Hirokazu Yasuhara

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Hirokazu Yasuhara (also credited as Carol Yas) (born October 12, 1965) is a Japanese video game designer and Sonic Team's 2nd Assistant President. He designed the gameplay and stages of the majority of the initial Sonic the Hedgehog video games for Sega Mega Drive based on technical demos and engines coded by Yuji Naka and characters designed by Naoto Ōshima. In spite of Yasuhara and Oshima's key creative roles, programmer Naka has since become identified as the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog by the mainstream gaming press. Yasuhara stayed with the franchise until 1994 though he worked on Sonic 3D Blast in 1995, Sonic Xtreme in 1996 and Sonic R in 1997 and with Sonic Team until 2002. He then joined Naughty Dog, working on the Jak and Daxter series and 'Uncharted', collaborating once more with former Sega employee Mark Cerny. He was the senior design director at Namco Bandai Games America. In April 2012, Yasuhara joined Nintendo where he accepted a position at Nintendo Software Technology.^[1]

Sonic is surrounded by series creators Yuji Naka (left), Naoto Ōshima (center), and Hirokazu Yasuhara (Right) at Sonic's 20th Anniversary party

Production history

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) — Director, Game Planner
Fatal Labyrinth (1991) — Director, Game Planner
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) — Director, Game Planner, Object Placement
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) — Director, Lead Game Designer
Sonic & Knuckles (1994) — Director, Lead Game Designer
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) — Director, Lead Game Designer
Sonic 3D Blast (1995) — Playfield Design, Saturn Enhancements
Sonic Xtreme (1996) — Head Designer
Sonic R (1997) — Map Design Director
Sega Smash Pack 2 (2000) — Special Thanks
Floigan Brothers: Episode 1 (2001) — Game Designer
Jak 2 (2003) — Game Designer
Jak 3 (2004) — Game Designer
Jak X: Combat Racing (2005) — Game Designer
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007) — Game Designer
Afro Samurai (2009) — Special Thanks
Pac-Man Party (2010) — Lead Game Design
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (2013) — Game Designer

References

↑ Curtis, Tom (April 4, 2012). "Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Hirokazu Yasuhara joins Nintendo". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

External links

Persondata
Name	Yasuhara, Hirokazu
Alternative names
Short description	Japanese video game designer
Date of birth	October 12, 1965
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

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