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Yuji Naka (中 裕司) (sometimes credited as YU2) is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog series on the Sega Mega Drive. Naka also led development on games including Nights into Dreams (1996), Burning Rangers (1998), Sonic Adventure (1998) and three games in the Phantasy Star franchise (1987-2000). In 2006, he left Sega to found Prope, an independent game company. Naka also worked under Square Enix to direct Balan Wonderworld (2021).

Early life
Naka learned how to program by replicating and debugging video game code printed in magazines. The experience prompted him 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.

Early Sega projects (1984–1990)
Around 1983, Naka saw that Sega was looking for programming assistants and decided to apply. Following a brief interview, he began working for Sega in April 1984. His first task was designing maps and checking floppy disks for a game titled Road Runner for the SF-7000. Naka cannot remember if the game was ever released. His first major project was a game called Girl's Garden, which he and Hiroshi Kawaguchi created together as part of their training process. Their boss was impressed and decided to publish the game, and it earned them notice among their peers and Japanese gamers. Naka's abilities as a programmer were further demonstrated in 1987 for his work on Phantasy Star for the Master System, where he was responsible for the pseudo-3D animation effects present in the game's first-person dungeons.

During a visit to the 1988 Amusement Machines Show, Naka was deeply moved by game developer Capcom’s showing of Ghouls 'n Ghosts and was impressed by the ability to move diagonally on slopes. Hoping to recreate this phenomenon, he returned from the event asking his supervisors at Sega to allow him to port the game to the Mega Drive. The following month, Naka found himself at Capcom’s offices where he was provided the source code and ROM data of Ghouls n’ Ghosts. As he was developing the port, he found himself tinkering with aspects of the game such as the speed of the main character to understand how they interacted with the environment. He additionally tinkered with the slopes and was able to create a functioning 360-degree loop.

Sonic The Hedgehog 1 (1991)
Following his success with Phantasy Star and the Mega Drive port of Ghouls n’ Ghosts, Sega asked him and game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara to assist artist Naoto Oshima in creating a game to showcase Sega’s new mascot Sonic the Hedgehog. As the game’s lead programmer, he was adamant about creating a game that would showcase the Mega Drive’s processing speed through fast and exhilarating gameplay. Part of his approach to designing the game was based on his experience playing through the original Super Mario Bros. He explained that he kept wondering why he could not complete each level faster, the better he got at playing the game. Another element he admired was the Mario games' mechanical simplicity which inspired his desire to have a single button control scheme.

The gameplay origins of Sonic The Hedgehog can be traced farther back to a tech demo created by Naka, who had developed an algorithm that allowed a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix. Naka's original prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube, and this concept was subsequently fleshed out with Oshima's character design and levels conceived by Yasuhara.

The core team of Oshima, Yasuhara, and Naka would dedicate 19 hours a day to the project for several months as the game went through multiple design iterations over a six-month period. The extensive testing and redesigns were a necessity as the developers sought to demonstrate the Mega Drive’s capabilities.

Sega Technical Institute (1991-1994)
Following Sonic The Hedgehog's release, Naka reportedly quit Sega, with sources citing that he was demoralized by the lack of recognition he received within the company after the game’s success. He was then contacted by American video game designer Mark Cerny, who at the time was busy setting up the foundations for what would become Sega’s American development division, the Sega Technical Institute (STI). The pair discussed Naka’s complaints with the company before Cerny convinced him to join him in building the STI as a means to fix the problems he had with Sega in Japan. Naka was then joined by Yasuhara and several other Japanese developers as they relocated to California. It was later that year that the team in STI, joined by American developers, began development on Sonic The Hedgehog 2. While Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was a success, its development was troubled by a shortened schedule which was compounded by the rift forming between the American and Japanese staff. The Japanese developers were used to crunch conditions with Cerny noting they often worked through the night and slept in their cubicles. STI artist Craig Stitt recalled Naka’s involvement in forming that rift, describing him as "an arrogant pain in the ass" not interested in working with Americans. Another STI artist, Tim Skelly, said that Naka would have been happier working with an all-Japanese team but just because of the language barrier and cultural differences.

After Sonic The Hedgehog 2 shipped in 1992, Naka refused to develop another Sonic game with the American staff. STI was then divided into two teams to accommodate this. A Japanese-only team was formed and led by Naka as they worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic & Knuckles (1994).

Saturn, Dreamcast and Sega Restructure (1994-2006)
After the release of Sonic and Knuckles in 1994, Naka took a break and then returned to Japan to become the head of Sega’s Consumer Development Department 3, also known as CS3. Naka was reunited with artist Naoto Oshima and brought with him Takashi Iizuka, who has worked alongside Naka at STI. During his time off, he acquainted himself with Sega’s upcoming console, the Sega Saturn, and laid the groundwork for what would be his team’s next projects Nights Into Dreams (1996) and Burning Rangers (1998). As the development of Nights Into Dreams was underway, Naka visited STI to observe their progress on what would eventually be known as Sonic X-treme, a canceled 3D Sonic game for the Sega Saturn. It is reported that he sarcastically wished them luck before leaving the team at STI to their devices. Later in 1996, he was made aware that Sega of Japan, to help with the struggling Sonic X-treme project, provided his code and tools to the STI team without consultation. Protective of his work, he threatened to leave Sega if the STI team were allowed to use his technology to create a Sonic game. This, among other factors, led to the cancellation of Sonic X-treme and the closure of the STI development studio.

