, sometimes credited as Kouichi Ishii, is a video game designer perhaps best known for creating the Mana series (known as Seiken Densetsu in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

). He joined Square

Square (company)

was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...

 (now Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

) in 1987, where he has directed or produced every game released in the Mana series (as of 2006). He has also contributed to several games in Square Enix's SaGa and Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy

is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...

series, and created the well-known chocobo

Chocobo

A is a fictional creature from the Final Fantasy video game series. The creature is a large and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden and otherwise used by player characters during gameplay...

 and moogle characters.

Ishii was the head of Square Enix's Product Development Division-8 but has since left Square Enix after the release of the World of Mana series. He formed a new developer Grezzo Games, Inc

Grezzo

Grezzo is a Japanese video game developer. It was founded in December 2006. Koichi Ishii, known for his work on the Mana series of games by Square Enix, signed on as CEO and president of the company in April 2007...

 in April of 2007.

Works

Year	Title	Role
1987	Final Fantasy Final Fantasy (video game) is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and first published in Japan by Square in 1987. It is the first game in Square's Final Fantasy series...	planning, battle graphics
1988	Final Fantasy II Final Fantasy II is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the Sony PlayStation, Japanese mobile phones, the Game Boy...	game design
1989	The Final Fantasy Legend	scenario
1990	Final Fantasy III Final Fantasy III is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in for the Family Computer as the third installment in the Final Fantasy series. It is the first numbered Final Fantasy game to feature the job-change system....	object design
1991	Final Fantasy Adventure Final Fantasy Adventure Final Fantasy Adventure, known as Mystic Quest in Europe and as in Japan, is a Final Fantasy spinoff and the first game in the Mana series. Published by Square in 1991 on the original Game Boy, it later saw a North American re-release by Sunsoft in April 1998...	director, character design
1993	Secret of Mana Secret of Mana Secret of Mana is an action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed and published by Square in 1993. The game was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2008, and was ported to Japanese mobile phones in 2009...	director, game design, monster design
1995	Seiken Densetsu 3 Seiken Densetsu 3 is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square for Nintendo's Super Famicom as a part of the Mana series.The game features three lengthy main plotlines, six different characters, each with their own storylines, and a wide range of classes to choose from, which provides each...	director, game design
1997	SaGa Frontier SaGa Frontier is a role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation and released in Japan on July 11, 1997. The game was later published by Sony Computer Entertainment in North America on March 25, 1998. It is the seventh game in the SaGa series and the first to be released on the PlayStation...	planning
1999	Legend of Mana Legend of Mana Legend of Mana, known in Japan as , is the fourth game in the Mana series. The game was released for the PlayStation in Japan on July 15, 1999 and in North America on June 7, 2000, with a delayed release in Canada...	director
	Chocobo Stallion	graphics supervisor
2002	Final Fantasy XI Final Fantasy XI , also known as Final Fantasy XI Online, is a MMORPG developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002...	director
2003	Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart	director
	Sword of Mana Sword of Mana is an enhanced remake of the original Game Boy game Seiken Densetsu, which was released as Final Fantasy Adventure in North America and Mystic Quest in Europe. This remake was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2003.-Gameplay:...	producer, game design, monster design
2006	Children of Mana Children of Mana Children of Mana, known in Japan as , is a 2006 action role-playing game for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, part of the Mana series and, more specifically, of the World of Mana project launched by Square Enix...	producer
	Dawn of Mana Dawn of Mana Dawn of Mana, known in Japan as , is an action-adventure game developed and published by Square Enix for Sony's PlayStation 2. The game is part of Square Enix's World of Mana project that also includes Children of Mana, Heroes of Mana and Friends of Mana. The game was released on December 21, 2006...	director, producer
	Mario Hoops 3-on-3 Mario Hoops 3-on-3 Mario Hoops 3-on-3, known in Europe and Australia as Mario Slam Basketball and in Japan as , is a sports game developed by Square Enix and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in 2006....	graphics, supervisor
2007	Heroes of Mana	producer
2010	Line Attack Heroes Line Attack Heroes is a downloadable video game developed by Japanese developer Grezzo and was released for WiiWare. It was first revealed at Nintendo's Conference on October 2 2008 as a retail game. It was revealed for North America at E3 2009 also for retail. As of July 23, 2010, Line Attack Heroes has been...	game design
2011	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is an action-adventure video game co-developed by Grezzo and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console. The game was released on June 16, 2011 in Japan, June 17, 2011 in Europe, June 19, 2011 in North America and June 30, 2011 in Australia; however, it...	producer

External links

• Koichi Ishii at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...