5EGA 5Tars

[cube_b3]

Well I wanted to share/know your favorite Sega Designers off all time.

You can even be super cool and credit Mark Cerny of Naughty Dog or even lesser known ones such as Micheal Latham (retired) Deep Blue [Eternal Champions Series and Spin offs]

Here are my 5ega 5Tars

1) Rieko Kodama: Phantasy Star: End of the Millenium, I almost feel like leaving it at that it was my first RPG and oh my God... I can't go on cause if I start I won't know when to stop. Also her Dreamcast return was phenomenal with Skies of Arcadia and her last console game Altered Beast, had Jeffery not cancelled it she would still be making console games.

Fortunately her legacy lives on in the team she trained (Team Valkyria).


2) Noriyoshi Oba: I don't think I have enjoyed any game on PS2 more than Shinobi & Nightshade, one day I will play Blood Will Tell. He also worked on Skies of Arcadia and trained that team but most of his team was disbanded and were dispersed into Namco, Capcom and Konami.

There were rumors that he was involved in HOTD5:SE, I don't know but given how great he was and to see him retire without a successor is heart breaking.

3) Hisao Oguchi: While I am not passionate about him or emotionally attached to him cause he didn't really do story or character driven games. This man right here made fun, bad ass Arcade Games like Crazy Taxi, Virtua On, Virtua Tennis and was even involved in the classic Sega Rally games (atleast up until Dreamcast).

Former president Hideki Sato choose him to be the head of all AM Teams before Sega merged with Sammy. Unfortunately he has been shuffled to a non designing or supervising Division since the merger but he has still running strong as the VICE PRESIDENT OF SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS!!!

Fortunately he was able to train a successor in the form of Mie Kumagi, current head of AM3 and while she hasn't made Crazy Taxi 4 or Virtua On Next as of yet. She has designed Virtua Tennis 3 and is currently working on VT4.

I don't think the last 2 need pictures:

4) Yu Suzuki: While I never really got into Hang-On or OutRun (aside from brief plays at the Arcade & Shenmue), I really truly love Shenmue and I enjoyed Virtua Cop Series, Virtua Fighter 3TB, and 18 Wheeler (one day I'll play the sequel).

Prior to the Sammy Merger, former President Hideki Sato tasked him to helm a second studio "DigitalRex" in Shanghai to develop MMO's, while I don't know how it all went up in flames the studio wasn't able to complete a single game and was eventually restructured as AM+ who managed to release some arcade racing game that didn't make head lines or anything along those lines.

Fortunately he did train a strong studio and even tasked XYZ to continue development of the Shenmue series once he moved on to DigitalRex.
* I couldn't find the name of XYZ, the one who he tasked with continuing the series, but it is a confirmed fact that Yu San moved on right after Shenmue 2 Dreamcast.

5) Yuji Naka: This was a tough one as I wanted to give the 5th spot to Mokato Uchida, while I've never played NiGHTS or Burning Rangers. I have played Sonic Adventure 2 which is my favorite Sonic game.

Unfortunately Naka went Downhill after Sonic Heroes (it was a critical and commercial hit so don't say anything!) and he just walked out of Sega when 2 of the biggest games Sonic 06 & PSU were in the final stages... both games disappointed and we didn't hear from him for 2 years. He has made some amicable games (Tap, Kiwi) and some cash in's (iWanQuik$ games by iPrope) but it is still better then him ending like Kodama, Obah, Oguchi or Suzuki.

This way we at least see him around and one day I believe Naka's star going to shine bright again, that is not something I can say for the other 4.

Honorable mention Makoto Uchida whose career was also ended by Simon Jeffery once he canned Altered Beast Reboot.
______________________

So now you all know mine, tell me yours.

[Nathan]

Yu was involved with Shenmue Online, he was at all of the events publicizing it, and he was sort of the chair of the entire project if I remember correctly. Not that he was doing hardcore developing on it, but he played more of a supervising role.

Anyways, Suzuki is pretty much my favorite developer in SEGA. I don't know a lot of the other big names, but he is my favorite.

[fluffymoochicken]

Reminds me of 5nal Destination.

This is a very interesting write-up you made, cube. It seems like you put quite a bit of thought into it. I'm surprised that you didn't try submitting it as a front page article first.

[Alex Supersonic]

No Nagoshi there?

My favorite was always Naka, but after Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006 he lost some points for me. Yu Suzuki is the best, but he got lost... anybody saw him in the last 10 years?

[Mengels7]

I enjoy reading things by cube that actually make sense.  Keep up the good work.

[cube_b3]

Yu was involved with Shenmue Online, he was at all of the events publicizing it, and he was sort of the chair of the entire project if I remember correctly. Not that he was doing hardcore developing on it, but he played more of a supervising role.

Your Point?

Reminds me of 5nal Destination.

The series has 5 parts? I watched up till part 3, and then I saw the trailer for a 3D one, but there isn't any point investing myself in a movie if everyone is going to die.

This is a very interesting write-up you made, cube. It seems like you put quite a bit of thought into it. I'm surprised that you didn't try submitting it as a front page article first.

Well I didn't really put a lot of thought, I wanted to understand I am not to big on rescent Sega games and I basically started organizing my thoughts.

Now I would love to hear other 5ega 5tars.

So how about it fluffy?

No Nagoshi there?

