Yu Suzuki facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yu Suzuki
鈴木 裕
Suzuki at the 2011 Game Developers Conference
Born	(1958-06-10) June 10, 1958 (age 67) Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan
Alma mater	Okayama University of Science
Occupation	Game producer, designer, director, programmer, software engineer
Years active	1983–present
Employer	Sega (1983–2008) Ys Net (2008–present)
Awards	AIAS Hall of Fame Award (2003)

Yu Suzuki (鈴木 裕, Suzuki Yū, born June 10, 1958) is a famous Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer. He led Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. Many people see him as one of the first "auteurs" of video games. This means he was a creator with a strong personal vision.

Yu Suzuki made many popular arcade hits for Sega. These included games with "taikan" motion simulator arcade cabinets. Games like Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, and After Burner used this technology. He also created early 3D games like Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. These games helped make 3D graphics popular in video games. He also created the well-known Shenmue series.

As a hardware engineer, he helped create many arcade system boards. These included the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2, and Model 3. He also worked on the Dreamcast console and its NAOMI arcade hardware.

In 2003, Suzuki was added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. This is a very special honor. IGN magazine listed him as #9 in their Top 100 Game Creators of All Time. In 2011, he won the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Yu Suzuki's Career in Gaming

While studying at university, Yu Suzuki wrote a paper about 3D computer graphics in video games. This showed his early interest in the field.

Starting at Sega AM2

Suzuki joined Sega in 1983 as a programmer. In his first year, he made a 2D boxing game called Champion Boxing. It was for Sega's first home game console, the SG-1000. Sega's leaders were so impressed that they put the game in arcades. They simply put an SG-1000 console inside an arcade machine. Suzuki was promoted to project leader in his first year.

He then started working on an arcade game that would become very important for his career. Suzuki rode motorcycles a lot to develop this game. He even rode a prototype bike for many hours each day. This hard work led to the game Hang-On, released in 1985.

Innovations with Hang-On and "Taikan" Games

Hang-On was a big success because it used new arcade technology. It didn't have normal controls. Players moved their bodies on a motorcycle cabinet to control the character on screen. This started the "Taikan" trend. "Taikan" means "body sensation" in Japanese. It used motion-controlled hydraulic simulator arcade cabinets. This was two decades before motion controls became popular on home video game consoles.

Suzuki said his game designs were always 3D in his mind. Even for Hang-On, he calculated positions and sizes in 3D. Then he changed them back to 2D for the screen.

Later that year, he released Space Harrier. This was a 3D-like third-person shooter game. Suzuki also loved Ferraris. So, he created the driving simulator Out Run, released in 1986. The car in Out Run looked very much like a Ferrari.

Out Run let players choose different paths to finish the game. This added nonlinear gameplay and made players want to play it again. It also had a radio with three songs to choose from. Out Run won the Game of the Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards.

Suzuki's later hits included the jet fighting After Burner series in the late 1980s. He also made the roller coaster kart racer Power Drift in 1988. Power Drift used advanced 2D technology to make tracks look like they were in a 3D space.

In 1990, Suzuki released G-LOC, a game similar to After Burner. It featured the R360, a special cabinet that rotated 360 degrees. This made players feel like they were really flying a fighter jet.

Pioneering 3D Graphics with the Model Series

Yu Suzuki also led the creation of the Model series of arcade hardware. This hardware helped create 3D arcade games for Sega. In 1992, they released the 3D Formula 1 racing game Virtua Racing. Many people thought it was one of the most realistic-looking arcade games at the time.

GameSpot listed Virtua Racing as one of the most important video games ever. They said it, along with Virtua Fighter, helped make 3D graphics popular for everyone.

In 1993, Suzuki created Virtua Fighter. This was the first 3D fighting game. It became hugely popular and led to many sequels. It also inspired other 3D fighting games like Tekken and Soul Calibur. Some staff who made the original PlayStation console said Virtua Fighter inspired its 3D graphics.

1UP listed Virtua Fighter as one of the 50 most important games ever. They said it created the 3D fighting game style. It also showed what was possible with 3D characters and realistic movements.

After the Sega Model 1, Suzuki worked on the Sega Model 2. He used military texture mapping technology to create Virtua Fighter 2 (1994). This game had 3D characters with detailed textures. Virtua Fighter 2 also used motion capture for animations. This technology was new to games at the time.

He then led the creation of the Sega Model 3, which was first used with Virtua Fighter 3. In 1996, Computer and Video Games called Virtua Fighter 3 the most amazing looking video game ever. The Virtua Fighter series was even recognized by the Smithsonian Institution for its contributions to art and entertainment. Suzuki also oversaw most of the home console versions of AM2's arcade games.