In 1998, prior to the Japanese launch of the Sega Dreamcast, Naka and his team visited Sega of America to tour their development offices and observe their work on the game Geist Force, an on rails shooter that was meant to release alongside with the console. Naka, upon inspecting the tools and technology utilized by the developers, talked to his team about what parts they would take to incorporate in sonic games and suggested firing all but one of the engineers working on the game. Unbeknownst to Naka at the time, most of the developers at the studio spoke Japanese and decided to leave before Naka would fire them. In addition to the game’s already troubled development, causing it to get canceled.

Shortly after the Japanese launch of the Sega Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure, Naka was contacted by Sega Chairman Isao Okawa to develop a flagship online game for the Dreamcast. Originally, he was unenthusiastic about the idea given his team’s inexperience with creating online games. However, the other Sega development studios were preoccupied with their own demanding projects such as Sakura Wars series and Jet Set Radio (2000). This left Naka’s Sonic Team as the only other alternative that Okawa could rely on. In addition to their inexperience, Naka and his team saw the creation of an online game for Japan, a nation of console gamers, as a serious challenge, akin to creating a new genre. This was further complicated by the perception of online games in the late 1990s having boring visuals and the per-minute fee for dial-up internet in Japan.

To combat these challenges, Naka split his team into three groups, all serving different purposes before rejoining to develop what would become Phantasy Star Online (2001). The first and second groups were focused on discovering the limits of the Dreamcast’s capabilities, specifically in terms of graphical fidelity and the possibilities of online play on the system. The third group would work on various projects under Naka’s supervision that would lead them closer to their goal. This would culminate with the release of Sonic Team’s Chu Chu Rocket (1999), an action-puzzle game and the first game for the system to support online console gaming. Additionally, it was the only game directed by Naka at Sega as he would move on to become a producer, overseeing all console game output from the company. Following Chu Chu Rocket’s release, all three teams collaborated on the development of Phantasy Star Online. It is reported that after Okawa became ill in 2000, Naka would send reports to the hospital, updating him on the team’s progress.

In 2000, Sega began to restructure its development operations as part of the dissolution of Sega Enterprises, transforming its arcade and console studios into semi-autonomous subsidiary companies. While each studio was given an unprecedented amount of creative freedom, Naka felt it important to preserve the Sonic Team brand name, and therefore the legal name of the company was SONICTEAM, Ltd. Naka was installed as the CEO of the new company.

As Sega moved to restructure itself once again following the discontinuation of the Dreamcast in 2001, all of Sega's semiautonomous entities were reabsorbed, including Naka's Sonic Team. However, Naka remained as an executive officer, overseeing all of Sega's output until his departure in 2006. Additionally, according to former Sega Producer Takashi Yuda, senior Sega figures including Toshihiro Nagoshi and Yu Suzuki were reporting to Naka;

Prope and Square Enix (2006–present)
On March 16, 2006, Naka announced that he would leave Sega to create his own game studio, Prope. Naka stated that he considered it a benefit to be able to create games other than Sonic the Hedgehog games. Naka also explained that the video game industry was young, leading to quick promotions; he felt his senior position had given him less time to be close to development.

During this time, Naka and Prope developed multiple small titles for the Nintendo Wii and mobile devices such as Wii Play: Motion and Ivy The Kiwi?. This included a reunion with Sega as they published Let’s Tap and Let's Catch for the Nintendo Wii. Naka explained that while this is uncommon in the west, he always maintained a strong relationship with the company despite his departure.

These smaller titles would help finance their first largescale production, Rodea: The Sky Soldier, which finished development in 2011 but would not be released until 2015. According to Naka, Kadokawa Games, their publisher, would not release the game until they developed a version for the [Nintendo 3DS]. Following the launch of the Nintendo Wii U in 2012, Kadakowa opted to create a version for the Nintendo Wii U version of the game based on their 3DS version, delaying the game until 2015. In November 2015, Kadokawa Games released Rodea The Sky Soldier on the 3DS and Wii U, while packaging Naka and Prope’s Wii version as a bonus bundled with the initial print of the Wii U version. In response, Naka used his social media following to request people to prioritize playing the Wii version.

Naka was awarded with the Bizkaia Award at the Fun & Serious Game Festival in 2016.

Naka joined Square Enix in January 2018, originally planning to develop social mobile games with the company. However Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto encouraged him to develop games that would capitalize off the resurgence in classic action and platform games. This led Naka to approach Naoto Oshima, who he hasn’t collaborated with since the release of Sonic Adventure. The pair utilized Oshima’s development studio Arzest to develop this project. In September 2019, Naka announced he was working on a game for the company called Balan Wonderworld. Following the game’s release, Naka revealed that he was no longer working at Square Enix, and said that he was considering retirement.

On December 22, 2021, Naka released a free mobile game, Shot2048, similar to the games 2048 and Chain Cube. In April 2022, Naka announced that he had sued Square Enix after he had been removed as the director of Balan Wonderworld six month before release. According to Naka, he was removed from his seat on the game following disagreements over the game’s stability. This decision was reportedly carried out by multiple parties at Arzest including the game’s producer and Human Resources. This also led to Naka being banned from sharing and liking posts on social media sites. Naka has stated that he attempted to negotiate with his business partners to address the issues he had with Balan Wonderworld, but they were ignored. This led to him deciding to file a lawsuit and concluded that Square Enix and the game's developer Arzest did not "value games or game fans".

Personal Life
Not much is known about Naka’s personal life. He has two sons who as of 2022 are unnamed. Naka is also an avid racer and car enthusiast, having mentioned his Ferrari 360 Spider in multiple interviews. In November 2004, he competed in round six of the Kumho Tyres Lotus Championship in Tasmania. In April of 2022, Naka participated in the first round of the Elise Super Tech competition at the Mobility Resort Motegi circuit, finishing 7th place.