# Akihiro Hino

Akihiro Hino (日野 晃博, Hino Akihiro) (born July 20, 1968) is a Japanese video game designer and businessman. Starting his career as a programmer in the 1990s, he later took on roles in writing, design, directing and producing. He founded Level-5 in 1998 and remains its president and CEO.

## Biography

Hino began his career in the video game industry in the late 1980s at the now defunct Japanese developer Riverhillsoft, specifically on the OverBlood series for the original PlayStation. Hino acted as the lead programmer on the first OverBlood, and was subsequently promoted to lead designer and director for the sequel, OverBlood 2.
Hino founded Level-5 in October 1998. Since the creation of Level-5, Hino has designed, planned and produced several of the studio's released titles, Dark Cloud, Dark Chronicle and Rogue Galaxy for the PlayStation 2, Jeanne d'Arc for the PlayStation Portable, and Professor Layton and the Curious Village for the Nintendo DS. He also directed Square Enix's Dragon Quest VIII.
Recently, Hino once again assumed designing and producing duties for Level-5's titles, White Knight Chronicles for the PlayStation 3, and the next two Professor Layton games – the Diabolical Box and the Unwound Future, both for the Nintendo DS, and Inazuma Eleven for the Nintendo DS, and Dragon Quest IX, also for the DS, which is his studio's second collaboration with role-playing video game powerhouse Square Enix.

## Works

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1989 | Burai: Jokan | Programmer |
| 1992 | Prince of Persia | Programmer (FM Towns version) |
| 1994 | Doctor Hauzer | Programmer |
| 1996 | OverBlood | Programmer |
| 1998 | OverBlood 2 | Director, game designer, story |
| 2000 | Dark Cloud | Producer, game designer, story |
| 2002 | Dark Chronicle | Producer, game designer, story |
| 2004 | Dragon Quest VIII | Director |
| 2005 | Rogue Galaxy | Director, producer, game designer, story |
| 2006 | Jeanne d'Arc | Producer, game designer |
| 2007 | Professor Layton and the Curious Village | Producer, designer, story |
| 2007 | Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box | Producer, designer, story |
| 2008 | Inazuma Eleven | Producer, designer, story |
| 2008 | Professor Layton and the Unwound Future | Producer, designer, story |
| 2008 | White Knight Chronicles | Director, producer, designer, story |
| 2009 | Inazuma Eleven 2 | Producer, designer, story |
| 2009 | Dragon Quest IX | Director |
| 2009 | Professor Layton and the Last Specter | Producer, designer, story |
| 2010 | Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn | Story |
| 2010 | Inazuma Eleven 3 | Producer |
| 2011 | Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask | Producer, designer, story |
| 2011 | Inazuma Eleven Strikers | Producer |
| 2011 | Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch | Game design, story |
| 2012 | LBX: Little Battlers eXperience | Producer, designer, story |
| 2012 | Time Travelers | Producer |
| 2012 | Mobile Suit Gundam AGE | Producer, designer, story |
| 2012 | Layton Brothers: Mystery Room | Producer |
| 2012 | Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney | Story |
| 2012 | Inazuma Eleven GO Strikers 2013 | Producer |
| 2012 | Fantasy Life | Producer |
| 2013 | Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy | Producer |
| 2013 | Yo-kai Watch | Producer, designer, story |
| 2014 | Wonder Flick | Director, producer |
| 2014 | Yo-kai Watch 2 | Producer, designer, story |
| 2015 | Yo-kai Watch Blasters | Producer |
| 2016 | Yo-kai Watch 3 | Producer, story |
| 2017 | Layton's Mystery Journey | General director, designer, story |
| 2017 | Snack World: Trejarers | General director, designer, story |
| 2018 | Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom | General director, story |
| 2018 | Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl - Gold | General director, designer, story |
| 2019 | Yo-kai Watch 4 | Producer, story |