Yuji Horii graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature. He also worked as a freelance writer for magazines, newspapers, and comics. He won the top prize at the Enix-sponsored "Game Programming Contest" that gave him the motivation to become a video game designer. His video game works include the Dragon Quest, Portpia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken, and Itadaki Street series. Yuji Horii usually wears sunglasses to cover his big bags under his eyes.
Mr. Horii was also a supervisor of the hit Super Famicom game, Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger had multiple game endings and Yuji Horii appeared in one of the endings with the game development staff cracking jokes.
Yujii Horii is currently working on Dragon Quest VIII and heads his own company, Armor Project.