The power of the dog

In a recent interview, Toyama expressed his admiration for Red Candle Games’ Devotion and Kojima Productions’ PT, though he admits he doesn’t really play games for study or research purposes, preferring “relaxing works such as puzzles or [racing games] without any story.” That changes as a game goes into development, he says: “I feel there are genuine ideas to take in the essence from different things and connecting them to new imaginations.” The idea for Slitterhead’s central monster, he says, came from outside games. It stems from influential 18th-century fantasy anthology Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio – more specifically a story called Wild Dog, in which decapitated corpses suddenly rise up to prevent the titular canine from eating their brains.