Sega’s most famous creator has said he’d like to return to some of his classic 80s arcade games and hinted a deal may already be underway.
Although he’s better known now as the creator of Shenmue, and the repeatedly delayed Shenmue III, Yu Suzuki’s real claim to fame is making classic Sega arcade games such as Super Hang-On, Space Harrier, and After Burner.
He hasn’t been involved in that side of things for over a decade but when asked by website VGC if he’d like to return to OutRun and Virtua Fighter in particular he answered: ‘Yes I would like to. If you’re going to ask me what, I can’t answer that!’
‘There might be something [happening]’, he hinted. ‘But since the IP you mentioned are owned by Sega, I would need to work with them. I am a special consultant with Sega, but we will need to talk.’
That’s not necessarily the barrier it may sound like though as Sega has been fairly open to licensing out its franchises, with our recent preview of Streets Of Rage 4 being one obvious example.
Whether Suzuki’s Shenmue team are the right people to develop an arcade style game is a different question though, to which the answer is probably no.
OutRun was first released in arcades in 1986 but none of its sequels were ever anywhere near as successful.
Yu Suzuki did produce 2003’s well-regarded OutRun 2 though and worked with British developer Sumo Digital on the home conversion and follow-up OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, so tapping them for help might be one option.
Similarly, Virtua Fighter was extremely influential in terms of not just fighting games but 3D graphics in general. Games ranging from Quake to Tomb Raider have cited it as an influence, as well the designers of the 3D graphics hardware for the original PlayStation.
After the second game though the franchise saw a sharp dip in popularity and while a slightly updated version of 2011’s Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was released in 2015 the most high-profile the series has been in recent years is probably the cameo of fighter Akira in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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