Hirokazu Yasuhara

Hirokazu Yasuhara (also credited as Carol Yas) (born October 12, 1965) is a Japanese video game designer. He designed the gameplay and stages of the majority of the initial Sonic the Hedgehog video games for Sega Mega Drive based on technical demos and engines coded under the lead of Yuji Naka and characters designed by Naoto Ōshima. In spite of Yasuhara and Oshima's key creative roles, programmer and producer Naka has since become identified as the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog by the mainstream gaming press. Yasuhara stayed with the franchise until 1994 though he worked on Sonic 3D Blast in 1995, Sonic Xtreme in 1996 and Sonic R in 1997. He then joined Naughty Dog, 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. In April 2012, Yasuhara joined Nintendo where he accepted a position at Nintendo Software Technology.

Sonic is surrounded by series creators Yuji Naka (left), Naoto Ōshima (center), and Hirokazu Yasuhara (Right) at Sonic's 20th Anniversary party

Production history

• Altered Beast (1988) — Game Planner
• Fatal Labyrinth (1990) — Game Planner
• Pyramid Magic (1991) — Special Thanks
• Pyramid Magic Special (1991) — Special Thanks
• Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) — Game Planner
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) — Game Planner, Object Placement
• Sonic Spinball (1993) — Special Thanks
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) — Director, Lead Game Designer
• Sonic & Knuckles (1994) — Director, Lead Game Designer
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) — Director, Lead Game Designer
• Sonic 3D Blast (1996) — Playfield Design, Saturn Enhancements
• Sonic Xtreme (1996) — Head Designer
• Sonic R (1997) — Map Design Director
• Sega Smash Pack 2 (2000) — Special Thanks
• Floigan Bros. (2001) — Game Designer
• Jak II (2003) — Game Designer
• Jak 3 (2004) — Game Designer
• Jak X: Combat Racing (2005) — Game Designer
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007) — Game Designer
• Afro Samurai (2009) — Special Thanks
• Pac-Man Party (2010) — Senior Game Designer
• Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (2013) — Game Designer
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015) — Special Thanks

External links

• Naughty Dog profile
• Announcement of the new Pac-Man game