Yu Suzuki | |
|---|---|
| 鈴木 裕 | |
 Suzuki at the 2011Game Developers Conference | |
| Born | (1958-06-10)June 10, 1958 (age 67) Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan |
| Alma mater | Okayama University of Science |
| Occupation(s) | Game producer,designer,director,programmer, software engineer |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Employer(s) | Sega (1983–2008) Ys Net (2008–present) |
| Notable work |
|
| Awards | AIAS Hall of Fame Award (2003)[1] |
Yu Suzuki (鈴木 裕,Suzuki Yū; born June 10, 1958) is a Japanesegame designer,producer,programmer, andengineer, who headedSega'sAM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the firstauteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega'sarcade hits, includingthree-dimensionalsprite-scaling games that used "taikan"motion simulatorarcade cabinets, such asHang-On,Space Harrier,Out Run andAfter Burner, and pioneeringpolygonal 3D games such asVirtua Racing andVirtua Fighter,[2] which are some of the games besides others from rival companies during that era credited with popularizing 3D graphics in video games;[3][4][5][6][7] as well as the critically acclaimedShenmue series.[8][9] As a hardware engineer, he led the development of variousarcade system boards, including theSega Space Harrier,Model 1,Model 2[2] andModel 3,[10] and was involved in the technical development of theDreamcast console and its correspondingNAOMI arcade hardware.[11]
In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into theAcademy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.IGN listed him at #9 in their Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list.[12] In 2011, he received the Pioneer Award at theGame Developers Choice Awards.[13][14]
While studying at university, Yu Suzuki had written an undergraduatethesis on the subject of3D computer graphics invideo games.[15][16]
Suzuki joinedSega in 1983 as aprogrammer. In his first year, he created a 2D boxing game calledChampion Boxing for Sega's first home game console, theSG-1000. 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.[17][18] He was promoted to project leader while still in his first year at the company.[17] 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 toldG4TV, "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."[citation needed] His efforts culminated into the gameHang-On, 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-screenavatar was dictated by the movements the player made with their body on themotorcycle cabinet. This began the "Taikan" trend, the use ofmotion-controlledhydraulic simulator arcade cabinets in many arcade games of the late 1980s, two decades before motion controls became popular onvideo game consoles.[2] The three-dimensionalsprite/tile scaling was handled in a similar manner to textures in latertexture-mappedpolygonal 3D games of the 1990s.[19] 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 to2D. So I was always thinking in 3D."[2]
He soon followed with the3D-esquethird-person shooter gameSpace Harrier later that year. Showing his interest in Ferraris, Suzuki created thedriving simulatorOut Run, 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 ofnonlinear gameplay 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 theGolden Joystick Awards,Out Run was awarded theGame of the Year award.[20] Suzuki had been interested in 3D technology since his days in college.[15][16]Space Harrier andOut Run had graphics similar to 3D, but could not fully utilize the capabilities.
