sold. Aside from the Japanese fame, the series was equally successful internationally as well, including in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
(1988), the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(1996) and
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
Toriyama is mostly acknowledged for his major hit
Dragon Ball. This work was one of the linchpins for what is accepted as the Golden Age of
Jump. Its success encouraged Toriyama to continue working on
Dragon Ball from 1984 to 1995. During that eleven-year period, he produced 519 chapters, collected into 42 volumes. Each volume has an average of 200 pages. Moreover, the benefit of the manga led to three anime adaptations, numerous feature-length animated movies,
several video games, and mega-merchandising. Though Toriyama had been planning to end
Dragon Ball for a long time, his editors agreed to let him end the manga so he could "take some new steps in life," as he put it. The third anime adaptation,
Dragon Ball GT, was not based on his manga; however, Toriyama was still involved in the project by supervising its production, although in a limited way. The
Dragon Ball anime, including installments that followed, spawned over 500 episodes made in Japan, and are produced and licensed for
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
by
FUNimationFunimation Entertainment is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
.
Toriyama's clean line and design sense led to jobs designing characters for the phenomenally popular
Dragon Quest, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King — which is also the first main series game to be released outside Japan and North America, is a series internationally best-selling console role-playing game titles created by...
series of
role-playing gamesA console role-playing game is a video game genre that has its origin rooted in video game consoles and includes game mechanics and, frequently, settings derived from those of traditional role-playing games...
(formerly called
Dragon Warrior in North America). Toriyama has also served as the character designer for the
Super FamicomThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
RPG
Chrono Triggeris a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. The game's story follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe...
, the
fighting gameFighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in one-on-one close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena...
Tobal No. 1is a fighting game for the PlayStation developed by DreamFactory and published by Square in 1996. The game was DreamFactory's first release, as well as Squaresoft's first release on the CD-based console....
for the
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
(as well as its sequel,
Tobal 2is a 3D fighting game developed by Dream Factory and released by Squaresoft in Japan in 1997. It is the sequel to Tobal No. 1. Unlike the latter, Tobal 2 was not released in North America or PAL territories...
, released only in Japan), and the
Mistwalkeris a Japanese video game development studio started by Hironobu Sakaguchi in 2004 with the financial backing of Microsoft. The logo and name were trademarked in 2001...
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
exclusive RPG
Blue Dragon.
His works after
Dragon Ball tend to be short (100-200 page) stories, including
Cowa!is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It began in late 1997 despite him fighting a hurting arm. The manga was first serialized in Japan by Weekly Shōnen Jump and then made into a tankōbon by Jump Comics...
,
Kajikais a shōnen manga, one of the later works by Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball.-Story:Kajika is the story of Kajika and his quest to return to being a normal boy. As a Fox-man Kajika is extremely strong and has special powers. One day he runs across a girl and saves her from a gang of good...
, and
Sand Landis a short manga series authored by Akira Toriyama that appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine during the summer of 2000.After Sand Land completed its run, all fourteen chapters were collected into a single tankōbon that was released on November 11, 2000...
, as well as one-shots, like
Neko Majinis a short series of one-shot manga chapters by Akira Toriyama, spanning eight total installments released from 1999-2005. It is most notable for its later portion, Neko Majin Z, which is a self-parody of Dragon Ball, the author's most famous work....
.
Toriyama worked on a one-shot called
Cross Epoch, in cooperation with
One Pieceis a long-running shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, that has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997. The individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997 and the 55th volume released...
creator
Eiichiro Odais a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of the manga and anime One Piece. He is married to Chiaki Inaba, who had played Nami during Jump Festa One Piece stage performances.-Early life:...
. The story is a short
crossoverIn comic books, an intercompany crossover is a comic or series of comics where characters published by one company meet those published by another...
that presents characters from both
One Piece and
Dragon Ball respectively.
