Shinya Kumazaki

Shinya Kumazaki in 2018

Shinya Kumazaki (熊崎信也 Kumazaki Shinya, born May 21, 1979) is a Japanese video game designer, graphic designer, and chief director for HAL Laboratory. He began working as a designer on Kirby Air Ride and served as director on Kirby Super Star Ultra for the first time. He is currently managing the development of the entire Kirby series as General Director since Kirby: Planet Robobot, and succeeded Masahiro Sakurai.

List of Works

Games

• Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land - Communication Debug
• Kirby Air Ride - Design
• Kirby: Canvas Curse - Design
• Kirby Super Star Ultra - Director
• Kirby's Return to Dream Land - Director
• Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition - Director (with Tatsuya Kamiyama)
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe - Director
• Kirby Fighters Deluxe - Director
• Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe - Director
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse - Special Thanks
• Kirby: Planet Robobot - General Director
• Team Kirby Clash Deluxe - General Director
• Kirby's Blowout Blast - General Director
• Kirby Battle Royale - General Director
• Kirby Star Allies - General Director
• Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn - Character Supervisor
• Super Kirby Clash - General Director, lyrics of "Green Tree Memories from Kirby"
• Kirby Fighters 2 - General Director
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land - General Director, lyrics of "Welcome to the New World!"
• Kirby's Dream Buffet - General Director

Other

• Kirby Wii Music Selection - Liner notes
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe Soundtrack - Liner notes
• Kirby Memorial Arrangements - Lyrics ("Take off!", "Eternal Dream")
• Kirby: Planet Robobot Original Soundtrack - Liner notes
• Kirby Star Allies: The Original Soundtrack - Commentary
• Kirby Star Allies: The Original Art Book - Commentary
• Kirby: Lor Starcutter and a Magician of Falsehood - Commentary
• Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Festival - Special Guest and Vocals for "King Dedede Medley"

Trivia

• Like many staff members of HAL Laboratory, Shinya Kumazaki signs with the first letters of his name (his being S.K.).
• Shinya Kumazaki has voiced the following characters:
  • King Dedede (Kirby series, since Kirby Super Star Ultra)
    • From the same sample: Shadow Dedede, Dedede Clone, King D-Mind, Parallel Dedede, Phantom King Dedede, Phantom Forgo Dedede
    • Vocal sample for boss battle themes of King Dedede and Forgo Dedede in Kirby and the Forgotten Land: "Roar of Dedede" and "Masked and Wild D.D.D."
  • Void Termina (Phase 4, with Hirokazu Ando, Yuuta Ogasawara, and Yumi Todo)
• Shinya Kumazaki once had a female pet cat called Tom (now deceased) whose voice was sampled for Star Dream and Nago (for the Cleaning ability in Kirby Star Allies). He currently has a male pet cat called Sora-kun, whose voice was sampled for Clawroline.
• Shinya Kumazaki has a personal art gallery where he has illustrated some Kirby characters, including Drawcia and Taranza. The gallery can be viewed here.
  • He was one of the Box Comic draft artists in BYE-BYE BOXBOY! and BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL!, and appears to have drawn some of the Celebration Pictures in Kirby Star Allies.

External Links

• Shinya Kumazaki's blog
• Shinya Kumazaki's Instagram