Sega Studios & Video Games
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Sega Studios & Video Games (article) is concerned with the entertainment side of Sega Corporation in contrast to the business side. Consisting of information cocerning their Videogames, along with information on R&D Studios and the designers behind such games.
Contents |
[edit] R&D Studios Structure
[edit] Former Structure
Sega of Japan's Studios
Sega of America's Studios'
| Studio | Notable Titles |
|---|---|
| Visual Concepts | NFL 2K series, NBA 2K series, Ooga Booga |
| Sega Technical Institute | Sonic The Hedgehog series (with Sonic Team), Comix Zone, Sonic Spinball, The Ooze, Die Hard Arcade (with Sega AM1) |
| Sega Interactive | Eternal Champions series, Star Wars Arcade |
| SegaSoft | SegaSoft developed games for Heat.com, rather than traditional commercial games. |
| Multimedia Studio | The Multimedia Studio concentrated on the development of music for various Sega efforts, and as such, is not a studio in the traditional since. |
| Sega Studio USA | Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, NiGHTS Journey of Dreams |
[edit] After Sammy Merger
Amusement Software R&D[1], currently focuses on the development of games for arcade machines.
| Department | Members From | Headed By | Notable Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| AM.1 R&D | WOW Entertainment | Atsushi Seimiya | House of the Dead series, Shinobi series, Sakura Taisen series, Skies of Arcadia |
| AM.2 R&D | Sega-AM2 | Hiroshi Kataoka | Virtua Fighter series, Virtua Cop series, Out Run series, Shenmue series, After Burner series |
| AM.3 R&D | Hitmaker + Sega Rosso | Mie Kumagai | Crazy Taxi series, Virtual On series, Virtua Tennis series, Initial D Arcade Stage |
| Sports & Design R&D | Smilebit | Takayuki Kawagoe | Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, Let's Make a J-League Soccer Team series, Let's Make a J-League Baseball Team series |
| Family Entertainment | New Department | Hiroshi Uemura | Mushi King series, Love and Berry DS Collection |
| Racing Games R&D | New Department | Kenji Arai | None as of now |
New Entertainment R&D[2], "NE" currently focuses on the development of new content for the arcade and home console markets.
| Department | Members From | Headed By | Notable Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| NE.1 R&D | Amusement Vision, Ltd.
& Selected Members of Smilebit |
Toshihiro Nagoshi | Super Monkey Ball series, Shining Force Neo, Yakuza (Ryū ga Gotoku) |
| AMPlus R&D | Digitalrex | Yu Suzuki | Psy-Phi, Shenmue Online |
Global Entertainment Software R&D[3], which was led by Yuji Naka until 2006. "GE" currently focuses on developing video games for home consoles.
| Department | Members From | Headed By | Notable Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| G.E. Dept. #1, | Sonic Team | Akinori Nishiyama | Sonic and the Secret Rings , Phantasy Star Universe, Fifth Phantom Saga |
| G.E Dept. #2 | United Game Artists | Akira Nishino | Project Rub, The Rub Rabbits, Sonic Riders, Astro Boy, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity |
| Sega Studio USA | Sonic Team USA | Takashi Iizuka | Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, NiGHTS Journey of Dreams |
| Mobile Content R&D | New Studio | Kazunari Tsukamoto | Brain Trainer Portable |
| Sega Studio China | New Studio | Makoto Uchida | None as of now |
Subsidiary Studios, the first of which being acquired or founded in 2005, have been the cornerstone of an internal shift within Sega to appeal to a more western audience.
| Department | Division | Year of purchase/founding | Notable Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secret Level | Sega of America | 2005 | Golden Axe, Iron Man (video game) |
| The Creative Assembly | Sega of Europe | 2005 | Total War, Total Warrior series |
| Sports Interactive | Sega of Europe | 2006 | Football Manager series |
| Sega Racing Studio | Sega of Europe | 2005 | ’’ Sega Rally Revo |
| Prope | Sega of Japan | 2006 | None as of now |
[edit] Franchises
Writing In Progress
- Help us compile a complete list of Sega Franchises "after which" we shall address the question of it being active/inactive.
- Details will be added after list is completed
- Once the list is complete the franchises will be entered in to the following table:
Sega developed several well-known game franchises over the last twenty five years:
- Fantasy Zone
- Fatal Labyrinth
- Ferrari F355 Challenge
- Fighters Megamix
- Fighting Vipers
- Fist of the North Star
- Flicky
- Full Auto
- G-LOC: Air Battle
- Gain Ground
- Galaxy Force
- Ghost Squad
- Golden Axe
- GP Rider
- Greendog
- Guilty Gear
- Gungrave
- Gunstar Heroes
- Hang-On
- Harley Davidson and LA Riders
- Headhunter
- House of the Dead
- Indy 500
- Initial D Arcade Stage
- Jambo! Safari
- Jet Grind Radio
- Jewel Master
- Joe Montana Football
- Jurassic Park
- Key of Avalon
- Kid Chameleon
- King Of The Route 66, The
- Kokoro Scan
- Landstalker
- L.A. Machineguns
- Last Bronx
- Lets go Jungle
- Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team
- Let's Make a J-League Football Team
- Light Crusader
- Love and Berry
- The Maze Of The Kings
- M-1 Abrams Battle Tank
- Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
- Manx TT
- Metropolis Street Racer
- Michael Jackson's Moon Walker
- Monaco GP
- Mr. Bones
- M-SR
- Mushi King
- Mystic Defender
- Napple Tales: Arsia in Daydream
- NBA 2K
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- NFL 2K
- NHL 2K
- NiGHTS
- The Ocean Hunter
- Ollie King
- The Ooze
- Otogi
- OutRun
- Outtrigger
- Panzer Dragoon
- Phantasy Star series
- Power Drift
- Project Rub
- Propeller Arena
- Psy-Phi
- Puyo Pop Fever
- Quartet
- Quest of D
- Quiz Ah! My Goddess
- Radiant Silvergun
- Red Dog
- Rez
- Ristar
- Sakura Taisen
- Sangokushi Taisen
- Samba De Amigo
- Seaman
- Sega Bass Fishing
- Sega Driving Simulator
- Segagaga
- Sega GT
- Sega Rally
- SEGA Strike Fighter
- Sega Super GT
- SEGA Tetris
- Sega Touring Car
- Silhouette Mirage
- Shadow Dancer
- Shenmue
- Shining Force
- Shining in the Darkness
- Shining Soul
- Shining Tears
- Shining Wisdom
- Shining Wind
- Shinobi
- Skies of Arcadia
- Sky Target
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Soul Surfer
- Space Channel 5
- Space Harrier
- Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin
- Spikeout
- Star Wars Arcade
- Star Wars Racer Arcade
- Streets of Rage
- Super Monkey Ball
- Super Thunder Blade
- Sword of Vermilion
- Rent-A-Hero
- Time Stalker
- Three Dirty Dwarves
- Toe Jam and Earl
- Total War (video game series)
- Toy Commander
- Typing of the Dead
- Vampire Night
- Vectorman
- Virtua Cop
- Virtua Fighter
- Virtua Formula
- Virtua Racing
- Virtua Striker
- Virtua Tennis
- Virtua Quest
- Virtual On
- Wild Riders
- Winter Heat
- Wonder Boy
- Worldwide Soccer
- Yakuza
- Zaxxon
- Zombie Revenge
[edit] Recognized Sega Video Game Designers
In alphabetical order:
- Takashi Iizuka: Where Yasuhara left off, Iizuka picked up. He worked directly under Yasuhara in the design of Sonic 3, and has since taken the reigns of the series. Sonic Adventure, the 3D rebirth of the little blue hedgehog that started it all, was the product of Iizuka's idea for a Sonic RPG. After the successful completion of that project, Iizuka moved to the states to head Sonic Team USA (now called Sega Studio USA), where he continues to churn out sequels such as Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and NiGHTS Journey of Dreams.
- Hiroshi Kataoka: Despite often being misredited to Yu Suzuki, Hiroshi Kataoka has been the current major figure head behind AM2 and has helped the team to develop numerous successful arcade hits such as 2004's Outrun 2 and Ghost Squad, 2005's After Burner Climax as well as 2006's universally acclaimed Virtua Fighter 5. He has been a member of the group as far back as the late 90s and has worked on many other critically acclaimed titles such as Shenmue and Virtua Fighter 4. He will likely be head of the upcoming Super Hang-On 2 project.
- Mie Kumagai: A gaming guru who joined Sega's AM-3 studio back in 1993. In 2000, AM-3 became a second party studio to Sega, named Hitmaker. When the head of the Hitmaker development studio, Hisao Oguchi was promoted to president of the whole company, Kumagai became the new studio head, as such, she became the first ever female president within Sega's development structure. Virtual On, Crazy Taxi & Virtua Tennis are some of the series she has worked on.
- Rieko Kodama: In an industry dominated by men, Rieko Kodama is a woman who has managed to make it all the way to the top, becoming one of the most respected designers of the last two decades. You may have seen her credited in a slew of titles as "Phoenix or Phenix Rie," as she used that as her credit name until 1993. She is commonly referred to as "the First Lady of RPGs." Through out the 80's to the 90's Kodama has been involved in several Sega games, Alex Kidd, Sonic The Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, Altered Beast, Shinobi and several other games however the first game she acted as producer was the critically acclaimed Skies Of Arcadia and then the critically panned Altered Beast.
- Takayuki Kawagoe: Current head of Sega Sports Division in Japan, and former head of Smilebit, Kawagoe's games have often been described as some of the most original, distinct and hallowed in the industry. His credits include little known cult favorites; GunValkyrie, Typing of the Dead and Hundred Swords, each of which has been recognized for their distinct gameplay, art style and tongue in cheek humor (specifically Typing of the Dead) However, his two signerature series, Jet Set Radio and Panzer Dragoon have much wider followings and have been some of the most critically acclaimed games in Sega's history, receiving numerous accolades and strong demand for new incarnations.
- Toshihiro Nagoshi: Headed up Amusement Vision and is head of the Sega Creative Control centre. Mainly famed for arcade titles, his credits include Daytona USA, Spikeout and Super Monkey Ball. In 2003, he served as the producer for the Nintendo and Sega collaborative GameCube effort F-Zero GX alongside Shigeru Miyamoto. He has been a regular columnist for Edge Magazine in the UK. His latest efforts, the Yakuza series, have seen wide spread acclaim and healthy sales figures. In July 2007, he announced that he and his Yakuza team would be working on the biggest project of his illustrious career.
- Yuji Naka: Previously the head of Sonic Team and was responsible for internal QA procedures. Naka made a name for himself in 1991 as lead programmer of Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) which would become Sega's new mascot. His previous work had included Phantasy Star and Space Harrier. His titles since include the world renowned NiGHTS Into Dreams, the first online console game; Chu Chu Rocket, the first console MMORPG; Phantasy Star Online as well as the cult classic rhythm game Samba de Amigo. In 2004, his team was merged with United Game Artists. In 2006, Yuji Naka left Sonic Team to create his own studio, Prope (funded by Sega).
- Noriyoshi Ohba: He joined Sega in 1987 as a planner. There he worked on such hits as Wonder Boy in Monster Land, the Streets of Rage series and his now signature Shinobi series. Becoming a member of Sega's consumer R&D department, he eventually became the head of the group when it transformed into Overworks, an internal design studios at Sega in 2000, famous for working with Red Entertainment on the monster hit Sakura Taisen series and the universally applauded RPG Skies of Arcadia. 2002 saw the return of the Shinobi’ series after a seven year hiatus to much fanfare and critical acclaim.
