http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6414..._transition.php I feel like crying. I can't explain without sounding sappy how much I've admired Yu Suzuki. He's been my hero since I was a very young kid, when I discovered that there was one man responsible for all the sega arcade games of my youth. I've been playing Yu Suzuki games since birth. His name was the very first video game developer's name I ever learned, after reading an article about him in an issue of EGM in 1991. He inspired me to take up computer programming. He is the reason I am who I am today. He is, in my opinion, the greatest video game maker of all time. He is, in the most literal way, my hero. this is the end of an era. I can't believe this. A tear actually just fell. Man.
In Hyperdimension Neptunia Yu is one of the four great heroes of legend (Obviously he is the hero of the SEGA inspired land). Also...No Shenmu III now?
Yuji Naka may have been Sega's darling during the Genesis days but Yu Suzuki made me into a die hard sega fan from the very beginning. Yu Suzuki made me love my Sega Master System, then he did it again with the Sega Saturn. The guy is pure brilliance. I can't believe we'll never see another Yu Suzuki Sega game. fuck.
In all fairness- with the amount of difficulty he had getting anything off the ground at Sega, he might be able to produce far more of his ideas elsewhere. I'd expect many studios would kill to get him onboard.
I was expecting this since he left AM2. I really don't get what he's been doing since the DC. In fact, I don't get what most of the key staff is doing these days. They either left (Mizuguchi) or are busy with small projects (Kodama, Naka kind of since he's part independent), or are unheard of (Oguchi, Kumagai). There's only one name that recurrently pops out still, Nagoshi. Compared to the DC era and previously, that's weak. They've sucked up Platinum Games and that was... amazing, but... seriously... they've got talent in their studios. Valkyria is living testment of this. Where the heck are they?
I guess Yu's declarations on the TGS not so long ago saying sega would let him make shenmue 3 makes no sense now... Well no shenmue 3 anytime soon... That's a shame...
Reading the title from the index page, I thought he was dead, and was relieved to find he's merely left. What was his last game? Psi Phi? I have his first home game - Championship Boxing for the SG-1000
Frankly, I wonder why it took this long. Sega has been treating Suzuki horribly, they've pretty much benched him - gave him a job that involves z-list has-been games, just so they can keep up face, but they haven't let him do anything on his own. It's an old Japanese practice, I forgot it's name, where the employer cannot face the humiliation of firing a famous employee, but they can make his work so humiliating that he quits himself. Yes, he got this treatment because Shenmue 1-2 tanked, but I still consider it harsh since it was Yu Suzuki who changed Sega from a third-rate arcade company to technological revolutionaries, with pretty much every single title he ever made, from Hang-On to Shenmue - all had introduced something never before seen that continued to shape the industry. Without him, Sega would've been dead by the end of the 90s, sharing the fate of the likes of Irem, Compile, and SNK. I consider it an insult to compare Yuji Naka with him. They shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence, really. It's like comparing Tim Buckley to Picasso. No, they just outsource it to YS NET, funding included. Suzuki can make Shenmue 3 on his own money.
What did Suzuki do after OutRun 2? And in fact, when are we going to get another OutRun game instead of another expanded remake of OutRun 2? =P In fact, this is vastly incomplete =P pleas help fill it? EDIT or maybe not vastly anymore Irem is dead? Compile went bankrupt because they made EVERY MISTAKE POSSIBLE. (In fact I want to talk about the period between Data East's last game and their bankruptcy being the End of the Old Video Game Empire with Compile being the head horse for this, but eh) SNK... :/ What did SNK do that caused Playmore to drop them recently? I can understand the stagnation of the Neo Geo and the failure of the NGPC for the old SNK (though Taito continued to support the Neo-Geo through 2003-2004 :/ )
I was just bringing up companies that were among the larger late 80s early 90s arcade devs that died with the era, and yeah, I should've mentioned Data East probably instead of Compile. Wanted to name Taito and Banpresto as well, but they are still alive (doing nothing noteworthy, except maybe that new PSP Darius). Irem is... wow they are alive too. The company anyway. Their arcade magicians quit and formed Nazca in 1994 though, which was absorbed by SNK. Irem itself hasn't been doing anything noteworthy other than a few R-type rehashes. SNK had financial problems and was bought by some pachinko company that proceeded to completely dump the shit out of them to the point that they were bankrupt. The ex owner of SNK founded Playmore, and bought back the assets one by one over the years. Apparently the guy was really doing tip-toe business nonstop to have pulled out that feat. Did Suzuki even work on Outrun 2? That article mentions that he was working an other games in the 2004-6 period, so I'd suspect that he was just the producer, as in the slapped his name on it.
Sega Race TV that might be everything... I don't really know since the world of arcades is still kept largely a secret from the rest of the gaming world
Has Yu Suzuki Gameworks vol.1 been scanned and translated yet? I could scan my copy, but scanning books is so boring. Also, was there ever a vol.2?
The game box has been scanned, albeit not very well... and that's about it. The book hasn't been touched. And no, there wasn't a volume 2.
Oh wow, this guy is responsible for some pretty major titles, as well as that cancelled Propeller Arena game. It's probably a decision for the best. It sounds like he hasn't been able to do much of anything past '03.
This is excellent news. Maybe now his talents will be realized by a more competent developer. RIP Shenmue 3, though =/ He is still an advisor with Sega and has his own company now. Double score IMO.
This may sound a little weird but I'm honestly not surprised. Sega of Japan tends to choke creativity sometimes. Just look at what it did with the Eternal Champions series back in the 90's. Not saying that's the reason why he left but I wouldn't blame him if it was. A lot of former Sega employees have left because of how Sega of Japan tends to treat them. I understand it's how they make money, but it's always sad to see another old Sega game developer go because they want more freedom in the gaming industry. Still good that he and Yuji Naka still keep in contact with their Sega brethren and consult with them though. =) All my friend Michael Latham does is keep in touch with them. Which is cool. He makes money by being the Cheif Strategy Officer at his company, AltEgo games, making Facebook games now... I know, shocker. But whatever works for him though I guess. Hard to believe the Executive Producer of games like Eternal Champions and Garfield: Caught in the act, and former head of Sega Interactive Development Division went from making those games to making games like Gold Nuggest Casino.... Oh well, guy's gotta make a living somehow. =) He has told me in the past he wants to go back, but with how Sega of Japan is, he doesn't want to. Anyway, I apologize for partially derailing this topic.
