Yuji Naka

Japanese video game designer and programmer

Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yūji, born September 17, 1965) is a Japanese video game programmer, designer, and producer. He is best known as the former head of Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog series of games on the Sega Genesis. In 2006, he created Prope, an independent game company. In January 2018, he joined Square Enix.

Yuji Naka
Naka in 2015
Born (1965-09-17) September 17, 1965 (age 58)
Other namesYU2
Occupation(s)Game designer, producer, programmer
Years active1984–present
EmployerSquare Enix
Notable workSonic the Hedgehog series

Career

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Naka learned how to program by copying and debugging video game code printed in magazines. The experience made him want to study assemblers and practice writing code during his school classes.[1] After graduating high school, Naka decided to skip university and stay in his home town.[2]

Around 1983, Naka saw that Sega was looking for programming assistants. He decided to apply.[3] After a short interview,[3] he started working for Sega in April 1984.[4] His first task was designing maps and checking floppy disks for a game called Road Runner for the SF-7000. Naka can't remember if the game was ever released.[4] His first major project was a game called Girl's Garden. He and Hiroshi Kawaguchi created it together as part of their training process.[3]

Production history

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Year Game Role
1984 Girl's Garden Game designer, programmer
1986 Spy vs. Spy (Master System port) Programmer
Black Belt
1987 Phantasy Star
1989 Phantasy Star II
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Genesis port)
1991 Sonic the Hedgehog
1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
1994 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Programmer, producer
Sonic & Knuckles
1996 Nights into Dreams
1998 Burning Rangers Producer
Sonic Adventure
1999 ChuChu Rocket! Director, producer
2000 Samba de Amigo Producer
Phantasy Star Online
2001 Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Advance
2002 Sonic Advance 2 Director, producer
2003 Sonic Pinball Party Producer
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
Sonic Battle
Sonic Heroes
2004 Sonic Advance 3
Puyo Pop Fever
2005 Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love
Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic Rush
Puyo Pop Fever 2 General producer
2006 Sonic Riders Executive producer
Phantasy Star Universe
2008 Let's Tap Producer
2009 Ivy the Kiwi?
2011 Fishing Resort
2013 StreetPass Mansion / Monster Manor
2014 Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls Voice acting ("Center-sensei")
2015 Rodea the Sky Soldier (original Wii version) Producer
StreetPass Fishing / Ultimate Angler
2016 StreetPass Chef / Feed Mii
2017 Legend of Coin[5]

References

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  1. Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famouos". Retro Gamer (35). Imagine Publishing: 74.
  2. Horowitz, Ken (22 June 2005). "Sega Stars: Yuji Naka". Sega-16. Archived from the original on 27 June 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Making of OutRun". NowGamer. 29 April 2016. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "名作アルバム - 『ガールズガーデン』". Sega (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  5. Naka, Yuji. "Yuji Naka / 中 裕司 on Twitter: "[iPhone] PROPE Ltd.started to distribute the game "Legend of Coin" for iOS & Android at 12 December,2017. An epic story like none ever seen before in a coin game.Over 200 monsters to train and summon!"". Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

Other websites

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