Recently, Toriyama and his studio have begun developing
Dragon Ball Onlineis a massively multiplayer online role-playing game being developed simultaneously in Japan and South Korea by NTL, set in the Dragon Ball universe, first introduced by the Dragon Ball Japanese manga in 1984. Dragon Ball Online takes place on Earth, 216 years after the events at the conclusion of...
, a follow-up to the
Dragon Ball manga, with Bandai Namco Games and NTL for release in
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
and Japan. The game will act as a direct sequel to the manga, and Toriyama will be supervising all aspects of the game, from storyline and setting to character and location designs. In a press conference in South Korea on February 14, 2008, Kazuhiko Torishima, the director of
Shueishais a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
(and Toriyama's original editor), stated that Toriyama had immersed himself in creating character designs and providing editorial supervision for the game for the past five years.
Toriyama's studio is called "Bird Studio", which is a play on his name, "tori" meaning "bird". Toriyama does almost all of the work in
Bird Studio; his assistant does mostly backgrounds. The studio has not been very active over the last few years and has only done occasional one-shots.
In an interview conducted in 2007 with
Shōnen Jump, Toriyama revealed that he does not consider what is to occur in proceeding chapters of his stories.
Manga
| Name |
Year |
Collected |
| Awawa World |
1977 |
Unpublished |
| Wonder Island |
1978-1979 |
2 One-shots |
| Today's Highlight Island |
1979 |
One-shot |
| Tomato |
1979 |
One-shot |
| Hetappi |
1982 |
1 tankōbon, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series, though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
, drawing lesson - Co-author: Akira Sakumais a Japanese video game designer best known as the creator of the Momotetsu series.He also works as a freelance writer for books, magazines, newspapers, and comics. He has co-authored with Akira Toriyama , and Yuji Horii...
|
Dr. Slumpis a Japanese gag manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. The title was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984. The series helped launch Toriyama's career and was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen and shōjo manga in 1982.-Themes:Dr...
|
1980-1985 |
18 tankōbon, kanzenban |
| Escape |
1981 |
One-shot |
| Pola & Roid |
1981 |
One-shot |
| Pink is a one shot manga by Akira Toriyama that originally appeared in V-Jump in December 1982. It would later be featured in Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol. 2 in 1988...
|
1982 |
One-shot |
| Mad Matic |
1982 |
One-shot |
| Chobit |
1983 |
2 One-shots, This is not to be confused with the later Chobitsis a Japanese manga created by Clamp. It was published by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 and November 2002 and collected in eight bound volumes. Unlike most stories by Clamp, Chobits is a seinen series commonly mistaken for shōjo because of its strong romantic themes and flowery art...
, by Clamp |
| Dragon Boy |
1983 |
2 One-shots |
| Tongpoo |
1983 |
One-shot |
| Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol.1 |
1983 |
1 tankōbon |
| Dragon Ball |
1984-1995 |
42 tankōbon, later reassembled into 34 kanzenban special editions |
| Mr. Ho Mr. Ho is a one-shot manga, drawn by Akira Toriyama, featuring a Yamucha-like character as the protagonist. Its story is similar to Dragon Ball`s Red Ribbon Army Saga. Mr. Ho is seen wielding a bazooka, much like Yamcha in the beginning of Dragon Ball, and defeats the entire army in the same manner...
|
1986 |
One-shot |
| Lady Red |
1987 |
4 one-shots, adult gag manga |
| Kennosuke-sama |
1987 |
One-shot |
| Sonchoh |
1987 |
One-shot |
| Mamejiro |
1988 |
One-shot |
| Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol.2 |
1988 |
1 tankōbon |
| Karamaru |
1989 |
One-shot |
| Wolf |
1990 |
One-shot |
| Cashman Saving Soldier |
1991 |
3 one-shots - 1998, 1 tankōbon |
| Dub & Peter 1 |
1992 |
4 one-shots |
Go!Go!Ackmanis a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by manga-ka Akira Toriyama.A short manga that was published irregularly by V-Jump from 1993 to 1994, Go! Go! Ackman is a humorous series about a 200 year old demon child named Ackman who harvests souls for the Dark Devil Lord. The manga is...
