Sega Technical Institute

Sega Technical Institute logo, as seen in the opening of Comix Zone.

The Sega Technical Institute was a video game development division of Sega based in the United States, unlike the AM divisions which were based in Japan.

STI was at one time an elite organization within Sega of America that developed well-received games such as Die Hard Arcade (the result of a team-up between STI and successful arcade game developers AM1), Comix Zone, Kid Chameleon and The Ooze. STI's focus was to create character properties that could be built into a franchise.

Although the original Sonic the Hedgehog was developed in Japan by Sonic Team, the Sega Technical Institute held the principal responsibility for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, assisted by members of Japanese development teams, including several members of the original Sonic Team such as Yuji Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara. However, only the Japanese members of STI developed Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles; the American developers worked on Sonic Spinball instead. Game development luminaries Mark Cerny and Stieg Hedlund were at one time part of the organization.

Softography

• Kid Chameleon (1992)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) (also with Sonic Team)
• Sonic Spinball (1993) (also with Sonic Team)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) (also with Sonic Team)
• Sonic & Knuckles (1994) (also withSonic Team)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) (also with Sonic Team)
• Comix Zone (1995)
• The Ooze (1995)
• Die Hard Arcade (1996) (also with WOW Entertainment)
• Sonic X-treme (1996) (also with Sonic Team But Cancelled)
• NFL '97 (1996) (also with GameTek)