Yuji Naka
From Sega Retro
When Yuji Naka (also known as YU2) was 17 years old, he decided that he wanted to program video games. He owed this fascination to Ryuichi Sakamotos "Yellow Magic Orchestra" program, which allowed the composition of music on your computer. (Yuji was also not alone with this inspiration. Many big names in the gaming industry have shared this - among many others Kenji Eno, creator of "D".)
Anyway, Yuji Naka made himself known at a game convention and had to move from Osaka to Tokyo. Being a large fan of Namco, he aimed to work for them after he graduated from college. However, Namco only accepted work from university graduates - assuming that anyone who had not done at least that would not be near good enough for them. Yuji Naka was devastated, but he did not want to go to university, and so made his entrace into the gaming industry through "Service Games".
At the beginning of his career he mainly worked on projects for the SG-1000 Mark III, but his massive breathrough wasn't far off. By the time 1990 hit the calendars, Naka became a leading programmer for "Sonic Team" who would be the team to be in control of the projects featuring Sega's mascot.
After the completion of Sonic 2, he became the producer. Today he is the president of Sonic Team.
Production History
- Girl's Garden - Lead Programmer
- Great Baseball - Programmer
- F-16 Fighting Falcon - Lead Programmer
- Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) - Programmer
- Space Harrier (1985) - Lead Programmer
- Outrun - Lead Programmer
- Spy vs. Spy (1986) - Lead Programming
- Phantasy Star (1988) - Lead Programmer ("Muuu Yuji")
- Super Thunderblade - Lead Programmer
- Phantasy star II (1989) - Producer, Lead Programmer ("Muuu Yuji")
- Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (1990) -
- Dai Makai Mura (aka "Ghouls & Ghosts") - Lead Programmer
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) - Programmer ("Yu2")
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) - Lead Programmer
- Sonic Spinball (1993) -
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) - Producer, Lead Programmer
- Sonic & Knuckles (1994) - Producer, Lead Programmer
- NiGHTS into Dreams (1995) - Producer, Lead Programmer
- Christmas NiGHTS (1995) - Producer, Programmer
- Sonic 3D Blast (1996) - Advisor
- Sonic Jam (1997) - Producer
- Sonic R (1997) - Producer
- Burning Rangers (1998) - Producer
- Sonic Adventure (1999) - Producer
- ChuChu Rocket! (2000) - Producer, Director
- Samba de Amigo (2000) - Producer
- Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure - supervisor
- Samba de Amigo Ver.2000 - Producer
- Phantasy Star Online (2001) - Producer
- ChuChu Rocket! (GBA) (2001) - Producer, Director
- Phantasy Star Online Ver.2 (2001) - Producer
- Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) - Producer
- Sonic Advance (2002) - Producer
- Sonic Pinball Party (2003) - Producer
- Sonic Battle (2004) - Producer
- Feel the Magic XY/XX (2004) - Chief Producer
- Sonic Mega Collection Plus (2004) - Producer
- Sonic Gems Collection (2005) - Chief Producer
- Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) - Producer
Interviews
Being the producer of most of Sonic's games has earned Yuji Naka the rights to many interviews with those in the gaming industry. Some of those interviews may be found below (couresy of Sonic World):
- Oct. 1992 - Sega Visions Interview with Yuji Naka
- Dec. 1996 - Sega.com Interview on Yuji Naka's life
- July 31, 1999 - NextGenOnline Interview regarding sequels
- Aug. 9, 1999 - GameWeek Interview with Naka on piracy, emulation
- Oct. 1, 1999 - IGNDC Intereview with Yuji Naka
- [http://sonicworld.sclassic.net/sts/interviews/1999/sonic_
1999_nov_30.htm Nov. 30, 1999 - FutureGamez Interview with Yuji Naka about Sonic Team]