"Mr. Needlemouse" never existed?! Yuji Naka confused with Sonic's rumored code name

News from 2021.01.24 
Archived on 2021.01.24

Do you know the name "Mr. Needlemouse"?

"It's the code name of the blue hedgehog before he was named Sonic, right?" - You'd say.

Well today, this long-believed fact about Sonic's development code name was claimed to be wrong by creator of the Blue Blur - Yuji Naka-san!

The truth was unveiled today as Naka-san took the SEGA TEST, a special test which SEGA of Japan prepared as a part of SEGA 60th anniversary events for SEGA fans to test their knowledge about SEGA. Three tests were held in two days. 

https://segatest.sega.com/en/index.html

Here, Naka-san stumbled upon one of the questions which asked about Sonic the Hedgehog's code name. 

Answer options were:

A. Mr. Needlemouse

B. Mr. Speedymouse

C. Mr. Rocketmouse

D. Mr. Bluemouse

And Naka-san... didn't know any of these!

 

悔しいのでもう一度挑戦しましたがもっと判らなかった感じです。「セガの看板キャラクターであるソニック。世に出る前に彼に付けられていた名前を選べ」と言う問題が判りませんでした。作った人なのにね
セガい共通テスト受験終了！
https://t.co/9UBGxfXxfz
#SEGA60th #セガい共通テスト #SEGATEST pic.twitter.com/z3SaOyfHA1

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) January 24, 2021

"I regret the result of the last test so I tried it again, but this time I knew even less answers. I didn't get the question asking 'Sonic is the signature character of SEGA. Choose the name he had before he went public'. Even though I'm one of the creators."

- Naka Yuji

In response to his confusion, Yosuke Okunari-san, a Creative Producer at SEGA and one of the professors (i.e. SEGA employees) of SEGA TEST SEMINARS released beforehand, replied as follows:

これ、大島さんのラフの横に書かれた「Mr.ハリネズミ」という文字をアメリカ人が英訳した表現を言っているので、「ミスター・ニードルマウス」だと生みの親であっても日本人には？？？となりますよねw

— Yosuke Okunari /奥成洋輔 (@okunari) January 24, 2021

"This refers to the English translation of "Mr. Harinezumi" which Ohsima-san wrote on his sketch by Americans, so to Japanese, and even to Sonic's creator himself, "Mr. Needlemous" causes so many questions, right? (laugh)"

- Yosuke Okunari

So as he states, the expression "Mr. Needlemouse" was never used by Japanese creators, but it is a result of mistranslation of the Japanese word for 'hedgehog' by English speakers.

Naka-san's reaction to this explanation:

なんだそれ。Mr.ハリネズミだとMr.hedgehogになるのでは？誰がミスターニードルマウスと言ったのかなあ

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) January 24, 2021

"What, that doesn't make sense. Doesn't "Mr. Harinezumi" translate to "Mr. Hedgehog"? I wonder who started saying "Mr. Needlemouse"."

- Naka Yuji

多分ソースは北米ファンサイトがどこかの雑誌か映像から拾った画像かと思われますhttps://t.co/IdVCIMZgKp

— Yosuke Okunari /奥成洋輔 (@okunari) January 24, 2021

Okunari-san further explains this misunderstanding by referring to a page from SonicRetro. 

"I think the source might be the image a North-American fan site picked from some magazine or video or something."

- Yosuke Okunari

Naka-san's response:

これファンが言っていたのだとすると、世に出る前と言う問題はおかしいよね？
まあ「はり」「ねずみ」をそれぞれ英訳したんだろうけど、使った覚えのないミスターニードルマウスって違和感あるよ。まあ正解はしたけどね。

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) January 24, 2021

"If this is what fans are saying, isn't it strange that the question asks about the name before [Sonic] was made public, isnt' it? Well I guess they translated "Hari" and "Nezumi" separately, but seeing the word "Mr. Needlemouse" which was never used feels strange. I got the question correct anyway though."

- Naka Yuji

. . . . . 

To explain what happened more clearly, basically the word for hedgehog in Japanese is written like this:

ハリネズミ (harinezumi) = hedgehog

However, you could see this as a compound of two separate words, each with individual meaning:

ハリ (hari) = needle

ネズミ (nezumi) = mouse

It's likely that the person who spread the nickname Mr. Needlemouse picked these two words separately for literal translation (for whatever reason) instead of just taking the whole word meaning hedgehog.

🔵According to Naka-san and Okunari-san, the rumored Sonic’s dev code name “Mr. Needlemouse” was a misunderstanding of English speaking fans who translated Ohshima-san’s note “Mr. ハリネズミ” word to word by mistake, while it’s supposed to be translated simply as “Mr. Hedgehog”. https://t.co/Rt6xqqhVYv

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) January 24, 2021

ハリ = needle
ネズミ = mouse

But when combined,
ハリネズミ = hedgehog

The creators of Sonic are not familiar with the nickname “Mr. Needlemouse”. They know him only as Mr. Harinezumi.

So Naka-san was confused to see the question about this in SEGA TEST he took today.

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) January 24, 2021

. . . . .

