Takashi Iizuka (game designer)
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Takashi Iizuka | |
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飯塚 隆 | |
| Born | Takashi Iizuka March 16, 1970 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Other names | Iiz |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1992–present |
| Employer | Sonic Team |
Takashi Iizuka (飯塚 隆, Iizuka Takashi) (born March 16, 1970) is a Japanese video game director, producer, designer and screenwriter. Since 2009, Iizuka has been the vice president of product development for the Sonic the Hedgehog series at Sega of America, as well as the head of Sonic Team.[1]
Early career
His first collaboration with Sega involved working with Sega Technical Institute on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as a designer. Later, he helped supervise Traveller's Tales with the development of Sonic R. He was also the lead designer for Nights into Dreams, and director for Sonic Adventure.[2]
Sega Studio USA
In 1999, he and a small part of Sonic Team moved to San Francisco to establish Sonic Team USA (later renamed Sega Studio USA), in order to gain feedback from the western market. Over in the U.S. his team worked on the international release of Sonic Adventure. Afterward, his team started to develop their own games, where he was the director and lead designer for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Nights: Journey of Dreams. In an effort to further broaden Sonic's appeal to western markets, Iizuka gave western developer, Backbone Entertainment, a shot at developing Sonic titles (Sonic Rivals & Sonic Rivals 2) under his team's supervision for the PlayStation Portable console.
In 2008, Sega's American division, Sega Studio USA, was absorbed back into Sonic Team Japan, making Iizuka the producer for the Sonic series at Sonic Team and the head of the company as well. In 2016, Iizuka relocated to Los Angeles to become the VP of Product Development at Sega of America, while retaining his title as the head of Sonic Team.[3]
Legacy
Game journalist from Wired described Takashi Iizuka as a difficult man to read, as he tends to slip into corporate speak especially when discussing mixed reception of Sonic games.[4] His long time colleague and composer, Tomoko Sasaki, however described him as someone who "offered a different and fresh, almost unpredictable, way of thinking" and got along well with him from the very start.[5]
Production history
- Golden Axe III (1993) — Planner (as Iiz)
- Sonic 3 (1994) — Game designer
- Sonic & Knuckles (1994) — Game designer
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994) — Game designer
- Nights into Dreams (1996) — Lead game designer
- Christmas Nights (1996) — Game designer
- Sonic 3D Blast (1996) — Game designer
- Sonic Jam (1997) — Director
- Sonic R (1997) — Game designer
- Sonic Adventure (1999) — Director, character designer, level designer
- ChuChu Rocket! (2000) — Product support
- Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) — Director, lead game designer, level designer
- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (2003) — Game designer
- Sonic Heroes (2003) — Director, level designer,
- Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) — Director, lead game designer, level designer, scenario writer
- Sonic Riders (2006) — Recording coordinator
- Sonic Rivals (2006) — Director, producer, game designer, scenario writer
- Sonic Rivals 2 (2007) — Director, producer, game designer, scenario writer
- Nights: Journey of Dreams (2007) — Director, producer, lead game designer
- Nights into Dreams (PS2 Version) (2008) — Supervisor
- Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008) — Recording coordinator
- Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (2008) — Supervisor
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009) - Director, game designer
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (2010) — Producer
- Sonic Colors (2010) — Producer
- Sonic Generations (2011) — Producer
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II (2012) — Producer
- Sonic Lost World (2013) — Producer
- Puyo Puyo Tetris (2014) — Product support
- Sonic Runners (2015) — Producer
- Tembo the Badass Elephant (2015) — Supervisor
- Sonic Mania (2017) – Supervisor
- Sonic Forces Speed Battle (2017) - Special Thanks
- Sonic Forces (2017) – Producer
- Team Sonic Racing (2019) – Producer
- Chao In Space (2019) – Executive producer
References
- ^ http://info.sonicretro.org/Takashi_Iizuka_interview_by_SPOnG_(September_14,_2010)
- ^ Chamberlain, Chad (20 November 2007). "Gamespeak: "NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams"". CBS. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ https://www.mcvuk.com/development/sonic-team-head-returns-to-us-to-establish-development-hub-for-franchise
- ^ "Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka on how Sega is changing its game - Rob Boffard".
- ^ "A Blast From The Past: Tomoko Sasaki and Naofumi Hataya NiGHTS Interview".
| Sonic the Hedgehog | |
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| Nights | |
| Phantasy Star | |
| Puyo Puyo | |
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