Yu Suzuki ~ The Power To Never Give Up ~

Seaman · Apr 2, 2024

That was a lovely article! Yu Suzuki has been usually compared to Miyamoto but personally I find YS closer to other Nintendo notable figures such as Satoru Iwata and Gunpei Yokoi due their heavy work around hardware and innovation, while Yuji Naka resembles the most to S.Miyamoto as franchise factory man.

Other than the obvious answer to my favourite game from him, the same that gives name to this forum, it must be Virtua Fighter 2. That arcade "Atracct Mode" really paid off its label. I recall a big crowd amused in front of the cabinet, jaws open at Shun Di's and Pai Mei martial forms. I pulled so many coins into that behemot that probably founded VF3 alone.

Nowadays as an adult, what he accomplished at Power Drift amazes me a lot. Unlike previous racing titles (and every other genre making use of sprite rotozoom) he achieved real 3D with sprite based hardware. The level segments didn't dissapear out of screen region and perspective matched camera viewpoint. This reassures his "never give up" once more: real 3D wasn't theorically possible yet he managed to get it...

Some years later, I also remember discussing with friends about Shenmue gameplay about rumored or planned features that finally made the final cut. We were arguing if - again - that could be even possible. The major point was "it can't surpass FF7/8" XD... well it did. That gameplay from another realm was indeed very much alive.

hyo_razuki · Apr 2, 2024

An incredible article. What a great, great life this man has lived so far. So many great memories in my life were made possible by him.

I remember being a little boy, maybe 6 or 7 years old and playing Super Hang-On on Amiga, my first ever Sega game, with my left hand because I had become so good at it, the game held absolutely no challenge for me, so I tried to find a way to make it harder because I loved it so much.

And this guy never gives up - Japanese spirit! No matter how much I disliked S3, I will never stop admiring and supporting this man.

9dragons · Apr 3, 2024

Superb article. A very good homage to the life and work of Yu Suzuki.

Rydeen · Apr 4, 2024

Seaman said:
That was a lovely article! Yu Suzuki has been usually compared to Miyamoto but personally I find YS closer to other Nintendo notable figures such as Satoru Iwata and Gunpei Yokoi due their heavy work around hardware and innovation, while Yuji Naka resembles the most to S.Miyamoto as franchise factory man.

I think that's probably a better comp, too. At least in that they both stopped actually making games pretty early on in their carriers, and moved into primarily producer and supervisor roles. (Nothing for Miyamoto after SMB 3 aside from Mario 64, and pretty much just Chu Chu Rocket, Rodea, and Balan Wonderworld for Naka after Nights.) Almost all of Naka's work in the trenches was as a programmer, though.

Seaman said:
Nowadays as an adult, what he accomplished at Power Drift amazes me a lot. Unlike previous racing titles (and every other genre making use of sprite rotozoom) he achieved real 3D with sprite based hardware. The level segments didn't dissapear out of screen region and perspective matched camera viewpoint. This reassures his "never give up" once more: real 3D wasn't theorically possible yet he managed to get it...

This is actually largely because he did all of his programming in 3D, which was his thesis work in his undergraduate carrear. He actually never technically made a 2D game. The 'experience' series of games were only rendered in 2D, but everything 'under the hood' was done in 3D.

For me these days as an adult, and an engineer, I get really impressed by YS's work. All the Virtua Fighter tech is pretty nuts in its own right, but even just the progression in arcade hardware he worked on to get to full 3-axis rotation with G-Loc seems a little fantastical.

These interviews with Masaya Matsukaze have always been fascinating for me with being framed from an engineering perspective. Particularly in this section he talks about taking some tech from the CES floor to develop the cabinet for Space Harrier, and all the considerations that had to be made for the mechanical systems. Something he mentions that always stuck with him was that if they moved the carriages 30 degrees in 0.3 seconds, they would have basically been building F1 machines, in terms of force. Not to mention all the wear on mechanical parts.

Seaman · Apr 7, 2024

Rydeen said:
I think that's probably a better comp, too. At least in that they both stopped actually making games pretty early on in their carriers, and moved into primarily producer and supervisor roles. (Nothing for Miyamoto after SMB 3 aside from Mario 64, and pretty much just Chu Chu Rocket, Rodea, and Balan Wonderworld for Naka after Nights.) Almost all of Naka's work in the trenches was as a programmer, though.

This is actually largely because he did all of his programming in 3D, which was his thesis work in his undergraduate carrear. He actually never technically made a 2D game. The 'experience' series of games were only rendered in 2D, but everything 'under the hood' was done in 3D.

For me these days as an adult, and an engineer, I get really impressed by YS's work. All the Virtua Fighter tech is pretty nuts in its own right, but even just the progression in arcade hardware he worked on to get to full 3-axis rotation with G-Loc seems a little fantastical.

These interviews with Masaya Matsukaze have always been fascinating for me with being framed from an engineering perspective. Particularly in this section he talks about taking some tech from the CES floor to develop the cabinet for Space Harrier, and all the considerations that had to be made for the mechanical systems. Something he mentions that always stuck with him was that if they moved the carriages 30 degrees in 0.3 seconds, they would have basically been building F1 machines, in terms of force. Not to mention all the wear on mechanical parts.

Unfortunately I'm lacking japanese language knowledge to get a grasp of what is being discussed at the video you linked. Anyway, thank you for sharing. I bookmarked it just in case some AI on the fly translator pops out, as Im very fond of this type of content.

Mate, I forgot about G-Loc... Now that thing was intimidating, wasn't it. Also, from a mechanical perspective, it showed how well made it was as it was always working. Really can't remember a G-Loc out of service in comparison to many others (no Punch Mania and alikes, which was users abuse/misuse) that simply couldn't stand too much time powered on. Its not a surprise that GM/Lockheed got along this amazing guy Yu Suzuki.

terry.tsoi · Apr 10, 2024

Thanks for this great article, Hiki!

Yu Suzuki ~ The Power To Never Give Up ~

Phantom River Stone

Shenmue Wiki

YS NET Inc.

Space Harrier – Developer Interview: Yu Suzuki – Designer

Seaman

ネットやろうぜ

hyo_razuki

9dragons

Rydeen

Seaman

ネットやろうぜ

terry.tsoi