...So yeah. After all these (30!) years, Naka-san finally got to know one of the standard knowledge of Sonic fans, just to deny its factfulness. Oh well.

I didn't know about it either, and for all this long I thought they were using a pun for Sonic's code name to give it a twist... but no, it was just one of those mistranslations agian. My life was a lie.

Knuttunk

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Mazin-san on Sonic CD: 'I'm outta here' or 'I'm outer here'?

News from 2019.05.09
Archived on 2019.05.26

Have you ever left the game untouched for 3 minutes long while playing Sonic CD?
Then you must have seen Sonic jumping off the stage, saying "I'm outta here'. And you've successfully lost a life.

This is Mazin-san's another unique contribution to Sonic CD, aside from that infamous 'Fun is Infinite' illustration which he addressed the other day.

And today, he spoke about his voice acting for Sonic as he found an old game magazine with an article on Sonic CD development team!

海外で出てたグッズの影響で「I'm outta here.」って浸透してたけど、自分で喋った時は「I'm outer here.」って言った記憶があってよく分からなくなってたけど、当時の雑誌の画像が出て来てやっぱりouterで合ってたｗ
ていうか私の英語の発音が悪かったんだろうｗ
ていうかみんな若いな・・・ pic.twitter.com/fLKtNFpCLc

— まぢん (@Mazin__) May 9, 2019

"Due to influence of overseas merchandise, 'I'm outta here.' is now common - but I remember saying it as 'I'm outer here.' and got confused. But now I found this image from a magazine from that time, and as I checked, I was right with 'outer'.
I guess my English pronounciation was bad. *laugh*
By the way, everyone looks so young..."
- Masato Nishimura (Mazin)


So it seems like in his script back then, it was written as 'I'm outer here'!
But that doesn't quite make sense as an English sentence in that context. I think 'I'm outta here' is correct because that means 'I'm going out of here', the shortform of a verb - which Sonic executes as he says. He is not in the state of being 'outside' of the game yet, so using 'outer' (an adjective) wouldn't fit here.

The pronounciation of both words are a similar and might sound pretty much the same to those who are not faimilar with English that much. The scriptwriter, Mazin-san and the magazine writer apparently didn't know the difference. Welp!

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More comments from Kanemaru-san on Sonic X!

News from 2019.05.08
Archived on 2019.05.13

Upon seeing the first three episodes of Japanese Sonic X released online on YouTube for free for limited time, Kanemaru-san comments further on each episode & on the interview footage to Sonic X casts!

Previous summaries:
Episode 1

Kanemaru-san on Dark Sonic

Episode 2:

Naka-san on Sonic Adventure Production Presentation from 1998!

News from 2019.05.08
Archived on 2019.05.12

A few days ago, Kanemaru-san and Naka-san looked back on the unique advertisement for Sonic Adventure with Sonic plush.

Today, Naka-san recalled on the Sonic Adventure Production Presentation, which I also mentioned in the post above.

This exciting Presentation event was held in Tokyo International Forum on August 22nd, 1998.
Official announcement from back then...: http://sonic.sega.jp/sonicadv/info/happyoukai.html

SEGA invited fans and press to this once-in-a-life opportunity to have a sneak-peek into the latest work to Sonic series presented by Yuji Naka-san, the head of Sonic Team himself.

This event was initially planned to have two shows on this day, but since the number of people gathered to join the presentation exceeded the expectation of SEGA greatly, they had to add the third show on spot.
(from a report by MAYON)

The event included real-time gameplay of the product on Dreamcast with Naka-san's explanations, a video documentary on Sonic Team's business trip to mid-south America for collecting materials for ideas and aesthetics of the game, recording of 'Sonic!' call by the audience together with Segata Sanshiro, and live performance of 'Open Your Heart' with Jun Senoue-san.

What does Naka-san remember from the preparation for this memorable event?

ソニックアドベンチャー制作発表会懐かしいです。この時のドリームキャストってチップの開発タイミングの途中だったので実際の50％位しかパフォーマンスが出ていなかったのになんとか実機デモをお見せしたくてみんなかなり頑張っていました。南米の取材旅行楽しかったなあhttps://t.co/eGiog3h3G8

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) May 8, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"Sonic Adventure Production Presentation, how nostalgic. Back then Dreamcast was still in development of its chip and had only 50% performance, but we definitely wanted to demonstrate the gameplay so everyone worked very hard. The trip to mid-south America was fun."RT

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 8, 2019

Oh wow, so despite the hardware not having full memory. the Sonic Team did their very best to fit everything in to make the live-demo of the game happen! Hats off to them.

You can watch the summary of this presentation event including 'Sonic Team Story' (documentary of Sonic Team's business trip to mid-south America) in this VHS of the event which was distributed for the members of "SEGA Partners" back then.

Here is one Naka-san mentioned in his tweet & the one you can watch with English subtitles which I helped out a little bit.
Enjoy!




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Kanemaru-san on Dark Sonic in Sonic X!

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.07

Kanemaru-san looks back on his voice acting for Sonic's transformation into Dark Sonic in Sonic X!
This is probably the first time we hear about it from him. I'm excited!

