Yu Suzuki
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is a Japanese
game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...
, producer,
programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
, and
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, who headed
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's
AM2 AM2 can refer to: * Socket AM2, a CPU socket for AMD desktop processors * Sega AM2, a research and development team for the video game company Sega * Arp-Madore 2, an open star cluster * a Fictional elements, isotopes and atomic particles#Fictional ...
team for 18 years. Considered one of the first
auteurs An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega's
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...
hits, including
three-dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
sprite-scaling games that used "taikan"
motion simulator A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provi ...
arcade cabinets, such as ''
Hang-On is an arcade racing game released by Sega in 1985 and later ported to the Master System. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphi ...
'', ''
Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but techni ...
'', ''
Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (comp ...
'', and ''
After Burner is an Arcade video game, arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by des ...
'', and pioneering polygonal 3D games such as ''
Virtua Racing ''Virtua Racing'', or ''V.R.'' for short, is a Formula One racing video game developed by Sega AM2 and released for arcades in 1992. ''Virtua Racing'' was initially a proof-of-concept application for exercising a new 3D graphics platform under ...
'' and ''
Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...
'', which are credited with popularizing 3D graphics in video games, as well as the critically acclaimed ''
Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast. '' Shenmue III,'' developed by Suzuki's company Y ...
'' series. As a hardware engineer, he led the development of various
arcade system board An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
s, including the Sega Space Harrier,
Model 1 Model 1 may refer to: * Austin Model 1, a semi-empirical method for the quantum calculation of molecular electronic structure in computational chemistry * Boeing Model 1, a United States single-engine biplane seaplane aircraft * Breese-Dallas Model ...
, Model 2, and
Model 3 The Tesla Model 3 is a compact executive sedan that is battery powered and produced by Tesla. Limited production of the Model 3 began in mid-2017, with the first production vehicle rolling off the assembly line on July 7, 2017. The offici ...
, and was involved in the technical development of the
Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...
console and its corresponding
NAOMI Naomi or Naomie may refer to: People and biblical figures * Naomi (given name), a female given name and a list of people with the name * Naomi (biblical figure), Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth * Naomi (Romanian singer) (bor ...
arcade hardware. In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into the
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interac ...
.
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
listed him at #9 in their Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list. In 2011, he received the Pioneer Award at the
Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
.


Career

While studying at university, Yu Suzuki had written an undergraduate
thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
on the subject of
3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
in
video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
.
Part 1
an


