2023 Repurposed From Bad Dreams
Title: Repurposed from Bad Dreams¶
Folklore Type: memorate, dream¶
Contents:¶
"This is not a story about spiritual phenomena, but about my dreams. I think we all have scary dreams from time to time, but we usually forget them by the time we wake up. I remember dreams that leave an impression on me, especially scary ones, and I try to take notes when I wake up in order to use them in my games. In fact, there are several map structures in this series that I have repurposed from bad dreams, while some of the spirits are inspired by my nightmares.
The spirit named Kageri Sendo in Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is based on “Miyamoto-san,” a figure who sometimes appeared in my dreams. Miyamoto-san is a slender man who walks around with a person who looks just like him, only in a wheelchair. He is always polite, and bows back at me when I bow, but the person in the wheelchair is what strikes me, as he’s obviously dead and crawling with insects!
Sometimes Miyamoto-san is not present and only the wheelchair and the person sitting in it are left unattended. When I try to touch them to see if they are dead, Miyamoto-san angrily runs to me and says, “Don’t touch it!” And then the supposed corpse would start to move toward me.
In Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, there is a sanatorium and each floor is inhabited by a unique person. So, of course, when we had a meeting to decide which spirits would appear in the game, it was Miyamoto-san who instantly came to mind.
At that time, instead of recreating Miyamoto-san as he was in my dreams, we changed his character to a woman inspired by gothic horror to make her a spirit that users would want to photograph. Some of the staff members suggested that the character’s name should stay as Miyamoto, however, I did not know his first name, and he seemed too weak to be a boss spirit, so we went back to the studio and came up with a name that would be more appropriate for an enemy of the Fatal Frame series, Kageri Sendo.
It’s funny, though, as Miyamoto-san has not appeared in my dreams since he appeared in the game. Having gained form, maybe he was satisfied to some extent?
Because of this, when asked to name the most memorable spirit in Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, I always answer Kageri Sendo."
Context:¶
In this blog excerpt, Shibata discusses being inspired by his dreams, not just paranormal encounters he's had. He describes a figure from his dreams who he later incorporates as one of the ghosts that the player needs to fight in Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.
This blog post is written for the release of Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse on the Xbox. The original release of this game in 2008 was exclusive to the Nintendo Wii platform. The game was not officially released in the West until March 2023 following a remaster and subtitled localization.
Source Information¶
Original Source Citation: Shibata, Makoto. "The Real-Life Hauntings that Inspired Fata Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse." Xbox Wire. March 9, 2023. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/03/09/fatal-frame-mask-lunar-eclipse-ghost-stories-real-life/.
| Source Type: | blog |
| Source URL: | https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/03/09/fatal-frame-mask-lunar-eclipse-ghost-stories-real-life/ |
| Date Published: | 2023-03-09 |
| Date Collected: | 2023-07-28 |
| Associated File Name: | Shibata-2023-The Real-Life Hauntings that Inspired Fatal Frame.pdf |