Not all Japanese are against Afro Samurai: the creator of Street Fighter 2 and other famous games has stood up for Assassin's Creed Shadows

By: Anton Kratiuk | 03.07.2024, 19:37
Not all Japanese are against Afro Samurai: the creator of Street Fighter 2 and other famous games has stood up for Assassin's Creed Shadows

Yesterday we reported that the Japanese are outraged by the historical inaccuracy of Assassin's Creed Shadows and are calling on Ubisoft to cancel the game's release and explore the history of the Samurai.

The petition has been backed by more than 41,000 people who are unhappy with the presence of a samurai of African descent in the game.

But one of the famous Japanese developers still stood up in defence of the French colleagues.

Here's What We Know

Yoshiki Okamoto is an experienced game designer who has worked on Street Fighter 2, 1942, Time Pilot, Gyruss and Final Fight during his long career.

He praised Ubisoft and said that Assassin's Creed Shadows is a great game that many gamers are sure to enjoy. Okamoto said that the concept with two main characters that offer unique gameplay is similar to the Genji game he once developed, but at that time period, technical limitations made it impossible to realise the idea.

As for the Afro-samurai Yasuke, Yoshiki Okamoto believes that the character is sufficiently documented in the historical record that his presence in the game doesn't seem fantastical. And whether he was a samurai or whether that status was unavailable to him is of little consequence, as Assassin's Creed Shadows is just a game that makes no claim to historical accuracy and Ubisoft has the right to interpret events as it did:

It's a game, it's fantasy, not reality. Even if the Nobunaga family crest is presented backwards, it won't affect how much we enjoy this game and how good the gameplay will be.

Source: VGC