Sega AM2

Suzuki joined
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
in 1983 as a
programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
. In his first year, he created a 2D boxing game called ''
Champion Boxing is a 1984 boxing sports video game developed and published by Sega for the SG-1000,Champion Box ...
'' for Sega's first home game console, the
SG-1000 The is a home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business. Developed in response to a downturn in arcades starting in 1982, the SG-1000 was created on the advice of Hayao Nakay ...
. According to Suzuki, the executive staff at Sega found the game so impressive that they released it in arcades as-is by simply installing an SG-1000 into an arcade cabinet. He was promoted to project leader while still in his first year at the company. Then, Suzuki began working on another arcade game which would prove to be the big stepping-off point of his career. "To develop this game," Suzuki told G4TV, "I rode on motorcycles a lot. When we came up with the prototype (for the arcades), I would ride on that prototype bike for hours and hours every day." His efforts culminated into the game ''
Hang-On is an arcade racing game released by Sega in 1985 and later ported to the Master System. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphi ...
'', released in 1985. ''Hang-On'' was a success as it broke new ground in arcade technology. It did not feature any traditional controls, as the movement of the on-screen
avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
was dictated by the movements the player made with their body on the
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
cabinet. This began the "Taikan" trend, the use of
motion-controlled Motion control is a sub-field of automation, encompassing the systems or sub-systems involved in moving parts of machines in a controlled manner. Motion control systems are extensively used in a variety of fields for automation purposes, includi ...
hydraulic simulator arcade cabinets in many arcade games of the late 1980s, two decades before motion controls became popular on
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
s. The three-dimensional sprite/
tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...
scaling was handled in a similar manner to textures in later
texture-mapped Texture mapping is a method for mapping a texture on a computer-generated graphic. Texture here can be high frequency detail, surface texture, or color. History The original technique was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974. Texture mappi ...
polygonal 3D games of the 1990s. Suzuki stated that his "designs were always 3D from the beginning. All the calculations in the system were 3D, even from Hang-On. I calculated the position, scale, and zoom rate in 3D and converted it backwards to 2D. So I was always thinking in 3D." He soon followed with the 3D-esque
third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...
game ''
Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but techni ...
'' later that year. Showing his interest in Ferraris, Suzuki created the
driving simulator Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical rese ...
''
Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (comp ...
'', which was released in 1986. Although it didn't officially feature a Ferrari, the player controlled a car that looked almost exactly like one. ''Out Run'' offered players a wide variety of driving paths and routes to complete the game, adding elements of
nonlinear gameplay A video game with nonlinear gameplay presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences. Each player may take on (or even encounter) only some of the challenges possible, and the same challenges may be played ...
and increasing replay value. It also featured a radio with three songs to choose from as players drove through the wide variety of landscapes. At the
Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...
, ''Out Run'' was awarded the
Game of the Year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a video game that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...
award. Suzuki had been interested in 3D technology since his days in college. ''Space Harrier'' and ''Out Run'' had graphics similar to 3D, but could not fully utilize the capabilities. Suzuki's later hits included the jet fighting ''
After Burner is an Arcade video game, arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by des ...
'' series in the late 1980s and the roller coaster
kart racer Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...
''
Power Drift is a kart racing game released in arcades by Sega in 1988. More technologically advanced than Sega's earlier 2.5D racing games, like '' Hang-On'' (1985) and ''Out Run'' (1986), in ''Power Drift'' the entire world and track consist of sprites. ...
'' in 1988. Improving on the "Super Scaler" technology and road
scrolling In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...
effects of ''Hang-On'' and ''Out Run'', ''Power Drift'' created "all of its track layouts with flat
bitmap In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits. It is also called a bit array A bit array (also known as bitmask, bit map, bit set, bit string, or bit vector) is an array data structure that c ...
s" to simulate a "wholly 3D space using strictly 2D technology." In 1990, Suzuki brought out a spiritual sequel to ''After Burner'' called ''
G-LOC g-force induced loss of consciousness (abbreviated as G-LOC, pronounced "JEE-lock") is a term generally used in aerospace physiology to describe a loss of consciousness occurring from excessive and sustained g-forces draining blood away from t ...
''. It featured the
R360 The R360 is a motion simulator arcade cabinet produced by Sega. It was first released in Japan in 1990, and internationally a year later. Being short for "Rotate 360", the R360 is noteworthy for its ability to spin 360 degrees in any direction o ...
, a
gyroscopic A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rot ...
motion cabinet that rotated 360 degrees to give players the realistic illusion of flying a fighter jet. Yu Suzuki introduced and spearheaded the Model series of arcade hardware which would help lay the foundation for 3D arcade games for AM2 but other arcade departments at Sega as well In 1992, they released the 3D Formula 1 racer ''
Virtua Racing ''Virtua Racing'', or ''V.R.'' for short, is a Formula One racing video game developed by Sega AM2 and released for arcades in 1992. ''Virtua Racing'' was initially a proof-of-concept application for exercising a new 3D graphics platform under ...
'', which was considered one of, if not the most, realistic-looking arcade games on the market at that time.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
listed it as one of the 15 most influential video games of all time, commenting that "It wasn't the first fully polygonal game on the market ... but along with ''
Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...
'', Sega's 1993 release on the same hardware, it introduced the concept of polygonal graphics to the masses." In 1993, Suzuki created ''
Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...
'', the first 3D
fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
, which became enormously popular and spawned a series of sequels and spinoffs. It inspired many 3D fighting games such as the ''
Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...
'' and ''
Soul Calibur In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
'' series. Some of the
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
(SCE) staff involved in the creation of the original
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
console credit ''Virtua Fighter'' as inspiration for the PlayStation's 3D graphics hardware. According to SCE's former producer Ryoji Akagawa and chairman Shigeo Maruyama, the PlayStation was originally being considered as a 2D focused hardware, and it wasn't until the success of ''Virtua Fighter'' in the arcades that they decided to design the PlayStation as a 3D focused hardware. 1UP listed ''Virtua Fighter'' as one of the 50 most important games of all time. They credited it for creating the 3D fighting game genre, and more generally, demonstrating the potential of 3D polygon human characters (as the first to implement them in a useful way), showing the potential of realistic gameplay (introducing a character physics system and realistic character animations for the time), and introducing fighting game concepts such as the ring-out and the block button. After developing the
