(born March 16, 1970) is a Japanese

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

director, producer, designer and screenwriter. Since 2008, Iizuka has been the vice president of product development for the ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...

'' series at

Sega 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 ...

, as well as the head of

Sonic Team is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights int ...

although he has been working on games in the ''Sonic'' series since 1994.

Early career

His first collaboration with

involved working with Sega Technical Institute on '' Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' as a designer. Later, he helped supervise

Traveller's Tales Traveller's Tales is a British video game developer and a subsidiary of TT Games. Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and Andy Ingram. Initially a small company focused on its own content, it grew in profile through developi ...

with the development of ''

Sonic R is a 1997 racing game developed by Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It is the third racing game in the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series, and the first to feature 3D computer graphics. The player ra ...

''. He was also the lead designer for '' Nights into Dreams'', and director for ''

Sonic Adventure is a 1998 platform game for Sega's Dreamcast and the first main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game to feature 3D gameplay. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the ...

''.

Sega

In 1999, he and a small part of Sonic Team moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

to establish Sonic Team USA (later renamed

Sega Studio USA is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights int ...

), in order to gain feedback from the western market. Over in the U.S. his team worked on the international release of ''

''. Afterward, his team started to develop their own games, where he was the director and lead designer for ''

Sonic Adventure 2 is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega. It was the final ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game for the Dreamcast after Sega left the home console market. It features two Conflict between good and evil, good-vs-evil stor ...

'', '' Sonic Heroes'', ''

Shadow the Hedgehog is a fictional character appearing in Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Shadow was created by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa, and first made his debut in '' Sonic Adventure 2'' (2001). Although this was intended to be his only app ...

'', and '' Nights: Journey of Dreams''. In an effort to further broaden Sonic's appeal to western markets, Iizuka gave western developer, Backbone Entertainment, a shot at developing Sonic titles ('' Sonic Rivals'' & '' Sonic Rivals 2'') under his team's supervision for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

console. In 2008, Sega's American division, Sega Studio USA, was absorbed back into Sonic Team Japan, making Iizuka the producer for the ''Sonic'' series at Sonic Team and the head of the company as well. In 2016, Iizuka relocated to Los Angeles to become the VP of Product Development at Sega of America, while retaining his title as the head of Sonic Team. In 2022, it was revealed that Iizuka designed a game named ''Devil & Pii'' for the Sega Genesis in 1992, but it was never released. It would finally be released on October 27, 2022 for the Sega Genesis Mini 2, however.

Legacy

Game journalist from ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' described Takashi Iizuka as a difficult man to read, as he tends to slip into corporate speak especially when discussing mixed reception of ''Sonic'' games. His long time colleague and composer, Tomoko Sasaki, however described him as someone who "offered a different and fresh, almost unpredictable, way of thinking" and got along well with him from the very start.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iizuka, Takashi Living people Japanese video game designers 1970 births Sega people Japanese video game producers Japanese video game directors People from Kawaguchi, Saitama