Born on 31 March 1944, Tomohiro Nishikadojoined Pacific Kōgyōa subsidiary of Taitobut it was in 1970 that he moved on to developing electromechanical games with Sky Fighterfollowed by Sky Fighter II and Border Line. Two years later, it was the discovery of the famous Pong (1972) d'Atariwhich he analysed in detail, enabling him to design the very first Japanese video game: Soccer (1973). It will be followed by Basketball (1974) and also the same year for the racing game Speed RaceIt's a sort of remake of an electromechanical terminal that Nishikado loved when he was young, Mini Drive (1959), by Kasco.
But it is above all with Space Invaders (1978) that turned the video games industry on its head. Born of the idea of surpassing Breakout (1976) this time, he benefited from his growing knowledge of computers and in particular of this brand new component, the microprocessor. So he made his own development tools and created a variant of the brick-breaker in which the 'racket' shoots balls straight ahead and it's the 'bricks' that move! It was so successful that it became a veritable social phenomenon in Japan and elsewhere in the world for over a year. After Space Invaders Part Two the following year Lunar Rescue (1979), Balloon Bomber and Space Cyclone (1980).
In 1981, Nishikado joined the newly created "Future Products Division", where he designed all kinds of robots and prepaid cards until 1988, when he became head of the console games division. Tired of this purely administrative position, he left Taito in 1996 but remained a consultant for the company. He then set up his own studio, Dreamswith whom he produces games for the publisher such as Pop'n Pop(1998) or Chase HQ: Secret Police (1999), but also specialises in debugging video games. Nishikado retired in 2010, at the age of 65, but this allowed him to return to pure creation and to realise personal electromechanical game projects such as Magic Bell or Magic Hatand a miniature version of the Sky Fighter.
In 2017, he published his first biography Omaké Books.
