Naoto Ohshima
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Naoto Ōshima |
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Place of birth: Osaka, Japan |
Date of birth: 1964-02-26[1] (age 60) |
Employment history: Sega Enterprises (1987-09[1] – )
Divisions:
Arzest (2010 – )
|
Role(s): Artist, Character Designer, Director |
Education: Kyoto Seika University (1986) |
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Naoto Ōshima (大島 直人) is a Japanese artist and former Sega of Japan and Sonic Team developer, artist, and director, most known as the original designer of the characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman. Ohshima gained notoriety at Sega for creating characters and playing integral roles in the development of games like Phantasy Star, NiGHTS into Dreams, and Sonic Adventure.
After leaving Sonic Team, he co-founded (and later became president of) an independent game company called Artoon. There he went on to work on such games as Pinobee and Blinx the Time Sweeper. In 2010, Ohshima and other key Artoon members left the company to form Arzest, another video game development company. Ohshima currently holds the title of Executive Vice President.
Contents
Career
Naoto Ohshima initially worked at a design company, hoping to gain experience needed to start a career as a manga artist. Dissatisfied there, he changed jobs to work for a video game developer where his work could make children happy in the same way Santa Claus gives children joy, so he started working at Sega Enterprises in September of 1987[5]. As a graphic designer there, his first project was Phantasy Star[5], where he designed the character Odin, monsters like the Werebat and Vampire and some visual effects[6]. He worked on a couple other Master System games the following year. After witnessing programmer Yuji Naka struggling during development of Phantasy Star II, Ohshima asked if he could help out, and was given heaps of work to do on his Mega Drive debut[5]. He generally disliked not having something to do, so was involved with many games, including the Master System versions of games Rambo III and Altered Beast (neither of which were released in Japan) and Hokuto no Ken: Shin Seikimatsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu[5] (released as Last Battle outside of Japan]). In the case of Hokuto no Ken, he received great praise from users for his artwork[7].
After a cancelled project named Twinkle Star[5], Naoto Ohshima then became the character of Sega's new mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, for the titular Sonic the Hedgehog, reuniting with Phantasy Star programmer Yuji Naka and Fatal Labyrinth game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara. Ohshima was also responsible for the concept art of all the in-game zones[2], which would then be adapted by Jina Ishiwatari and Rieko Kodama. Naoto Ohshima has also been cited as the director of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive[8], a role he would reprise with Sonic the Hedgehog CD, basing it around a concept he had earlier in the development of the original Sonic: time travel[5].
Like Twinkle Star, Ohshima's next project would end up being cancelled: Fighting Circus. Following its cancellation in late 1994, he would once again team up with Yuji Naka and reestablish Sonic Team, to direct NiGHTS Into Dreams, as well as design the character of NiGHTS.
Production history
Games
- Rocky (Master System; 1987) — Artist (as Rocky Nao)
- Phantasy Star (Master System; 1987) — Design[9] (as Rockhy Nao)
- Space Harrier 3D (Master System; 1988) — Art Designer (as Bigisland)
- Super Racing (Master System; 1988) — Title Screen Artist
- Kujaku Ou (Master System; 1988) — Designer (as Big Island)
- Phantasy Star II (Mega Drive; 1989) — Designers[10] (as BigIsland)
- Super League (Mega Drive; 1989) — Fielder Designer[11] (as Big Island)
- Altered Beast (Master System; 1989) — Artist
- Hokuto no Ken: Shin Seikimatsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu (Mega Drive; 1989) — Art Director[12] (as BigIsland)
- SpellCaster (Master System; 1989) — Designer (as Big Island)
- Fatal Labyrinth (Mega Drive; 1990) — Designer[13] (as Big Island)
- Sonic Eraser (Mega Drive; 1991) — Special Thanks[14] (as BigIsland)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive; 1991) — Character Design[15] (as BigIsland)
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Mega-CD; 1993) — Director[16] (as Naoto Oshima)
- SegaSonic the Hedgehog (System 32; 1993) — Special Thanks (as N.Ohshima)
- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Mega Drive; 1993) — Sound Test Sprite (Japan-only)
- Game no Kanzume Vol. 2 (Mega-CD; 1994) — Designer[13] (as Big Island)
- Chaotix (32X; 1995) — Original Character Concept[17]
- NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Director[18]
- NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — NiGHTS Designer[18]
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Windows PC; 1996) — Director[19]
