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Toshihiro Nagoshi
Nagoshi in 2014
Native name	名越 稔洋
Born	(1965-06-17) June 17, 1965 (age 53) Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Occupation	Game producer, designer, director, member of the board of directors
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Toshihiro Nagoshi (名越 稔洋, Nagoshi Toshihiro, born on June 17, 1965 in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi) is a Japanese video game producer and designer. He is the chief creative officer for Sega^[1] and a member of the board of directors for Atlus (formerly Sega Dream Corporation).^[2] He joined Sega in 1989.^[3]

Career

Nagoshi graduated with a degree in movie production and joined Sega shortly thereafter, working for the second arcade department (AM2) at Sega under Yu Suzuki as a CG designer.^[4] His first title was Virtua Racing as a chief designer. Afterwards he created his own racing game, Daytona USA, where he was producer, director and chief designer. He created more arcade racing games with Scud Race in 1996 and Daytona USA 2 in 1998.^[5] By 1998, Nagoshi had his own arcade department, where he worked on SpikeOut.

Amusement Vision

In 2000, Sega separated its in-house R&D departments from the main company and established them in nine semi-autonomous subsidiaries, with each getting an elected president as a studio head. Toshihiro Nagoshi became head of Amusement Vision, where he further contributed to Sega's arcade line-up with Planet Harriers, SpikeOut sequels and spin-offs. For Dreamcast he remade his very first game, Daytona USA as Daytona USA 2001. As Sega became a third-party, he moved out of arcade development. Amusement Vision became most known for its work on the Nintendo GameCube, with the first two Super Monkey Ball titles in 2001 and 2002, and F-Zero GX in 2003, Nagoshi made in conjunction with Shigeru Miyamoto. During the time of development of F-Zero GX, Nagoshi wrote a regular column in Edge, which was titled "AV Out" in reference to both Amusement Vision's initials, which was the name of his development division, and the consumer electronics term "A/V".

After the collaboration with Nintendo on F-Zero GX, Nagoshi claimed to receive a call from Nintendo, requesting the source code of the game and wanting him to explain how they made such game. He stated, "After it released, I got a call from Nintendo. They said they wanted to see all the source code for the game, and wanted me to explain how we'd made that game, in that timeframe and with that budget, in detail. They were wondering how we'd done it - they couldn't figure it out. We were able to achieve something a lot higher than what Nintendo had expected."^[6]

Management

In 2003, major changes took place at Sega, consolidating much of their studios. Nagoshi was appointed to the group of the company's officers.^[7] In 2005, he was in charge of the New Entertainment Division at Sega, which housed both his prior team, with the addition of staff that worked on Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon Orta and GunValkyrie, that already produced the Ollie King arcade release at Amusement Vision.

Nagoshi launched his Yakuza franchise. The first title cost $21 million to produce and the first PlayStation 3 entry, Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! was more expensive, with Nagoshi stating that it was his biggest production since he started working on consumer games.^[8] By 2009, New Entertainment diminished, and Nagoshi became the R&D Creative Officer of Sega of Japan's Consumer Division.^[9]

In February 2012 it was announced that Nagoshi would be promoted to the role of chief creative officer at Sega of Japan, as well as being appointed to the company's board of directors. He took up these positions on April 1, 2012.^[10] In October 2013, once Sega Sammy purchased the bankrupt Index Corporation under the shell corporation, Sega Dream Corporation, Nagoshi was appointed as a member of the board of directors for the reformed Atlus.^[11]

Design philosophy

Nagoshi has expressed a desire to make his games accessible: "It may sound strange, but I'm very bad at playing games. I used to spend a lot of money in arcades, just to see the end-game sequences and I know how bad players can feel if the game is too hard, too early."^[12]

Gameography

• 
  Virtua Racing - Chief Designer


• 
  Daytona USA series - Director


• 
  Scud Race - Director


• 
  Shenmue - Supervisor


• 
  SpikeOut - Director


• 
  Planet Harriers - Director


• 
  Super Monkey Ball series^[13] - Producer/Director


• 
  F-Zero GX/AX - Producer


• 
  Yakuza series^[14] - Producer/Director/Executive Director


• 
  Binary Domain - General Director


• 
  Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise - Executive Director

