Shigeru Okada

From Sega Retro

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Shigeru Okada
Employment history:
Sega of Japan (1992-04[1] – 1993-02[1])
Divisions:
Sega of America (1993-03[1] – 1994-08[1])
Divisions:
Sega of Japan (1994-09[1] – 1996-06[1])
Sega of America (1996-07[1] – 1997-03[1])
Sega Europe (1997-04[1] – 1997-10[1])
Sega of America (1997-11[1] – 1998-03[1])
Sega of Japan (1998-04[1] – 2000-04[1])
Divisions:
Sega Europe (2000-05[1] – 2001-06[1])
Microsoft (2001-07[1] – 2006-01[1])
Artoon (2006-02[1] – 2008-02[1])
AQ Interactive (2008-02[1] – 2010-06[1])
Marvelous Entertainment (2010-07[1] – 2011-10[1])
Marvelous AQL (2011-10[1] – 2014-07[1])
Marvelous (2014-07[1] – 2019-09[1])
Okakichi (2019-10[1] – )
Role(s): Artist, Producer, Director, Executive
Education: Tama Art University (Fine Art, 1988-1992)[2]

Shigeru Okada (岡田 茂) is a former Sega employee who mainly dealt with landscape art at first. In the late 90's he became a game director and producer. He has reprised this role since leaving Sega and has further been promoted to executive within several companies.

During his 9 years working at Sega, he would move between Sega of Japan, Sega of America and Sega Europe every 1 or 2 years.

Career

Sega

Having joined Sega CS1 in 1992, Shigeru Okada's first major project in the department was Golden Axe III. Alongside one of its game designers, Takashi Iizuka, he moved to Sega of America in 1993 to work on Sonic the Hedgehog 3. 2 months before the release of Sonic & Knuckles, he returned to Sega of Japan, where he worked on Pro Striker Final Stage and Nights into Dreams. A month before the latter released, he moved back to Sega of America as chief, but it is unknown what projects he worked on in this period.

In April 1997 Okada became art supervisor at Sega Europe, working on Sonic R. A month before release, he once again returned to Sega of America as art director, and it again unknown what his projects were. More of his works are known from his last venture with Sega of Japan, where he was a game design director involved with Dream Passport, Roommania #203 and Ogami Ichiro Funtouki: Sakura Taisen Kayou Show "Benitokage" Yori. He moved around Sega one final time in May 2000 towards Sega Europe as project manager.

Post-Sega

Shigeru Okada left Sega in June 2001, reprising his project manager duties at Microsoft for 4 years, such as one the Xbox game Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space, developed by Artoon. He himself would move to Artoon in 2006, directing the title Vampire Rain, first released in 2007.[3] In 2008 he joined the game's published AQ Interactive, where he produced Club Penguin: Game Day!.[4]

He had less direct involved with games after becoming development strategy office manager at Marvelous Entertainment, receiving a variety of special thanks credits. This continued until Marvelous Entertainment, AQ Interactive and Livewire merged in 2011 to form Marvelous AQL and Okada became involved with localization and licensing, first seen with Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate.[5] This game also saw Okada reuniting with another Golden Axe III artist, Shiro Kinemura. In 2013 he became the senior manager of the Production Advancement Dept., both for Marvelous AQL and Marvelous after it was renamed in 2014.

He steadily picked up more and more senior executive and management roles until eventually leaving Marvelous in 2019, moving to Okakichi where he was put on the board of directors. In August 2020 he became the company's representative director. In March 2021 he also became a senior advisor for the Japan Game Culture Foundation.

Production history


External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 https://archive.ph/eyWkY
  2. ↑ https://archive.ph/IPS8b
  3. ↑ https://www.mobygames.com/game/31745/vampire-rain/releases/xbox360/
  4. ↑ https://www.mobygames.com/game/98579/club-penguin-game-day/credits/wii/
  5. ↑ https://www.mobygames.com/game/72747/half-minute-hero-super-mega-neo-climax-ultimate-boy/credits/windows/
  6. ↑ File:Bio-Hazard Battle MD credits.pdf
  7. ↑ File:Pro Striker MD credits.pdf
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:Golden Axe III MD credits.pdf
  9. ↑ File:Sonic & Knuckles MD credits.pdf
  10. ↑ File:Pro Striker Final Stage MD credits.pdf
  11. ↑ File:NiGHTS into Dreams Saturn credits.pdf
  12. ↑ File:Sonic R Saturn credits.pdf
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