| This article is written from the Real Life point of view |  |
| “ | Apparently, the characters I drew were fairly cute. Characters like Crocomire were so charming that when they were killed, the player would feel sad about them. | „ |
—Masahiko Mashimo | ||
Masahiko Mashimo (born January 30, 1966 in Kyoto Prefecture) is a Japanese sprite artist who created graphics for Super Metroid. He drew the backgrounds for Crateria, Norfair and the Wrecked Ship, and designed Crocomire. He claimed in the developer interview that he originally drew Crocomire as "cute" and "charming", which would cause the player to feel sad after they defeated him. After Tomoyoshi Yamane's input, the characters became harsher in design. He joked that he wanted to put a shopping bag in Mother Brain's hands when Toru Osawa had designed her, as she resembled an "old lady".[1]
Mashimo had also worked on F-1 Race, which features Samus Aran. His other credits include the Game Boy titles For the Frog the Bell Tolls and Super Mario Land. He quipped in the interview that his favorite movies were "dull", but he enjoyed The Manhattan Transfer. He was able to clear Super Metroid in 4 hours, and did not have a secret of Samus Aran to share.
Recently, Mashimo has become a coordinator for externally-developed titles, such as Elite Beat Agents.