Masaaki Somaki
From Sega Retro
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| Masaaki Somaki |
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| Employment history:
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| Role(s): Designer, artist, director |
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Masaaki Somaki (杣木 昌明), also known as Rei, is a Japanese video game developer who has worked for Sega, Hitmaker, Genki and Pyramid. At Sega, he is best-known for his work as an assistant designer on Royal Stone: Hirakareshi Toki no Tobira, as a background artist on Virtua Fighter 3, and an assistant director on Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Marz. Some of his well-known post-Sega works include the PS2 game Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix and DariusBurst: Another Chronicle.
Career
Masaaki Somaki began his video game career as a high score achiever in what was then-called Furukawa City in Miyagi prefecture[1]. He would enter his name as Spream-Rei or simply Rei [2][1]. He moved to Tokyo in 1986 to work as a clerk at a Shinjuku arcade which was affiliated with Namco[3][1].
In 1992 he also began working as a part-time game designer for Sega's CS2 and CS5 departments which developed Game Gear titles, such as Royal Stone: Hirakareshi Toki no Tobira (with Somaki assisting Ryushin Hamada). After CS5 was dissolved in 1995, he was one of its members of joined AM2, alongside the likes of Takako Kawaguchi and Masaru Nakamura. Somaki took on a role as a 3D model graphic designer beginning with the Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series, and would create background models for games like Virtua Fighter 3, Fighting Vipers 2 and Outtrigger. He and several other developers involved with the Shenmue series, such as Wataru Sakomura and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, moved to Hitmaker in 2000, where he became the assistant director of Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Marz (under Nobuyuki Yamashita).
After leaving Sega, Somaki worked on Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix for Genki, before moving to Pyramid Inc. where he was a game designer for the Patapon and Darius franchises[4].
Production history
Games
- World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck (Mega Drive; 1992) — Special Thanks to[5] (as Rei)
- Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Game Gear; 1993) — Special Thanks to[6] (as Rei)
- Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Master System; 1993) — Special Thanks to[7] (as Rei)
- Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (Game Gear; 1994) — Thanks[8] (as R.Somaki)
- Royal Stone: Hirakareshi Toki no Tobira (Game Gear; 1995) — Plan
- Ninku (Game Gear; 1995) — Special Thanks (as M.Somaki)
- Pro Striker Final Stage (Mega Drive; 1995) — Special thanks to[9] (as 杣木 昌明)
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol. 5 Wolf Hawkfield (Saturn; 1995) — CG Designer[10]
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol. 6 Lau Chan (Saturn; 1995) — CG Designer[11]
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series The Final Dural (Saturn; 1996) — CG Designer[12]
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol. 7 Shun Di (Saturn; 1996) — CG Designer[13]
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol. 8 Lion Rafale (Saturn; 1996) — CG Designer[14]
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol. 9 Kage Maru (Saturn; 1996) — CG Designer[15]
- Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol. 10 Jeffry McWild (Saturn; 1996) — CG Designer[16]
- Virtua Fighter 3 (Model 3; 1996) — Stage Design, Modeling
- Virtua Striker 2 (Model 3; 1997) — Designers
- Virtua Fighter 3tb (Model 3; 1997) — Stage Design, Modeling
- Fighting Vipers 2 (Model 3; 1998) — Stage Designers
- Virtua Fighter 3tb (Dreamcast; 1998) — Stage Design, Modeling
- Outtrigger (NAOMI; 1999) — Stage Designers
- Shenmue (Dreamcast; 1999) — Debug Management
- Fighting Vipers 2 (Dreamcast; 2001) — Stage Designers[17]
- Shenmue II (Dreamcast; 2001) — System Planners
- Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Marz (PlayStation 2; 2003) — Assistant Director
Videos
- Sega Super Game 6 (VHS; 1987) — Game Player
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://igcc.jp/kenjo-03-01/ (Wayback Machine: 2023-08-20 11:43)
- ↑ Sega Super Game 6
- ↑ http://backup.segakore.fr/hitmaker/site/columnpast/column128.html
- ↑ https://www.mobygames.com/person/84962/masaaki-somaki/
- ↑ File:World of Illusion MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Land of Illusion GG credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Land of Illusion SMS credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic Triple Trouble GG credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Pro Striker Final Stage MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP05_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP06_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series The Final Dural Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP07_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP08_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP09_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:VFCGP10_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
- ↑ File:Fighting Vipers 2 Dreamcast credits.pdf