Yu Suzuki (鈴木 裕, Suzuki Yū, born June 10, 1958) is a Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer, who headed Sega‘s AM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the first auteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega’s arcade hits, including three-dimensional sprite-scaling games that used “taikan” motion simulator arcade cabinets, such as Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, and After Burner, and pioneering polygonal 3D games such as Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter,[2] which are credited with popularizing 3D graphics in video games,[3][4][5][6][7] as well as the critically acclaimed Shenmue series.[8][9] As a hardware engineer, he led the development of various arcade system boards, including the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2,[2] and Model 3,[10] and was involved in the technical development of the Dreamcast console and its corresponding NAOMI arcade hardware.[11]
In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. IGN listed him at #9 in their Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list.[12] In 2011, he received the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.[13][14]