「クリスに…何をした」
あの台詞は、本来のソニックのキャラクターから離れた賭けでした。
愛する者を守りたいがゆえの怒りに満ちた反撃、という気持ちが根底から沸き上がれば自然と抑えた声になる。

※台本メモから

— 金丸淳一VoiceActor&Vocalist Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) May 5, 2019

理想の完全無欠像じゃなく、そういう人間ぽい「不完全性の中の魅力」を持ち合わせているからこそ、観ている人は共感してくれるのだと僕は信じています。

— 金丸淳一VoiceActor&Vocalist Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) May 5, 2019

🔵 Kanemaru-san on his acting with Dark Sonic in Sonic X:
" 'What...have you done to Chris?'
That line was a gamble as it was off from Sonic's original character.
From my memo on script: a counter attack filled with rage to protect loved ones - if this feeling -

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

- arises from the bottom of one's heart, the voice naturally becomes low."

"I believe that because a character is not an perfect ideal without any flaw but one with such 'charm within imperfection', people watching them resonate with them."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

So that's his thought on Dark Sonic!
He also knew that Dark Sonic is off from Sonic's original character, and it was a risk they took for the anime original story. Some liked it, some did not, but Kanemaru-san thought very well about Sonic's action and emotion to make it sound realistic. The beauty of imperfection - that's what he wanted to tell us through Dark Sonic.

How did you like Dark Sonic? The acting was pretty different between Japanese and English versions. Which version is more convincing to you?

English...

Or Japanese?


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Maekawa-san on SA2 analysis - "Did SA2 take Sonic's life?"

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.06

Do you like heavy and serious stories for Sonic?

Then you definitely like Maekawa-san's script.

He is the man who wrote scenario&plot for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, and Sonic and the Black Knight, along with his other contributions to the series as game planner and designer.

And today, he stumbled upon a fan's analysis on how Sonic Adventure 2, for it being a masterpiece, "ended Sonic":

「ソニアド2がソニックの息の根を止めた」😱😱😱 https://t.co/8cdeRqwzox

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

マリオとの比較はマトを得ているカモ。
今でこそ仲良く並んでスポーツに興じているが昔はシノギを削るライバルだったし、マリオに勝つために、敢えてマリオとは違う路線に突き進もうとしていたのは確か。

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

あのまま進んでいれば今のアベンジャーズになれた可能性も…いや、ないか😅

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

取り敢えずソニアド2のシナリオ書いた奴は死刑で👍

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

Here are my translations and response:

🔵Maekawa-san reacted to a Sonic fan's theory analysing that SA2 was what took Sonic's life as its complicated story unlike simple 'defeat Eggman because he is the baddy' caused fans' high expectations and inability to accept light story with easygoing attitude of Sonic anymore:

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

" 'SA2 was what took Sonic's life' 😱😱😱"

"Their comparison to Mario might be true.
Today they can stand side by side to enjoy sports together, but back then they were rivals, and it's true that we were trying to go for other direction than Mario in order to win against him."
-

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

- "If we had chosen to pursue that direction further, Sonic might had the possibility to become today's Avengers... Or probably not."
-

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

- "Alright, so the guy who wrote SA2's scenario gets death penalty👍"- Shiro Maekawa

No Maekawa-san! You brought us so many more great stories like Sonic Heroes, Sonic 06, Sonic and the Black Knight. You deserve to be hired at SEGA again to tell us more about Sonic's adventures!

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

I knew he was joking in his last tweet, but still I felt that he was shocked by hearing this and wanted to encourage him. Because I really love the Sonic scenario he writes and want him back in Sonic Team again for more great stories that give people hope, joy and life lessons.

And even though SA2 was the most successful work in Sonic series, there were many games which came afterwards and had great stories with good balance of comedy and seriousness - incuding Maekawa-san's other works. My top favorites are Sonic World Adventure and the Storybook series (Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic and the Black Knight). There are still many games I haven't played, but I hear that Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle have good stories too.
So even though I partially understand the theory of this fan, I don't agree with it 100%. It's more of the problem of stories from Sonic Colors and on which in some parts lacked the basic essence of character personalities and consistensy as a story. Sure, because I first played Sonic World Adventure and Storybook series and grew up with this cool and caring Sonic, this one would stay as my ideal Sonic. I was also playing Colors a short while later, and thought that story itself is really good - just some of Sonic's lines and his actions in cutscenes were a little too childish compared to the Sonic I met in previous three works. Then Generations came in, with the cool Sonic again but lacking much story. Well, for this one being an anniversary title, I could take it easily. Then Lost World, Boom, and Forces. I had hard time finding the Sonic I knew from few years ago. Sure he had cool moments, but somehow he didn't shine much as a character like before. It's in the story, it's i nthe lines, it's in the actions - all these factors affect a character's impression, And this has changed a lot over the last decade.
It's true that I have hard time accepting Sonic who acts self-centered rather than trying to help others in needs. I do have high ideal of Sonic's character - but so was the depiction of him in the past series  for a very long time. The main points are even written in their character description on official website. And it's been working well. Why did they change it then? Why did they hire somebody who has zero understanding towards Sonic universe as scenario writer?

