@xianc78 i think there is a difference between "appealing to western tastes" and taking inspiration from western themes. silent hill is another good example of a game that is inspired by the west but isn't doing what sakurai talks about. the article mentions silent hill f with the director talking about how he feels that silent hill had become too westernized (which it really had been post team silent), so he wanted to change the game's setting to japan in order to get some of that japanese feeling back.

that being said, i have never played startropics so i'm not exactly sure how it relates.