Yu Suzuki

is a Japanese game developer who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. He created a number of successful Sega arcade games, including Hang-On, Space Harrier (1985), Out Run (1986) and After Burner (1987), which used motion simulator cabinets, and Virtua Racing (1992) and Virtua Fighter (1993),

As a hardware engineer, Suzuki led development of arcade system boards including the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2

In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. IGN named him the ninth-greatest video game creator. He joined Sega in 1983 as a programmer. In his first year, he created a 2D boxing game called Champion Boxing for Sega's first home game console, the SG-1000. According to Suzuki, the executive staff at Sega found the game so impressive that they released it in arcades as-is by simply installing an SG-1000 into an arcade cabinet.

Suzuki's Shenmue for the Dreamcast gave rise to a new style of adventure games, bending it away from the typical mold most games of its nature seem to fit into, with Suzuki's own concept denoted as "FREE" ("Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment"). Shenmue was an expensive title for Sega, with Suzuki stating in 2011 that the project cost approximately US$47 million including marketing.

Ys Net

In the fall of 2010, Suzuki returned with Shenmue City, developed by Sunsoft and Ys Net (Yu Suzuki's new studio) for Yahoo Games. On February 27, 2016, Suzuki appeared as a guest presenter at the annual Monaco Anime Games International Conferences (MAGIC), where he showed images and video clips of the development progress for Shenmue III to conference attendees.

On June 22, 2022, YS-Net released Air Twister exclusively to Apple Arcade. YS Net has continued to support the game with regular updates and expanded content.

On December 12, 2024, Bandai Namco announced YS Net's next game, Steel Paws, at The Game Awards 2024. YS Net announced Steel Paws as a mobile game to be exclusively released for Netflix Games. It is an action role-playing game that features a young girl and her robot companions who explore a mysterious tower that emerges from the ground every 100 years.

Personal life Suzuki said in an interview that while he greatly enjoys creating games, he has relatively little interest in playing them and prefers to spend his free time watching movies and visiting theme parks.

Games developed

Canceled games Propeller Arena – Producer Pure Breed – Concept

Hardware developed Sega Space Harrier (1985)