I hope Sonic Team will have better people for plot and scenario writer who can convey the already establihed personalities of Sonic characters through the game. A game first needs good action, and second they need good stage design, and third, if the game is character-driven, a good story to make players want to continue playing. + great music to make everything better. Sonic Team never fails with the last point, but for other three they sometimes seem to have difficulties with some of them.

Maekawa-san himself has been saying that if he has a chance, he would gladly take the opportunity to write more stories for Sonic series. It would be wonderful if this can be realized.

SEGA, please hire Maekawa-san again for Sonic plots and scenarios! Please---!

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Kanemaru-san and Naka-san on unique TV commercial of Sonic Adventure!

News from 2019.05.04-06
Archived on 2019.05.06
It looks like it's a Look-back day on Sonic Adventure!

Kanemaru-san and Naka-san talk about their memories on Sonic Adventure's unique TV commercial!

Kanemaru-san recalled the bizzare but fun TV ad which was aired in Japan for promoting Sonic Adventure before its release.

何度観てもシュールな感じがスキ。#ソニックアドベンチャー#Dreamcasthttps://t.co/1STh5OeIBK

— 金丸淳一VoiceActor&Vocalist Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) May 5, 2019

🔵 Kanemaru-san on Sonic Adventure's ad with Sonic Plush:
"I like the surreal way of this commercial every time I watch it."
RT⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

Sonic really seems to have fun in the CM, and Kanemaru-san's voice acting is perfect for its comedic touch! I can't stop smiling while watching this one.

Then Naka-san found his tweet and responded to it too!

ソニックアドベンチャーのCM懐かしいですね。確かこのCMの撮影場所ってオーストラリアで撮影だったと思うのですが、僕は忙しくて連れて行ってもらえなかったんですよ。飛行機から飛んだソニックは何体か飛んだそうですよ。だれか回収してあげて下さい(^^) https://t.co/mesKEsM6XJ

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) May 5, 2019

🔵Naka-san on Kanemaru-san's tweet on SA ad w/ Sonic Plush:
"This commercial for Sonic Adventure is nostalgic. If I recall correctly, they filmed this in Australia - I was too busy so I couldn't go. I heard that many Sonic flew from the airplane. Somebody, please collect them!"↓

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

Oh wow, so they really did throw several Sonic plushies out of the plane, it's no CG at all...! I wonder what kind of adventures those Sonic are having in Australia now...


And Kanemaru-san replied Naka-san's comment!

ソニックを探せツアー in Australia～！

一緒に行きたかったですね、中さん！

— 金丸淳一VoiceActor&Vocalist Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) May 5, 2019

"Find Sonic Tour in Australia!
I wish we could go there together, Naka-san!"
- Junichi Kanemaru


That would be another opportunity for cool documentrary!
I really love the Sonic Adventure Production Presentation event they had back then including 'Sonic Adventure Story', a documentary video on Sonic Team travelling to mid-south America for collecting materials for game development. It's really cool!

Here is a video with Japanese and English captions. (I helped out a little with Japanese one.)
Have a look!



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SEGA people on the last day of Heisei era

News from 2019.04.30
Archived on 2019.05.02

The Heisei era of Japan that lasted for 3 decades is ending today, and everybody is looking back on the past 30 years.

From tomorrow, the Reiwa era starts. I wonder what SEGA and Sonic Team will show us in this new era!

🔵The Heisei era of Japan that lasted for 3 decades is ending today, and everybody is looking back on the past 30 years.

From tomorrow, the Reiwa era starts. I wonder what SEGA and Sonic Team will show us in this new era!

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 30, 2019

Some look back on the history of Heisei era...

SEGA Official looks back on 'Print Club' or 'Purikura', the arcade machine which was invented in 1995 which became very popular especially among students, and is now a part of Japanese culture.

今日は「平成最後の日」。

平成に誕生し、平成を代表するエンターテインメントのひとつは『プリント倶楽部®︎』（セガ/アトラス 1995年）

通称「プリクラ®︎」と呼ばれ、日本独自の文化として、学生を中心に多くの人が楽しみました。 pic.twitter.com/2kp3MYti71

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 30, 2019

"Today is the 'Last day of Heisei'.
One of the entertainment born in Heisei and represents Heisei is 'Print Club' (SEGA/ATLUS 1995)
Shortened as 'Purikura', it was enjoyed by many people, especially by students as a unique Japanese culture."
- SEGA Official

Satoshi Okano-san is the artist behind Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island!

News from 2019.04.30
Archived on 2019.05.01

Long-time confusion over artist behind Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D solved!
Upon a post by a fan who credited the Sonic art for Sonic Jam as Uekawa-san, Satoshi Okano-san, the actual artist who created this cover art, corrected the misunderstandings.

According to him, SEGA held an art competition with participants from public to decide a new style for Sonic as the series was transitioning to a 3D game, and Okano-sanös design was the second best choice - the winner was Uekawa-san.

🔵Satoshi Okano-san cleared up the confusion over the artist behind Sonic art for Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island. Okano-san is the one who drew these Sonic, not Uekawa-san.

He explains that SEGA back then held a public competition to decide the artist for -

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 30, 2019

- new Sonic art for SEGA Saturn Magazine cover and for Sonic Adventure, and Uekawa-san won this contest; Okano-san was the second place.

