GAME DESIGNER

Yuji Naka

1965 - Today

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Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yūji; born September 17, 1965), sometimes credited as YU2, is a Japanese former video game designer and programmer. He is the co-creator of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and was the president of Sonic Team at Sega until his departure in 2006. Naka joined Sega in 1984 and worked on games including Girl's Garden (1985) and Phantasy Star II (1989). He was the lead programmer of the original Sonic games on the Mega Drive in the early 1990s, which greatly increased Sega's market share. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 27 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 26 in 2024). Yuji Naka is the 41st most popular game designer (down from 37th in 2024), the 1,752nd most popular biography from Japan (down from 1,523rd in 2019) and the 21st most popular Japanese Game Designer.

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Among GAME DESIGNERS

Among game designers, Yuji Naka ranks 41 out of 77. Before him are Eiji Aonuma, Chris Taylor, John Romero, Yuji Horii, Tetsuya Nomura, and Dave Arneson. After him are Tim Cain, Jeff Kaplan, Mike Harrington, Toshihiro Nagoshi, Scott Cawthon, and Jens Bergensten.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1965, Yuji Naka ranks 398. Before him are Olivier Megaton, Osamu Maeda, Bryan Shelton, Momoko Sakura, Takeshi Kusao, and Dyanna Lauren. After him are Carlos Eugênio Simon, Soichi Noguchi, Iryna Yatchenko, Patrick Roy, Kazuo Echigo, and Salou Djibo.

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Yuji Naka ranks 1,752 out of 6,245. Before him are Hsiao Bi-khim (1971), Ryosuke Sasagaki (1985), Toshihiko Seki (1962), Kiyomi Kato (1948), Mitsuko Horie (1957), and Yasuaki Kato (1976). After him are Shota Iwata (1988), Masakuni Yamamoto (1958), Toshikazu Kato (1981), Soichi Noguchi (1965), Yoichi Futori (1982), and Yasutaro Matsuki (1957).

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Among GAME DESIGNERS In Japan

Among game designers born in Japan, Yuji Naka ranks 21. Before him are Yu Suzuki (1958), Kazunori Yamauchi (1967), Hideki Kamiya (1970), Eiji Aonuma (1963), Yuji Horii (1954), and Tetsuya Nomura (1970). After him are Toshihiro Nagoshi (1965), Yoshinori Kitase (1966), Goichi Suda (1968), Keiichiro Toyama (1970), Tetsuya Takahashi (1966), and Koji Igarashi (1968).

Japanese born Game Designers

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