Susumu Hori (Drillimation)

is a fictional character in The Drillimation Series of video games by the Drillimation Studios branch at Namco. Created by his creator, Hiroshi Takajima, he has appeared in more than 100 games by Drillimation Studios themselves and other games by Namco. In the games and anime, he is the main character of the franchise who serves as the prince of the Lucky Star Kingdom. Since the early 1980s, he has been voiced by Charles Martinet, and generally speaks with an Italian accent like Mario.
==Concept and creation==
Susumu was created by Takajima in 1958 while trying to create an animation at the Tokyo University that would be successful. While other characters that other students created weren't that good, Takajima's idea was suggested by himself while borrowing elements from Disney's animated films. Takajima originally named him Mr. Driller, but a professor at the university asked Takajima to name him Susumu.
After graduating, Takajima and a group of students formed Drillimation Studios, which would later become the most popular animation studio in Japan. Takajima said that Susumu Hori was to be used in every short film the studio produced, before the studio began production of the Angry German Kid anime. When the studio began development on the Space Ninja Team Star Trigon anime, engineers at Drillimation Studios wrote a story about a boy who must overcome dangerous obstacles and to defeat a mad scientist from destroying the world. Takajima found the concept useful and decided to make the series based in medieval-based world in modern times. Takajima took out the name Mr. Driller decided to make him fight monsters using a drill.
During the creation of the Mr. Driller arcade game in 1986, Takajima wanted to avoid animating Susumu's hair while he jumped, and due to the graphical limitations of the Commodore Amiga, the computer the arcade version ran on, the four colors he used were magenta, cyan, and tan, as well as brown. Over time, as the technology gotten better in Microsoft Windows, Susumu's jumpsuit he generally wears was colored reddish-pink.
==Appearances==
===Anime===
In the anime, Susumu Hori is the prince of the Lucky Star Kingdom, and during the events of Magical Girl Team Lucky Star, Susumu meets Konata Izumi, who has developed a crush on him.
===Driller Engine 1 Era (1986 - 1989)===
In the first two Mr. Driller games, Susumu was referred to as Mr. Driller in the manuals, and the player's goal was to reach the end of the stage without losing all of their air or wasting all of their time. In the games, he must stop Dr. Manhole from overflowing the block factories by fighting monsters, solving puzzles, and defeating a boss at the end of a stage. In the 1987 game Mr. Driller 2, Anna Hottenmeyer becomes playable and has the ability to jump higher and faster than Susumu.
===Driller Engine 2 Era (1989 - 1996)===
In the 1989 game Mr. Driller G, the game is set in the same events as Mr. Driller 2, but adds four new characters to the roster. In the 1993 SNES-exclusive Mr. Driller Ace: The Wonderful Pacteria, Susumu discovers a series of youkai called Pacteria. While exploring the caves, Dr. Manhole creates Paczillaand uses it to kidnap Konata, forcing Susumu to rescue her from him.