Suzuki's later hits included the jet fightingAfter Burner series in the late 1980s and the roller coasterkart racerPower Drift in 1988. Improving on the "Super Scaler" technology and roadscrolling effects ofHang-On andOut Run,Power Drift created "all of its track layouts with flatbitmaps" to simulate a "wholly3D space using strictly2D technology."[21]
In 1990, Suzuki brought out a spiritual sequel toAfter Burner calledG-LOC. It featured theR360, agyroscopic motion cabinet that rotated 360 degrees to give players the realistic illusion of flying a fighter jet.[22][16]
Yu Suzuki introduced and spearheaded theModel series of arcade hardware which would help lay the foundation for 3D arcade games for AM2 but other arcade departments at Sega as well[2] In 1992, they released the 3D Formula 1 racerVirtua Racing, which was considered one of, if not the most, realistic-looking arcade games on the market at that time.GameSpot listed it as one of the 15 most influential video games of all time, commenting: "It wasn't the first fully polygonal game on the market ... but along withVirtua Fighter, Sega's 1993 release on the same hardware, it was one of the games alongside several others from different rival company developers that popularized polygonals to the masses."[3]
In 1993, Suzuki createdVirtua Fighter, the first 3Dfighting game, which became enormously popular and spawned a series of sequels and spinoffs.[18] It inspired many 3D fighting games such as theTekken andSoul Calibur series.[23] Some of theSony Computer Entertainment (SCE) staff involved in the creation of the originalPlayStation console creditVirtua 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 a2D focused hardware, and it wasn't until the success ofVirtua Fighter in the arcades that they decided to design the PlayStation as a 3D focused hardware.[24]1UP listedVirtua 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 of3D polygon human characters (as the first to implement them in a useful way), showing the potential of realistic gameplay (introducing a characterphysics system and realistic character animations for the time), and introducing fighting game concepts such as the ring-out and the block button.[25]
After developing theSega Model 1, he worked on the development of theSega Model 2. He acquiredLockheed Martin's militarytexture mapping technology that cost millions and managed to engineer it down to $50 per chip, which he used to introduce texture-mapped 3D characters withVirtua Fighter 2.[2] The game industry gained mass-produced texture mapping as a result.[26]Virtua Fighter 2 (1994) also introduced the use ofmotion capture animation technology, which was previously limited to the health industry.[27] He then led the development of theSega Model 3, which debuted withVirtua Fighter 3.[10] In 1996,Computer and Video Games describedVirtua Fighter 3 as "the most astounding display of video game graphic muscle ever in the history of this industry."[28] TheVirtua Fighter series was recognized by theSmithsonian Institution,[29] as an application which made great contributions to society in the field of art and entertainment.[30] Suzuki also oversaw most of thehome console conversions of AM2's arcade games.[31]
As a producer, he worked on games such asDaytona USA,[32] which featuredtexture filtering in 1993,[33] andVirtua Cop,[32] which in 1994 introduced 3D polygons tolight gun shooters,[34] and influenced the seminal 1997first-person shooterGoldenEye 007.[35] 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."[36]
Suzuki'sShenmue for theDreamcast gave rise to a new style ofadventure games, 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 an expensive title for Sega, with Suzuki stating in 2011 that the project cost approximately US$47 million including marketing.[37]Shenmue was a major step forward for 3Dopen world,nonlinear gameplay, 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 voicednon-player characters 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 likeGrand Theft Auto III and its sequels, Sega's ownYakuza series,Fallout 3 andDeadly Premonition.[2][12][38][39] The game also revived thequick time event mechanic and coined a name for it, "QTE". The mechanic has since appeared in many later titles, including popularaction games such asResident Evil 4,God of War,Tomb Raider: Legend,Heavenly Sword andRobert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy.[40]
Suzuki's arcade gameFerrari F355 Challenge was a racingsimulator created upon a strong partnership withFerrari.Rubens Barrichello of theF1 Team Ferrari was quoted by Suzuki to "have considered to purchase one for practicing." The game was considered the most accurateracing simulation of theFerrari F355 possible up until that time.[23][41]
AfterShenmue II, he served as a producer for three last games,OutRun 2 andVirtua Cop 3 in 2003 andSega Race TV in 2008.Hiroshi Kataoka succeeded him as head of AM2 department.
