Masanobu Endō

Masanobu Endō

From They Create Worlds by Alex Smith, and Jeffrey Daum

March 1, 2026 · 1h 18m · Episode 253

About this episode

This episode explores the contributions of Masanobu Endō to game design and his influence on Japanese gaming.

TCW Podcast Episode 253 - Masanobu Endō Masanobu Endō is one of Japan's most important game designers, yet remains relatively unknown in the West. Starting from an uncertain role at Namco, he first made his mark by turning Dig Dug play notes into an official strategy booklet, then shifted into programming work where he learned from Namco's maze games, including Pac-Man. Assigned as a programmer on Xevious, he stepped into the lead role when the original planner left, pushing for a coherent world where every enemy and structure had a purpose in a larger mythology. The secrets, patterns, and hidden elements he built into Xevious encouraged dedicated players to map routes, chase glitches, and hunt for new techniques in a way that feels very similar to how modern communities approach speedrunning and score optimization today. Endō then expanded these ideas in The Tower of Druaga, fusing Dungeons and Dragons style dungeon crawling with Babylonian and Sumerian myth, cryptic treasure requirements, and a real ending instead of an endless loop. The result helped shape how Japanese designers approached action adventure, including early thinking around what would become "The Legend of…

People in this episode

Host: Alex

Topics covered

  • Masanobu Endō
  • game design
  • Namco
  • Xevious
  • The Tower of Druaga
  • Japanese gaming history

Keywords

  • Dig Dug
  • Pac-Man
  • Dungeons and Dragons
  • The Legend of Zelda

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Dig Dug, Pac-Man, Xevious, The Tower of Druaga

Books & works: The Tower of Druaga, The Legend of Zelda, The Nazca Lines, Astonishing Legends, The Nazca Lines Part 2, Tower of Druaga, Airplane Mode

Places: Japan

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