Sega Model 1 Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of coi ...
, he worked on the development of the
Sega Model 2 Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of c ...
. He acquired
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
's military
texture mapping Texture mapping is a method for mapping a texture on a computer-generated graphic. Texture here can be high frequency detail, surface texture, or color. History The original technique was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974. Texture mapping ...
technology that cost millions and managed to engineer it down to $50 per chip, which he used to introduce texture-mapped 3D characters with ''
Virtua Fighter 2 is a 1994 fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sega. It is the sequel to 1993's ''Virtua Fighter (video game), Virtua Fighter'' and the second game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series. It was created by Sega's Yu Suzuki-headed Sega AM2, ...
''. The game industry gained mass-produced texture mapping as a result. ''Virtua Fighter 2'' (1994) also introduced the use of
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
animation technology, which was previously limited to the health industry. He then led the development of the
Sega Model 3 is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
, which debuted with ''
Virtua Fighter 3 is the sequel to 1994's '' Virtua Fighter 2'' and the third fighting game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series, developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega in 1996. It was the first arcade game to run on the Sega Model 3 system board. Like its p ...
''. In 1996, ''
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...
'' described ''Virtua Fighter 3'' as "the most astounding display of video game graphic muscle ever in the history of this industry." The ''Virtua Fighter'' series was recognized by the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, as an application which made great contributions to society in the field of art and entertainment. Suzuki also oversaw most of the home console conversions of AM2's arcade games. As a producer, he worked on games such as ''
Daytona USA is an arcade racing video game developed by Sega AM2 in 1993 and released by Sega in 1994. Players race stock cars on one of three courses. The first game released on the Sega Model 2 three-dimensional arcade system board, a prototype debuted ...
'', which featured
texture filtering In computer graphics, texture filtering or texture smoothing is the method used to determine the texture color for a texture mapped pixel, using the colors of nearby texels (pixels of the texture). There are two main categories of texture filtering ...
in 1993, and ''
Virtua Cop (known as ''Virtua Squad'' for the North American Windows version) is a 1994 light gun shooter game developed by Sega AM2 and designed by Yu Suzuki. It was originally an arcade game on the Sega Model 2 system, and was ported to the Sega Saturn in ...
'', which in 1994 introduced 3D polygons to
light gun shooter Light gun shooter, also called light gun game or simply gun game, is a shooter video game genre in which the primary design element is to simulate a shooting gallery by having the player aiming and discharging a gun-shaped controller at a scre ...
s, and influenced the seminal 1997
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
'' GoldenEye 007''. Listing him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", '' Next Generation'' summarized that "Nobody has pushed arcade gaming as far as Yu Suzuki, and Suzuki just keeps on pushing." Suzuki's ''
Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast. '' Shenmue III,'' developed by Suzuki's company Y ...
'' for the
Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...
gave rise to a new style of
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
s, bending it away from the typical mold most games of its nature seem to fit into, with Suzuki's own concept denoted as " FREE" (''Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment''). ''Shenmue'' was the most expensive game to be developed until ''
Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the ...
'' in 2008, with the whole project costing US$70 million, equivalent to US$93 million in 2011. ''Shenmue'' was a major step forward for 3D open world,
nonlinear gameplay A video game with nonlinear gameplay presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences. Each player may take on (or even encounter) only some of the challenges possible, and the same challenges may be played ...
, touted as offering an unparalleled level of player freedom, giving them full reign to explore an expansive sandbox city with its own day-night cycles, changing weather, and fully voiced
non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
s going about their daily routines. The game's large interactive environments, level of detail and the scope of its urban sandbox exploration has been compared to later sandbox games like '' Grand Theft Auto III'' and its sequels, Sega's own ''
Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
'' series, ''
Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...
'', and ''
Deadly Premonition ''Deadly Premonition'' is an open world survival horror video game developed by Access Games. Set in the fictional, rural American town of Greenvale, Washington, the story follows FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan as he investigates the mur ...
''. The game also revived the quick time event mechanic and coined a name for it, "QTE". The mechanic has since appeared in many later titles, including popular
action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...
s such as ''
Resident Evil 4 ''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror third-person shooter game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by Capcom. It was originally released for the GameCube on January 11, 2005. Players control U.S. government special ...
'', ''
God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been po ...
'', '' Tomb Raider: Legend'', ''
Heavenly Sword ''Heavenly Sword'' is a 2007 action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. Gameplay The game is an action-adventure title with heavy hack and slash game ...
'', and ''
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy ''Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy'' is a third-person Action game, action stealth game, stealth video game developed by High Moon Studios and published by Vivendi Games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game expands upon Robert Ludlum' ...
''. Suzuki's arcade game ''
Ferrari F355 Challenge is a racing simulation arcade video game based on the actual race car and Ferrari event. It was developed by the AM2 division of Sega for the Sega Naomi Multiboard arcade system board under the direction of Yu Suzuki, and was later ported ...
'' was a racing
simulator A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
created upon a strong partnership with
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
.
Rubens Barrichello Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 Toy ...
of the F1 Team Ferrari was quoted by Suzuki to "have considered to purchase one for practicing." The game was considered the most accurate
racing simulation Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire ...
of the
Ferrari F355 The Ferrari F355 (Type F129) is a sports car manufactured by Italian car manufacturer Ferrari produced from May 1994 until 1999. The car is a heavily revised Ferrari 348 with notable exterior and performance changes. The F355 was succeeded by th ...
possible up until that time. After ''
Shenmue II ''Shenmue II'' is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. It was directed, produced and written by Yu Suzuki. Like the original Shenmue (video game), ''Shenmue'' (1999), ''Shenmue II'' consists ...
'', he served as a producer for three last games, ''
OutRun 2 , usually stylized as ''OutRun2'', is a 2003 racing game released by Sega for the arcades. Gameplay ''OutRun 2'' stays true to the race format from the 1986 original, in which the player is behind the steering wheel of a Ferrari sports car with ...
'' and ''
Virtua Cop 3 ''Virtua Cop 3'' is the third and final game from Sega's '' Virtua Cop'' light gun shooter franchise released exclusively for video arcades in 2003. The game is available in standard and deluxe cabinet formats and runs on Sega Chihiro arcade har ...
'' in 2003, and '' Sega Race TV'' in 2008. Hiroshi Kataoka succeeded him as head of AM2 department.


