Daisuke Ishiwatari

Daisuke Ishiwatari (石渡太輔, Ishiwatari Daisuke?) is the creator of the Guilty Gear series. Ishiwatari is known for his work as a video game developer, illustrator, musician, composer and voice actor. Ishiwatari designed the characters and storyline, and wrote the music for the Guilty Gear series. He also is the voice actor for Sol Badguy and Order-Sol up until Guilty Gear 2 -Overture-, when Jouji Nakata took over.

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Biography

Daisuke Ishiwatari was born August 14, 1973, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in Japan. As soon as Ishiwatari left school, he joined Arc System Works in 1995 & soon began working on Guilty Gear. In addition to his work on Guilty Gear, he helped composing music for the BlazBlue series alongside Yoshiro Kusano. Ishiwatari also painted select character potraits for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and composed for Hard Corps: Uprising.

Timeline

Guilty Gear

• Daisuke Ishiwatari as Sol Badguy in the original Guilty Gear 

Losing the rights to Guilty Gear

Sega and Sammy Corporations merged in 2004 which caused an issue with the rights to the Guilty Gear series. Arc System Works developed Guilty Gear, but Sammy Corporations owned the IP. During the merger, the rights to Guilty Gear went to the newly formed Sega Sammy Holdings. During this time, Arc System Works turned their focus to the development of the BlazBlue series. Daisuke Ishiwatari promised that a new Guilty Gear game would eventually come despite the issues.

Credits

Game Credits

Game	Role	Year
Virtual Open Tennis	Assistant Designer[source needed]	1995
EXECTOR	Designer	1995
Wizard's Harmony	Debugger, Pixel Art, Coloring	1995
Guilty Gear Series	General Director, Designer, Composer, Voice Actor (GG-GGXXΛC+R)	1998–Present
Sangokushi Taisen DS	Original Ba Tai Design	2005
Dimension Zero	Card Illustration	2005
Battle Fantasia	Voice Actor - Freed Velez	2008
BlazBlue Series	Main Series Composer	2009-2017
Hard Corps: Uprising	Designer, Composer	2011
CHUNITHM CRYSTAL	Composer, Illustrator ("Surrogate Life")	2019

Albums

Albums

Title	Year
Guilty Gear Original Sound Collection	1998
Guilty Gear X Original Sound Track	2000
Guilty Gear X Heavy Rock Tracks ~ The Original Soundtrack of Dreamcast	2001
Guilty Gear X Rising Force Of Gear Image Vocal Tracks -Side.I ROCK YOU!!-	2001
Guilty Gear X Rising Force Of Gear Image Vocal Tracks -Side.II SLASH!!-	2001
Guilty Gear X Rising Force Of Gear Image Vocal Tracks -Side.III DESTROY!!-	2001
Guilty Gear XX Original Soundtrack	2002
Guilty Gear XX Sound Alive	2003
Guilty Gear Series Best Sound Collection	2003
Guilty Gear XX in L.A. Vocal Edition	2004
Guilty Gear XX in N.Y Vocal Edition	2004
Guilty Gear Isuka Original Soundtrack	2004
Guilty Gear Sound Complete Box	2005
Guilty Gear 2 Overture Original Soundtrack Vol.1	2007
Guilty Gear 2 Overture Original Soundtrack Vol.2	2008
Guilty Gear XX Λ Core – Secret Gig	2008
Aksys Games 2008 Promotional CD	2008
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Original Soundtrack	2008
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Original Soundtrack ~Bonus Discs~	2009
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Original Soundtrack ~Consumer Edition~	2009
BlazBlue Song Accord No. 1 with Continuum Shift	2009
BlazBlue Song Accord No. 2 with Continuum Shift II	2010
BlazBlue in L.A. Vocal Edition	2011
Guilty Gear X Blazblue OST Live	2011
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Vocal Collection	2014
Guilty Gear Strive Original Sound Track	2021

Trivia

• In a December 2024 issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Ishiwatari listed the Top 5 video games he played in 2024 as:
  • 1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • 2. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
  • 3. Season: A Letter to the Future
  • 4. Faith: The Unholy Trinity
  • 5. A Space for the Unbound

