Treasure – 2001 Developer Interview (Patreon)

Conducted just before the arcade release of Ikaruga, this interview with Treasure’s founder/president Masato Maegawa discusses some of the challenges of designing that game, as well as industry trends and observations about the STG genre generally. Maegawa has some especially heartening (and pointed) words at the end; it’s not hard to see why Treasure is so beloved by gamers, with their games-before-profit philosophy.