Departure from Sega

After his departure from AM2, Yu Suzuki was involved in three ill-fated projects as a director. '' PsyPhi'' was a touchscreen fighting arcade game, that initially had concepts of curved screens which never got past the concept stage. The game was however successfully completed with standard touchscreens but was never shipped as it performed poorly at location testing. Players' fingers heated up from the friction of moving over the screen, making the game painful to play. Another problem was the viability of the machine in a modern arcade environment due to arcade operators preferring cheaper cabinets with more standard inputs. ''
Shenmue Online ''Shenmue Online'' (シェンムーオンライン「莎木OL, ''Shenmū Onrain'') was an announced MMORPG where players participate in scenarios from ''Shenmue II'', joining one of three clans, led by Shen Hua, Xiu Ying and Wu Ying Ren, all si ...
'' was part of Sega's initiative to penetrate the rising Asian MMO RPG markets. With the withdrawal of Sega's online division in China, development of ''Shenmue Online'' was quietly cancelled. The development of Shenmue Online cost Sega and JCEntertainment almost $26 million. Another MMO called "Pure Breed" never got past the concept stage. It involved a western surrealist art style, and revolved around pet and human relationships. In the spring of 2009, rumors surfaced that Yu Suzuki would step down from Sega after 26 years of employment. However, an article written by Brendan Sinclair, a reporter for the American video game journalism website GameSpot, stated the rumors to be false and that an anonymous representative for Sega of America revealed that Suzuki was in fact not retiring but staying "in a much more diminished capacity" than in the past. Suzuki planned to officially leave Sega in September 2011 to concentrate on his own development studio Ys Net, while retaining an advisory role within Sega. His last position at Sega was Creative Officer along with
Toshihiro Nagoshi is a Japanese video game producer, director and designer. He was the chief creative officer for Sega until 2021 when he became creative director. He went on to be the general director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and later became a member of the ...
and Hiroshi Kataoka. As of 2019, Suzuki remains as a consult for Sega, and suggested that he might return to the ''Virtua Fighter'' franchise.


