Last week, SEGA Japan conducted a fan survey whose results were to be announced live during the SEGA Fes event held in Akihabara.
Kensaku Nishimura (left), Yosuke Okunari (center), Hiroyuki Miyazaki (right).
Here we will discuss the results of each of the three categories and highlight some interesting comments that SEGA's presenters made about them.
If you would rather see only a brief summary of the results across all categories, skip to the final image in this article.
The Presenters
It is worth briefly introducing the three men in the video, as they have extensive backgrounds in game creation and production within SEGA:
- Hiroyuki Miyazaki: lead producer on several games in the SEGA AGES remake series and later titles such as Bayonetta. He is now an executive manager at SEGA.
- Kensaku Nishimura: public relations and marketing. He was part of the SEGA Hitmaker division, which created games such as Crackin' DJ Part 2 in 2001.
- Yosuke Okunari: producer/assistant producer of games and remakes, including the SEGA AGES retro rerelease series for PlayStation 2 and The House of the Dead 4 for PlayStation 3 in 2012.
About the Survey
Miyazaki explained that the idea behind the survey, which ran for three days, was conceived only at the end of the week, so they had to hurry to get it ready for voting by midday on Monday (November 14). The team that handles online questionnaires managed to finish it on time.
The three categories were Most Memorable Creation (any SEGA product, not limited to games), Most Memorable Character, and Most Anticipated Return by Fans.
During the three-day period, an impressive 16,141 votes were received. Of those, more than 3,000 represented Western fans. They noted that the votes had been filtered to remove duplicates from the same IP address, since it was possible to complete the survey multiple times. In other words, if you voted for the same option several times, only one of those votes counted.
Miyazaki also added a warning that this was only a small, quick survey and that people should not expect its results to have any influence. The other two joked that SEGA might be swayed, for example, after seeing the results of the list of franchises whose return fans anticipated most.
Miyazaki insisted that this would not be the case, but eventually relented and said that the people involved in game creation at SEGA might feel something upon seeing the survey results. Still, it is quite clear that SEGA does not want to give the impression that this survey will lead to anything definite.
Miyazaki: "The survey results will not influence decisions at SEGA (but they may feel something inside)."
One obvious problem with the way the survey was conducted is that the options provided in advance had an advantage over unlisted options that required a manual text entry. The presenters acknowledged this as part of the nature of something put together in such a hurry.
Category 1: Most Memorable Creation
In addition to the Top 10, several other positions were mentioned verbally, so here is a summary of the Top 17 in this category.
Sakura Wars, a traditional strategic RPG franchise, took first place by a wide margin. The result is unsurprising given the series' enormous success in Japan (despite its relative obscurity in the West). Shenmue narrowly missed the Top 10, finishing in 11th place.
The presenters did not have much to say about Shenmue in this category apart from noting that the series was currently being revived (probably referring to Shenmue III).
Jet Set Radio in fifth place is also an impressive result, considering that it is the only franchise in the Top 10 that was not one of the preset options.
Sakura Wars developers took part midway through the conference.
Category 2: Most Memorable Character
Unlike the previous question, Ryo Hazuki, the protagonist of Shenmue, was among the preset choices for this category.
Ryo Hazuki managed to place third on this list, which is great. The comment made when his name was revealed was a nostalgic, "Oh, yes, everyone used to buy the capsule toys..."
We can also highlight Segata Sanshiro, the Sega Saturn's "advertising man" in Japan, showing how important the console was to the Japanese. Director Yukawa, the protagonist of What's Shenmue, was a pleasant surprise in 20th place.
Category 3: Most Anticipated Return
Below are the Top 20 results in this category:
Many Western fans were surprised to see Sakura Wars in first place, mainly because many of them do not even know the franchise. But as we said earlier, despite its relative obscurity in the West, the franchise was tremendously successful in Japan, and because the survey was aimed at the Japanese public, it is no surprise that fans anticipate its return so strongly.
Virtua Fighter in fifth place was also interesting. In a survey of Japanese players, SEGA's fighting series was considered the third most important fighting-game series to them, behind only Street Fighter and Tekken. Not only is Virtua Fighter very popular in Japan, but many Western fans are eager for a Virtua Fighter 6.
The Dreamcast finished in 18th place. One presenter suggested this might represent a desire for a product such as a "Dreamcast Mini," while another said it could be a broader message asking SEGA to return to the console business.
Regarding Daytona USA: although an arcade sequel had been announced, they commented that the news had not received much publicity in Japan, which might explain why it received votes in this category.
Streets of Rage (known as Bare Knuckle in Japan): Okunari noted that he had previously made a remake of Streets of Rage (for the 3DS). There were also discussions about whether a new game in the series should be made in 2D or 3D. One opinion was that it would be better to preserve the 2D appearance of the old games while modeling and implementing fighting moves in three dimensions.
It is also interesting to see Panzer Dragoon and Eternal Arcadia (or Skies of Arcadia, as it is known in the West) on the list, as these are games for which fans frequently request HD remasters on current consoles.
As for Shenmue, the reaction was one of surprise. Miyazaki commented: "Talk of the series returning happened many times in the past, and now Yu-san is actually working on Shenmue III. I am particularly looking forward to it." He said the votes came not only from Japan but also from Europe, America, and Asia.
One of the presenters (off camera, probably Okunari) said that "Now that Shenmue III is coming, people may want to see I and II too." This helped clarify why fans voted for Shenmue in this category.
Summary of the Results
Below is a summary of the Top 10 in each category.
The archived video is available on YouTube here (in Japanese only).
What do you think of the results? Could they have some influence at SEGA despite what the presenters said?