RTs ⬇⬇⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 30, 2019

これは上川祐司さんの仕事じゃなくて私、岡野聡の仕事です。３Ｄのコピーもね。背景の青い３Ｄを作ったのは川村幸子さんです。
This isn't Mr. Yuji Uekawa's work. This work is Satoshi Okano's work. and then,Ms. Sachiko Kawamura was making blue/3D background :) https://t.co/l3dSfNmLbl

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

グッジョブです 👍✨ https://t.co/39qnWkL4NN

— 大谷 智哉 Tomoya Ohtani (@Ohtanitter) April 30, 2019

"Good Job!" says Ohtani-san to Okano-san.

これも上川さんじゃなくてぼくなのよね＾＾This is my creation too. It's not Yuji Uekawa-san :) Everyone like him...I Know.I Know ;D　　https://t.co/WUNVbYMpL7

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

Thank you very much. I drew this sonic too.'Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island ' It's a very nostalgic job. I understand you and all. I don't mind. Yes,Uekawa-san is a super cool creator ;D https://t.co/amwReJ9WEo

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

There was competition in those days, Sega where a sonic team made "sonic adventure".
The beginning was the argument, "Who did this Sonic of Sega Saturn Magazine draw?" A company invited public participation for new sonic. As for the result, I was the 2nd , and Uekawa-san won :) https://t.co/L3WrVny2yc

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

If my memory is correct, I drew it around May 1997. Its the instruction of Kazuyuki Hoshino/Sonicteam's Art Director. https://t.co/iEHkdhZ8fS

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

A left illust drew by Uekawa -san,right illust drew by me.Can you understand these difference?The character of SANBA DE AMIGO is drown by two artist😊 pic.twitter.com/FsLux36vIJ

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

Otani-san of Sega still uses my illust. SAMBA's characters were designed me & Uekawa-san too.He is a light still now.Then Ｉwas a shadow.But one body. Please understand,I still love sonic teams with Naka-san & Ohshima -san❤️ https://t.co/dvgAyfSFvv

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

This is my good comment. "I drew the sonic with a wish to say to want him to be always the provocative image that seems to open up the tip of the Ages". The background made "S" of the initial a mark like a hero. Designer Okano " : ) https://t.co/46FdTjCzwS

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) May 1, 2019

Both of them have unique and easily recognizable styles!
I can see why they chose Uekawa-san's design for the new Sonic, but both styles are cool in their own ways.

Okano-san describes him as the shadow and Uekawa-san as the light - the two worked together and lead to the birth of the iconic style of Modern Sonic. Okano-san appreciates his former co-workers using his art until today, and he still loves Sonic Team!


Okano-san's website
http://www.okanotion.com/about.html

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Naoto Ohshima-san on NiGHTS' scratched design

News from 2019.04.29
Archived on 2019.05.02

Naoto Ohshima-san on NiGHTS' scratched design:

Concept artwork for ‘Nights Into Dreams’, from Sega Magazine JP #3, January 1997. @NaotoOhshima https://t.co/dQoQWmTVcD pic.twitter.com/79D6waNHSo

— Sega City (@sega_city) April 29, 2019

That's nostalgic. That is a rejection plan.

— Naoto Ohshima (@NaotoOhshima) April 30, 2019

So these are the base of Nights and Reala, I see?
In initial ideas they look more like Cheshire Cat from Alice in the Wonderland. This is a cool design too!

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Senoue-san's insights to TSR music!

News from 2019.04.23-07.20
Archived on 2019.08.15

As development of Team Sonic Racing started, Jun Senoue-san was appointed as the lead composer of the game by Sonic series director Takashi Iizuka-san. Using his longtime experience as a composer for Sonic series and various racing games, he created new sounds by combining elements of both. And that's not all! This time he added a special topping - the keyword "team" from the game's theme and tagged with many various composers for many of the tracks!

As the music productions were being finished very much ahead of the game release, the US's Sonic the Hedgehog official account released music vides of TSR sounds one by one, and Senoue-san gave us further behind-the-scenes talks and his thoughts on composing music for the game together with many other talented musicians on Twitter!

Here is a summary of Senoue-san's insights, comments and questions to you on the music of Team Sonic Racing!

Naka-san on re-discovered Sonic 2 data by a fan

News from 2019.04.20
Archived on 2019.04.26

Naka-san on Sonic 2 Development Data being revealed by a fan who reverse-engineered Digitizer code to extract data from old disks.

