Katsuhiro Hasegawa

From Sega Retro

Katsuhiro-hasegawa-2.jpg
Katsuhiro Hasegawa
Place of birth: Tokyo, Japan[1]
Employment history:
Divisions:
Divisions:
Role(s): Director, producer, programmer

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Katsuhiro Hasegawa (長谷川 勝弘), also known as Hase and Hassy, is a former director and producer at Sega of Japan, most notable for being instrumental in producing dozens of Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear games during the late 1980s and 1990s. He directed at least 3 SG-1000 games, over 20 games for the Master System including Teddy Boy Blues and SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative, at least 3 Mega Drive games, over 20 Game Gear games including both Super Monaco GP and both Sonic Drift games. He directed at least 4 Saturn games including Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, but also predominantly became a producer, such as producing Resident Evil and other games in the series for Dreamcast. He is also somewhat known for producing mobile games such as Shining Force Chronicle I and J.League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! Mobile.

Career

Katsuhiro Hasegawa joined Sega in 1984 as a programmer. However, as part of his 2-month training period, he was required to also show a game design to executives, so used one that he had been tinkering with since his student days. They were wowed by it, and so he was moved to the designers department, alongside Kotaro Hayashida, Mutsuhiro Fujii and one other person.[1] The first game he designed was an arcade motocross game (not to be confused with Enduro Racer), which horribly failed its location test. The first game he created which was released would be a port of Chack n' Pop for the Sega SG-1000.[2]

Hasegawa would go on to be more active as a director of arcade-to-console ports, with Teddy Boy Blues[4] and [5][6] being standout releases. Even after the release of the Sega Mega Drive, he primarily dealt with the 8-bit Sega Master System hardware, and therefore was the perfect candidate to direct for the Sega Game Gear console as well, such as the launch title Super Monaco GP. His work on the sequel, Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II, was particularly memorable, as he had the opportunity to meet with Ayrton Senna.[1]

From 1984 to 1991, Katsuhiro Hasegawa had been part of Sega R&D 2, but then became part of Sega CS2 after a corporate restructure. While he still continued to focus on Game Gear, he would also have some involvement with the department's home console efforts, like Streets of Rage 2 and Dark Wizard. Hasegawa stayed with CS2 as its Game Gear development team morphed into Sega CS5, but in 1995 began working with producer Hiroshi Aso on several Mega Drive games, as well as the Game Gear game Ninku, and the two together worked with Scarab to develop Hasegawa's debut on Sega Saturn: Godzilla Rettoushinkan.

Katsuhiro Hasegawa then began almost exclusively producing and directing Saturn games, most of them ports developed by third-parties. The most notable of these may be Resident Evil, and he produced further ports in the series to the Sega Dreamcast. After producing Biohazard Code: Veronica Kanzenban, he instead began producing PC titles, such as J.League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! Bonus Pack.[7] By 2004 he was part of the Mobile Business Dept. and was producing mobile releases in the Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou[8] and Shining franchises.[2][8]

Production history

Magazine articles

Main article: Katsuhiro Hasegawa/Magazine articles.

Interviews

Some or all of the following content should be mirrored on Sega Retro (or Retro CDN).

Photographs

Main article: Photos of Katsuhiro Hasegawa

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://sega.jp/fb/album/06_sdi/interview1.html (Wayback Machine: 2013-06-23 05:02)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 http://sega.jp/segavoice/vol06/ (Wayback Machine: 2008-01-23 22:32)
  3. Harmony, "1993 5-6" (JP; 1993-05-20), page 15
  4. Mega Drive Fan, "December 1991" (JP; 1991-11-08), page 83
  5. Mega Drive Fan, "August 1991" (JP; 1991-07-08), page 115
  6. https://www.sega.jp/fb/album/06_sdi/interview1.html
  7. http://sega.jp/fb/album/06_sdi/memories.html (Wayback Machine: 2013-06-23 04:58)
  8. 8.0 8.1 http://sega.jp/segavoice/vol34 (Wayback Machine: 2009-06-30 09:44)
  9. File:Hokuto no Ken MD credits.pdf
  10. File:Dragon Crystal GG credits.pdf
  11. File:GG Shinobi GG credits.pdf
  12. File:Pro Yakyuu Super League 91 MD credits.pdf
  13. File:Ax Battler GG credits.pdf
  14. File:Batman Returns GG credits.pdf
  15. File:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 GG credits.pdf
  16. File:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 SMS credits.pdf
  17. File:GG Shinobi II GG credits.pdf
  18. File:Streets of Rage 2 MD credits.pdf
  19. File:Batman Returns SMS credits.pdf
  20. 20.0 20.1 File:Jurassic Park SMS credits.pdf
  21. 21.0 21.1 File:Dark Wizard MCD JP credits.pdf
  22. 22.0 22.1 File:Dark Wizard MCD credits.pdf
  23. 23.0 23.1 File:Sonic Chaos SMS credits.pdf
  24. 24.0 24.1 File:Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine SMS credits.pdf
  25. 25.0 25.1 File:Deep Duck Trouble GG credits.pdf
  26. File:Asterix and the Secret Mission GG credits.pdf
  27. File:Sonic Drift GG credits.pdf
  28. File:Bare Knuckle III MD credits.pdf
  29. File:Streets of Rage 3 MD credits.pdf
  30. File:Coca-Cola Kid GG credits.pdf
  31. 31.0 31.1 File:Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse GG US Manual.pdf, page 10
  32. File:Sonic Drift 2 GG credits.pdf
  33. File:Pro Striker Final Stage MD credits.pdf
  34. File:Kishin Douji Zenki GG credits.pdf
  35. 35.0 35.1 File:Tails Adventures GG credits.pdf
  36. File:GodzillaRS_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
  37. File:NinkuTYnD_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
  38. File:Cyber Troopers Virtual On Saturn credits.pdf
  39. File:ChoujikuuYousaiMacross_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
  40. File:Lost World GG credits.pdf
  41. File:Sonic R Saturn credits.pdf