Best Video Game Creator: Yu Suzuki's interview with english subtitles

Its Sega the only firm that accepted me
it was very interesting
and I decided to work for them
The "Hang On" arcade cabinet was huge
It was a motorcycle with detectors that transmits information to the computer when the player was leaning right or left
to turn in the bends.
With its success, Suzuki make Space Harrier, an addictive "shooting game" who meets a immediate success.
Then will come Outrun, one of his most famous games
Susuki manages to achieve a stunning 3d effect USING ONLY 2D elements.
"It's not really a complicated concept , it's almost too simple"
The 3D, what is it?
It's how an object far away seems smaller, and conversely, it appears larger when it is before our eyes.
Starting from this simple idea, it was enough to play with the zoom of the sprites to get this rendering
but in 92, a decisive step is overcome with Virtua Racing.
If it's not really the first racing game in 3D, it's in any case the first that gives a impression of realism so convincing.
Even if the game is oriented in arcade style, we talk for the first time of a real racing simulator.
If I really could have made this game like I wanted to, I would have certainly made a rally game, a bit like the Paris Dakar
but It was decided it would be a F1 game.
but as it was our first terminal in 3D, it was unable to display lots of polygons
for example, to make tires, we had so few polygons that we could not make it in round form...they were like that.
we had to find several technical tips for that can not be seen too
Virtua Racing proposed four different camera angles
Naturally, afterwards, this option has been implemented in all racing games, but back then it was really impressive and groundbreaking.
there is nothing so extraordinary about it, in 3D, possible camera angles are infinite
For someone who works in the 3D, it's something obvious.
But when people outside the team came for see us during the development, they found it really incredible that we could change the camera angle
we said " hey hey" , if for an outsider's pesron it looks so amazing, as much putting four view angles ,because it's so easy to make
It's funny sometimes to see the gap between us and the people who are not in the profession.
Ok for exemple, i am going to take a cup in my hand , imagine that it's in 3d,
then if we want a hand in 3D takes the cup and lift her, in a realistic way
it's something extremely difficult to do
It's necessary to calculate very precisely the contact zones and the hands that perfectly matches the shape of the cup
if we done badly, what will happen? well, for example, it's happen that the fingers pass through the cup
That, it's the nightmare of developers, when we see a bug like that, we are totally mortified
but when someone who know nothing see that: "but it's unbelievable, there are fingers which pass through the cup
I have never seen that in all my life, but how can you do that? "
Whereas for me , it's really the shame.
A car is composed with one single block, if we except wheels of course
the rest is a simple object formed with one single piece
but humans have articulations everywhere, here, here...and there
I benefited of that car game for make experiences on the representation of human body in 3D
for example, when the car stop in the stand, we can se technicians come change wheels of the car
and well, those characters have been a kind of test which had lead to Virtua Fighter.
The biggest success of Yu Suzuki is without contest Virtua Fighter
At the time when 3d games were still in their first step, it was the first to present characters with movements so complex and realist
"on our first arcade cabinet 3D, it was impossible to put textures"
"The textures is when we take the datas of a photo (picture) for example and then we plate them on a 3d object"
that, we could not do
we was able to display only one color by pass
Yu Suzuki makes then the next two episodes and then leaves AM2's studio (for create Digital Rex and thenYS Net)
he is no longer in charge of the series that still continues today
Since then many 3D fighting games emerged, some of which are very good
but if Virtua Fighter had not existed, we would have maybe never had all these fighting games in 3 dimensions
Having been the first to do it , it remains our pride.
"When a game works as much, it has influence on the entire sector of video game"
"well, I exaggerate a bit but at that moment, all publishers have said:" whatever the genre, if I resurrects an old 2D game and I made a 3D game,
I'm sure it will again a success "
"That's what everyone said when they saw VF, I think it's a game that had a huge influence at this level."
We are in 98,while the Dreamcast is not selling as well as Sega had expected, yu suzuki is beginning to show in conferences , his latest game, shenmue
He plans to create a revolutionary adventure game where the player would be free to do what he likes
Sega trust him completely and swallowed huge sums in a never-ending developpemnt which fall behind
Shenmue is the most anticipated game of the moment.
"Yes, there was talk at one point to do a Rpg based on the universe of virtua fighter,
as the name was already known in the world, we played the security using his popularity.
We started working in this direction,
but gradually as we advanced, the game found its own originality and finally we realized that the game was entirely sufficient to itself.
We therefore decided to make a UNIQUE TITLE".
It was on Sega saturn than shenmue was originally planned but development has been so long that the dreamcast came before it is ready
Suzuki and his team have everything back to zero to bring it on the new Sega's machine.
A first demo was distributed, his name was "what's shenmue?"
Players discover the "quick time event's system" which was a novelty and a was a tall efficiency
"a long time ago when i was in primary school , there was a electronic toy which had a big succes. it was round with this size, and there was 4 luminous buttons, it was "the simon"
for a child of the era it was very futuristic toy, and I kept it in a corner of my memory".
In a rpg, we can't ask to players to do complicated things with the joypad
a too much complicated game to play would have ran away all players of rpg.
So i wanted dynamic action scenes, like Virtua Fighter, but with a simple interface.
The idea of qte is born with it, make simple and entetainment things to manage action scenes
and of course,with memories of amusement that brought the simon
Here is how I got this idea"
Shenmue offer again an experience never lived in the video game, he isn't exempt of defaults, but the beauty and the poesy of the artistic direction (mise-en-scene)
the total freedom of movements and the intercation with the others characthers made a game immediately cult
"Shenmue is the sum of all the challenges that we had imposed ourselves.
In the design of video games, there are many taboos that no one transgresses
but if there are taboos, it's that there are good reasons, if we can eliminate certains, we could maybe pass over a taboo
if we don't do this work ,the video game will never progress( improve)
for exemple, in a rpg, we indicate to player what he must do gradually for that he follow the course of a story wrote in advance
we impose him his goal and we fixed him his motivations
we guide him in a stict way in the sequence of a story (scenario)
the big difference of shenmue, is to have given a true freedom to players
he can put aside the script and do something else
he can spend all his time in the arcade or go to the slot machines as it wants.
already,with no-one that ( just with that), we was told me that my game will not sell
but we went even further
Normally ( at that time ) we don't put the player in an environment as vast"
Whereas on the contrary, Shenmue and especially Shenmue 2, immerses the players in an incredibly vast universe and livin.
Yet we never feel lost because it is possible to ask his way at any time by discussing with all characters.
"And finally after Shenmue, we have seen happen a lot of games that took up a lot of our ideas.
The director of a game must have a strong and clear vision of what he wants
and for the developement, he should try not to go out of his way by listening to the opinions of others
there are probably many thing that he would be better do in another way than that chosen by the director
but if we listen everyone and that we correct all, you end up with a game that looks like any others
It's beautiful a rose , but if the spines don't satisfied and that we decided to remove them, this will be only a carnation