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).
Sonic the Hedgehog
While the prior game in the era continued the use of numerous playable characters and play styles, the following games would return to only have Sonic playable. "", an episodic high-definition 2D game akin to the 16-bit Sonic games, was developed for the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare. "" was released in 2012 for PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Android, iOS, and Windows Phones. "Sonic Colors", a game for the Wii and Nintendo DS, was released in November 2010. It introduced a power-up system in the form of alien beings called "Wisps". "Sonic Generations" was developed by Sonic Team for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Dimps for Nintendo 3DS which was released in November 2011, featuring both modern and classic interpretations of Sonic.