20 Facts About Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and businessman.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi formerly worked for Sega as a producer in their Sega AM3 'arcade machines' team, developing games like Sega Rally Championship and Sega Touring Car Championship, before moving on to become the head of Sega's United Game Artists division, the team responsible for Rez and Space Channel 5.

One of the influences for Tetsuya Mizuguchi joining the game industry was a photograph of NASA's view VR headset.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi went on to develop the acclaimed racing simulator, Sega Rally Championship, which was influential in the racing space, inspiring future racing game franchises like Colin McRae Rally and the rally segments of Gran Turismo.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi recognized what he observed as synesthesia and decided to focus on rhythm-based music games where he co-created Space Channel 5, Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Rez.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi cited the changes in the corporate culture after the Sega-Sammy merger and viewed that as an obstacle to what he wanted to do.

Later, to coincide with a Microsoft event at Tokyo Game Show in 2005, Tetsuya Mizuguchi announced that Q Entertainment was working on an action game called Ninety-Nine Nights.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi oversaw the development of Gunpey, an update on the puzzle franchise originally created by Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi's development team, Koto Laboratory.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi put an all-new team in charge of the project, with the task of revitalizing the series, and completing the game in time for the PlayStation Vita's North American and European launch.

Besides designing video games, Tetsuya Mizuguchi has expressed interest in directing music videos.

One of the music videos included in Lumines II for the song Heavenly Star by Genki Rockets was directed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who co-wrote the lyrics of the song.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi is known for collaborating with various DJs and music producers for the soundtracks of his games, including Ken Ishii, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, and Mondo Grosso.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi speaks English, and conducts the majority of his interviews with Western media exclusively in English.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a specially appointed professor teaching at Keio Media Design university.

In 2014, Tetsuya Mizuguchi left Q Entertainment and founded Enhance, Inc.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi had wanted for many years to produce a music-based game around Tetris, but its licensing had been held by Electronic Arts, making it difficult to use, which led him to develop Lumines instead.

Around 2012, Tetsuya Mizuguchi began speaking with Henk Rogers, the founder of The Tetris Company that now owns the rights to Tetris.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi said that the goal of the game was "to amplify and enhance that same magical feeling where you just can't get it out of your head, and not just the falling shapes, but all the visuals, the sounds, the music".

In 2006, Tetsuya Mizuguchi pursued his love of technology and electronic music, founding the band Genki Rockets with a consistent group of collaborators, including songwriter and producer Kenji Tamai, as well as singers Rei Yasuda and Nami Miyahara.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi would write all of the album's lyrics and contribute melodic ideas to Tamai, who would then work on the tracks in the studio.