Ys Net

In the fall of 2010, Suzuki returned with '' Shenmue City,'' developed by
Sunsoft , stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. Sunsoft is the video games division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sun Corporation. Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, a ...
and Ys Net (Yu Suzuki's new studio) for Yahoo Games. In December 2010, 1UP posted an interview with Yu Suzuki. It was his first English interview in several years. It was also a career retrospective conducted by former 1UP Editor in Chief James Mielke with Tak Hirai (both employees at
Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and businessman. Along with ex-Sega developers he is the one of the co-founders of the video game development firm Q Entertainment. He formerly worked for Sega as a producer in their Sega AM3 'arcade m ...
's
Q Entertainment was a Japanese video game developer. The studio created, produced, and published digital entertainment content across multiple game consoles, PC broadband and mobile units. It was founded on October 10, 2003 by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, formerly of S ...
). In March 2011, Yu Suzuki was at GDC to receive a pioneer award for his body of work. Prior to the award ceremony, he participated in an open panel career retrospective hosted by
Mark Cerny Mark Evan Cerny (born August 24, 1964) is an American video game designer, programmer, producer and media proprietor. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cerny attended UC Berkeley before dropping out to pursue a career in video games. In hi ...
. Also at GDC he participated with
MEGA64 ''Mega64'' is a webseries, video production company and comedy troupe created by Rocco Botte, Derrick Acosta, and Shawn Chatfield, in 2003. Originally conceived to be a public-access television show, the original five episodes produced were later ...
to record his voice for a parody video on "how Shenmue was meant to end". In December 2011, Yu Suzuki flew to TGS (Toulouse Game Show) in France and participated in an open panel career retrospective. He also participated in an open with
Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...
producer
Katsuhiro Harada is a Japanese game producer, director, and general manager from Bandai Namco Entertainment, best known as the former producer (now Michael Murray ) and current director of the popular fighting game series ''Tekken.'' Biography Harada was born ...
. They talked about their games and fought each other in both of their respected fighting franchises. In 2012, Suzuki designed a mobile game for the
Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...
series, titled Cool Champ. In 2013, Suzuki designed a new shooting game, titled ''Shooting Wars'' with Premium Agency; this was Ys Net's first original game unrelated to any of Suzuki's previous Sega franchises. In July 2013, Suzuki traveled to Monaco to attend the Monaco Animé Game Show. On March 19, 2014, Yu Suzuki held a Shenmue Postmortem at the
Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...
2014, with Suzuki discussing the development of ''Shenmue''. In June the same year, Yu Suzuki received a "Legend Award" in Barcelona, Spain during Gamelab Barcelona 2014. On June 16, 2015, ''
Shenmue III is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Ys Net, published by Deep Silver for PlayStation 4, and Windows and produced by Shibuya Productions. Like the previous ''Shenmue'' games, it consists of open-world environments interspersed with br ...
'' was revealed at E3 as a
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
campaign. It became the fastest game ever to reach the one million dollar funding mark on the Kickstarter platform, ultimately raising 6.33 million dollars. Suzuki began his work as director of ''Shenmue IIIs development immediately following the successful funding campaign in July 2015. On February 27, 2016 Suzuki appeared as a guest presenter at the annual Monaco Anime Games International Conferences (MAGIC), where he showed images and video clips of the development progress for ''Shenmue III'' to conference attendees. On June 22nd 2022, YS-Net released Air Twister exclusively to
Apple Arcade Apple Arcade is a video game subscription service offered by Apple Inc. It is available through a dedicated tab of the App Store on devices running iOS 13, tvOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina or later. The service launched on September 19 ...
. YS-Net has continued to support the game with regular updates and expanded content.


Personal life

Suzuki said in an interview that while he greatly enjoys creating games, he has relatively little interest in playing them, and prefers to spend his free time watching
movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s and visiting
theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
s.


Games developed


Canceled games

On top of games, Yu Suzuki lead the creation of a technical demo "Tower of Babel" prepared for the Dreamcast showcase at Tokyo New Otani Hotel on May 1, 1998.


Hardware developed

* Sega Space Harrier (1985) *
Sega Model 1 Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of coi ...
(1992) *
Sega Model 2 Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of c ...
(1993) *
Sega Model 3 is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
(1996) *
Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...
(1998) *
Sega NAOMI Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of coin-o ...
(1998)


References


Further reading

* Benjamin Berget. ''Yū Suzuki - Le Maître de Sega (de l'arcade à Shenmue)''. 2015, Geeks-Line,


External links


Yu Suzuki
profile on
MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
*
YS Net
(official site)
System16 - The Arcade Museum


June 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Yu Sega people Shenmue 1958 births Japanese video game directors Japanese video game designers Japanese video game producers Living people People from Iwate Prefecture Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame inductees Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award recipients Golden Joystick Award winners