Who Built This Strange RPG
When Stray Children released on October 30th, most people don’t realize they’re playing a game made by some of the most legendary minds in Japanese game design. Onion Games, the studio behind this fairytale RPG, wasn’t founded by unknowns chasing a dream. It was founded by industry veterans who’d already shaped gaming history – they just decided to go independent.
Yoshiro Kimura Started Somewhere Epic
The director and founder of Onion Games is Yoshiro Kimura, a man whose resume reads like a who’s who of cult gaming classics. His career spans decades of creating games that people still talk about reverently. He worked on Romancing SaGa 2 as a dungeon map designer, then moved to combat battle design for Romancing SaGa 3. These weren’t minor contributions either – Romancing Saga is one of Square’s most celebrated RPG franchises, and Kimura helped define how those games felt.
But Romancing Saga was just the beginning. Kimura went on to create Moon: Remix RPG Adventure for the original PlayStation – a game so influential that it’s credited with directly inspiring Toby Fox when he was developing Undertale. Fox actually told Kimura that Moon changed how he thought about game design. That’s the kind of impact Kimura’s work has had.
The Cult Classics Nobody Forgot
If you’ve never heard of Chulip, Rule of Rose, or Little King’s Story, you’ve missed some genuinely unforgettable gaming experiences. Chulip was a quirky adventure game about a boy navigating social interactions through kissing. Rule of Rose was a gothic survival horror game that critics praised for its psychological depth and artistic vision. Little King’s Story, released on Nintendo Wii, combined real-time strategy with life simulation in ways that felt completely original.
Little King’s Story especially shows what Kimura is capable of. The game was nominated for the Smithsonian’s Art of Video Game showcase – a honor typically reserved for groundbreaking titles. Despite not achieving mainstream sales, it’s remembered as one of the best original games ever made for the Wii. Fans of the game credit it with helping them through difficult periods in their lives because the writing and world-building were that emotionally resonant.
Meeting the Full Team
Kimura didn’t build these games alone. Kurashima Kazuyuki serves as art director and character designer for Onion Games. Before joining Kimura’s indie studio, Kazuyuki did character design for Super Mario RPG – one of Nintendo’s most beloved games. He then collaborated with Kimura on Moon’s character design and continued working with him on Little King’s Story. That history of collaboration matters. They understand each other’s vision at a fundamental level.
Hirofumi Taniguchi handles music composition. He scored early Konami 16-bit and 32-bit games, contributed to the soundtracks of Moon and Chibi-Robo, and brings decades of experience crafting game audio that sticks with players. Keiichi Sugiyama, another composer on the team, scored Sonic games and worked on Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez. These aren’t background musicians – they’re industry veterans who’ve shaped the sound of entire franchises.
Why They Left Corporate and Went Indie
Onion Games was founded in 2012 specifically because this team wanted creative freedom. After years of working within corporate structures at Square, Konami, and other major publishers, they decided to build games exactly the way they wanted. The first project was Million Onion Hotel, a bizarre mobile puzzle game that nobody expected but everyone appreciated. It received worldwide critical acclaim despite being completely unconventional.
They followed that with Black Bird, an operatic shooting game that proved Onion Games wasn’t interested in following trends. The studio has remained small and focused – no bloated budgets, no corporate mandates, just talented people making weird, artistic games. That’s the philosophy that led to Stray Children.
What This Means for Stray Children
Understanding who built Stray Children changes how you perceive the game. This isn’t a team of hungry newcomers trying to prove something. This is a team of proven veterans who already proved themselves decades ago and chose to continue making games their own way. Every design decision in Stray Children reflects that philosophy – creative boldness, emotional depth, and willingness to take risks.
When Stray Children uses dialogue as a combat weapon, when it explores adult emotional struggles through a child’s perspective, when it refuses to explain everything and trusts the player to understand – those are design choices that come from decades of making games that broke conventions. This team invented some of those conventions in the first place.
The Bridge Between Eras
Stray Children represents something special in gaming. It’s made by people who worked in the PS1 and PS2 era when experimentation was more common. They bring that sensibility – the willingness to be strange, the focus on narrative and emotional impact, the trust in player intelligence – to a modern indie game. It’s a bridge between cult classics of yesterday and the indie games players love today.
There’s also an unbroken lineage from Moon to Undertale to Stray Children. Kimura’s influence on Fox shows that great game design ideas propagate through the industry through personal relationships and mutual respect. Stray Children exists partly because Moon existed, and Moon influenced one of the most important indie developers of this generation. That’s how gaming evolution actually works.
FAQs About Onion Games and Stray Children
When did Onion Games form and why?
Onion Games was founded in 2012 by veteran designers who wanted creative independence. Yoshiro Kimura led the team after decades working at major publishers. The studio was built specifically to make games without corporate restrictions.
Did Yoshiro Kimura actually work on Romancing Saga?
Yes. Kimura did dungeon map design for Romancing Saga 2 and combat battle design for Romancing Saga 3. He was part of the core creative team that shaped those legendary Square RPGs.
How did Moon influence Undertale?
Toby Fox, Undertale’s creator, cited Moon as a major inspiration. Fox approached Kimura after playing Moon, expressing how much the game influenced his design philosophy. They became friends, and Fox encouraged Kimura to localize Moon for English audiences on the Nintendo Switch.
Why are Little King’s Story and Chulip so hard to find?
Both games had limited commercial success despite critical acclaim, so physical copies are scarce. Little King’s Story was later rereleased on other platforms, but Chulip remains one of gaming’s hidden gems. Onion Games has remastered or re-released some older titles to make them more accessible.
Is Stray Children a spiritual successor to Moon?
Yes, many describe it that way. Stray Children shares Moon’s DNA – unconventional narrative structure, emotional depth, willingness to subvert genre expectations, and focus on the writing and character interaction. If you loved Moon, you’ll recognize Stray Children’s DNA.
How many people work at Onion Games?
Onion Games remains intentionally small. The core team consists of Kimura, Kazuyuki, Taniguchi, and Sugiyama, plus a handful of other talented developers. They’ve chosen to stay boutique rather than scale into a larger studio.
Will Onion Games make more games after Stray Children?
Onion Games has consistently released games since 2012 – Million Onion Hotel, Black Bird, Dandy Dungeon, and now Stray Children. There’s every indication they’ll continue making games on their own terms. The studio’s philosophy is about creative longevity, not rushing to the next project.
Conclusion
Stray Children isn’t just another indie game. It’s the result of three decades of game design experience, multiple cult classics, and a team that walked away from corporate game development to create art on their own terms. When you play it, you’re experiencing the accumulated wisdom of designers who helped shape how RPGs work, how game narratives function, and what indie games can be. Yoshiro Kimura influenced Toby Fox. Fox created Undertale. Those ideas now flow through Stray Children. That lineage matters. At $29.99 on Steam and Nintendo Switch, you’re getting access to the creative vision of some of gaming’s most respected artists. Whether you’re a veteran gamer who remembers Moon, or someone discovering Onion Games for the first time, Stray Children proves that great game design never goes out of style. It just evolves.