Chris Tang

From Sega Retro

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Chris Tang
Place of birth: Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[1]
Date of birth: 1976[2][1] (age 47-48)
Employment history:
Tengen[1] (1990[2] – 199x)
Hitsparks Games[4]
Role(s): Designer, Translator, Voice actor[5]
Twitter: @strikeharbinger

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Christopher Ryu Tang, often known as simply Chris Tang, is an American video game designer and former Tengen and Capcom designer, translator, and voice actor. Notable for his involvement in the design of the Sega Mega Drive games Gauntlet IV and Rampart[5][1], and for winning Sega of America's Rock the Rock competition[2][5], Tang remains active in the video game industry and is currently developing the upcoming rail shooter Strike Blazinger.[6]

Tang also commentates a number of gaming competitions, and is the originator of the meme Boom Tetris for Jeff.[7]

Career

Tang being awarded his $25,000 check for winning Sega of America's Rock the Rock competition.

Chris Tang began his employment at Tengen in 1990[2], when he was only 14 years of age[1], and worked on a number of the company's popular games. Particularly, his involvement in Gauntlet IV was one of the first times a passionate American gamer had direct influence on the production of a Japanese-developed title. As with the later Rampart, Tang's involvement was specifically highlighted in the game's Japanese manuals as a novel and fascinating collaboration between an American gamer and a Japanese development team.

Tang was also intimately involved in the development of the Primal Rage series, working on the first game and serving as a primary game designer on the infamously-cancelled Primal Rage II.

After his time with Tengen, Tang moved to Capcom Japan, where he would work on a number of popular arcade fighting games (like Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes). Following Capcom, he would work on the Transformers franchise with Genazea/BAM and the Tetris franchise for Bullet Proof Software.

Rock the Rock

Main article: Rock the Rock.

Tang is also known for his participation in the October 1994 Sonic & Knuckles competition Rock the Rock. After winning San Francisco, California's invitational tournament, he was invited to compete with 54 other contestants in the tournament proper.[8] Achieving the second-highest ring score of any contestant, he and Mark Guinane proceeded to the final match. Again tasked with collecting as many rings as possible, Tang beat his rival by a margin of 30 rings and won the tournament.[9] Later that day, in a special Sega of America press conference, he was awarded with $25,000 in the form of a large novelty check presented by Tom Kalinske[10] and every product the company made for the next two years.[11]

Production history


Interviews

Photographs

Main article: Photos of Chris Tang

External links

References