Yuji Uekawa

Yuji Uekawa
Company(ies): Sega of Japan
Role(s): Artist, Designer

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Yuji Uekawa's (上川 祐司) first major project was cult favorite Ristar, a character of his own design. His first Sonic title was the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast, 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.

Production history

• Ristar (Mega Drive;
  1995) — Character Designer
• Astal (Saturn;
  1995) — Character Production
• ChuChu Rocket! (Dreamcast;
  1999) — Art Director
• ChuChu Rocket! (Game Boy Advance;
  2001) — Art Director
• Samba de Amigo (NAOMI;
  1999) — Character Designer
• Samba de Amigo (Dreamcast;
  2000) — Character Designer
• Samba de Amigo Ver.2000 (NAOMI;
  2000) — Character Designer
• Samba de Amigo Ver.2000 (Dreamcast;
  2000) — Character Designer
• Puyo Pop (Game Boy Advance) (Game Boy Advance;
  2001) — Art Director
• Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg (GameCube;
  2003) — Character Coordinator
• Puyo Pop Fever (Dreamcast;
  2004) — Art Director
• Puyo Pop Fever (Nintendo DS;
  2004) — Manager
• The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (Wii;
  2008) — Promotional Visuals

• Sonic 3D Blast (1996) — Artist
• Sonic Jam (1997) — Artist
• Sonic R (Saturn version) (1997) — Character Designer (Sega Enterprises Ltd.)
• Sonic R (PC version) (1998) — Character designer (Sega Enterprises Ltd.) (Sega)
• Sonic Adventure (1998) — Character designer, Character motion designer, "Chaos" character designer
• Sonic Shuffle (2000) — Supervisor (Sonic Team)
• Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) — Player Character Designer, Product Support
• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (2001) — Player Character Designer, Product Support
• Sonic Advance (2001) — Art Director
• Sonic Mega Collection (2002) — Illustration (Compiled Under The Supervision of SONICTEAM, LTD.)
• Sonic Advance 2 (2002) — Art Director
• Sonic X (2003) — Original Character Design
• Sonic Pinball Party (2003) — Art Director
• Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (2003) — Art Director (Sonic Adventure DX Staff), Lead Character Designer (Sonic Adventure DX Staff), Lead Visual Artist (Sonic Adventure DX Staff), Character Designer (Sonic Adventure Original Staff), Character Motion Designer (Sonic Adventure Original Staff), "Chaos" Character Designer (Sonic Adventure Original Staff)
• Sonic Battle (2003) — Design Coordinator
• Sonic Heroes (2003) — Menu Screen Artist, Product Support
• Sonic Advance 3 (2004) — Art Director
• Sonic Mega Collection Plus (2004) — Illustrator (Sega Corporation)
• Sonic Gems Collection (2005) — Illustrator (Sega Corporation)
• Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) — Special Thanks
• Sonic Rush (2005) — Art Director
• Sonic Riders (2006) — Character Art Director
• Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) — Publicity Artwork
• Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) — Promotional Visuals
• Sonic Rush Adventure (2007) — Art Director
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007) — Sonic Family Character Supervisor
• Sega Superstars Tennis (2008) — Special Thanks
• Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360 & PS3 versions) (2008) — Publicity Artwork
• Sonic and the Black Knight (2009) — Cut Scene Artist, Promotional Visuals
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009) — Sonic Family Character Supervisor
• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010) — CS2 R&D (Sega Japan)
• Sonic Free Riders (2010) — Scenario Supervisor, Sonic Character Supervisor
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I (2010) — Artist
• Sonic Colors (2010) — Sonic Character Supervisor (Sega)
• Sonic Generations (2011) — Sonic Character Supervisor (Sega)
• Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011/2012) — Sonic Character Supervisor
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (2012) — Character Artist
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012) — CS2 R&D (Sega Corporation)
• Sonic Lost World (2013) — Sonic Character Supervisor
• Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013) — Sonic Character Supervisor (Sega Development Team)
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014) — Supervisor (Original Games)
• Sonic Boom (2014) — Sonic Character & Universe Supervision
• Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (2014) — Character Supervisor (Sonic Team) (Sega of Japan) (Sega)
• Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (2014) — Character Supervisor (Sega of Japan CS2) (Sega of Japan)
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014) — Supervisor (Original Games)
• Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016) — Sonic Character Supervisor (Sega Games Development Team)
• Sonic Forces (2017) — Sonic Character Supervisor

Interviews

Some or all of the following content should be mirrored on Sega Retro (or Retro CDN).

Yuji Uekawa interview by Sonic Channel (April 3, 2006)