Production history

• 
  Virtua Racing (Sega Model 1; 1992) — Chief Designer


• 
  Burning Rival (Sega System 32; 1993) — Special Thanks, Jackson


• 
  Daytona USA (video game) (Sega Model 2; 1993) — Chief Designer, Producer and Director


• 
  Scud Race (Sega Model 3; 1996) — Producer & Game Director


• 
  Daytona USA 2 (Sega Model 3; 1998) — Producer


• 
  Shenmue (Dreamcast; 1999) — R&D Dept. #4 Supervisors


• 
  Planet Harriers (Sega Hikaru; 2000) — Producer & Director


• 
  Daytona USA 2001 (Dreamcast; 2000) — Design Directors, Management Staff, Producer & Game Director


• 
  Super Monkey Ball (2001) — Producer & Director


• 
  Super Monkey Ball 2 (2002) — Producer & Director


• 
  Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (2002) — Executive Management


• 
  Super Monkey Ball Jr. (2002) — Producer & Director


• 
  F-Zero GX (2003) — Producer


• 
  Sonic Battle (2003) — Executive Management


• 
  Sonic Heroes (2003) — Development Division


• 
  Sonic Advance 3 (2004) — Development Division


• 
  Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (2004) — Executive Producer


• 
  Ollie King (2004) — Special Thanks


• 
  Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (2005) — Producer & Director


• 
  Spikeout: Battle Street (2005) — Producer


• 
  Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (2005) — Producer & Director


• 
  Yakuza (video game) (2005) — General Supervisor/Producer


• 
  Sonic Riders (2006) — Development Support


• 
  Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (2006) — Producer & Director


• 
  Yakuza 2 (2006) — Original Concept


• 
  Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (2008) — Planning/Original Concept


• 
  The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (2008) — Chief Producers


• 
  Sonic Unleashed (2008) — Chief Producer


• 
  Yakuza 3 (2009) — Planning/Original Concept


• 
  Bayonetta (2009) — Chief Producer


• 
  Sonic and the Black Knight (2009) — Chief Producer


• 
  Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009) — Chief Producer


• 
  Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (2010) — Chief Producers


• 
  Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010) — Creative Officer


• 
  Yakuza 4 (2010) — General Director


• 
  Sonic Free Riders (2010) — Chief Producer


• 
  Sonic Colors (2010) — Chief Producer


• 
  Super Monkey Ball 3D (2011) — Chief Producers


• 
  Sonic Generations (2011) — Chief Producers


• 
  Yakuza: Dead Souls (2012) — General Director


• 
  Binary Domain (2012) — General Director


• 
  Jet Set Radio (2012) — Executive Producer (Sega of Japan)


• 
  Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (2012) — Chief Producer


• 
  Phantasy Star Online 2 (2012) — Executive Supervisors


• 
  Yakuza 5 (2012) — General Director


• 
  Sonic Lost World (2013) — Chief Producer


• 
  Puyo Puyo Tetris (2014) — Executive Producer


• 
  Hero Bank (2014) — Overall Production


• 
  Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! (2014) — General Director


• 
  Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax (2014) — Executive Producer


• 
  Yakuza 0 (2015) — Executive Director


• 
  Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016) — Executive Supervisor (Sega Games)


• 
  Yakuza Kiwami (2016) — General Director


• 
  Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (2016) — Executive Director


• 
  Puyo Puyo Chronicle (2016) — Chief Producers


• 
  Sonic Mania (2017) — Executive Producer


• 
  Sonic Forces (2017) — Executive Producer


• 
  Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017) — Executive Director


• 
  Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (2018) — Executive Director


• 
  Valkyria Chronicles 4 (2018) — Executive Producer

References

External links

• Tohishiro Nagoshi Interview Summer 2006


• July 2004 Kikizo Games Interview


• October 2005 Kikizo Games Interview


• 
  ^[permanent dead link] December 2004 Got-Next Interview


• 
  Official blog (in Japanese)