Shinji Mikami is responsible for one of the most successful game franchises ever, horror series Resident Evil. It's not just the games that are scary. Mikami's own abusive childhood sounds horrific.
The game designer tells game magazine Famitsu about how his father would hit him "pretty much daily". Mikami does have respect for his father for dropping out of high school in order to work and support his family. "But he was such a violent person."
Mikami recounts one night when he went to bed without doing his homework. "He kicked me out of bed in the middle of the night and told me to go outside," Mikami says. "So I did, in my pajamas without any shoes on, and he told me to stand in front of the car. Then he started chasing me around in the car, and he wound up having me run about five or six kilometers, all the way to the seashore by our house."
When they reached the seashore, Mikami's father drove off without saying anything to his son, who had to walk home alone in his pajamas. "If you think about it, if the police had seen this barefoot boy in pajamas being chased by a guy in a car, they would've arrested him on the spot, wouldn't they?"
Let's hope.
Besides Resident Evil, Mikami also designed beat-em-up God Hand and action game Vanquish.
Shinji Mikami Discusses Resident Evil, Tango Gameworks, His Abusive Dad [1Up via Eurogamer] [Pic]