Full interview with yu suzuki from gdc 2011. Interesting stuff, though it sorta is poorly organized. He actually explains why there's only an afterburner II, though it's odd explanation. Something to do with releasing ipos and a contract saying that he was allowed to release a sequel immediately. Got some nice development stories (r-360 cabinet development is a must hear) Watch the interview and maybe somebody can figure out what he is saying about the after burner II thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrSaE2V2N9I Close to an hour interview, enjoy.
Sounds more like a shit translation, considering there is an Afterburner (I). According to Wikipedia J, I is considered a prototype as it was out for only 3 months and had some balancing issues. The other most noticable change is the lack of the score increasing with speed. Only killing enemies got more points. I will go out on a limb and say Sega offered a free swap, but take that w/ a grain of salt. Also note I've not watched the Youtube video (yet).
Just 5 minutes in to the YouTube video and already the translator is annoying me. I wish we could turn her off. I want to hear Yu Suzuki's own words but it's hard to because of the high volume of the translator.
Yeah, or couldn't them hire a better translator anyways? Dunno what annoys me the most - the translator or the announcer...
I agree the translator is really annoying, usually you wait for the person speaking to finish then translate, not at the same time. And mark cerny isn't know for interviewing people, think he only was there cause he developed for sega a short period. I will say this was poorly organized, though I can hear suzuki speak Japanese while the translator is talking, but it might be difficult to focus.
It's on the Wikipedia page (follow link above), but there is a very high resolution version, all things considered, so my guess is that it's tucked away in an arcade somewhere in Japan. Mikado, a game center known for such rare gems, had an upright Afterburner II. I don't think they had Afterburner I. There's probably more info out there in Japanese if one searches. I read about half of the Yu Suzuki Game Works book... probably should have finished. It was quite interesting. EDIT: The pick has some wonky Engrish in there so it might've been yoinked from the German Wikipedia entry? Not sure, entirely. There was an Afterburner I though, at least in Japan.
Thanks for posting the link to this interview. Its interesting how making games for Yu was really just an everyday job for him. It doesn't seem like he regards what hes done as all that amazing, just what needed to be done that day. I find that very cool how humble he is about the whole thing. The Shenmue question about the rendering of the homes was particularly interesting. Cerny was clearly impressed with the rendering of the houses but to Yu Suzuki it was just another asset. Alot of artists will look at their work and only see the structure or whats missing, while the rest of us see the greatness of it all. I think his move into social gaming is simply him trying to stay employed and with the times. Its a small studio with only a few devs I'm sure and not alot of money to put into it to get a good profit. Maybe he sees his days as a director of huge million dollar projects as over or the industry has changed too much for him to go that route again.
