Sega recently published a feature looking back over its 30-year relationship with NVIDIA, from the early days of 3D graphics through to the technology being used for the upcoming Virtua Fighter Crossroads.
It includes comments from Yu Suzuki, both in the article and in an accompanying video, in which he recalls Sega’s approach to developing cutting-edge 3D technology in the 1990s, his first meeting with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and his impressions on seeing the latest Virtua Fighter in action.
We have translated some of the highlights from Suzuki's comments below.
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| The Sega × NVIDIA event held in Akihabara in July 2026. Image: SEGA / @sega_official |
Bringing Arcade Technology to the Home
During the early 1990s, Sega was at the forefront of the transition from 2D graphics to real-time 3D polygons. Its MODEL 1 arcade hardware powered titles including Virtua Racing in 1992 and Virtua Fighter the following year.
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Looking back at Sega’s development approach at the time, Suzuki explains that the arcade business provided an opportunity to experiment with advanced technology before adapting the knowledge gained for home consoles:
“We would take on advanced technology in the arcades, then bring the know-how we gained into the home-console space. To put it in more impressive terms, it was like an F1 team taking technology developed through Formula One and applying it to ordinary road cars.”
With Sega looking toward increasingly sophisticated 3D graphics, the company began exploring the development of dedicated graphics hardware with a number of companies. One of these was NVIDIA, which at the time was still a young start-up.
Why 3D? From Sea Slugs to Virtua Fighter
In the accompanying video, Suzuki was asked why he had been so drawn to 3D graphics as the game industry began making the transition from 2D to 3D in the early 1990s.
He explained that one of the most technically challenging goals at the time was the real-time rendering of soft-bodied creatures:
“Back then, being able to render something like a sea slug, a soft-bodied creature, in real time was at the cutting edge of 3D technology. It was extremely difficult, and I wanted to take on that challenge.”
However, Suzuki also had to consider how such technology could be turned into a commercially viable game:
“But even if you make a sea slug, it isn't going to sell as a game. You can't make a living from that. So I thought, perhaps the answer was people. If you can make a person move, you can turn that into a game. And that led to Virtua Fighter.”
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| A sea slug shown in Sega’s video while Suzuki discusses the challenge of rendering soft-bodied creatures in real time. Image: SEGA |
Meeting Jensen Huang
Suzuki recalls that when he first met NVIDIA co-founder Jensen Huang, their business discussion soon turned toward Virtua Fighter and graphics technology:
“Jensen had come to talk business, but he was enthusiastically talking to me about my games. I found out later that he was a fan, but I remember Virtua Fighter leading us into a deep discussion about things like shading and texture mapping.”
The two met again in July 2026 at an NVIDIA event held in Akihabara, attended by representatives from both companies.
“Seeing Jensen again after such a long time was nostalgic. It felt as though I had gone back to those days.”
Sega and NVIDIA’s relationship would continue through NVIDIA’s early NV1 graphics chip and an ultimately cancelled joint project for its successor, the NV2. Although Sega eventually chose a different technological direction, the companies maintained their relationship over the following decades.
Suzuki’s Impressions of the New Virtua Fighter
At the July event, gameplay from Virtua Fighter Crossroads was demonstrated running on NVIDIA’s latest hardware.
For Suzuki, one striking aspect was the enormous increase in computing power since the days when the original Virtua Fighter was being developed:
“Things that even the supercomputers of the time couldn’t do are now running on a laptop.”
However, Suzuki also recognized elements of the thinking behind the original games in the new title:
“There was also Virtua Fighter RPG, which was one of my earlier project concepts. Crossroads has an RPG element to it, and there are quite a few things where I find myself thinking that if I were making Virtua Fighter with today’s technology, I’d probably do that too. So I feel that the values and ideal vision of Virtua Fighter have clearly been passed down in its DNA.”
He also commented on how the fundamental principles of the series are continuing beyond its original creator:
“The core principles of Virtua Fighter, and the things that really matter, are being carried forward even without me.”
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| Yu Suzuki commenting on Virtua Fighter Crossroads in Sega’s accompanying video. Image: SEGA |
Taking on the Unknown
Toward the end of the interview, Suzuki and former Sega president Shoichiro Irimajiri were asked what message they would give to future creators.
Suzuki responded with an analogy about venturing into unexplored territory:
“You head into the mountains where nobody else wants to go, only to discover that they're full of matsutake.*”
* Matsutake are highly prized mushrooms in Japan.
Rather than avoiding something simply because the outcome is unknown, Suzuki suggested that uncertainty itself provides a reason to try:
“Instead of not doing something because you don’t know, try it precisely because you don’t know. Once you see the result, you’ll be able to see which direction to go next.”
He concluded:
“I suppose my message would be that I want people to keep taking on new challenges.”
The comments reflect an approach that has characterized much of Suzuki’s career, from Sega’s early experiments with 3D graphics through to the development of Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter and later titles.
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