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 and game producer. He is also a game programmer and engineer. For 18 years, he led the AM2 team at Sega, a well-known video game company.

Many people see him as one of the first "auteurs" in video games. This means he had a strong personal vision for his games. He created many popular arcade games for Sega. These include games with "taikan" motion simulator arcade cabinets like Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, and After Burner. He also made groundbreaking 3D games like Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. These games helped make 3D graphics popular in video games. He is also known for the highly praised Shenmue series.

As an engineer, he helped create many arcade system boards. These include the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2, and Model 3. He also worked on the technical side of the Dreamcast console and its arcade version, NAOMI.

In 2003, Yu Suzuki was honored by being added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. This is a very special award for game creators. IGN, a popular gaming website, ranked him among the top game creators of all time. In 2011, he received the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. This award celebrates people who have made big contributions to video games.

Career in Video Games

Yu Suzuki studied 3D computer graphics in video games while he was at university. This shows his early interest in how games look and work.

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 into arcades just as it was. Suzuki was quickly promoted to project leader.

He then started working on an arcade game that would become a huge step in his career. For this game, he rode motorcycles a lot to understand how they felt. His hard work led to Hang-On, released in 1985.

Hang-On and Motion Control

Hang-On was a big success because it used new arcade technology. Instead of regular controls, players moved their bodies on a motorcycle cabinet to steer the game's character. This started the "Taikan" trend. "Taikan" means "body sensation" in Japanese. It involved using motion-controlled hydraulic simulator arcade cabinets. This trend was popular in many arcade games in the late 1980s. It was happening two decades before motion controls became popular on home video game consoles.

Suzuki always thought in 3D, even for his earlier games. He explained that all the calculations in his games were 3D. He would figure out position, size, and zoom in 3D, then change it back to 2D for the screen.

More Arcade Hits

Later in 1985, he released Space Harrier, a 3D-like third-person shooter. Suzuki also loved Ferraris, so he created the driving simulator Out Run in 1986. The car in Out Run looked very much like a Ferrari. This game let players choose different paths to finish, which made it more fun to play again and again. It also had a radio with three songs, which was new for arcade games. Out Run won the Game of the Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards.

Suzuki's later successful games 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 technology to make its tracks look like a full 3D space using only 2D images.

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

Pioneering 3D Games

Yu Suzuki led the creation of the Model series of arcade hardware. This hardware helped build the foundation for 3D arcade games for Sega. In 1992, they released Virtua Racing, a 3D Formula 1 racing game. It was considered one of the most realistic-looking arcade games at the time. GameSpot called it 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, which was the first 3D fighting game. It became incredibly popular and led to many sequels. It also inspired other famous 3D fighting games like Tekken and Soul Calibur. Some people who created the original PlayStation console said Virtua Fighter inspired them to make the PlayStation focus on 3D graphics. 1UP listed Virtua Fighter as one of the 50 most important games ever. They said it created the 3D fighting game style and showed what 3D characters could do.

After the Sega Model 1, he worked on the Sega Model 2. He used advanced technology to add texture mapping to 3D characters in Virtua Fighter 2 (1994). This game also used motion capture technology for animations, which was new for games. He then led the development of the Sega Model 3, which first appeared with Virtua Fighter 3. In 1996, Computer and Video Games magazine called Virtua Fighter 3 "the most amazing display of video game graphic power ever." The Virtua Fighter series was even recognized by the Smithsonian Institution for its contributions to art and entertainment.

Suzuki also helped bring many of AM2's arcade games to home consoles. 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 also influenced the famous 1997 first-person shooter GoldenEye 007.

Shenmue Series

Suzuki's game Shenmue for the Dreamcast console created a new kind of adventure game. Suzuki called his idea "FREE" (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment). Shenmue was a very expensive game to make. It was a big step forward for open world games with nonlinear gameplay. It gave players amazing freedom to explore a large city. The city had its own day-night cycles, changing weather, and characters who went about their daily lives.

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 that name. QTEs are moments where players have to quickly press buttons shown on screen. This mechanic has since appeared in many popular 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 car at that time.

After Shenmue II, he worked as a producer on three more games: OutRun 2 and Virtua Cop 3 in 2003, and Sega Race TV in 2008.

Leaving Sega

After leaving the AM2 department, Yu Suzuki worked on some projects that were not released. PsyPhi was a touchscreen fighting arcade game. It was finished but never sold because players' fingers got too hot from rubbing the screen. Also, arcades preferred cheaper machines. Shenmue Online was a game planned for online play in Asia, but it was canceled. Another online game called Pure Breed never got past the idea stage.

In 2009, there were rumors that Yu Suzuki would leave Sega. However, he stayed on in a smaller role. He officially left Sega in September 2011 to focus on his own game studio, Ys Net. He still advises Sega. As of 2019, Suzuki continues to consult for Sega and has hinted he might work on the Virtua Fighter series again.

Ys Net Studio

Suzuki and Mark Cerny at Game Developers Conference 2011

In 2010, Suzuki returned with Shenmue City. This game was developed by Sunsoft and Ys Net, Yu Suzuki's new studio. In 2011, Yu Suzuki received a pioneer award at the GDC. He also talked about his career with Mark Cerny, another famous game designer.

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 2014, Yu Suzuki gave a talk at the Game Developers Conference about how Shenmue was made. He also received a "Legend Award" in Spain.

On June 16, 2015, Shenmue III was announced at E3. It was funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It quickly became the fastest game to raise one million dollars on Kickstarter, eventually raising over $6 million. Suzuki started directing Shenmue III's development right after the funding was successful.

On June 22, 2022, Ys Net released Air Twister for Apple Arcade. Ys Net has continued to update the game with new content.

Personal Life

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

Games Developed

Games Not Released

• 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" in 1998. This demo showed off the power of the Dreamcast console.

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