|
1993 |
11 one-shots |
| Chotto Kaettekita Dr. Slump |
1994-1997 |
4 slim tankōbon |
| Tokimecha |
1996 |
One-shot |
| Alien X-Peke |
1997 |
One-shot |
| Bubul |
1997 |
One-shot |
| Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol.3 |
1997 |
1 tankōbon |
Cowa!is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It began in late 1997 despite him fighting a hurting arm. The manga was first serialized in Japan by Weekly Shōnen Jump and then made into a tankōbon by Jump Comics...
|
1997-1998 |
1 tankōbon |
| Cashman Saving Soldier/New Cashman Saving Soldier |
1998 |
1 tankōbon |
| Tahi Mahi |
1998 |
1 tankōbon |
Kajikais a shōnen manga, one of the later works by Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball.-Story:Kajika is the story of Kajika and his quest to return to being a normal boy. As a Fox-man Kajika is extremely strong and has special powers. One day he runs across a girl and saves her from a gang of good...
|
1998 |
1 tankōbon |
Neko Majinis a short series of one-shot manga chapters by Akira Toriyama, spanning eight total installments released from 1999-2005. It is most notable for its later portion, Neko Majin Z, which is a self-parody of Dragon Ball, the author's most famous work....
|
1999-2005 |
5 one-shots, 1 tankōbon/kanzenban |
Sand Landis a short manga series authored by Akira Toriyama that appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine during the summer of 2000.After Sand Land completed its run, all fourteen chapters were collected into a single tankōbon that was released on November 11, 2000...
|
2000 |
1 tankōbon |
| Bitch's Life is a hard cover art book edited by Yasushi Nirasawa. It collects erotica by various Japanese manga artists and commercial artists.- List of artists :* Masakazu Katsura* Sho-u Tajima* Jun Tsukasa* Magaki Zanzo* Yukie* Hajime Satou* Katsuya Terada...
|
2001 |
1 illustration |
| Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo , also known as , is a long-running comedy manga by Osamu Akimoto. It has been continuously serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since September 1976, with over 1600 chapters published, making it the longest-running manga series in history...
|
2006 |
One-shot, omake means extra or bonus in Japanese. Its primary meaning is general and widespread. In USA, the term is most often used in a narrow sense by anime fans to describe special features on DVD releases: deleted scenes, interviews with the actors, "the making of" documentary clips, outtakes, amusing...
|
| Cross Epoch |
2006 |
One-shot |
|
| 2007 |
One-shot in Monthly Shōnen Jumpis a now defunct monthly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shueisha since February 6, 1970 under the Jump line of magazines. Its sister magazine is Weekly Shōnen Jump.- History :...
|
|
| 2008 |
One-shot in Jump SQ., with Masakazu Katsura, born December 10 1962, is a Japanese mangaka who is best known for several works of manga, including Dream Fighter Wingman, Shadow Lady, DNA², Video Girl Ai, I"s, and Zetman....
|
Video games (character design)
- Dragon Quest
, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King — which is also the first main series game to be released outside Japan and North America, is a series internationally best-selling console role-playing game titles created by...
series: Role-playing game (RPG) series published by EnixThe was a Japanese company that produced video games, Anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
(now Square Enixis a video game and publishing company based in Japan best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Dragon Quest series, the Final Fantasy series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series....
). Appeared on Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
's Famicom/NESThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , China, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines, it was released as the , commonly abbreviated as the...
, Super Famicom/Super NESThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, Game Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the Game Boy and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27 1998 in UK. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than the Game Boy Pocket. As with the original Game...
, Game Boy AdvanceThe Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color...
, Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
, Sonyis a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
's PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
, PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
, and WiiThe is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of both...
.
- Dragon Quest Monsters
or Dragon Warrior Monsters, as it was known in North America, is a spin off series of the Dragon Quest games. Published by Enix Corporation , it sets the player in a medieval/fantasy world filled with magic, monsters and knights...
series: Role-playing game (RPG) series published by EnixThe was a Japanese company that produced video games, Anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
(now Square Enixis a video game and publishing company based in Japan best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Dragon Quest series, the Final Fantasy series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series....
