Sega AM2 (2004-2011)

Sega AM2 (2004-2011)
Division of Sega Corporation

Founded: 2004-07-01^[1]

Defunct: 2011

Headquarters:

Japan

2004-07-01

2011

← Sega-AM2

Sega R&D2 →

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AM R&D Dept. #2^[2] (第二AM研究開発部) was the second arcade division of Sega Corporation following its decision to re-absorb its development subsidiaries in July 2004. It was part of the AM Software R&D Group of Amusement R&D Div, alongside AM R&D Dept. #1 and AM R&D Dept. #3^[2]. This AM2 derives from the company, Sega-AM2, established in 2001, and continued its legacy.

Development-wise, it initially continued much the same as the prior Sega-AM2, continuing its series Virtua Fighter, Sega Network Taisen Mahjong MJ and OutRun, as well as release new titles which began development at Sega-AM2, including Quest of D^[3] and Sega Golf Club, which kept with the trend established by the other games, releasing consistent revisions across several years.

In 2008, AM3 was abolished and its staff absorbed by AM1 or AM2. AM2 thus received notable creators such as Mie Kumagai, Kenji Kanno and Motoshi Takabe, and with them IP such as Derby Owners Club and Virtua Tennis, which it would continue to develop new entries for, or legacy series Cyber Troopers Virtual-On and Gunblade NY & LA Machineguns, which it would begin porting to modern home consoles.

This also signified a new era for the department, as the aforementioned ports extended to also porting legacy AM2 games like Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, spearheaded by staff who had once worked under CSK Research Institute: Noriyuki Shimoda, Tohru Murayama, Hitoshi Iizawa, etc.. Also in 2009, AM2 debuted new perhaps its most successful arcade games, Border Break and Shining Force Cross.

In 2011, the AM moniker was dropped, renaming the department to R&D2, though because of the department's fame from the 90's, the AM2 brand was still used.