Sonic co-creator erases other Sonic co-creator from old photo
In a bizarre move Sonic co-creator and former head of Sonic Team Yuji Naka has shared an old photograph in which his former colleague Naoto Ohshima has been blocked-out. Ohshima is regarded as the co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, having come up with the character's visual design based on a Naka-programmed tech demo featuring a ball.
Naka had posted the picture to celebrate the 26th anniversary of NiGHTS being announced, a beloved Sonic Team game that Ohshima both designed and directed. As can be seen, Ohshima has been inexpertly blocked-out of the picture, leaving only a black silhouette.
Happy Birthday NiGHTS!26 years ago, NiGHTS was announced at this Sega Saturn new software presentation. Bomberman and Enemy Zero were announced together.I've recently been flying FPV in the sky with a drone like NiGHTS. #NiGHTS #NiGHTSIntoDreams pic.twitter.com/ouut5FY9ntJuly 5, 2022
The reason is that Naka and Ohshima have had a big bust-up over the situation with Square Enix and Balan Wonderworld. Yuji Naka had taken action against the publisher, and posted an extraordinary condemnation of Square Enix following the legal settlement. Most recently he'd accused those involved of taking advantage of his illness to remove him from the production(opens in new tab).
Ohshima comes in here because he's the head of Arzest, which co-developed Balan Wonderworld with Square Enix. And Naka blames Ohshima, along with Square Enix producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto, for sidelining him from the project by colluding together.
«How would you feel if you were suddenly removed from a game that you had worked hard on for over two years,» Naka wrote yesterday, «and when you went to court, you found out that they had been talking about me behind my back in court
Read more on pcgamer.com
