 Why does Toby Fox love annoying dogs so much? Because of a toaster. In his second column for Famitsu Magazine, the creator of Undertale and Delta Rune answers this exact question, as he talks about his inspiration both as a storyteller and a musician. This second article isn't quite as surreal as his fantasy about dating a hot dog girl from our previous video, but it's interesting to get a little more insight into this seminal indie game designers rather odd-minded. In short, Toby Fox claims that his primary food source is Japanese role-playing games, which is why his bones are weak. What follows is a loose translation of Toby's article, originally written in English, translated into Japanese for publication in Famitsu, and then translated back into English by us, with some help from native Japanese speakers and Google Translate. Apologies in advance for anywhere Toby's original points may have become muddled. Ever since I was barely able to read and write, Toby says, I have loved Japanese RPGs. While other American kids eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I devoured JRPGs like Mother 2 and Final Fantasy 6 as a source of nutrition. Thanks to that, my bones and muscles became weaker and weaker, and my brain was awakened by cool magic animations. As a child, I used to rely on JRPGs as a source of protein, but there was one problem. Most Japanese RPGs were never released in America. Toby goes on to note that at the time, the American RPG market wasn't as big as it is now. Many Super Famicom games such as Live Alive, Dragon Quest 4, 5 and 6 were never released overseas. But, says Toby, there is one RPG developed by Squaresoft for the Super Nintendo that wasn't released in Japan. It was developed by Squaresoft Inc., an American branch of Squaresoft based in Redmond, Washington. Squaresoft Inc. mainly published Japanese games for the American market, for example the Overseas version of Breath of Fire for the Super Famicom, developed by Capcom. Toby notes that for some reason, on the packaging, Ryu is drawn to look like a barbarian. He wonders if maybe Squaresoft Inc. thought American children wouldn't buy the game unless the main character looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Only once did Squaresoft Inc. create their own role-playing game. They were tasked with creating a game based on Secret of Mana. This game is Secret of Evermore. Toby goes on to explain how, while the game features a similar combat system to the Secret of Mana games, the setting is a wholly new invention. The main character is a cheeky American boy who is constantly quoting dialogue from his favorite B movie and who dresses like Marty McFly from Back to the Future. The plot involves this boy and his dog falling afoul of an experimental machine and being thrown across different periods of history. In his article, Toby praises two elements of Secret of Evermore beyond all others. Firstly, the game has a dog. The dog is the only companion character in the game, but it changes its appearance as you progress through different parts of the world map. Sometimes a wolf, sometimes a graceful greyhound. Toby describes the inclusion of this canine companion as groundbreaking, as there's only one other game of this era that he can think of that lets you play as a dog. Plus, he says, if you make it to the ending, your dog partner will transform into an invincible toaster. Doesn't that alone make it worth playing? The toaster dog has become one of the most iconic designs from Secret of Evermore, and it's easy to see why the creator of Undertale and Delta Rune would be drawn to this game. When we interviewed Temmie Chang, she noted that she and Toby often swapped pictures of cute Pomerarians in their chats while making Undertale. Apparently, Toby's love of quirky dogs goes back even further than this. Toby says that the best element of the game, though, is the game's atmosphere and soundscape. In the first area of the game, a prehistoric area, you can hear birds and insects and tribal drums. From the game's background sounds alone, you never feel like you're completely safe when you venture outside of the village. Toby points out that some songs from both Undertale and Delta Rune were inspired by the music in Secret of Evermore. Toby notes that the composer of the game was just 19 years old at the time, and that his work was unlike anything else available on the Super Nintendo. Toby points out that this composer, Jeremy Sol, went on to create music for the Elder Scrolls series, most notably Skyrim. We'd like to point out that Jeremy Sol also scored Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. Our artist Kotor is very insistent that you know that. Toby does note that the game is far from perfect, and lists a few of its flaws and awkward quirks. He doesn't think the story is developed enough, but he does at least recommend playing up until the end of the prehistoric starting area. The moral of the story is that the right person can find something good even in a flawed game. Toby notes that Secret of Evermore isn't perfect, but the game's atmosphere and soundscape, plus its inclusion of a dog character, clearly left a strong impact on him. Even an imperfect duel can have facets of brilliance.