(born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese artist and video game designer, best known for designing
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
and
Dr. Eggman
Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, Oh ...
characters from
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'' franchise.
Although
Yuji Naka created the original tech demo around which ''Sonic'' gameplay was based, the character in his prototype was a ball that lacked any specific features.
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.
After leaving Sonic Team, Ohshima formed an independent game company called
Artoon. There he went on to work on such games ''as
Pinobee'' and ''
Blinx: The Time Sweeper'', and in 2004, the sequel to ''Blinx'', ''
Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space''. In 2010, Artoon was absorbed into
AQ Interactive. That same year, he 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
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
.
Works
References
Further reading
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External links
Sega Stars: Naoto Ohshima
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohshima, Naoto
1964 births
Japanese video game designers
Japanese video game directors
Living people
Sega people
Video game artists