Naoto Ohshima

Naoto Ōshima
Place of birth: Osaka, Japan
Date of birth: 1964-02-26 (age 60)
Employment history: Sega of Japan Divisions: Sega CS3 Sega Software R&D Dept. 8 Sonic Team (company) Artoon 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.

Production history

Games

• Phantasy Star (Master System; 1987) — Design (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)
• Rambo III (Master System; 1988) — All Graphics
• Phantasy Star II (Mega Drive; 1989) — Designers (as BigIsland)
• Super League (Mega Drive; 1989) — Fielder Designer (as Big Island)
• Altered Beast (Master System; 1989) — Artist
• Hokuto no Ken: Shin Seikimatsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu (Mega Drive; 1989) — Art Director (as BigIsland)
• SpellCaster (Master System; 1989) — Designer (as Big Island)
• Fatal Labyrinth (Mega Drive; 1990) — Designer (as Big Island)
• Sonic Eraser (Mega Drive; 1991) — Special Thanks (as BigIsland)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive; 1991) — Character Design (as BigIsland)
• Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Mega-CD; 1993) — Director (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 (as Big Island)
• Chaotix (32X; 1995) — Original Character Concept
• NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Director
• NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — NiGHTS Designer
• Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Windows PC; 1996) — Director (as Naoto Oshima)
• Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Mega Drive; 1996) — Advisors (SOJ) (as Naoto Oshima)
• Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Director
• Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn; 1996) — Visual Designers
• Sonic Jam (Saturn; 1997) — Supervisor
• Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Windows PC; 1997) — Advisors (SOJ) (as Naoto Oshima)
• Sonic R (Saturn; 1997) — Graphic Advisors (as Naoto Oshima)
• Burning Rangers (Saturn; 1998) — Director
• Burning Rangers (Saturn; 1998) — Graphic Artist
• Burning Rangers (Saturn; 1998) — Character Designer
• 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 3D: Flickies' Island (Saturn; 1996) — Advisors (SOJ) (as Naoto Oshima)
• Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis (Game Boy Advance; 2006) — Character Design (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 (??; 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 (??; 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 (??; 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
• Burning Rangers Sound Track (CD; 1998) — Supervisor
• Burning Rangers Sound Track (CD; 1998) — Cover Illust
• Burning Rangers Sound Track (CD; 1998) — Creative Director
• 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)

• Sonic the Hedgehog (anime) (1996) — Supervisor
• Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (3DS version) (2016) — Supervisor (Arzest Corp.)

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
• Sega Stars: Naoto Ohshima article by Ken Horowitz at Sega-16