Nagoshi won't even make it on my SG10 list. I have never played Monkey Ball, Spike Out and the games I have played Daytona USA and Yakuza aren't even in my top 100 Sega games.

and Yakuza of the Dead ripping off Capcom characters takes him further down the list. He would probably fit in on #11, but right now I am happy knowing my top 5.

So join me and organize your 5ega 5tars, it is a very fun exercise.

[Team Andromeda]

1) Yu Suzuki : Not for Shenmue, but for Out Run, Daytona, Power Drift USA, F355 ECT. Nobody makes a better racer than Yu

2) Tetsuya Mizuguchi: If he only mad REZ that would be enough, but add in the likes of SEGA Rally 1 & II, SC 5 series and the man was incredible

3) Rikiya Nakagawa: Under him AM#1 were a force for to be reckon with in the Arcades and AM#1 work on boards like Model 3, NA@MI and the DC just took the piss, also did wonders on the X-B-box

4 Masayoshi Kikuchi: The man behind Yakuza and the main responsible for making sure the likes of JSR and JSRF turned out the way they did ,  working on Saga battle system and incredible talent


5) Ryuta Ueda: For his amazing boss designs in Zwei and Saga and for creating JSRF, also did a tremendous job directing the 1st 2 Yakuza's

Also her Dreamcast return was phenomenal with Skies of Arcadia and her last console game Altered Beast, had Jeffery not cancelled it she would still be making console games.

You're being silly, It was not canned by SOA, they just refused to pick it up (SEGA West does have to pay SOJ for the rights to use the game) . It was deemed to be poor and not worth the effort , imo that was a called call, because it was poor and  SEGA Japan and the Game Producers,  decides who works on their productions, not SOA.

BTW, Akira Nishino did the most to train the Val Team , and worked hard on the game  . Though he'll never ever take any credit for it.

[cube_b3]

1) Yu Suzuki : Not for Shenmue, but for Out Run, Daytona, Power Drift USA, F355 ECT. Nobody makes a better racer than Yu

He is the king of racers, to bad his last racer bombed.
Fun Fact he was also involved in OutRun2 that was his last game at AM2.

3) Rikiya Nakagawa: Under him AM#1 were a force for to be reckon with in the Arcades and AM#1 work on boards like Model 3, NA@MI and the DC just took the piss, also did wonders on the X-B-box

While Yu Suzuki may have been the king of racers, this man was the king of everything else at the Arcade. From 1983 - 2004 he reigned supreme on AM1.
For More Info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Se ... nt_studios
Although he is more along the lines of Shinobu Toyoda (the man responsible for the orignal Sonic Team, securing the rights to Micheal jackson's name etc), they were great supervisors but weren't exactly designers. In the games they are seen as Producers or Special Thanks.

4 Masayoshi Kikuchi: The man behind Yakuza and the main responsible for making sure the likes of JSR and JSRF turned out the way they did ,  working on Saga battle system and incredible talent

Aaah SegaBit's TA sharing his knowledge on the actual Team Andromeda is he still at Sega? He can't be the main man behind Yakuza, he may affect the engine of the game but the main man of Yakuza is the guy who decided to turn Yakuzaite's into video game characters.

5) Ryuta Ueda: For his amazing boss designs in Zwei and Saga and for creating JSRF, also did a tremendous job directing the 1st 2 Yakuza's

The second Yakuza is my least favourite game almost turned me away from the franchise.

You're being silly, It was not canned by SOA, they just refused to pick it up (SEGA West does have to pay SOJ for the rights to use the game). It was deemed to be poor and not worth the effort , imo that was a called call, because it was poor and  SEGA Japan and the Game Producers,  decides who works on their productions, not SOA.

Domino Effect!
How do you think SOJ responded when SOA refused to pick up there games? They started trimming the studios and pushing old timers into dead end role B&M 101.
I won't go in anymore detail, if you still think i'm being silly we have to agree to disagree but I don't want the thread to go off topic.

BTW, Akira Nishino did the most to train the Val Team , and worked hard on the game  . Though he'll never ever take any credit for it.

Umm is involved in Valkyria Series.
He has gotten the credit for the game, whose idea was it to include the Skies cast in Valkyria? it was Noshino San. He is credited as Chief Producer for the game.

He is one of the people trained by Oba/Kodama.

[Team Andromeda]

He can't be the main man behind Yakuza

Kikuchi-san is the main man for the entire  series, and yes he's still at SEGA.

but the main man of Yakuza is the guy who decided to turn Yakuzaite's

Non the main man is the person that can takes all the idea's and make then work and turn into a Videogame. Kikuchi-san is the main man for the Yakuza series

How do you think SOJ responded when SOA refused to pick up there games

Most prob the same way SOA felt, when SOJ don't pick up their games. Sometimes they feel its not for them or their own Market.  

Project Best was poor, so was RALLY 06, you can not blame SOA for not picking up the rights to those games

In the games they are seen as Producers or Special Thanks.

Just like Kodama-san, she was only Producer on the likes of SOA. The Producer is the most important roll in any game really.

Umm is involved in Valkyria Series

Nishino-san is the main that while the Team were at the Hand-held divsion made sure the Team Pipe line was sound, and one of the ones that helped them move up to Next Gen Production. He's a complete Nerd and Geek, a really good and nice man, that's done a lot of good for the Val team