Sega AM2 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Sega AM Research & Development No. 2

Logo used as SEGA-AM2 Co., Ltd.
Trade name	Sega AM2
Formerly	AM2 of CRI SEGA-AM2 Co., Ltd. AM R&D Dept. #2
Type	Division
Industry	Video games
Founder	Yu Suzuki
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Key people	Yu Suzuki Toshihiro Nagoshi Makoto Osaki Hiroshi Kataoka
Products	Arcade games, video games
Parent	Sega

Sega AM Research & Development No. 2, often called SEGA-AM2 Co., Ltd., is a team that makes video games for the big Japanese company Sega. Yu Suzuki, a famous game creator, was the first leader of this team. He had already made popular arcade games for Sega like Hang-On and Out Run.

AM2's first game was Virtua Racing in 1992. After that, they made the super popular Virtua Fighter and Daytona USA. Throughout the 1990s, they kept making more arcade games, especially fighting and racing games. In 2000, AM2 became part of CSK Research Institute and then its own company, SEGA-AM2 Co., Ltd., in 2001. Their game Shenmue was very expensive to make. Even though it got good reviews and sold well, it didn't make a profit because of its high cost.

Yu Suzuki left AM2 in 2003, and Hiroshi Kataoka became the new head. In 2004, Sega was bought by Sammy Corporation, and AM2 became part of Sega again. Since then, the team has kept making arcade games like Border Break and the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series. They also make games for smartphones in Japan. Many games from Sega AM2 have been very important and new for the video game world.

The Story of AM2

Before AM2: Yu Suzuki's Early Days

Yu Suzuki, the first head of AM2

Yu Suzuki joined Sega in 1983 as a programmer. Back then, Sega only had one game development team. In his first year, he made a 2D boxing game called Champion Boxing. This game was for Sega's first home game console, the SG-1000. Suzuki said that Sega's bosses were so impressed they put the home console game into an arcade machine. He became a project leader in his first year.

Suzuki's next big game was Hang-On, a motorcycle racing game. He wanted to make a 3D game, but the technology wasn't ready. So, he helped design Sega's new Super Scaler arcade board. This board used 16-bit graphics and could make sprites look bigger or smaller. Hang-On was very popular and sold a lot. Suzuki then made more successful games like Space Harrier, Out Run, and Enduro Racer. His team moved to a secret place called "Studio 128" where they made After Burner and Power Drift. He also worked on G-LOC: Air Battle and the special R360 arcade cabinet. Another game designer, Toshihiro Nagoshi, joined Suzuki's team in 1989.

Creating AM2: A New Era

Toshihiro Nagoshi joined Sega as part of Yu Suzuki's team. He later became a designer with AM2.

After Power Drift came out, Sega started splitting its arcade game division into different "AM" (Amusement Machine Research and Development) teams. Yu Suzuki became the general manager of Research and Development No. 2, known as Sega AM2. Suzuki said that Sega had about 600 people working on games, and AM2 started with around 100 people. He also mentioned that this split happened because computer graphics technology was getting much better.

AM2's first game was Virtua Racing. About 25 people worked on this game for a year. The Model 1 arcade board, which the game ran on, took about three years to create. AM2 also made a version of the game for the Sega Genesis home console. Many people said that Virtua Racing completely changed how people saw 3D graphics in games.

After Virtua Racing, AM2 split into two teams. One team started working on Virtua Fighter, and the other began Daytona USA. Suzuki wanted to make a game with many moving parts, like a soccer or rugby game. But the Model 1 board wasn't strong enough. So, he decided to make a game with only two moving characters at a time. Since Street Fighter II was very popular, he chose to make a 3D fighting game to compete. Suzuki wanted Virtua Fighter to feel real but also be fun. The game was a huge hit in Japan. The Sega Saturn version sold almost as many copies as the console itself.

Virtua Racing Twin Cabinet

For Daytona USA, Toshihiro Nagoshi was the director, and Suzuki was the producer. Sega wanted Daytona USA to be better than Ridge Racer, a game by another company called Namco. To make the Daytona International Speedway look real, the developers used satellite imagery. They even sent staff to take photos of the track. Nagoshi walked a full lap to understand the curves. Daytona USA came out in Japan in August 1993 and worldwide in March 1994. AM2 also made a Saturn version in April 1995. Daytona USA was very popular in arcades. Sega said it was one of the most successful arcade games ever.

In the late 1990s, Suzuki mostly focused on the Virtua Fighter series and producing other games. AM2 released Virtua Cop and Virtua Fighter 2 for the Model 2 board. Virtua Fighter 2 was made in just twelve months and was even more successful than the first game in Japan. Suzuki said his goal was to be a pioneer, not an imitator, in the arcade world. The palm tree logo of AM2 meant reliability and peace of mind. Other games from this time included Virtua Cop 2, Fighting Vipers, Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge, and SpikeOut. These last two games used the newer Model 3 system board.

AM2 Changes and New Games

F355 Challenge, a popular racing game made by AM2

In April 2000, a company called CSK Research Institute (CRI) started managing AM2. This new part was called "AM2 of CRI," and Yu Suzuki was still in charge. Around this time, Sega changed how its game teams worked. They made nine smaller studios, each led by a top designer. These studios were allowed to try new things easily. During the making of Shenmue, Toshihiro Nagoshi asked for his own studio and left AM2.

