Sonic Team

Sonic Team (ソニックチーム) is a label and production team for Sega's development and supervision of the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise. It first became used for the original staff of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. It became a consistent name in 1996, with the release of the non-Sonic game, NiGHTS Into Dreams. Since then Sonic Team has existed within the corporate divisions of Sega CS3, Sega Software R&D Dept. 8, Global Entertainment R&D and currently Sega CS2. It was it's own standalone division and subsdiary from July of 2001 up to April of 2005.

History

1990-1997

Back in 1990, Sega had one goal in mind - to create a game that would rival Super Mario Bros. and create a worldwide hit. Among the many developers who began conceiving proposals were Naoto Ohshima and Yuji Naka. Having previously worked on the Phantasy Star series together, the pair set off to create the concept that would evolve into the original Sonic the Hedgehog. With Ohshima creating the title character and Naka working on the engine, Hirokazu Yasuhara was brought on to create the level designs after the project was approved by the company. In addition to programming, Yuji Naka was also the Project Manager of the team, having already several producer credits on his name beforehand. Through the many twists and turns of development, the game was finally set to be released.

With the title becoming an international success, Naka decided in order to get better feedback from the western market, he decided to join the American based Sega Technical Institute, headed by Mark Cerny. Coming to America along with Yasuhara (who had been scheduled to become a part of STI before Sonic the Hedgehog had begun development), the pair would go on to continue the main line of Sonic titles that would define the Mega Drive's library. Though no longer in the game's credits, the Sonic Team moniker would live on the Japanese packaging for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and the Ohshima-led Sonic CD developed in Japan.

After the completion of Sonic & Knuckles, Yasuhara chose to remain in America, while Naka returned to Sega of Japan, heading up his own new division Sega CS3. Once there, he teamed back up with Ohshima, the two resurrecting the Sonic Team moniker to work on a new project that had nothing to do with their namesake, NiGHTS Into Dreams. Most members of the Japanese side of STI returning to their native land. Sonic Team wanted their Saturn-era work to show they weren't afraid to try new ideas and concepts, as demonstrated not only by NiGHTS but their follow-up title, Burning Rangers. The only Sonic-related output was the compilation Sonic Jam, along with some supervised work on Flickies' Island and Sonic R. Though he would remain with the company until 2002, Sonic R was also the last Sonic Team-related production Yasuhara had any direct involvement with, eventually departing to work for game studio Naughty Dog, after working on some select Sega Europe projects.

1998-2001

In the twilight moments of the 32-bit era, Sonic Team decided to return to their namesake to create the first fully 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title. Though initial development began on Sega Saturn hardware, Sonic Adventure would instead become one of the flagship video games for the Sega Dreamcast, in one final bid by Sega as a whole to return to the successes they once felt in the early 90's. Met with critical acclaim, it was also the last title Ohshima worked on with the team, leaving the company to co-found his own studio Artoon. Sonic Adventure signalized a new era for Sonic Team, with Yuji Naka no longer leading the programming and neither having Oshima or Yasuhara directing. Takashi Iizuka, who worked on Sonic 3 & Knuckles succeeded Yasuhara in directing. Kazuyuki Hoshino, designer of Amy and Metal Sonic, succeeded Oshima. On the programming side, 1995 hire Tetsu Katano was brought as the lead engineer from then on.

In Japan, Sonic Team made strides in online gaming with Chu Chu Rocket and Phantasy Star Online. Samba De Amigo was also a success project for the arcade market. Sonic Team USA, headed by Takashi Iizuka, on the other hand, focused primarily with Sonic. Though their first official assignment was simply making sure Sonic Adventure was ready for a western release, the real reason they came into existence was made clear with 2001's Sonic Adventure 2. It was also around this time that Sonic Team began their long-term partnership with Dimps, who worked to create Sonic Pocket Adventure, and become involved in nearly every handheld Sonic title that would follow.

In April 2000, as Sega began reeling from the financial woes they hoped the Dreamcast would erase, the decision was made to have the main development departments of Sega, became semi-autonomous. With R&D8 becoming Sonic Team Ltd, the group continued in earnest to create quality games. But even this corporate action and the impending release of Adventure 2 could not stop Sega from dropping out of the hardware market, Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 becoming the last Sonic Team title released on Sega hardware in the western world.

2002-2006

Releasing titles on a variety of systems including the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2, Sonic Team strove to still prove itself as a viable entity in the everchanging gaming landscape. Continuing to produce titles for existing franchises such as Sonic Heroes and Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, the team still experimented with new ideas including Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. 2002 also saw Sonic Team's reboot of the Puyo Puyo series, which was bought by Sega after Compile was forced to go out of business. The first game they worked on, the Arcade title Puyo Pop Fever, also became the last Sonic Team game for the Dreamcast in Japan. Continued financial woes for the whole of Sega saw yet another restructuring, gradually turning their semi-independent nine studio structure back into a uniform game development like in the past. Sonic Team gained members who worked on the Space Channel 5 and Roommania games, as well as the action/platform games Shinobi, Nightshade and Jet Set Radio.

Feel the Magic XY/XX and The Rub Rabbits! for the Nintendo DS, and the multi-platform Sonic Riders series.

It was during this time that Sonic Team USA, now busy with the development of Shadow the Hedgehog, changed their name to Sega Studios USA. Directed by Iizuka as had been the case for the last few major Sonic titles, the game was met with less than favorable reviews.

With Sega looking to set itself back on a profitable path, the pressure for Sonic Team to create on a new generation of consoles began. At 2005's E3, Yuji Naka unveiled the initial footage for what would become Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, Sonic's first foray on a next-gen console. Though many thought Naka would assume a role in the project similar to what he had with Adventure, it was less than a year later that he announced his departure from the company. Creating his own studio Prope, Naka's new venture was completely autonomous though it did secure some financial backing from Sega. Between his announcing and actual resignation in May of 2006, Sonic Team also revealed that the previously announced Phantasy Star Universe would be ported to the Xbox 360, which became the group's first official release on the seventh generation of video game hardware.

With Naka's departure signaling the end of an era, the sudden changes in management coupled with unending pressure from the powers-that-be helped to doom the tent-pole title Sonic 2006. Meant to be a complete reinvention of the franchise, it was forced to hit shelves before it was ready, being released with much fanfare but met with just as much, if not more, disappointment.

2007-Present

Back in the United States, Sega Studios USA finished its final game, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for the Nintendo Wii. Met with mixed reviews, that, along with the failure of Sonic 2006, prompted Sega to merge the two studios back into a single entity. Returning to Japan, Takashi Iizuka was promoted to become the head of Sonic Team in 2008. With this latest shift, the development group looked to refocus their energies on their core brands, including Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, and Sonic the Hedgehog. 2007 saw the release of the first Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, a joint effort between Sonic Team, Nintendo and Sega Sports Design R&D Dept., which would become a bi-yearly series. Sonic Unleashed, released a year later, was the team's first major overhaul of the franchise since 1998, which would continue to evolve with Colours, Generations, and Sonic Lost World, attempting to preserve the core Sonic experience while experimenting with new ideas to keep things fresh.

2011 saw the team not just celebrate Sonic's 20th anniversary, but also the Puyo Puyo franchise, with the release of Puyo Puyo 7, co-developed with h.a.n.d.