Masayuki Nagao

From Sega Retro

MasayukiNagao 1992.jpg
Masayuki Nagao
Employment history:
Divisions:
Role(s): Musician

Masayuki "N.Gee" Nagao (長尾 優進) is a music composer, sound designer, keyboardist and lyricist born in 1964. He was previously employed by Santos and Sega. Notable games include Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, the Sonic Drift duology and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. He is also well-known for his sound programming and music arrangements in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

While working at Sega, Masayuki Nagao married 章子 on April 24, 1993.[1] Pianist Hiroshi Kubota and bassist Kazuhi Oosumi (大角 一飛) played at the wedding.[2]

Career

Santos to Sega

Masayuki Nagao's earliest known work is at Santos, where he created the ending music for Battle Golfer Yui.[3] He joined Sega in December 1991 when Santos was acquired by Sega and renamed Megasoft,[4] shortly before the release of Toki: Going Ape Spit, which saw him collaborating with Hirofumi Murasaki and Morihiko Akiyama, who continued to work with him following the acquisition, Nagao serving as the team's producer. Megasoft's earliest known assignment was to arrange music, through Nagao, and create sound effects, through Akiyama, for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, though this did not pan out as expected.[5]

As Megasoft ceased development and trickled out releases such as Shinobi III and Aa Harimanada, Nagao found a voice distinct from the others working on Game Gear, originally with Megasoft's Doraemon Noranosuke no Yabou and Aa Harimanada, but afterwards with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and several licensed games. During this period, he was a producer at Sega CS3 Sound,[1] the department responsible for all internally-developed Mega Drive and Game Gear soundtracks.[6] Frequent co-workers now included Haruyo Oguro and Saori Kobayashi.

Post-Sega

Nagao was later employed by Opus Corp. following his work on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and other titles. While at Opus, his most noteworthy title was the 2000 PlayStation game Utauta-uh: Seirei Songs. He also met Opus sound designer and guitarist Tomoo Yamaguchi, who became one of his best friends for decades.[7] He has since worked with Nagao on some of his major video games after Sega, the Taito Evolution game series published by Marvelous Interactive for the PSP handheld game system, which sees Nagao credited not just for music, such as the song "Tears of the Planet", but also game design and story.[8][9][10] Another of Nagao's best friends, Hiroya Someno, was a fellow game designer, manager and musician on these projects.[11] Nagao also collaborated with developer Vanilla on the game Zoo Mania 3D for the 3DS in 2011.[12][13]

Masayuki Nagao has also written music and performed outside of video games, including writing the English lyrics for the song "RAIN" by 4ROCKAMBOS[14] and co-producing the album Saeri Home Made, which featured both Tomoo Yamaguchi and Hidya Someno in some fashion.[15]

Production history

Song credits

Main article: Masayuki Nagao/Song credits.

Battle Golfer Yui

  • Ending — Music & Arrangement

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

  • Shinobi (Opening) — Music & Arrangement

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

  • Hydrocity Zone Act 2 — Music (with SEGA) & Arrangement
  • Lava Reef Zone Act 2 — Arrangement

Sonic Drift

  • Title — Arrangement
  • Mode — Music & Arrangement
  • Select — Music & Arrangement
  • Round Start — Music & Arrangement
  • Green Hill — Music & Arrangement
  • Marble — Music & Arrangement
  • Spring Yard — Music & Arrangement
  • Labyrinth — Music & Arrangement
  • Star Light — Music & Arrangement
  • Scrap Brain — Music & Arrangement
  • Invincible — Arrangement
  • Round Clear — Music & Arrangement
  • GP Clear — Music & Arrangement
  • Staff Roll — Music & Arrangement

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Harmony, "1993 9-10" (JP; 1993-10-01), page 27
  2. http://jimita.com/profile/history1993.html#0000 (Wayback Machine: 2023-08-31 11:24)
  3. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%B0%BE%E5%84%AA%E9%80%B2
  4. Interview: Hirofumi Murasaki (2002-04-17) by Sega.jp
  5. @MasaNagao on Twitter (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-01 13:51)
  6. @MasaNagao on Twitter
  7. @MasaNagao on Twitter
  8. http://raido.moe/staff/psp/psp_space_invaders_galaxy_beat.html
  9. https://www.mobygames.com/game/25929/bubble-bobble-evolution/credits/psp/?autoplatform=true
  10. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=62953&tab=credits (Wayback Machine: 2014-08-05 19:05)
  11. @MasaNagao on Twitter
  12. https://www.mobygames.com/game/99284/zoo-mania-3d/credits/3ds/?autoplatform=true
  13. @MasaNagao on Twitter
  14. https://www.hmv.co.jp/news/article/605290027// (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-02 14:28)
  15. http://saeri.club/2022/05/10/new%e3%82%a2%e3%83%ab%e3%83%90%e3%83%a0%e3%80%8esaeri-home-made%e3%80%8f%e7%b5%b6%e8%b3%9b%e7%99%ba%e5%a3%b2%e4%b8%ad%e3%81%a7%e3%81%99%e3%81%a3%e2%9c%a8/
  16. File:Toki MD credits.png
  17. File:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 MD credits.pdf
  18. File:Shinobi III MD credits.pdf
  19. 19.0 19.1 File:Jurassic Park SMS credits.pdf
  20. File:Aa Harimanada MD credits.pdf
  21. 21.0 21.1 File:Sonic Chaos SMS credits.pdf
  22. File:Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine MD credits.pdf
  23. 23.0 23.1 File:Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine SMS credits.pdf
  24. 24.0 24.1 File:Deep Duck Trouble GG credits.pdf
  25. File:Sonic Drift GG credits.pdf
  26. File:Sonic the Hedgehog 3 MD credits.pdf
  27. File:Sonic & Knuckles MD credits.pdf
  28. File:Sonic Drift 2 GG credits.pdf