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Hirokazu Yasuhara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hirokazu Yasuhara
安原 広和
Yasuhara in 2018
Born (1965-10-12) October 12, 1965 (age 59)
Japan
Other namesCarol Yas
Alma materTokyo University of Science
OccupationGame designer
Years active1988–present
Notable workSonic the Hedgehog series
Jak and Daxter series

Hirokazu Yasuhara (安原 広和, Yasuhara Hirokazu, born October 12, 1965) (also credited as Carol Yas) is a Japanese video game designer. He is best known for designing the gameplay and stages of the initial Sonic the Hedgehog video games for Sega Genesis in the 1990s, based on technical demos and engines programmed by Yuji Naka.[1] Yasuhara stayed with Sega until 1999.[2] He then worked for Naughty Dog from 2002 to 2008, working on the Jak and Daxter series and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, collaborating again with former Sega employee Mark Cerny. He was the senior design director at Namco Bandai Games America from 2008 to 2012.[2] In April 2012, Yasuhara joined Nintendo where he accepted a position at the Nintendo Software Technology division.[3] He left Nintendo in 2016 and has since worked for Unity Technologies.[4]

Works

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Year Title Role
1988 Altered Beast Game design
1990 Fatal Labyrinth Game design
1991 Sonic the Hedgehog Game design
1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Game design
1994 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Director, game design
Sonic & Knuckles Game design
1996 Sonic 3D Blast Game design
1997 Sonic R Map design director
2001 Floigan Bros. Game design
2003 Jak II Game design
2004 Jak 3 Game design
2005 Jak X: Combat Racing Game design
2007 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Game design
2010 Pac-Man Party Senior game design
2013 Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move Game design

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "75 Power Players". Next Generation (11). Imagine Media: 54. November 1995.
  2. ^ a b "Experience - Hirokazu Yasuhara". Linkedin.
  3. ^ Curtis, Tom (April 4, 2012). "Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Hirokazu Yasuhara joins Nintendo". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  4. ^ Gilbert, Ben (2021-06-23). "Sonic boom: Sega designer tells the origin story of a gaming legend". TechRadar. Retrieved 2021-09-03.