*Photo credits: Nico Datiche*
The association has the joy and immense honor to announce to you that Yutaka Sugano, the creator of the legendary Shinobi (1987), has agreed to become an honorary member of MO5.COM. As with his compatriots Masaaki Kukino and Mikito Ichikawa before him, it was thanks to the British journalist John Szczepaniak, who also interviewed him for his book series The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers, that we were able to contact the current general director of the Arzest studio (Yoshi’s New Island). Moreover, to be completely transparent, one of the reasons why we contacted him, among the many Japanese developers met for these works, is that he speaks English since he was one of the main members of the SEGA Technical Institute studio founded by Mark Cerny. Thus, although Yutaka Sugano remains above all known for the very first Shinobi who nevertheless had a long lineage (including a new episode in development), he worked on numerous titles such as Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (1986), Crack Down (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic Spinball (1993), Sonic 3D Blast (1996), Pinobee: Wings of Adventure (2001), Blue Dragon (2006), Away: Shuffle Dungeon (2008), FlingSmash (2010) and Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016). He even told us that he created the initial arcade design for the legendary Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (1990)! We cannot advise you enough to (re)discover his creations, the first three of which are for example included in the Astro City Mini.
And you, why not become a member of MO5.COM too?