• Around 2012, Ishiwatari was gifted a vinyl copy of Jazz by Queen signed by all four members of the band as thanks for hosting two fans at the Arc System Works headquarters in Yokohama, Japan.
  • At Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable 3, hosted March 21, 2022, Ishiwatari brought the record during a "treasure appraisal" segment, mistaking the segment as being for personal treasures as opposed to fighting game development ones.
• During a 2009 interview with Gamasutra, when discussing the differences in fighting game community culture differences between Japan and the United States, Ishiwatari stated that he was unsure about the popularity of fighting games in America, but that he and Arc System Works were aware that "FPS [games] were king." He also noted that Soulcalibur was popular there, despite personally thinking it was "junk."

Secret Voices

XX Accent Core Plus

The following is a transcript of Ishiwatari's "Secret Voice" message found in Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R (fan translated)

• Eh~, hello everyone. This is Arc System Works’ king of serving tea, also the person inside Sol, Daisuke Ishiwatari.
• Thank you all for listening. Eh~, first of all, thank you for clearing the game up to this point.
• It must’ve been a long way here. Ah~ I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to talk here though.
• The script just says “free-style talk”, but really? Even a script for radio program has a topic written on it.
• I guess all I have to do here is to casually talk hehe.
• Well, here’s a question… “Reflect on the past 10 years.”
• Since I’m not capable of free-style talk, I guess I’m gonna start off by talking about it then.
• Eh~, “Now that the Guilty Gear series has been out there for 10 years, how does it feel?” is what this question is about, I think. *Well, when I first started developing this game, I just naturally assumed that it’d last forever, but I never really thought about what I’d do after 10 years, or what the game industry would be like after 10 years, either.
• So, I gotta say realizing that it’s been 10 years since Guilty Gear was born is a pretty amazing feeling.
• I guess miracles do exist. Hahaha. I never expected it’d last this long, so that’s honestly how I feel about it.
• The basic system of fighting games stays mostly the same, with a few additional systems added each time, and it sort of settled down to be the style we have today.
• Well, I never thought one game system would last for 10 years, but after 10 years, I’m starting to feel like it’s definitely possible. I guess that’s about it.
• Eh, I know lots of fans out there are waiting for a next title, but it’s already out! (laughs)
• The next question is “Any comments for the Guilty Gear fans all over the world?” Really? Isn’t it too early for this question?
• Hahahaha. This has to be pushed back to the end for sure.
• I’m gonna go ahead and move onto this questionnaire section, is there any problem, director?
• None, right? Hahahaha. Well, I guess I’ll just go back to that “comments to the fans” then.
• Ah~, the first Guilty Gear was released like 10 years ago, and I’m sure there’re lots of players who didn’t play that original game, but did everyone enjoy the game?
• Eh~ this game was developed through blending the world view (lore) of anime and fighting games together.
• If you felt our passion for that through this game, we couldn’t be happier.
• Heheheh, is there anything else that I haven’t covered? Comments to the Guilty Gear fans?
• All I can say is thank you for purchasing the game. Really that’s all I can say.
• Oh and, I guess I could say, please buy Guilty Gear 2, another game that I made. Hahaha. Was I able to wrap it up nicely? Can I move onto the questions now?
• “How did it feel to give up Sol?” Ah, I guess it’s about the voice acting, huh?
• I used to do Sol’s voice-over for in-game voices, but since we started adding scenario mode, we figured that we needed a professional voice actor to do it, so that’s when we decided to pass it on to someone else.
• How did it feel? It was about a year after we started when we first used a different voice actor, for Guilty Gear X.
• Well, honestly, I was kind of sad to give up something that I had fun doing, but on the other hand, I felt relieved that this character was finally in the hands of someone experienced, who can pull off long lines.
• Because of this change, we certainly expect a future story to dramatically develop around Sol, making the best of his speech, which could lead to further expanding the world of Guilty Gear.
• Well, I started this voice acting thing just for the fun of it after all, but I was just telling the staff that if I could continue something like this in some form somewhere, it’d be awesome.
• But next time will be nothing high-profile like the main character, though. Ah, so can I move on now, Mr. Yamanaka the engineer?Hahahaha.
• Attachment to Sol. What’s up with this question arrangement?
• It’s two similar questions in a row. Hahahaha. For those who are getting bored with my long talk, please go ahead and turn off your PlayStation 2.
• Hehehehe. As to attachment to Sol, like I said before, I gotta admit that I have some of that, as a person who used to do the voice-over for the character.
• There’s always a certain position set up for the main character in the game and since this is a fighting game, several characters have their own point of view as main characters.
• But basically, Sol is intended to be the main character for players in Guilty Gear, so all the things Sol experiences are the things that I would like to happen.
• So, if you’re anxious to know what Sol’s up to, please check out our future titles.
• You will be able to see the theme that we have in mind gradually reveal itself.
• Alright now, moving on to question 3. Oh, this is a question from Mr. Kayumi that had the interview before me, the man who plays Slayer. Let’s hear it.