ソニック2の開発データがかなり公開されているのですが、これってセガが出したものでしょうか？サンフランシスコのPalo Altoで作っていた頃が懐かしいです。シリコンバレーで仕事をしていると言うのがとても良かったです。 https://t.co/QjXF1Su1jm

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 20, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"A bunch of development data of Sonic 2 is being released, but was it done by SEGA? The time I was developing it in Palo Alto of San Francisco is nostalgic. It was a good feeling to know I was working in the Silicon Valley."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 20, 2019

このソニック2の画像データは久しぶりに見ましたが、懐かしいのと、デジタル化されて残ったと言うのが良い感じですね。僕も持ってないですからね。約30年前に良く考えて作ってますよね。ソニックチーム楽しかったなあ https://t.co/tYOzGSzPmT

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 20, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"It's been a while since I saw these image data of Sonic 2 for the last time. It's nostalgic, and I also find it good that they remain as digital data. Even I don't have them, you know. It's really well made for them being from ca. 30 yrs ago. Sonic Team was so fun."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 20, 2019

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Maekawa-san on Maria's Adios/Sayonara difference

News from 2019.04.19
Archived on 2019.04.26

Maekawa-san explains this goodbye line of Maria in SA2:

これは英語版でアディオスって言わせると、メキシコ人のイメージが強くなるし、セリフが印象に残らないから変えたほうが良いと言われてSAYONARAに変えましたの。

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) April 19, 2019

A fan addressed a rumor about the difference of Maria's line between Japanese and English versions that says Maekawa-san changed the line from 'Adios...Shadow the Hedgehog' (Japanese version) to  'Sayonara...Shadow the Hedgehog' (English version) as an homage to Terminator 2's Spanish version and Japanese versions.

Maekawa-san replied as follows:
"For this, I was told that 'adios' in English version would make people think of a Mexican, and also it wouldn't make the line as impressing as it should be, so I changed it to SAYONARA."
- Shiro Maekawa

Interesting that foreign languages in diffrent cultures give different impressions!
Spanish is more foreign than English for Japanese, so it gives stronger impression to us.
It must be different in regions close to Latin America where Spanish is more common.

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Mystery of Sonic Statue in the mountains of Mie solved!

News from 2019.04.12
Archived on 2019.04.22

Big news! The mystery of the Sonic Statue in the mountains of Mie is finally solved!



Here is the article on J-Town Net which summarized the whole story:

三重の山奥にある「謎のソニック像」　設置主の遺族が、すべての真相を語った 
https://j-town.net/tokyo/news/localnews/277903.html?p=all


I summarized the article in a few tweets as follows, but I might also do a complete translation of it later.

↓　↓　↓

Setting boards by Moriki-san, Sonic X's mecha designer!

News from 2019.04.10-20
Archived on 2019.04.22

The mechanic desginer of Sonic X posted his setting boards of his works on mecha deisgn!
There are so many of them !

Blue Typhoon

アニメ「ソニックX」よりブルータイフーン号。

2年目ともなるとゲーム画面からの設定起こしはほぼ無く、かなりの確率でオリジナル。

この艦2隻目だった様な気が…(違ったっけ？)

艦載機(？)の発進シークエンスは某国際救助隊で、は監督のリクエスト！ pic.twitter.com/8inu7Z84P7

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 10, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Blue Typhoon.
It was already the second year, so most of the designs were not from the games but my original designs.
I think this airship was the second one... (or not?)
It was the director's request to make the startup sequence of the ship an homage to that international rescue organization."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

What he refers to must be Thunderbirds. :)

アニメ「ソニックX」よりブルータイフーン号のブリッジ。

デザイン自体は昔のロボットアニメ風、特にヒネリ無し。

ソニックやテイルズ達が座るのだからシート形状、もう少し工夫すれば良かったかな？ pic.twitter.com/QMELt5UpLm

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 11, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Blue Typhoon's bridge.
The design itself is the one like classic robot Anime, no complicated settings.
I could probably design the seat form a little better for Sonic and Tails and others to sit on them."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

Egg Crimson

アニメ「ソニックX」よりエッグクリムゾン関係。

見ての通りドクターエッグマンの乗艦。

ブルータイフーン号とのドッキング状態とかあるけど、共闘の話数でもあったのかな？

確か他にも敵いたしなぁ… pic.twitter.com/fr1v9vJOLc

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 12, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Egg Crimson related stuff.
As you can see, it's Dr. Eggman's ship.
There is also its form docked with Blue Typhoon - were there any episodes where they become allies?
I think there were other enemies too..."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

Metarex: Dark Oak and his ship

アニメ「ソニックX」よりメタレックス ダークオークとその乗艦。

メタレックスはシリーズ途中から登場した敵、ダークオークが1番上の幹部だった様な気がします。

首領だったっけ？
コレまた憶えてない… pic.twitter.com/nnJ6qgdLzy

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 13, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Metarex's Dark Oak and his ship.
Metarex is an enemy who appeared later in the series. I think Dark Oak was the top executives.
Was he the leader? I don't remember this either..."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

アニメ「ソニックX」より、先程のダークオークの戦艦のキャプション

「デザインはヘルシップを参照して下さい。」

のヘルシップがこちらになります。 pic.twitter.com/zlZbtK7gya

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 13, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Hell Ship mentioned in the caption of Dark Oak's ship from previous tweet that said 'Please refer to Hell Ship for the design'."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

Metarex: executives and their ships

アニメ「ソニックX」よりメタレックス幹部(？)とその乗艦その1。

いわゆる四天王的な奴。
こういった設定描くのも、結構楽しかったりします。 pic.twitter.com/iV0ZPvxPTM

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 14, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X',  Metarex's executive (?) and his ship #1.
One of the Big Four, so to say.
It's also fun to draw out this kind of settings."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

