Sonic Team
The initial team formed in 1990 and was composed of developers from Sega's Consumer Development division, including programmer Yuji Naka, artist Naoto Ohshima, and level designer Hirokazu Yasuhara. The team took the name Sonic Team in 1991 with the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog" for the Sega Genesis. The game was a major success that contributed to millions of Genesis sales. The next "Sonic" games were developed by Naka and Yasuhara in America at Sega Technical Institute, while Ohshima worked on "Sonic CD" in Japan. Naka returned to Japan in late 1994 to become the head of CS3, later renamed R&D #8. During this time, the division took on the Sonic Team brand but developed games that do not feature Sonic, such as "Nights into Dreams" (1996) and "Burning Rangers" (1998).
Coleco Sonic
The Coleco Sonic is a handheld game console released in 2006 by Coleco Holdings, also marketed as PlayPal in Canada and the United Kingdom and Pocket Gear in Europe. It features 20 built-in games from the Master System and Game Gear. All the games can be played either on the integrated 2.4" TFT LCD display, or output to a TV via composite video. Its name references the Sega mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, who stars in some of the games. The system comes with a power adapter, but can also use 3 AAA batteries as a substitute.