Yuji Naka:Im free from Sonic The hedgehog

[ROJM]

I'm not sure how anyone can deny Phantasy Star was anything but a consistently successful series? The series has had a title for almost every year since 2000!

2000 - Phantasy Star Online
2001 - Phantasy Star Online ver. 2
2002 - Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II
2003 - Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution
2004 - Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst
2006 - Phantasy Star Universe
2007 - Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
2008 - Phantasy Star Portable and Phantasy Star 0
2009 - Phantasy Star Portable 2
2011 - Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity
2012 - Phantasy Star Online 2

Think the number of titles shows that Phantasy Star is a highly successful series for SEGA.

Exactly, and the sad thing is its one of the few DC era games to still carry on to this day.
Oh yeah, you forgot Phantasy Star Episodes 1 and 2 Plus which had extra features on it, japan gamecube exclusive.

[semmie]

it is disturbing hearing stuff like that from him because yuji naka made sonic and however the fact that he was not free in what he did. but thats s normal since sonic is just sonic. sonic is a franchise.

and just to sneak at knuckles chaotix of the 32x seems to have similaritys like ivy the kiwi. but u cant make a sonic game turn in to a mario game

just lik mortal kombat aint streetfighter which is why they didnt mux it mk vs sf.

so yeah he is free. but the way he says it is like he doesnt like sonic and that is why i have a problem with it

i might be wrong because i misinterprete him

[ROJM]

it is disturbing hearing stuff like that from him because yuji naka made sonic and however the fact that he was not free in what he did. but thats s normal since sonic is just sonic. sonic is a franchise.

and just to sneak at knuckles chaotix of the 32x seems to have similaritys like ivy the kiwi. but u cant make a sonic game turn in to a mario game

just lik mortal kombat aint streetfighter which is why they didnt mux it mk vs sf.

so yeah he is free. but the way he says it is like he doesnt like sonic and that is why i have a problem with it

i might be wrong because i misinterprete him

Get use to it, Yuji Naka has always been a bit of a git(to you americans,git is another word for Jerk)Besides Naka didn't really create Sonic so he wouldn't have that much love for him despite profiting and letting half the world think he did create Sonic. The fact that the games without key personell involved from the original days of Sonic just showed that he also didnt get the concept or how the game works. SONIC 2006 was the most obvious testament to this fact.

[Centrale]

Yuji Naka was lead programmer on many of Yu Suzuki's arcade masterpieces, so as far as I'm concerned he's entitled to his creative freedom and his candid expressions.

[ROJM]

Yuji Naka was lead programmer on many of Yu Suzuki's arcade masterpieces, so as far as I'm concerned he's entitled to his creative freedom and his candid expressions.

Really? Im suprised he had the time considering he was programming games in the console division.

[Radrappy]

I'm not sure how anyone can deny Phantasy Star was anything but a consistently successful series? The series has had a title for almost every year since 2000!

2000 - Phantasy Star Online
2001 - Phantasy Star Online ver. 2
2002 - Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II
2003 - Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution
2004 - Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst
2006 - Phantasy Star Universe
2007 - Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
2008 - Phantasy Star Portable and Phantasy Star 0
2009 - Phantasy Star Portable 2
2011 - Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity
2012 - Phantasy Star Online 2

Think the number of titles shows that Phantasy Star is a highly successful series for SEGA.

I wouldn't claim this as evidence to any kind of great success.  I mean come on, 2006 to 2011 is just one game stretched between multiple iterations.  Even 2000 to 2004 with the exception of Card Revolution (which still used all the same assets) was the same game with slight improvements each time.  To my knowledge, only PSP2 was any kind of financial success, making headlines with its 300k units sold debut week.  And even then "cash cow" is a freaking stretch.   

[Happy Cat]

I thought Phantasy Star has been very successful in Japan. I mean I know it's not in the west due to the way SEGA America handles it, but that's another story..

[ROJM]

I wouldn't claim this as evidence to any kind of great success.  I mean come on, 2006 to 2011 is just one game stretched between multiple iterations.  Even 2000 to 2004 with the exception of Card Revolution (which still used all the same assets) was the same game with slight improvements each time.  To my knowledge, only PSP2 was any kind of financial success, making headlines with its 300k units sold debut week.  And even then "cash cow" is a freaking stretch.   

So a company exploiting a game, the same game, releasing variables of the same game time and again isn't a sign it was succesful? Ever heard of a game called Streetfighter 2? Same applies here. PSO wasn't a sf  style cash guzzler but Sega expoliting the same game over a period of time because that game did generate cash, enough cash for them to keep doing returning to it. Cash cow too me. Anything over 100k is still considered succesful especially when users are paying for the various content. So it isn't a stretch to call PS0 that when that game series sold from 100 to 200k.