アニメ「ソニックX」よりメタレックス幹部(？)とその乗艦その2。

どんなエピソードだったかほとんど憶えてません…

DVDは貰ってましたが、今は全部トランクルーム。

機会があればサルベージしようかな？ pic.twitter.com/qB0lDWIGXh

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 15, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X',  Metarex's executive (?) and his ship #2.
I don't remember what kind of episode this was...
I received the DVDs, but now they are in my storage room.
If I have a chance, I might salvage them."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

Metarex: mob mechas

アニメ「ソニックX」よりメタレックスのヤラレメカその1。

メタレックス半魚人はもちろん「海底大戦争」のアレのパク…ではなくリスペクトです！ pic.twitter.com/USb7oGFtGF

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 16, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Metarex's mob mecha #1.
Metarex's amphibian is of course stolen fr... no no, a respect to that one from 'Water Cyborg / Terror Beneath the Sea'!"
- Yasuhiro Moriki

アニメ「ソニックX」よりメタレックスのヤラレメカその2。

1年以上続くシリーズだと、メカデザインもいろいろ実験出来て楽しいですね！

モチーフはシナリオの段階で決まってたと思いますが、あまり悩まず自由にデザインさせていただきました。 pic.twitter.com/I2rdX1VLDd

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 17, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Metarex's mob mecha #2.
In a series going on for more than a year, I can experiment with mecha design and it's fun!
I think the motif was already decided in scenario planning, but I didn't have to think too much and designed it freely."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

アニメ「ソニックX」よりメタレックスのヤラレメカその3。 pic.twitter.com/gY2k59W3g0

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 18, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Metarex's mob mecha #3."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

Mechas made by Dr. Eggman

アニメ「ソニックX」よりドクターエッグマンの造ったメカ。(シリーズ全体から見るとごく一部ですが)

今にして思うとエッグマーズはもう少し某六神合体ロボに似せても良かったかもしれませんね。 pic.twitter.com/5eZRA4eCZg

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 19, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', Mecha made by Dr. Eggman. (It's only a small part when looking at the whole series)
Looking back now, I could have designed Egg Mars more similar to that six god combination robot."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

He refers to Six God Combination Godmars.


Space ships

アニメ「ソニックX」よりその他宇宙船関係。

既にコスモ？カオティック？なんだったっけ？状態。

コレまたいろいろ忘れてる… pic.twitter.com/pD9NeKqDov

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 20, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', designs for space ships.
Here I'm already like 'Who's Cosmo? Chaotic? What was that...?'.
I'm forgetting so many things..."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

Veihcles

アニメ「ソニックX」よりビーグル関係。

魚雷型潜航艇は全然魚雷型ではありません、見ての通り某潜水艦マンガのパク…じゃなくてリスペクト！

レジスタンスの戦闘機は某宇宙戦艦アニメのパク…じゃなくてリスペクト！

でもってクリーム機は…

もういいか… pic.twitter.com/6UXqSejGiA

— 森木 靖泰 (@kouryoukan) April 21, 2019

"From the anime 'Sonic X', veihcles.
The torpedo ty[e submersible doesn't look like torpedo at all. As you can see, it's copy of...no, respect to that submmarine manga!
Resistance's battle plane is copy of...no no, respect to that space fighter anime!
And that Cream ship is...
...I guess that's enough..."
- Yasuhiro Moriki

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Mazin-san on his 'Fun is ∞' easter egg artwork of Sonic CD!

News from 2019.04.09
Archived on 2019.04.22

Another Sonic mystery solved!
Mazin-san speaks of his 'Fun is infinite' easter egg artwork of Sonic CD!

未だに27年も昔に作ったゲームの隠し裏ワザの件で、見知らぬ外人さんから定期的にメンション飛んでくるんだけど、別に大した意味もなく描いた絵なのに何か凄い謎が隠されてるみたいなミステリーが語り継がれてんのかね？
たのしさ∞

— まぢん (@Mazin__) April 9, 2019

🔵Mazin-san:
"I still receive mentions from strangers in overseas regularly about the hidden easter egg in the game I made 27 years ago. I didn't draw that with any particular meaning, but is it probably passed down as if it has some great mystery behind it?
Fun is ∞"

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 9, 2019

Haha, so he doesn't have any particular backstory behind that strangely creepy yet funny Sonic (?) in Sonic CD. That's mostly the case whenever we have theories over mysteries. Oh well!

What were your theories about the Mazin-Sonic?

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Senoue-san and Maekawa-san on Sky Deck, SA

News from 2019.04.05
Archived on 2019.04.22

Senoue-san and Maekawa-san talk on Twitter about NiGHTS and Sonic Adventure!

One day, Senoue-san found this tweet by a fan...

@mizuhano とのことです。 https://t.co/OnJRJwNnfc

— crush40 (@crush40) April 5, 2019

"I died (woke up from dream) over few hundred times in NiGHTS, but in Sonic Adventure (DC), I think I dies over ten thounsand times because I suck at it (mainly in Sky Deck).
I really like Senoue-san's edgy SA music, but because of this, 'Sky Deck a Go! Go!' is sort of a traumatic piece for me *lol*"
- NOS

"(to Maekawa-san) ...Did you hear that?"
- Jun Senoue

And Maekawa-san replied...

