Sega AM2

Sega Amusement Machine Research and Development Department #2, (Sega AM R&D Dept. #2, Sega AM2) is a division within Sega of Japan. It was formed in 1990 primarily to create arcade (or "amusement") games.

AM2 is arguably the most successful R&D division to have existed within Sega during the 90's, to the point where its internal division name became a marketable brand in its own right. As such, while significant changes have occurred within its lifespan from a business perspective, this division of Sega has always referred to itself as "AM2", even if it has not been exclusively an amusement-only department since 1991. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the chief operating officer of AM2 was industry stalwart Yu Suzuki.

Trough all Sega development divisions, Sega AM2 has remained most consistent in it's naming due to the "Number 2" attached. Thus there no multiple pages on Sega Retro unlike other Sega development teams.

1 Current Members
2 Former Members
3 Corporate history
4 Softography as R&D8
5 Softography as AM2
6 Sega Software R&D Dept. 2
- 6.1 NAOMI
- 6.2 Dreamcast
7 Softography as CRI of AM2
8 Softography as Sega AM2
9 Softography as AM2
10 Softography as R&D2
11 Softography as Sega Interactive R&D2
12 Gallery
13 External links
14 References

Current Members

Former Members

Corporate history

Sega AM2 is thought to have been a continuation of an older R&D studio , famed for arcade games featuring sprite-scaling graphics and moving cabinets with games such as Hang-On, Space Harrier, OutRun and After Burner. It became a pioneer of early 3D polygonal 3D graphics with the 1992 release of Virtua Racing, before creating Virtua Fighter, beginning one of Japan's most popular arcade series ever made. Virtua Fighter was, incidentally, the first time AM2's name (and signature palm tree logo) became publically visible - a trend that would continue in the majority of its releases going forward.

AM2 was also the first arcade division to involve itself with the home console market, producing titles such as Sword of Vermillion and Rent-A-Hero for the Sega Mega Drive. It soon found itself at the forefront of Sega Saturn technology, producing the Sega Graphics Library in 1995 in conjunction with its Saturn conversion of Virtua Fighter 2. The AM2 palm tree would even become an unlockable character in in the AM2-developed Fighters Megamix.

In 1998, AM2-developer Toshihiro Nagoshi formed his own arcade department within Sega known as Sega AM11, where he worked on SpikeOut.

As with other R&D divisions within Sega, Sega AM2 was briefly renamed Sega Software R&D Dept. #2 in May 1999. Unlike its sister divisions, however, the department continued to trade as AM2 and was largely unaffected by the internal restructure. In 2000 the division went one step further, becoming an entirely separate (but wholly owned) subsidiary of Sega officially known as Sega-AM2 Co., Ltd. AM2 was at this point the only R&D division to still rely on the "AM" name.

Isao Okawa's CSK was the parent company of Sega at the time, with its own software development division, CRI. CRI absorbed Sega AM2 in February 2000 (occasionally leading to credits to AM2 of CRI) and renamed itself Sega-AM2 Co., Ltd. in August 2001^[1]^[2]. Confusingly, CRI Middleware Co. Ltd. was then established to handle the sale of CRI's former products such as ADX and Sofdec.

Yu Suzuki left AM2 in 2003 to found DigitalRex, also owned by Sega. This would become AM Plus before any games were released.

Sega's separate development companies were merged back into the main business in 2004, and this included AM2, trading once again as "AM R&D Dept. 2". Due to the closure of AM3 in May 2008, some members moved to AM2. In May 2010, the arcade departments lost their "AM" name, becoming R&D2. During the March 2015 restructure, Sega' arcade division became Sega Interactive, thus becoming R&D2 of Sega Interactive rather than Sega proper.

Sega AM2

From Sega Retro

Contents

Current Members

Former Members

Corporate history

Softography as R&D8

Softography as AM2

Other

Sega Software R&D Dept. 2

Softography as CRI of AM2

Softography as Sega AM2

Softography as AM2

Softography as R&D2

PC

iOS

Android

Softography as Sega Interactive R&D2

Gallery

External links

References