Hirokazu Yasuhara

Hirokazu Yasuhara (安原 広和, Yasuhara Hirokazu, born October 12, 1965) (also credited as Carol Yas) is a Japanese video game designer. He is best known for designing the gameplay and stages of the initial Sonic the Hedgehog video games for Sega Genesis in the 1990s, based on technical demos and engines programmed by Yuji Naka.[1] Yasuhara stayed with Sega until the late 1990s. He then joined Naughty Dog, working on the Jak and Daxter series and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, collaborating again with former Sega employee Mark Cerny. He was the senior design director at Namco Bandai Games America. In April 2012, Yasuhara joined Nintendo where he accepted a position at the Nintendo Software Technology division.[2] In 2016 he joined Unity Technologies.

Hirokazu Yasuhara
安原 広和
Yasuhara at the 2018 Game Developers Conference
Born	October 12, 1965
Other names	Carol Yas
Occupation	Game designer
Notable work	Sonic the Hedgehog series

Production history

• Altered Beast (1988) – Game planner
• Fatal Labyrinth (1990) – Game planner
• Pyramid Magic (1991) – Special thanks
• Pyramid Magic Special (1991) – Special thanks
• Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) – Game planner
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) – Game planner
• Sonic Spinball (1993) – Special thanks
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) – Director, lead game designer
• Sonic & Knuckles (1994) – Director, lead game designer
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994) – Director, lead game designer
• Sonic 3D Blast (1996) – Playfield design, Special thanks
• Sonic Xtreme (1996) – Head designer
• Sonic R (1997) – Map design director
• Sega Smash Pack 2 (2000) – Special thanks
• Floigan Bros. (2001) – Game designer
• Jak II (2003) – Game designer
• Jak 3 (2004) – Game designer
• Jak X: Combat Racing (2005) – Game designer
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007) – Game designer
• Afro Samurai (2009) – Special thanks
• Pac-Man Party (2010) – Senior game designer
• Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (2013) – Game designer
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) - Special thanks
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015) – Special thanks
• Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge (2016) – Special thanks
• Sonic Mania (2017) – Special thanks

References

1. "75 Power Players". Next Generation. Imagine Media (11): 54. November 1995.
2. Curtis, Tom (April 4, 2012). "Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Hirokazu Yasuhara joins Nintendo". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 4, 2012.