TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24
The Little Fella in your CD-ROM Drive
The Little Fella in your CD-ROM Drive
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So, the team behind Sonic 1 consisted of a variety of people, but there are three contributors who are the most generally important:
Yuji Naka, the controversial “creator of Sonic” who was behind the coding of the original game. He’s the reason Sonic can move and roll on screen.
Naoto Oshima, the character and world designer. He’s the reason Sonic looks like Sonic does.
And then there’s the one who sadly got away:
Hirokazu Yasuhara
Credited in-game as “Carol Yas”, his contribution was the actual design of the game. He’s the reason Sonic plays like it does, and he was the one who actually designed the levels. Here you can see his sketch sheet, going over enemy designs for Sonic 2.
If it wasn’t obvious, he’s the guy behind the “Sonic the Sketchhog” style. And here’s another contribution:
You can see here that his stuff for Sonic 1 was a lot more basic. You can also see that Marble Zone was supposed to be Zone 3, with Labyrinth Zone being Zone 2 until LATE into development (like a month or less out from the release of the game).
Now, I don’t want this thread to devolve into arguments about Sonic design philosophy and gameplay style. No matter the gameplay style, the shuttle loop is an important part of Sonic’s world and level design, being a speed obstacle in the classic games and being a transitional piece between level chunks in later games. The creation of the loop is something often credited erroneously to Yuji Naka, but instead it was Yasuhara who came up with it, with Naka being the one to code it into the game.
The point of this thread is to give props to a less discussed Sonic creator, as his work would define how Sonic worlds and levels would be made even to this day. But I don’t want to discredit the other people who helped make the game. The point is that anything great is a group effort and crediting one person as “the creator of ____” does a disservice to the larger crew. Without Naka’s programming, Sonic wouldn’t be an actual game. Without Oshima’s designs, the series wouldn’t appeal to people as immediately as it does. Without Yasuhara’s level designs, the game would play totally differently. And many other people contributed to the game too, like Masato Nakamura being behind the legendary music of the first two games, which would begin the tradition of Sonic’s soundtracks being amazing. AND THIS IS TO SAY NOTHING OF THE FOLKS OVER AT ANCIENT WHO DESIGNED THE 8-BIT GAMES, CREATING A TOTALLY UNIQUE EXPERIENCE THAT PEOPLE ALSO FELL IN LOVE WITH!
It’s never a one-man show. There’s always numerous contributors whose visions all come together to make a game. So, give flowers to the folks who may not get the same love the directors get!
Yuji Naka, the controversial “creator of Sonic” who was behind the coding of the original game. He’s the reason Sonic can move and roll on screen.
Naoto Oshima, the character and world designer. He’s the reason Sonic looks like Sonic does.
And then there’s the one who sadly got away:
Hirokazu Yasuhara
Credited in-game as “Carol Yas”, his contribution was the actual design of the game. He’s the reason Sonic plays like it does, and he was the one who actually designed the levels. Here you can see his sketch sheet, going over enemy designs for Sonic 2.
If it wasn’t obvious, he’s the guy behind the “Sonic the Sketchhog” style. And here’s another contribution:
You can see here that his stuff for Sonic 1 was a lot more basic. You can also see that Marble Zone was supposed to be Zone 3, with Labyrinth Zone being Zone 2 until LATE into development (like a month or less out from the release of the game).
Now, I don’t want this thread to devolve into arguments about Sonic design philosophy and gameplay style. No matter the gameplay style, the shuttle loop is an important part of Sonic’s world and level design, being a speed obstacle in the classic games and being a transitional piece between level chunks in later games. The creation of the loop is something often credited erroneously to Yuji Naka, but instead it was Yasuhara who came up with it, with Naka being the one to code it into the game.
The point of this thread is to give props to a less discussed Sonic creator, as his work would define how Sonic worlds and levels would be made even to this day. But I don’t want to discredit the other people who helped make the game. The point is that anything great is a group effort and crediting one person as “the creator of ____” does a disservice to the larger crew. Without Naka’s programming, Sonic wouldn’t be an actual game. Without Oshima’s designs, the series wouldn’t appeal to people as immediately as it does. Without Yasuhara’s level designs, the game would play totally differently. And many other people contributed to the game too, like Masato Nakamura being behind the legendary music of the first two games, which would begin the tradition of Sonic’s soundtracks being amazing. AND THIS IS TO SAY NOTHING OF THE FOLKS OVER AT ANCIENT WHO DESIGNED THE 8-BIT GAMES, CREATING A TOTALLY UNIQUE EXPERIENCE THAT PEOPLE ALSO FELL IN LOVE WITH!
It’s never a one-man show. There’s always numerous contributors whose visions all come together to make a game. So, give flowers to the folks who may not get the same love the directors get!