(From Iemasa Kayumi)

• Eh~ I’ve been wondering how he developed the images and backgrounds for each character.
• Of course, the story development itself is interesting as well, like one of those well-made plays, with out-of-the-ordinary, and yet somewhat melancholy, backgrounds, and the setting with a little twist of each character has been stuck in my mind.
• Eh~ so that’s what I’d like you to officially explain once and for all.

• Oh, I see. Eh~ as to designs for the characters of Guilty Gear—oh, this applies to all the characters by the way—I assign my life philosophy in fragments to each character to create their personalities.
• Eh~ Daisuke who is all for something, and Daisuke who is against something are both myself, and those two kinds of me coexists in myself.
• So, like I said, I’d go “Let’s assign a part of me who’s all for a certain thing to this character, and a part me who’s against the same certain thing should be applied to that character.”
• That’s how I design each character. And from each character going through the game, there’re times when I get answers for my own concerns or questions in life, and I get to receive feedback on those answers from other people, which I personally think is great, so that’s how I create characters.
• And as to the settings of characters, it’s like Mr. Kayumi said earlier, I wanted to add a little spice to them in order to attract the users’ attention to the characters.
• We always try to come up with something out of the ordinary, but basically the core personality of each character comes from a fragment of my personality.
• Eh~ I guess that’s about it.
• Moving on to question 4. Sorry if I’m being too mechanical. Eh~, the future of GG.
• Well, I guess those who’re listening to this message have cleared the story mode, so you guys must be more interested in the story now.
• Eh~ GG has changed its form, and been evolving in many aspects, so if you’re interested in knowing how the story of Guilty Gear expands, please check out Guilty Gear 2 as well.
• I hope we’re able to convey the lore and the visuals of the Guilty Gear world even further through the game contents and the scenario in Guilty Gear 2.
• And the next question. What I’d like to do now the most. Good question. I’d love to go to a hot spring. Yes, I would. Please, someone take me to one.
• Also, the staff is currently planning on having a little bicycle excursion from Shinyokohama to Atami. If you’d like to participate, please send us an E-mail at the address on our website.
• Finally, a closing message. Hm, a closing message, huh? In Sol’s voice? You’ve gotta be kidding me. Hahahaha.
• I’m not a professional voice actor, so I’m not best suited for that, but I wonder what kind of voice Sol would have in real life? Uh Ah~ Uh Ah~.
• Eh, this recording is taking place at Arc System Works’ office and me saying Uh Ah~ here is quite distracting for the staff, who are working hard, so I’d like to avoid saying that as much as possible. Now that I think about it, this is probably like the last time that I ever get to speak as Sol.
• Well, in that case, maybe I should… Is there any good short line that I can do right off the bat? Damn, it’s hard~. What? That “Are you ready?” line? Then, I’ll just take the line right out of that poster. Alright here I go.
• Eh~, we’re going to continue pursuing the Guilty Gear series even harder, so we’d like your continuing support. And finally… “Are you ready?”
• Eh~ this was Daisuke Ishiwatari, the person inside original Sol. Eh~ I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon!