Masaaki Somaki
From Sega Retro
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| Masaaki Somaki |
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| Employment history:
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| Role(s): Designer, artist, director |
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Masaaki Somaki (杣木 昌明), also known as Rei, is a Japanese video game developer who has worked for Sega, Hitmaker, Genki and Pyramid. At Sega, he is best-known for his work as an assistant designer on Royal Stone: Hirakareshi Toki no Tobira, as a background artist on Virtua Fighter 3, and an assistant director on Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Marz. Some of his well-known post-Sega works include the PS2 game Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix and DariusBurst: Another Chronicle.
Contents
Career
Masaaki Somaki began his video game career as a high score achiever in what was then-called Furukawa City in Miyagi prefecture[1]. He would enter his name as Spream-Rei or simply Rei [2][1]. He moved to Tokyo in 1986 to work as a clerk at a Shinjuku arcade which was affiliated with Namco[3][1].
In 1992 he also began working as a part-time game designer for Sega's CS2 and CS5 departments which developed Game Gear titles, such as Royal Stone: Hirakareshi Toki no Tobira (with Somaki assisting Ryushin Hamada). After CS5 was dissolved in 1995, he was one of its members of joined AM2, alongside the likes of Takako Kawaguchi and Masaru Nakamura. Somaki took on a role as a 3D model graphic designer beginning with the Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series, and would create background models for games like Virtua Fighter 3, Fighting Vipers 2 and Outtrigger. He and several other developers involved with the Shenmue series, such as Wataru Sakomura and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, moved to Hitmaker in 2000, where he became the assistant director of Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Marz (under Nobuyuki Yamashita).
After leaving Sega, Somaki worked on Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix for Genki, before moving to Pyramid Inc. where he was a game designer for the Patapon and Darius franchises[4].
Production history
Games
- (; 1993) — Special Thanks to[5] (as Rei)
- (; 1993) — Special Thanks to[6] (as Rei)
- (; 1993) — Special Thanks to[7] (as Rei)
- (; 1994) — Special Thanks to[7] (as Rei)
- (; 1994) — Thanks[8] (as R.Somaki)
- (; 1995) — Special Thanks (as M.Somaki)
- (; 1995) — Special thanks to[9] (as 杣木 昌明)
- (; 1995) — CG Designer[10]
- (; 1995) — CG Designer[11]
- (; 1996) — CG Designer[12]
- (; 1996) — CG Designer[13]
- (; 1996) — CG Designer[14]
- (; 1996) — CG Designer[15]
- (; 1996) — CG Designer[16]
- (; 1996) — Stage Design, Modeling
- (; 1997) — Designers
- (; 1997) — Stage Design, Modeling
- (; 1998) — Stage Designers
- (; 1998) — Stage Design, Modeling
- (; 1999) — Stage Designers
- (; 1999) — Debug Management
- (; 2001) — Stage Designers[17]
- (; 2001) — Debug Management
- (; 2001) — System Planners
- (; 2003) — Assistant Director
Videos
- (; 1987) — Game Player
Magazine articles
- Main article: Masaaki Somaki/Magazine articles.
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://igcc.jp/kenjo-03-01/ (Wayback Machine: 2023-08-20 11:43)
- ↑ Sega Super Game 6
- ↑ http://backup.segakore.fr/hitmaker/site/columnpast/column128.html
- ↑ https://www.mobygames.com/person/84962/masaaki-somaki/
- ↑ File:Land of Illusion GG credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Land of Illusion SMS credits.pdf
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 File:Deep Duck Trouble GG credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic Triple Trouble GG credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Pro Striker Final Stage MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP06_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP05_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series The Final Dural Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP07_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP08_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP10_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP09_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:Fighting Vipers 2 Dreamcast credits.pdf