Yuji Naka

Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yuji) is a Japanese video game programmer, designer, and producer. He is best known as the former head of Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog series of games on the Sega Genesis. In 2006, he created Prope, an independent game company. In January 2018, he joined Square Enix.

 Career 
Naka learned how to program by copying and debugging video game code printed in magazines. The experience made him want to study assemblers and practice writing code during his school classes. After graduating high school, Naka decided to skip university and stay in his home town.

Around 1983, Naka saw that Sega was looking for programming assistants. He decided to apply. After a short interview, he started working for Sega in April 1984. His first task was designing maps and checking floppy disks for a game called Road Runner for the SF-7000. Naka can't remember if the game was ever released. His first major project was a game called Girl's Garden. He and Hiroshi Kawaguchi created it together as part of their training process.

Production history
YearGameRole 1984  Girl's Garden   Game designer, programmer 1986  Spy vs. Spy (Master System port)  Programmer Black Belt  1987  Phantasy Star  1989  Phantasy Star II  Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Genesis port)  1991  Sonic the Hedgehog  1992  Sonic the Hedgehog 2  1994  Sonic the Hedgehog 3  Programmer, producer Sonic & Knuckles  1996  Nights into Dreams  1998  Burning Rangers  Producer Sonic Adventure  1999  ChuChu Rocket!  Director, producer 2000  Samba de Amigo  Producer Phantasy Star Online  2001  Sonic Adventure 2  Sonic Advance  2002  Sonic Advance 2  Director, producer 2003  Sonic Pinball Party  Producer Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg  Sonic Battle  Sonic Heroes  2004  Sonic Advance 3  Puyo Pop Fever  2005  Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love  Shadow the Hedgehog  Sonic Rush  Puyo Pop Fever 2  General producer 2006  Sonic Riders  Executive producer Phantasy Star Universe  2008  Let's Tap  Producer 2009  Ivy the Kiwi?  2011  Fishing Resort  2013  StreetPass Mansion / Monster Manor  2014  Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls  Voice acting ("Center-sensei") 2015  Rodea the Sky Soldier (original Wii version)  Producer StreetPass Fishing / Ultimate Angler  2016  StreetPass Chef / Feed Mii 2017  Legend of Coin 

References

 Other websites 
 Official Prope website (Japanese)
 Sonic Team Speaks (archived by the WaybackMachine)
 Sega's Yuji Naka Talks!
 Yuji Naka On New Beginnings At His Studio, Prope
 Life after Sega: The Sonic creator talks about being free of the hedgehog

Category:1965 births
Category:Sega people
Category:Living people