Takashi Iizuka

Takashi Iizuka
Date of birth: 1970-03-16 (age 54)
Role(s): Designer, director, producer

Takashi Iizuka (飯塚 隆) is a key producer, director and designer within Sonic Team. Early in his career, he worked directly under Hirokazu Yasuhara as a senior game designer on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, and quickly progressed to be the main design of NiGHTS into Dreams and supervise development of Sonic R. In 1998, he is credited as the driving force behind Sonic Adventure, the franchise's third adventure in the third dimension, as it had been his idea to create a role-playing game featuring Sonic.

After the success of Sonic Adventure, Iizuka headed to America, where he and a few other members of Sonic Team began work on such games as Sonic Adventure 2 and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. Iizuka continued as head of this department, known as Sega Studios USA, until 2008, when it was disbanded, and team members, including Iizuka were absorbed back into the Japanese division. After Akinori Nishiyama's departure from the head of Sonic Team chair, Sega would eventually settle with Iizuka as a main producer on the Sonic series, starting with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I & Sonic Colors. Thus, he became the Sonic series producer/head of Sonic Team.

Production history

• Golden Axe III (Mega Drive; 1993) — Planner (as Iiz)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) — Senior Game Designer
• Sonic & Knuckles (1994) — Senior Game Designer
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) — Senior Game Designer
• NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Lead Game Designer
• Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Mega Drive Version) (1996) — Game Concept Design (SOJ) (Sega)
• Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Game Designers
• Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Saturn and PC versions) (1996/1997) — Game Concept Design (SOJ) (Sega), Saturn Version Enhancement Design (SOJ) (Sega), Game Designer (SOJ) (Special Stage Development)
• Sonic Jam (1997) — Director
• Sonic R (Saturn version) (1997) — Game Design Director (Sega Enterprises Ltd.)
• Sonic R (PC version) (1998) — Game Design Director (Sega Enterprises Ltd.) (Sega), Special Thanks to (Sega)
• Sonic Adventure (1998) — Director, Character game designer, Field designer, "Chaos" game designer
• ChuChu Rocket! (Dreamcast version) (1999) — Product Support (Sega of America)
• Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) — Director, Field Designer, Enemy Game Designer
• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (2001) — Director, Field Designer, Enemy Game Designer
• Sonic Advance (2001) — Special Thanks (Sega of America)
• Sonic Mega Collection (2002) — Special Thanks (Compiled Under The Supervision of SONICTEAM, LTD.)
• Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (2003) — Mission Mode Game Designer
• Sonic Heroes (2003) — Director, Level Designer, CG Movie Director
• Sonic Mega Collection Plus (2004) — Special Thanks (Sega Corporation)
• Sonic Gems Collection (2005) — Special Thanks (Sega Corporation)
• Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) — Director, Lead Game Designer, Level Designer, Scenario Writer, Movie Supervisor
• Sonic Riders (2006) — Recording Coordinator
• Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) — Special Thanks, Special Thanks (Sega of America, Inc.)
• Sonic Rivals (2006) — Project Director, Concept Design & Scenario [NOTE: Also Producer]
• Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) — Special Thanks
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007) — General Producer
• Sonic Rivals 2 (2007) — Project Director (Sega of America), Concept Design & Scenario Writer (Sega of America) [NOTE: Also Producer]
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (2007) — Producer/Director & Lead Game Designer
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008) — Recording Coordinator
• NiGHTS into Dreams (PlayStation 2; 2008) — Supervisors
• Sega Superstars Tennis (2008) — Special Thanks
• Sega Superstars Tennis (DS version) (2008) — Sega Studio USA (Special Thanks)
• Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (2008) — Sonic Character Supervisor
• Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360 & PS3 versions) (2008) — Level Design Special Thanks, Special Thanks
• Sonic and the Black Knight (2009) — Special Thanks
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii version) (2009) — Director, Game Designer (Game Design Section)
• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010) — CS2 R&D (Sega Japan)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I (2010) — Producer
• Sonic Free Riders (2010) — Scenario Supervisor, Sonic Character Supervisor
• Sonic Colors (2010) — Producer
• Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary (2011) — Special Thanks
• Sonic Generations (PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions) (2011) — Producer (Sonic Generations Development Team)
• Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011/2012) — Sonic Character Supervisor
• Sonic Generations (3DS version) (2011) — Producer
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (2012) — Producer
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012) — CS2 R&D (Sega Corporation)
• Sonic Lost World (2013) — Producer
• Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013) — Sonic Character Supervisor (Sega Development Team)
• Puyo Puyo Tetris (2014) — Project Support
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Original Soundtrack (CD) (2014) — Supervisor
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014) — Supervisor (Original Games)
• 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)
• Sonic Runners (2015) — Producer
• Tembo the Badass Elephant (2015) — Supervisor (Sega)
• Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016) — Sonic Character Supervisor (Sega Games Development Team)
• Sonic Mania (2017) — VP of Product Development and Creative Services (Sega), Animation Supervisor (Animation Intro), VP of Product Development and Creative Services (Production) (Sega of America Inc)
• Sonic Forces (2017) — Sonic Series Producer

Interviews

• Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka interview by Sega Score (December 12, 2003)
• Takashi Iizuka interview by EGM (February 3, 2004)
• Takashi Iizuka interview by GMR (February 10, 2004)
• Takashi Iizuka and Ethan Einhorn interview by 1UP (March 22, 2005)
• Takashi Iizuka interview by Digital Chumps (September 3, 2010)
• Takashi Iizuka interview by Danny Russell (September 17, 2010)
• Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka interview for Sonic Heroes website