The creator of Virtua Fighter and Shenmue has retired from his position as R&D Creative Officer at SEGA but stays involved at the company he drove to success.

If Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto is the Steven Spielberg of videogames, SEGA’s Yu Suzuki would be the James Cameron. During his 26 years at Sega, Yu Suzuki has produced some of the most ground-breaking experiences in videogame history. He is most famous for Virtua Fighter and Out Run, but his Shenmue RPG (released for Dreamcast and original Xbox) predated GTA with stunning open-world gameplay.

This week Sega Sammy has confirmed that Yu Suzuki is now serving as a manager within Sega’s AM Plus division, most recently overseeing production of a racing game called “Sega Race TV”.

It is the end of an important era in videogames, but we feel that Suzuki’s 2003 entry into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame really speaks for itself.

Yu Suzuki Career Highlights so far…

Space Harrier (1985)
Hang-On (1985)
Out Run (1986)
Super Hang-On (1986)
After Burner II (1987)
Power Drift (1988)
Turbo Outrun (1989)
Virtua Racing (1992)
Virtua Fighter (1993)
Virtua Cop (1994)
Virtua Fighter 2 (1995)
Virtua Cop 2 (1995)
Virtua Fighter 3 (1997)
Ferrari F355 Challenge (1999)
Shenmue (1999)
Shenmue II (2001)
Virtua Fighter 4 (2001)
OutRun 2 (2003)
Sega Race TV (2008)