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Yuji Naka Retires (probably)

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Gryson, Jun 5, 2021.

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  1. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

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    Sorry, didn't want to derail the thread; it's just those things seem like fantasy to me every time, I have to learn how they do it. :eng99:
     
  2. The Joebro64

    The Joebro64

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  3. corneliab

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  4. MH MD

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  5. corneliab

    corneliab

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    I'm on a Sonic forum and some of you really don't know that Naka is a prick? He's the guy that famously melted down over Sega's western branch prototyping Sonic X-treme with the Nights engine and totally disallowed it, resulting in an already troubled development basically becoming impossible. He's also on-record throwing the level designer for S3&K under the bus after he had left the company, basically saying that anybody can do level design. Can't forget about this either.

    He's an egotist with a xenophobic streak that has played a big role in limiting the franchise he helped (keyword "helped") create. I have no respect for this dude.

    edit: lmao guess I really misread the room, huh? Didn't mean to derail, if my notifications are anything to go by, but I still stand by what I said. I'm turning off my notifications and have not read any replies past #46, so if you're reading this and want to give me a stern talking-to you're gonna be wasting your time.
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2021
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  6. Blue Spikeball

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    I don't blame him for being a prick to SoA after having to deal with all their BS for years. Being sore at some control freak, two-faced localizers for their tendency to go behind the devs' backs doesn't make him a xenophobe. In the past he has given great praise to western devs, claimed to be a big fan of Steven Spielberg, and called Lemmings his favorite game. There is also this:
    As for being an egotist, he claimed multiple times that he looks up to Miyamoto, and has stated that he doesn't think he (Naka) could create a good RPG. Also when asked if he views Nintendo as Sega's rival, he replied "We at Sonic Team have nothing but admiration for Nintendo". Doesn't sound that egotistical to me.
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2021
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  7. SuperSnoopy

    SuperSnoopy

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    Jesus fucking christ dude
     
  8. corneliab

    corneliab

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    My perspective really isn't anything out of the ordinary lol. But yeah, keep circling those wagons I guess.
     
  9. Billy

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    I don't think anyone is arguing that Naka hasn't ever been a "prick". He's definitely demonstrated unprofessional behavior, but it's just not as simple as being xenophobic and/or having a huge ego. Do those maybe play a part? Sure. But I think it's more to do with dynamics between SoJ and SoA (e.g. their successes relative to eachother) as well as Naka's own dynamics with the rest Sonic Team and the like. I do recommend to people to read Console Wars because it's a pretty fun read, though it is pretty heavily biased towards SoA.
     
  10. MH MD

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    I'm on a Sonic forum and some of you really don't know that Naka is a humble and admire western games and movies?!!
     
  11. YuTwo

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    I knew about the Sonic X-treme situation but not about the level designer for Sonic 3. Where exactly does Naka say anything about them. Is it Yasuhara he was talking about? I'm rather curious to see a source please.
     
  12. The Joebro64

    The Joebro64

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    >posts "Yuji Naka is working on a new game" in the Yuji Naka thread on Retro
    >logs back in to see I've inadvertently started an absolute firestorm
    :rolleyes:
     
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  13. Beltway

    Beltway

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    The interview and quote in question.

    (Also would like to add that Yasuhara didn't just handle the level design [which is, still, kind of a big deal], he was the game planner/director for all three/four of the Genesis entries. But I guess mentioning that --and not instead claiming that he himself directed the game-- wouldn't had fit the narrative that he wanted to sell.)

    The one thing I will say about Naka in his favor is that between then and now, he's arguably mellowed out since then. To the point that I do feel bad for him a bit due to how Balan Wonderworld turned out at the end of the day and how he ended up being the titular (if not only) fall guy for its failure. (The fact that Balan came off the heels of his last big project, Rodea the Sky Soldier, also doesn't help; due to how that game got royally mishandled by its publisher Kadokawa.)

    Still, that knock against Carol Yas up there was...far from his best moments. (Ironic, even; given where the series went underneath his direction after Yasuhara and Oshima left.) All I can really say there is that I still wonder what could had been, where things had gone a different way and that Yasuhara and/or Oshima ended up being the series' managers instead.
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2021
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  14. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    Christ can't you people post better.


    Read the quote properly, take a step back, actually look at the facts and remember it's a wonky Japanese-to-English translation from 20 years go.

    Hirokazu Yasuhara went to America to build Sonic 2 and 3, stuck around, did some odd jobs as the American division stopped making games and then got hired by Naughty Dog.


    This doesn't equate to "Yuji Naka threw him under a bus". Naka was in a different part of the world doing completely different things.
     
  15. Holy fuck what happened in here-

    Ah, no wait- just retro being retro. Carry on :eng99:
     
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  16. Dek Rollins

    Dek Rollins

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    So you're talking about Yasuhara? :V

    I seriously don't understand this massively one-sided tendency for people to not only dunk on Yuji Naka as a person, but to significantly downplay his involvement with the creation of Sonic, just to give a virtual middle finger to his supposed ego.

    I'm not going to say he's beyond criticism or that he doesn't have any sort of ego, but I think a lot of stuff that gets thrown around is stretching for the sake of making him look bad.
     
  17. Brainulator

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    I just hope to see what he does. That, and he has a happy birthday.
     
  18. Gryson

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    Some of the posts on this forum are... embarrassing.
     
  19. Sid Starkiller

    Sid Starkiller

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    Autocorrect must've gotcha. Don't worry, I fixed it.
     
  20. The Joebro64

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    only think I could think when I saw the first response was about how it contained more salt than a can of Morton
     
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