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.[42] Players' fingers heated up from the friction of moving over the screen, making the game painful to play.[43] Another problem was the viability of the machine in a modern arcade environment due to arcade operators preferring cheaper cabinets with more standard inputs.[44]Shenmue Online was part of Sega's initiative to penetrate the rising Asian MMO RPG markets.[45] With the withdrawal of Sega's online division in China,[46] development ofShenmue Online was quietly cancelled.[47] The development ofShenmue Online cost Sega and JCEntertainment almost $26 million.[48][49] Another MMO calledPure Breed never got past the concept stage. It involved a western surrealist art style, and revolved around pet and human relationships.[50]
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 websiteGameSpot, 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.[51] His last position at Sega was Creative Officer along withToshihiro Nagoshi and Hiroshi Kataoka.[52] As of 2019, Suzuki remains as a consult for Sega, and suggested that he might return to theVirtua Fighter franchise.[53]
In the fall of 2010, Suzuki returned withShenmue City, developed bySunsoft and Ys Net (Yu Suzuki's new studio) forYahoo Games.[30][54] 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 former1UP Editor in ChiefJames Mielke withTak Hirai (both employees atTetsuya Mizuguchi'sQ Entertainment).[2] In March 2011, Yu Suzuki was atGDC to receive a pioneer award for his body of work.[43] Prior to the award ceremony, he participated in an open panel career retrospective hosted byMark Cerny. Also at GDC he participated withMEGA64 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 withTekken producerKatsuhiro Harada. They talked about their games and fought each other in both of their respected fighting franchises. In 2012, Suzuki designed a mobile game for theVirtua Fighter series, titledCool Champ.[55] In 2013, Suzuki designed a new shooting game, titledShooting Wars withPremium Agency; this was Ys Net's first original game unrelated to any of Suzuki's previous Sega franchises.[56][57]
In July 2013, Suzuki traveled to Monaco to attend the Monaco Animé Game Show. On March 19, 2014, Yu Suzuki held aShenmue postmortem at theGame Developers Conference 2014, with Suzuki discussing the development ofShenmue.[58] In June the same year, Yu Suzuki received a "Legend Award" in Barcelona, Spain during Gamelab Barcelona 2014.[59]
On June 16, 2015,Shenmue III was revealed at E3 as aKickstartercrowdfunding 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.[60] Suzuki began his work as director ofShenmue III's development immediately following the successful funding campaign in July 2015.[61] 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 forShenmue III to conference attendees.[62]
On June 22, 2022, YS-Net releasedAir Twister exclusively toApple Arcade. YS Net has continued to support the game with regular updates and expanded content.[63]
On December 12, 2024Bandai Namco announced YS Net's next gameSteel Paws atThe Game Awards 2024. YS Net announcedSteel Paws as a mobile game to be exclusively released forNetflix Games. It is anaction role-playing game that features a young girl and her robot companions who explore a mysterious tower that emerges from the ground every 100 years.[64][65][66]
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 watchingmovies and visitingtheme parks.[67]
On top of games, Yu Suzuki led the creation of a technical demo "Tower of Babel" prepared for the Dreamcast showcase at Tokyo New Otani Hotel on May 1, 1998.[77]
Then in 1992, he changed gaming forever withVirtua Racing. Overnight, 'polygons' became the buzz-word of the industry ... But Suzuki and AM2 will be best remembered for the creation of theVirtua Fighter series in 1993.
Ryoji Akagawa: If it wasn't forVirtua Fighter, the PlayStation probably would have had a completely different hardware concept.cf.Thomason, Steve (July 2006). "The Man Behind the Legend".Nintendo Power. Vol. 19, no. 205. p. 72.
Toby Gard: It became clear to me watching people playVirtua Fighter, which was kind of the first big 3D-character console game, that even though there were only two female characters in the lineup, in almost every game I saw being played, someone was picking one of the two females.
One of the key objections to 3D graphics that developers had been raising with Sony was that while polygons worked fine for inanimate objects such as racing cars, 2D images were superior when it came to animating people or other characters.Virtua Fighter, Suzuki's follow-up toVirtua Racing, was a direct riposte to such thinking ... The characters may have resembled artists' mannequins but their lifelike movement turned Suzuki's game into a huge success that exploded claims that game characters couldn't be done successfully in 3D ... Teruhisa Tokunaka, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, even went so far as to thank Sega for creatingVirtua Fighter and transforming developers' attitudes.
The title, which has been in development since February of last year, has a development and marketing budget of 30,000,000,000 won ($25,945,455 US). The marketing budget is said to include costs for both Korea and overseas.
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