Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Tetsuya Mizuguchi

"As a child I didn't have any aspirations to become a games producer. The first game I played was when I was 7 and I played Pong at a friends house. I played some videogames as a child but I also played baseball. I majored in media aesthetics at University which looked at how we would make media in the future. It was at this time that I wanted to join the games industry. I then started at Sega in 1990." — Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Tetsuya Mizuguchi (水口 哲也) was born in Sapporo, Japan, in 1965. He was educated at Nihon University's Faculty of Arts and joined Sega in 1990. His first work was Megalopolice, a Japanese motion ride with computer graphics. He then turned his attention to racing simulations, and in 1995 created the arcade game Sega Rally Championship. Mizuguchi is also known for his work on Manx TT Super Bike, Rez, and Space Channel 5, among other best selling titles.

In 1996, Mizuguchi left Sega's AM3 division to form AM Annex, where he and his team created Sega Touring Car Championship.

On April 9, 2000, Sega's amusement division Sega AM9 became United Game Artists (UGA). Mizuguchi was President and Chief Operating Officer of the studio. They produced Space Channel 5 and Rez, which were praised among gaming communities as fresh and innovative titles.

In September of 2003, Sega performed a company-wide reorganization of staff. This reorganization dissolved United Game Artists, placing its members within Sonic Team.

On October 7, 2003, Mizuguchi was a guest on "Tokyo Game Lounge", a webcast radio program produced in Tokyo. During the webcast, he announced his retirement from Sega. An article by Hirohiko Niizumi/Tor Thorsen for GameSpot claims that the restructuring prompted Mizuguchi to leave the company.

His official announcement of departure from Sega included this quote:

"Games are a very unique medium. They exist beyond language, beyond culture, and people are fascinated by games. I don't know how long I will live, but I want to learn more about games — and there is more to learn about creating better games."

Production History

• Sega Rally Championship (Arcade, PC and PS2 Versions) (1995/1997/2006) — Produced by
• Sega Rally Championship Ignition (CD) (1995)
• Manx TT Superbike (Arcade version) (1995) — Producer
• Sega Rally Championship (Saturn Version) (1995) — Produced by, Written by ('My Dear Friend, Rally') ("Ignition") (Original Sound Track)
• Sega Touring Car Championship (Arcade version) (1996) — Produced by
• Sonic Jam (1997) — Special Thanks
• Sega Touring Car Championship (Saturn and PC Versions) (1997/1998) — Executive Producer
• Sega Rally 2 (Arcade version) (1998) — Produced by
• Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (1998) — Project Organizer
• Sega Rally 2 (Dreamcast Version) (1999) — Producer (Arcade Staff)
• Space Channel 5 (Dreamcast Version) (1999) — Producer
• D-2 (1999) — Special Thanks
• Shenmue (1999) — Main Scenario (Special Thanks to)
• Rez (2001) — Producer
• Space Channel 5 Part 2 (2002) — Producer
• Space Channel 5: Special Edition (2003) — Producer
• Space Channel 5 Part 2: Special Edition (2003) — Producer

Song Credits

Sega Rally Championship Ignition

• My Dear Friend, Rally — Lyrics (with Kenneth Ibrahim)

External Links

• http://www.sega.com/segascream/developers/post_amprofiles.jhtml?article=dev_am9_uga
• http://au.playstation.com/news/mizuguchiinterview.jhtml
• http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/action/rez/news_6076535.html
• http://mizuguchi.biz — Personal weblog