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 Mega Collection
According to the director, Yojiro Ogawa, the purpose of the compilation was to introduce younger players to the original games in the "Sonic" series. The games are played through a Genesis emulator developed by Sonic Team themselves. Outside of the games, the compilation includes Sonic-themed videos and illustrations, as well as high-resolution scans of the instruction manuals and "Sonic the Hedgehog" comic covers.