Ryota Matsushita (Koei Tecmo Games - Producer of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment; Director of Fate/Samurai Remnant)
1) Fallout 76
2) Elden Ring Nightreign
3) Wartales
4) Phantom Brigade
5) Path of Exile 2

Fumihiko Yasuda (Koei Tecmo Games - Co-Producer of Nioh 3; Producer of Ninja Gaiden 4)
1) Path of Exile 2
2) Elden Ring Nightreign
3) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Koei released the PS2 port a year later, in 2000, on a blue-bottomed PS2 CD, I guess it was a pretty quick turnaround. But the graphics are quite a bit better, plus it's much nicer to play on a DualShock 2.

Apparently the way it handled cover influenced later games, including MGS2 a year later.

Like wargames, the computer boom was foundational to the emergence of JRPGs. As seen in Takizawa Hiroyuki's manga, Road to Dragon Quest, development teams would host programming contests to lure in new talent who were honing their skills through hobbyist programming.

Here’s multi-millionaire Kou Shibusawa explaining to Arino how he sold Koei’s first title—made on cassette—by mail. Shibusawa goes on to tell Arino that he also played the role of customer tech support with players calling him to ask why the game wasn’t booting (their tape drive weren’t clean).

Appreciate the insights, thx! I've not spent much time analyzing the Gust games yet as I've been studying early Koei first. I may ping you again with questions if you're open to that!

Taking a break from the list with a real sicko's pick - Bladestorm: Nightmare. One of Koei's wierdest games. A regiment-level action-strategy game (think Dynasty Warriors but you control 30 guys at once) set in a gloriously mangled version of the Hundred Years War.

Usually overpriced. $15 for now.

Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing! What's the source of these definitions?