As a producer, he worked on games like Daytona USA (1993) and Virtua Cop (1994). Virtua Cop was important because it brought 3D graphics to light gun shooter games. It even influenced the famous 1997 game GoldenEye 007.

The Shenmue Series and Open Worlds

Suzuki's game Shenmue for the Dreamcast console created a new type of adventure game. Suzuki called his idea "FREE" (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment). Shenmue was a big step forward for open world games. It offered players a lot of freedom to explore a large city. The city had its own day-night cycles, changing weather, and characters with daily routines.

The game's detailed environments and open-world exploration have been compared to later games like Grand Theft Auto III and Sega's own Yakuza series. Shenmue also brought back the quick time event (QTE) mechanic and gave it a name. QTEs are now used in many popular action games like Resident Evil 4 and God of War.

Suzuki's arcade game Ferrari F355 Challenge was a very realistic racing simulator. It was made with a strong partnership with Ferrari. The game was considered the most accurate racing simulation of the Ferrari F355 at that time.

After Shenmue II, he worked as a producer for three more games: OutRun 2 and Virtua Cop 3 in 2003, and Sega Race TV in 2008. Hiroshi Kataoka then took over as head of the AM2 department.

Leaving Sega and Starting Ys Net

After leaving AM2, Yu Suzuki worked on three projects that were not released. PsyPhi was a touchscreen fighting arcade game. It was finished but never shipped because players' fingers got too hot from playing. Also, arcade owners preferred cheaper machines. Shenmue Online was an online role-playing game. It was canceled when Sega's online division in China closed. Another online game called Pure Breed never got past the idea stage.

In 2009, there were rumors that Yu Suzuki would leave Sega. However, a Sega representative said he was staying but in a smaller role. Suzuki officially left Sega in September 2011 to focus on his own studio, Ys Net. He still kept an advisory role at Sega. As of 2019, Suzuki continues to advise Sega. He has also hinted that he might return to the Virtua Fighter series.

Ys Net and New Projects

Suzuki and Mark Cerny at Game Developers Conference 2011

In late 2010, Suzuki returned with Shenmue City. This game was developed by Sunsoft and Ys Net, Yu Suzuki's new studio, for Yahoo Games. In December 2010, 1UP published his first English interview in years.

In March 2011, Yu Suzuki received a pioneer award at the GDC. He also talked about his career with Mark Cerny. In December 2011, Yu Suzuki visited the Toulouse Game Show in France. He talked about his games and even played against Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada in their fighting games.

In 2012, Suzuki designed a mobile game for the Virtua Fighter series called Cool Champ. In 2013, he designed a new shooting game called Shooting Wars with Premium Agency. This was Ys Net's first original game not related to his past Sega games.

In July 2013, Suzuki went to the Monaco Animé Game Show. On March 19, 2014, Yu Suzuki discussed the making of Shenmue at the Game Developers Conference 2014. In June 2014, he received a "Legend Award" in Barcelona, Spain.

On June 16, 2015, Shenmue III was announced at E3. It was funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It became the fastest game to reach one million dollars on Kickstarter. It eventually raised 6.33 million dollars. Suzuki began directing Shenmue IIIs development right after the successful funding in July 2015. On February 27, 2016, Suzuki showed updates on Shenmue IIIs development at a conference in Monaco.

On June 22, 2022, YS-Net released Air Twister only on Apple Arcade. YS Net has continued to update the game regularly.

At the Game Awards 2024, Ys-Net announced Steel Paws. It was released only on Netflix Games on March 25, 2025. It is an Action-RPG game. It features a young girl and her robot friends exploring a mysterious tower. This tower appears from the ground every 100 years.

Yu Suzuki's Personal Life

Suzuki once said that he loves making games. However, he doesn't play them much himself. He prefers to spend his free time watching movies and visiting theme parks.

Games developed

Canceled Games

• Propeller Arena – Producer
• Pure Breed – Concept
• Psy-Phi – Director, producer
• Shenmue Online – Director

Yu Suzuki also led the creation of a technical demo called "Tower of Babel." This was for the Dreamcast showcase in Tokyo on May 1, 1998.

Hardware developed

• Sega Space Harrier (1985)
• Sega Model 1 (1992)
• Sega Model 2 (1993)
• Sega Model 3 (1996)
• Dreamcast (1998)
• Sega NAOMI (1998)

See also

In Spanish: Yū Suzuki para niños