- Yu Suzuki: Previously the head of AM2, and is attributed with being behind numerous arcade classics including Hang-On, Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner II, and Virtua Fighter, just to name a few. In 1999, his first ever console-specific title, Shenmue, launched in Japan, and was the most expensive game ever produced. In 2003's internal restructure, he formed a new internal studio named Digitalrex, which was reintegrated into Sega before finishing any games. He has since gone on to head AM-Plus, and is currently working on Psi-Phi and overseeing development of Shenmue Online.
- Yuji Uekawa: Uekawa's first major project was cult favorite Ristar, a character of his own design. His first Sonic title was the Saturn version of Flickies' Island, where he was a Special Stage artist. Since Sonic R, he's been the main series character designer. His hip, stylized drawings gave Sonic an entirely new visual personality in Sonic Adventure, and he's since loaned his talents to a number of Sonic Team titles, including Samba de Amigo and Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.
- Guy Wilday: A veteran of the video game developing scene, in particular of the racing genre, Wilday was credited with working on the first Colin McRae Rally [4] and was formerly both the head of the studio behind the title as well as producer for the series [5] He currently is positioned at SEGA as the studio head for SEGA Racing Studio and is overseeing the development of SEGA Rally Revo for the PS3 and Xbox360, being not only the first project he has done for SEGA, but the first game developed by SEGA Racing Studio.
[edit] Former Sega Designers
- Steven Lashower: He was probably one of the most successful men within Sega of America during the early nineties. Shortly after joining Interactive Designs in 1992, the company was picked up by Sega and rechristened Sega Interactive. It was there that he worked on Sega of America’s biggest hit up to that point; 1993‘s Eternal Champions and its 1995 Sega CD exclusive sequel. In 1994 he worked on most successful Sega 32X title ever released, Star Wars Arcade, an improved version of the arcade classic, which was ported in a staggeringly short four months. The game was one of Sega’s key titles during their Christmas season in 1994. He left in frustration in 1996, during development of the poorly received Xtreame Sports.
- Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Headed United Game Artists where he created critically acclaimed games such as Space Channel 5, and Rez. However, he got his start at Sega working with AM Annex, during his time there, releasing the monster hit, Sega Rally, following with Manx TT. In 1996, he left AM Annex (which would later be called AM5 and then Sega Rosso), starting his own studio, United Game Artists, going on to develop Sega Rally 2, Space Channel 5 , Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Rez. After the Sega-Sammy merge, he left Sega to head Q Entertainment, which has now released Meteos and Lumines for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable, respectively. In a recent interview with IGN.com, he bluntly hinted that his next projects would be sequels to Rez and Space Channel 5, commenting that Sega was becoming much better to work with as of late, suggesting a partnership between the two in the future.
- Naoto Ōshima: Former Sega employee who designed the characters of Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Ivo Robotnik(Doctor Eggman). Ōshima gained renown at Sega's Sonic Team for playing integral roles in the development of games like Phantasy Star, Sonic CD, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Burning Rangers and Sonic Adventure. After leaving Sonic Team in 1998, he formed an independent game company called Artoon, of which he is currently president. There he went on to work on such games as Blinx: The Time Sweeper, and in 2004, the sequel; Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space.
- Mark Cerny A video game industry figure having worked as a game designer, programmer, producer and business executive, formerly with Sega Technical Institute, where he worked primarily on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He soon left, going to work for the competition at Naughty Dog, working on Crash Bandicoot and later consulted on the Jak and Daxter series, and then to Insomniac Games working on the highly successful Spyro the Dragon series and then the Ratchet and Clank series.
- Stieg Hedlund A highly accomplished computer and video game designer, artist, writer, game producer and level designer, Hedlund went to work for the Sega Technical Institute in 1994, where he worked on the titles Die Hard Arcade, Comix Zone and The Ooze. In 1996, Hedlund went to work for Blizzard North working on Diablo, Diablo II, StarCraft, and the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Later, he moved to Ubisoft/Red Storm Entertainment, working on games such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown, as well as originating the concept of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter before joining Perpetual in 2004.