[Radrappy]

So a company exploiting a game, the same game, releasing variables of the same game time and again isn't a sign it was succesful? Ever heard of a game called Streetfighter 2? Same applies here. PSO wasn't a sf  style cash guzzler but Sega expoliting the same game over a period of time because that game did generate cash, enough cash for them to keep doing returning to it. Cash cow too me. Anything over 100k is still considered succesful especially when users are paying for the various content. So it isn't a stretch to call PS0 that when that game series sold from 100 to 200k.

well, if you consider a franchise that sells 200k units a cash cow then a cash cow it is.

[Centrale]

Really? Im suprised he had the time considering he was programming games in the console division.

I realize you believe you know more about Sega than any other living being, but as a matter of fact he was doing jobs in both divisions.

[ROJM]

I realize you believe you know more about Sega than any other living being, but as a matter of fact he was doing jobs in both divisions.

If only you actually said that.

Yuji Naka was lead programmer on many of Yu Suzuki's arcade masterpieces, so as far as I'm concerned he's entitled to his creative freedom and his candid expressions.

He only worked with AM2 twice, on SPACE HARRIER and SONIC THE FIGHTERS (for obvious reasons) He didn't work on many of Sega's arcade masterpeices like you are eluding to.
He spent most of his career during that time of Sega's AM2 golden run, in the consumer division . Most of the classics you are talking about were ports of AM2 games for consoles which doesnt count because they are ports(good ports but ports nonetheless). The point is that he's had a great run at Sega, and Sega has given this guy a smooth ride yet he still complains. He's complaing now about something that plainly isn't true. If someone has a right to complain about their treatment at the hands of Sega is probably Reiko Kodama and Mizuguchi but you dont hardly ever hear them bitch and moan. You dont see Sega helping him to set up their own company only to see hardly any games released for them and then complain that they were holding him back which is basically what he is saying. Talk about biting the hand that fed you.

[ROJM]

well, if you consider a franchise that sells 200k units a cash cow then a cash cow it is.

Not me, Sega does, as evident on the many titles released. And PSO sold around 2-300k PSU sold under that around 100-200 k overall.

[Centrale]

If only you actually said that.He only worked with AM2 twice, on SPACE HARRIER and SONIC THE FIGHTERS (for obvious reasons) He didn't work on many of Sega's arcade masterpeices like you are eluding to.
He spent most of his career during that time of Sega's AM2 golden run, in the consumer division . Most of the classics you are talking about were ports of AM2 games for consoles which doesnt count because they are ports(good ports but ports nonetheless). The point is that he's had a great run at Sega, and Sega has given this guy a smooth ride yet he still complains. He's complaing now about something that plainly isn't true. If someone has a right to complain about their treatment at the hands of Sega is probably Reiko Kodama and Mizuguchi but you dont hardly ever hear them bitch and moan. You dont see Sega helping him to set up their own company only to see hardly any games released for them and then complain that they were holding him back which is basically what he is saying. Talk about biting the hand that fed you.

What I said was that he was lead programmer on Yu Suzuki's arcade masterpieces.  I didn't say that he didn't work in the console division; obviously that is the work that has made him a legend.  My point was that there is other work he did for Sega which is also quite significant but less publicized.  He was also the lead programmer on Out Run... the coin-op as well as the SMS port.

As for what Naka actually said, it doesn't seem that severe to me.  He's basically saying that if he'd stayed at Sega he would have had to continue focusing on the Sonic series, and he didn't want to work on just one game series for the rest of his career.  People are reacting like he's shat all over their childhoods.  No one's shitting all over your childhood just because they don't want to have to do minor variations on the same theme for the rest of their life.

[ROJM]

What I said was that he was lead programmer on Yu Suzuki's arcade masterpieces.  I didn't say that he didn't work in the console division; obviously that is the work that has made him a legend.  My point was that there is other work he did for Sega which is also quite significant but less publicized.  He was also the lead programmer on Out Run... the coin-op as well as the SMS port.

As for what Naka actually said, it doesn't seem that severe to me.  He's basically saying that if he'd stayed at Sega he would have had to continue focusing on the Sonic series, and he didn't want to work on just one game series for the rest of his career.  People are reacting like he's shat all over their childhoods.  No one's shitting all over your childhood just because they don't want to have to do minor variations on the same theme for the rest of their life.

He didn't do OUTRUN arcade, but that's an argument for another day and lets stick to the topic. It not the severety im complaining about. Im complaining about the fact that what he is saying isn't true. Naka had a considerable ammount of power within sega which he could do anything he wanted. Sega didn't force him to continue making Sonic games like they forced Suzuki to kep making Virtua Fighter titles. He took a step back and left it to others to continue the series after the forth title. Naka could have easily done the same and concentrate on doing other titles within Sega. He had that much power within the company. To me his little speech is what typifiys his behaviour and what he has always done when he was with Sega. he was hardly forced to keep making sonic.

[Centrale]

Obviously you're just speculating.  Who are you to say what anyone within Sega could easily do, or would be required to do?  I'm sure if it was so easy for him to achieve all his personal career goals at Sega he wouldn't have left.  As it happened one of his goals apparently was to start his own studio.