Naoto Ohshima (大島 直人, Ōshima Naoto) (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese artist and video game designer, best known for designing Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.[1][2] Although Yuji Naka created the original tech demo around which Sonic's gameplay was based, the character in his prototype was a ball that lacked any specific features.[3] Sonic Team considered numerous potential animal mascots before deciding on Ohshima's design, with an armadillo or hedgehog being the top choices because their spikes worked well with the concept of rolling into enemies.[2]
Naoto Ohshima | |
|---|---|
| 大島 直人 | |
 Ohshima in 2018 | |
| Born | February 26, 1964 Osaka, Japan |
| Other names | Big Island |
| Occupation(s) | Character designer, game producer |
| Employers | |
After leaving Sonic Team, Ohshima formed an independent game company called Artoon in 1999. There he went on to work on such games as Pinobee (2001), Blinx: The Time Sweeper (2002), and Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space (2004). In 2010, Artoon was absorbed into AQ Interactive, and Ohshima and other key members of Artoon left to form Arzest. Early in his career, he was credited under the nickname "Big Island" in a number of games, which is a literal translation of his family name.
Works
edit| Year | Game | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Phantasy Star | Designer |
| 1988 | Space Harrier 3-D | Artist |
| SpellCaster | Designer | |
| 1989 | Phantasy Star II | |
| Tommy Lasorda Baseball | ||
| Last Battle | Art director | |
| 1990 | Fatal Labyrinth | Designer |
| 1991 | Sonic the Hedgehog | Character designer |
| 1993 | Sonic CD | Director |
| 1995 | Knuckles Chaotix | Original character concept |
| 1996 | Nights into Dreams | Director, character designer |
| Sonic 3D Blast | Advisor | |
| 1997 | Sonic Jam | Supervisor |
| Sonic R | Graphic advisor | |
| 1998 | Burning Rangers | Director, character designer, graphic artist |
| Sonic Adventure | Event motion designer, story event coordinator | |
| 2001 | Pinobee: Wings of Adventure | Director, character designer |
| 2002 | The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood | Art director |
| Ghost Vibration | Game designer | |
| Blinx: The Time Sweeper | Director, game designer | |
| 2004 | Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space | |
| Yoshi's Universal Gravitation | Producer | |
| 2006 | Yoshi's Island DS | Senior producer |
| Blue Dragon | Executive producer | |
| 2007 | Vampire Rain | Producer |
| 2008 | Away: Shuffle Dungeon | Producer, character designer |
| 2009 | Ju-On: The Grudge | Chief producer |
| 2010 | FlingSmash | Senior producer |
| Echoshift | Producer | |
| 2011 | Wii Play: Motion | Director |
| 2014 | Yoshi's New Island | Development producer |
| 2015 | Terra Battle | Special character illustration |
| 2016 | Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games | Supervisor |
| 2017 | Hey! Pikmin | Development producer |
| 2021 | Balan Wonderworld | Development producer, character designer |
| 2023 | Sonic Superstars | |
| TBA | Hypergalactic | Writer |
References
edit- ^ Sheffield, Brandon (2009-12-04). "Out of the Blue: Naoto Ohshima Speaks". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
- ^ a b "The Essential 50 Part 28 - Sonic the Hedgehog". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
- ^ "Sonic's Architect: GI Interviews Hirokazu Yasuhara". Game Informer. Vol. 13, no. 124. August 2003. pp. 114–116.
Further reading
edit- Hester, Blake (February 8, 2016). "Sonic the Hedgehog's long, great, rocky history". Polygon. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
- McWhertor, Michael (March 21, 2018). "The origins of Sonic the Hedgehog". Polygon. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
External links
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