is an independent writer at his own company, Sayonaraoyasumi. He previously worked as a creative director for Square and Brownie Brown. He entered the video game industry when he took a job with Square as a debugger on the Game Boy game Final Fantasy Legend II. He began working as a scenario designer on the Super Famicom game Live a Live. He was also involved in games in the Mana series, including Legend of Mana.
He left Square to work with Brownie Brown, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo. He continued making games in the Mana series, starting with a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure titled Sword of Mana for the Game Boy Advance. He went on to direct a new franchise called Magical Vacation for the Game Boy Advance, which was followed by Magical Starsign for the Nintendo DS. He later directed Mother 3, the long-awaited sequel to EarthBound. His final work at Brownie Brown was as the lead planner on Fantasy Life for the Nintendo 3DS.
Inoue began Sayonaraoyasumi Co., Ltd. on April 2, 2012. Under this company, he worked as a scenario writer on Triangle Strategy for the Nintendo Switch.
Works Year Game title Role1990 Final Fantasy Legend IIDebugger1992 Romancing SaGaField map designHanjuku Hero: Aa, Sekaiyo Hanjukunare...!Battle director1994Live A Live Battle director, scenario1995Romancing SaGa 3Map design1997Final Fantasy TacticsPlanner1999 Legend of ManaEvent planner2001Magical VacationDirector, scenario2006Magical Starsign Mother 3Director2011Professor Layton's London Life 2014 Fantasy Life Lead planner2021 Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Scenario writer (credited as Sayonaraoyasumi)2022Triangle Strategy Scenario (credited as Sayonaraoyasumi)
References