Yuji Horii's best tribute to the late Akira Toriyama: "We can make a next title using what he had left"

Although the general public will always remember the late Akira Toriyama first as the father of Dragon Ball, his legacy, as videogame fans know, goes far beyond that. To him we owe the designs, art and setting of such influential role-playing games as the Dragon Quest series, Blue Dragon and, of course, Chrono Trigger.

Chrono Trigger's name has recently hit the headlines again, as its director (and also creator with Toriyama of Dragon Quest) Yuji Horii was at the recent Naples Comicon. It was at this event that, through an unfortunate misinterpretation between the Japanese and Italian, he seemed to have admitted that a Chrono Trigger remake was in the works, only to later deny it. Fortunately, Gamereactor was also at the Neapolitan comic event, and we were able to have a face-to-face interview with Horii, who admitted to our us that he was "contemplating" a remake of the game, perhaps following in the wake of the recent successes of Dragon Quest III and I&II HD-2D Remakes.

But beyond that, our concerns were also more about how Dragon Quest would continue without Toriyama-sama. We asked Horii how he had coped with the news of his passing, and if he had any special anecdotes to share from their time together. We found his answer not only touching, but also reassuring about the future of his legacy in upcoming projects.

"I was really shocked when he passed. He was very easy-going. He accepted the request of do-overs too. Truly he was nice."

"There are so many things he left and even though he had passed, I believe we can make a next title using what he had left."

So there you have it. Master Toriyama's pencils may never again design epic characters and stories, but we know that not only will his work live on forever in our hearts, but there is still unpublished work that we might (and will surely see in the future) see in upcoming video games. You can find Yuji Horii's remembrance of Toriyama in the full, subtitled interview below.