AM2 developed Shenmue, which Sega hoped would be a huge hit for its Dreamcast console. It was an action-adventure game about a boy named Ryo Hazuki trying to get revenge for his father's murder. The game was famous for its incredibly detailed world, a Japanese city called Yokosuka. It had a day/night cycle, changing weather, and characters with their own daily routines. It also introduced the "Quick-time event" in its modern form. Shenmue cost a lot of money to make, with rumors of over $50 million. It was planned to be a long story, but it was shortened to three games. Even though it sold well, it didn't make a profit because the Dreamcast didn't have enough players. Its sequel, Shenmue II, cost much less to make.

Some people felt the Dreamcast era wasn't as good for AM2 as earlier years. For example, F355 Challenge was a great arcade game but didn't do well at home. The Virtua Fighter series made a big comeback with the highly praised Virtua Fighter 4. This game was released only on PlayStation 2 for home consoles. In Japanese arcades, Virtua Fighter 4 was very important because of its VF.NET system. This system allowed arcade games to connect online.

In 2001, AM2 of CRI changed its name to SEGA-AM2 Co., Ltd. After working on Virtua Cop 3 and OutRun 2, Yu Suzuki left AM2 on October 1, 2003. He started a new studio with Sega called Digitalrex. Hiroshi Kataoka took over as the head of AM2. Kataoka had worked on many Sega games with Yu Suzuki, from Space Harrier to Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. Makoto Osaki became AM2's head of development.

Joining Sega Again and Recent Games

AM2's R-Tuned : Ultimate Street Racing arcade cabinet

In mid-2004, Sammy Corporation bought a large part of Sega. They created a new big company called Sega Sammy Holdings. Sega and Sammy became smaller parts of this new company. Before this, Sega had already started bringing its different studios back into the main company. This was finished by October 2004. Sega also changed its development teams again, combining them into bigger groups. AM2 became part of Sega again.

The special controllers for Border Break

AM2 kept making games after joining Sega again. Virtua Fighter 5 came out in 2007, with an update called Virtua Fighter 5 R in 2008. The last version of Virtua Fighter for home consoles was Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. Ghost Squad, a shooting game like Virtua Cop, was released for arcades and the Wii in 2008.

AM2 has also made games for the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series. They also created many free-to-play smartphone games in Japan, like Soul Reverse Zero. Some games have also come out for consoles, such as Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega 39’s for Nintendo Switch. AM2 started working with the Hatsune Miku characters by adding items to Virtua Fighter 5 R and the racing game R-Tuned: Ultimate Street Racing. When the PSP game Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA was being made, AM2 decided to create an arcade version. They also made the holographic images for Hatsune Miku's live concerts. The visuals for these projects used the Virtua Fighter 5 game engine. Makoto Osaki said this time was the most stressful for him since Shenmue.

Arcade version of Kantai Collection

A very successful game for AM2 has been the Border Break series. The team partly made this game because they wanted to create a competitive game like the Virtua Fighter 5 team. The arcade game came out in 2009 and was updated many times. These updates included Border Break Union (2012), Border Break Scramble (2015), and Border Break X (2017). A PlayStation 4 version was released in 2018. In 2019, Border Break celebrated its 10th Anniversary.

Other AM2 games that have received long-term support in arcades are Quest of D, Sega Network Taisen Mahjong MJ, and Shining Force Cross. Hiroshi Kataoka compared these online arcade games to MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online games). He said that collectible cards and a strong community made them different from typical PC MMOs. According to Paul Williams, CEO of Sega Amusement International, these types of online arcade games are mostly possible in Japan. This is because Sega owns its own arcade chains and can set up the online systems.

A newer game, Soul Reverse, was meant to be a fantasy version of Border Break. It launched in 2018 but its online features shut down in 2019. The game was not very popular with Japanese arcade players. It took four years to make. Currently, AM2 staff are working on arcade games like KanColle Arcade and Fate/Grand Order Arcade. They are also working on an updated version of Virtua Fighter 5, called Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.

As of 2014, Hiroshi Kataoka was still in charge of AM2. Today, he is a Sega executive who oversees arcade engineers and the technology behind games.

Games by AM2

A Virtua Cop arcade cabinet

AM2 has developed many popular arcade and video game series. These include Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter, OutRun, Virtua Cop, Virtua Striker, Fighting Vipers, and Shenmue. Other games they made are Scud Race, Sonic the Fighters, 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, F355 Challenge, Outtrigger, and Soul Reverse. AM2 has also created smartphone games in Japan.

The Virtua Fighter series is known as the highest-earning game in Japanese arcades. The Hatsune Miku: Project Diva series has sold over 6 million copies by 2018. As of March 2012, the game Border Break earned over ¥8.1 billion from arcade machine sales, which is more than US$100 million.

Game journalists have often called AM2 "legendary" in game development, especially when Yu Suzuki was in charge. Aaron Souppouris from Engadget said that AM2 used to make games that defined their types. He called the team Sega's "most-storied division." Even though their focus has changed, Souppouris still called the Hatsune Miku series "admittedly excellent." In 1995, Edge magazine called Suzuki "the legendary head of AM2, Sega's main arcade team." Next Generation magazine also said in 1995 that AM2's success came from making high-quality games regularly. IGN's Travis Fahs stated that "AM2 has been the favorite son of the arcade division... Without AM2, SEGA would not have been able to dominate the arcades the way that they did." Video game journalist Ken Horowitz said that AM2 became the most famous of Sega's in-house teams and made "ground-breaking classics."

See also

In Spanish: Sega-AM2 para niños