イヤイヤ一万回は言い過ぎでしょ😅

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) April 5, 2019

"Oh come on, ten thousand times is exaggerating!"
- Shiro Maewaka


So fun to see them talking on Twitter.
Was Sky Deck also this traumatising for you?
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Naka-san looks back on console war in 1994

News from 2019.04.04
Archived on 2019.04.22

Naka-san on the timing of SEGA Saturn's launch and him making NiGHTS instead of continuing with Sonic series...:

セガサターン出す時ってまだ欧米ではジェネシスが頑張っていたので、地域売上差が大きい中での船出だったので、あのタイミングで出して良かったのかわからないですね。良く言われるのが僕がソニック作りたくなくてナイツ作ったのは本当にすみません。良いゲームなんですけどねhttps://t.co/tFSsGp3pOc

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 4, 2019

🔵A manga artist drew about SEGA Saturn's defeat in console war in 1994 and how SEGA fans who reincarnated into a SEGA employee tries to make Saturn win…and fails.

Naka-san's reaction:
"At the time we were launching SEGA Saturn, GENESIS was still doing well in the west. The -

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 4, 2019

- difference of sales between regions was huge, so I'm not sure if it was the right timing.
What I often hear is that I made NiGHTS because I didn't want to make another Sonic, and I'm really sorry for that. It's a good game though."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 4, 2019

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Ohshima-san on ARZEST's work on WiiPlay: Motion

News from 2019.04.04
Archived on 2019.04.22

Ohshima-san talks about the Wii games he worked on in ARZEST!
Some of the mini games in WiiPlay: Motion were the first games we ARZEST worked on. So nostalgic to him!

Wiiリモコンプラス バラエティ：バラエティ豊かな12種類の遊び - ゴーストマンション
アーゼストが最初に頂いたお仕事。遊んでくれたかたはいるかな？ありがとうございます😊 https://t.co/zcvGRobEFJ

— Naoto Ohshima (@NaotoOhshima) April 4, 2019

Wiiリモコンプラス バラエティ：バラエティ豊かな12種類の遊び - アイスクリームチャレンジ
アーゼストが最初に頂いたお仕事2。懐かしい。 https://t.co/fT6CU2DQvr

— Naoto Ohshima (@NaotoOhshima) April 4, 2019

Wiiリモコンプラス バラエティ：バラエティ豊かな12種類の遊び - ジャンピングランド
アーゼストが最初に頂いたお仕事1。 https://t.co/dpLBZLnhvi

— Naoto Ohshima (@NaotoOhshima) April 4, 2019

🔵Ohshima-san on 'Spooky Search', 'Cone Challenge' and 'Jump Park' in WiiPlay: Motion:

"These were the first games we ARZEST worked on. So nostalgic. Thank you for those who played them."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 4, 2019

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SEGA of Japan's working conditions

News from 2019.03.01-04.03
Archived on 2019.04.22

Want to know what kind of working conditions SEGA of Japan has?
Here are some!

「ゲームクリエイターになるのが夢だった」「ずっとエンタメに関わる仕事がしたかった」

セガグループ2020新卒採用スタートしました。
私たちと一緒に感動体験を創造する仕事をしませんか？

あなたの夢とアイディア、ぜひセガグループで形にしましょう。
⇒https://t.co/q5xcw6oEMB #就活 #新卒採用 pic.twitter.com/zDe6vLu9Oa

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) March 1, 2019

ここでセガグループ【働く環境】をみてみましょう

✅フレックスタイム制
✅副業OK
✅LGBT支援
✅在宅勤務テスト中
✅保育園併設
✅BAR併設
✅伊豆・軽井沢他に洒落た保養所
✅活発な技術知見交流
✅充実の研修制度
✅面接は髪型服装自由
✅去年の内定式はなんと謎解き

詳細→https://t.co/OV2VOBMc5O

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) March 5, 2019

• Flex Time system
• Side business system
• LGBT support
• Home office on testing
• In-house childcare
• In-house bar
• Fashionable retreats in Izu, Karuizawa etc.
• Active exchange of knowledge and technique
• Various training courses
• No guidlines for hairstyle and clothing for job interviews [which is still uncommon in big companies in Japan]
• Last year's welcome party was a group quiz workshop

従業員の仕事と育児の両立支援を目的とした『セガサミー そらもり保育園』が４月、開園しました。

森をイメージした保育ルームには、長野県南相木村にあるセガの森（※「森林の里親契約」を締結し、環境保全活動を実施中）のカラマツ材を内装に使用しています。https://t.co/OV2VOBMc5O pic.twitter.com/lR7vuW8OSX

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 4, 2019

"SEGA Sammy's Soramori Childcare  has opened in April to support SEGA employees on both their job and childrearing.
The caretaking room with forest as its motif uses the woods from SEGA Forest (under Contract of Forest' Foster Parent for protection of environment) in Nagano prefecture."

As they built their new HQ in Sinagawa, they seem to have lots of new stuff in it.
Do you want to work in SEGA of Japan now?
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