). Appeared on Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
's Game BoyThe is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America on , and in Europe on . In Southern Asia, it is known as the "Tata Game Boy" It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line...
, Game Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the Game Boy and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27 1998 in UK. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than the Game Boy Pocket. As with the original Game...
, Game Boy AdvanceThe Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color...
, Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
, and Sonyis a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
's PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
.
- Chrono Trigger
is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. The game's story follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe...
: Role-playing game (RPG) developed by SquareSoftwas a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix.Squaresoft was also a brand name used by Square between 1992 and 2003. As such, the name is often used to refer to the entire organization, but the Japanese...
(now Square Enixis a video game and publishing company based in Japan best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Dragon Quest series, the Final Fantasy series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series....
) for Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
's Super NESThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. It was relaunched with a few additions for Sonyis a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
's PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
. Toriyama appeared in an alternate ending to the game along with all the other developers; the game is now also available for the Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
in Japan, North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
, and EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
.
- Tobal No. 1
is a fighting game for the PlayStation developed by DreamFactory and published by Square in 1996. The game was DreamFactory's first release, as well as Squaresoft's first release on the CD-based console....
and Tobal 2is a 3D fighting game developed by Dream Factory and released by Squaresoft in Japan in 1997. It is the sequel to Tobal No. 1. Unlike the latter, Tobal 2 was not released in North America or PAL territories...
: Fighting games for Sony's PlayStation developed by SquareSoftwas a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix.Squaresoft was also a brand name used by Square between 1992 and 2003. As such, the name is often used to refer to the entire organization, but the Japanese...
(now Square Enixis a video game and publishing company based in Japan best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Dragon Quest series, the Final Fantasy series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series....
).
- Blue Dragon: Role-playing game (RPG) for Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
's Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
developed by ArtoonArtoon is a computer and video game third-party developer established in 1999. The team is primarily affiliated in the United States with recent and current Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360 projects, although they have also worked with Hudson Soft and Nintendo on other platforms...
for Mistwalkeris a Japanese video game development studio started by Hironobu Sakaguchi in 2004 with the financial backing of Microsoft. The logo and name were trademarked in 2001...
studio based on a design by Final Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of science-fantasy console role-playing games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
originator Hironobu Sakaguchiis a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is famous around the world as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and he has had a long career in gaming with over 80 million units of video games sold worldwide. He left Square Enix and founded a studio called Mistwalker in...
.
- Dragon Ball Online
is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game being developed simultaneously in Japan and South Korea by NTL, set in the Dragon Ball universe, first introduced by the Dragon Ball Japanese manga in 1984. Dragon Ball Online takes place on Earth, 216 years after the events at the conclusion of...
: An MMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
based on the manga Dragon Ball. He has worked on designs for the game for the last five years.
Blue Dragon
Toriyama announced that his help with the making of the
Blue Dragon anime may very well be his final assistance in
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
. In his own words, he said:
Blue Dragon began airing on
TV Tokyois a television station headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a portmanteau of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...
on April 7, 2007, featuring a different vocal cast than that used for the game. It is scheduled for 51 episodes. On April 16, 2007,
Viz MediaViz Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, is an anime, manga and Japanese entertainment company founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. In 2005, the Viz, LLC...
secured the license for the anime adaptation and was originally set be released in both North America and Europe later on in the year, but that did not happen. The anime premiered in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, on
Cartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. The original American channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 with the Bugs Bunny short Rhapsody Rabbit being its first-ever aired program...
, on March 28, 2008.
External links
- Akira Toriyama profile on MobyGames
MobyGames is a website which catalogs computer and video games, both past and present. The site contains an extensive database of video game information...
- Akira Toriyama information at http://www.dbzgtlegacy.com/
- Akira Toriyama short bio, interviews, and photo gallery at the Square Haven People Database