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Mega Drive; 1996) — Advisors (SOJ)[20] (as Naoto Oshima)
- Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Director
- Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Visual Designers
- Sonic Jam (Saturn; 1997) — Supervisor[21]
- Sonic R (Saturn; 1997) — Graphic Advisors[22] (as Naoto Oshima)
- Burning Rangers (Saturn; 1998) — Director[23]
- Burning Rangers (Saturn; 1998) — Graphic Artist[23]
- Burning Rangers (Saturn; 1998) — Character Designer[23]
- Sonic R (Windows PC; 1998) — Graphic advisors (as Naoto Oshima)
- Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — Story event coordinator
- Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — Event motion designers
- Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — CG movie producer
- Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast; 1998) — Opening movie editor
- Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis (Game Boy Advance; 2006) — Character Design[24] (as BigIsland)
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Xbox 360; 2011) — Director
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (PlayStation 3; 2011) — Director
- Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS; 2016) — Supervisor
- Sonic Superstars (PlayStation 4; 2023) — Development Producer
- Sonic Superstars (PlayStation 5; 2023) — Development Producer
- Sonic Superstars (Nintendo Switch; 2023) — Development Producer
- Sonic Superstars (Epic Games Store; 2023) — Development Producer
- Sonic Superstars (PlayStation 4; 2023) — Game Designers
- Sonic Superstars (PlayStation 5; 2023) — Game Designers
- Sonic Superstars (Nintendo Switch; 2023) — Game Designers
- Sonic Superstars (Epic Games Store; 2023) — Game Designers
- Sonic Superstars (PlayStation 4; 2023) — Character Designer for Trip
- Sonic Superstars (PlayStation 5; 2023) — Character Designer for Trip
- Sonic Superstars (Nintendo Switch; 2023) — Character Designer for Trip
- Sonic Superstars (Epic Games Store; 2023) — Character Designer for Trip
- Fighting Circus: Elandoll (Saturn; unreleased) — Director
- Iri-san (Dreamcast; unreleased) — Designer
Videos
- Sonic the Hedgehog (VHS; 1996) — Production Directors (as Naoto Oshima)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (DVD; 1999) — Production Directors (as Naoto Oshima)
- Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony () — Special Thanks
Music
- NiGHTS Original Soundtrack (CD; 1996) — Supervisor
- Sonic Team "PowerPlay" (CD; 1998) — Special Thanks
- Sonic The Hedgehog "Passion & Pride" Anthems with Attitude from the Sonic Adventure Era (CD; 2014) — Thanks to (as Naoto Oshima)
Magazine articles
- Main article: Naoto Ohshima/Magazine articles.
Interviews
Some or all of the following content should be mirrored on Sega Retro (or Retro CDN). |
- Interview: Naoto Ohshima (2009-12-04) by Gamasutra
- Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima interview by Saturn Power (July 1997)
Photographs
- Main article: Photos of Naoto Ohshima
External links
- Naoto Ohshima at Twitter
- Naoto Ohshima at Instagram
- Sega Stars: Naoto Ohshima article by Ken Horowitz at Sega-16
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sega Magazine, "1997-01 (1997-01)" (JP; 1996-12-13), page 13
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/jina-ishiwatari-tsukaharas-largely-unrecognized-contribution-to-sonic.41246/
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "1996-01 (1996-01-12,26)" (JP; 1995-12-22), page 182
- ↑ Interview: Naoto Ohshima (2009-12-04) by Gamasutra
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 http://shmuplations.com/sonicteam/
- ↑ PHANTA! Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary Cosplay Book + Developer Interview Supplement, Pg. 9
- ↑ Sega Players Enjoy Club, "Vol. 4" (JP; 1989-10-20), page 6
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "1996-01 (1996-01-12,26)" (JP; 1995-12-22), page 183
- ↑ File:Phantasy Star SMS credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Phantasy Star II MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Super League MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Hokuto no Ken MD credits.pdf
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 File:Fatal Labyrinth MCD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic Eraser MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic the Hedgehog MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic CD MCD JP credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Chaotix 32X good ending credits.pdf
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 File:NiGHTS into Dreams Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic CD PC DirectX good ending credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic 3D Blast MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic Jam Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic R Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 File:Burning Rangers JP Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ File:SonicGenesis GBA US manual.pdf, page 18