Takashi Iizuka (game designer)

Takashi Iizuka
Takashi Iizuka
飯塚隆
	Iizuka in 2013
Born	March 16, 1970 (age 54); Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan
Other names	Iiz
Alma mater	Tokyo Denki University
Occupations	Video game designer; producer; director; writer;
Years active	1992–present
Employer	Sega
Notable work	Sonic the Hedgehog series; Nights into Dreams

Takashi Iizuka (飯塚隆, Iizuka Takashi) (born March 16, 1970) is a Japanese video game director, producer, designer and screenwriter. Since 2008, Iizuka has been the vice president of product development for the Sonic the Hedgehog series at Sega, as well as the head of Sonic Team^[1] although he has been working on games in the Sonic series since 1994.

Early career

His first collaboration with Sega involved working with Sega Technical Institute on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as a designer. Later, he helped supervise Traveller's Tales with the development of Sonic R. He was also the lead designer for Nights into Dreams, and director for Sonic Adventure.^[2]

Sega

In 1999, he and a small part of Sonic Team moved to San Francisco to establish Sonic Team USA (later renamed Sega Studio USA), in order to gain feedback from the western market. Over in the U.S. his team worked on the international release of Sonic Adventure. Afterward, his team started to develop their own games, where he was the director and lead designer for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Nights: Journey of Dreams. In an effort to further broaden Sonic's appeal to western markets, Iizuka gave western developer, Backbone Entertainment, a shot at developing Sonic titles (Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2) under his team's supervision for the PlayStation Portable console.

In 2008, Sega's American division, Sega Studio USA, was absorbed back into Sonic Team Japan, making Iizuka the producer for the Sonic series at Sonic Team and the head of the company as well. In 2016, Iizuka relocated to Los Angeles to become the VP of Product Development at Sega of America, while retaining his title as the head of Sonic Team.^[3]

In 2022, it was revealed that Iizuka designed a game named Devi & Pii for the Sega Genesis in 1992, but it was never released. It would finally be released on October 27, 2022, for the Sega Genesis Mini 2, however.^[4]

Legacy

Game journalist from Wired described Takashi Iizuka as a difficult man to read, as he tends to slip into corporate speak especially when discussing mixed reception of Sonic games.^[5] His long time colleague and composer, Tomoko Sasaki, however described him as someone who "offered a different and fresh, almost unpredictable, way of thinking" and got along well with him from the very start.^[6]

Works

Year	Title	Role
1992	Devi & Pii	Planner
1993	Golden Axe III	Planner
1994	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	Game designer
1994	Sonic & Knuckles	Game designer
1996	Nights into Dreams	Lead game designer
1996	Sonic 3D Blast	Concept design
1997	Sonic Jam	Director
1997	Sonic R	Game design director
1998	Sonic Adventure	Director, game designer, level designer
1999	ChuChu Rocket!	Product support
2001	Sonic Adventure 2	Director, game designer, level designer
2003	Sonic Heroes	Director, level designer
2005	Shadow the Hedgehog	Director, game designer, level designer, scenario
2006	Sonic Riders	Recording coordinator
2006	Sonic Rivals	Director, concept design, scenario
2007	Sonic Rivals 2	Director, concept design, scenario
	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	General producer
	Nights: Journey of Dreams	Director, producer, lead game designer
2008	Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity	Recording coordinator
2008	Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood	Character supervisor
2009	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Director, game designer
2010	Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I	Producer
	Sonic Free Riders	Scenario supervisor
	Sonic Colors	Producer
2011	Sonic Generations	Producer
2011	Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Character supervisor
2012	Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II	Producer
2013	Sonic Lost World	Producer
2013	Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games	Character supervisor
2014	Uta Kumi 575	Project support
2014	Puyo Puyo Tetris	Project support
2015	Sonic Runners	Producer
Tembo the Badass Elephant	Supervisor
2016	Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games	Character supervisor
2016	Puyo Puyo Chronicle	Project support
2017	Sonic Mania	Supervisor
2017	Sonic Forces	Producer
2019	Team Sonic Racing	Producer
2019	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020	Character supervisor
2022	Sonic Frontiers	Producer
2023	Sonic Superstars	Producer
2023	Sonic Dream Team	Supervisor