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 (1991 video game)
"Sonic the Hedgehog" was praised by critics, with an 86% rating at the review aggregator GameRankings. It was considered Sega's answer to Nintendo's widely popular "Mario" series, as it was a platformer featuring the company's mascot. Paul Rand of "Computer and Video Games" compared the two in depth and characterized "Sonic the Hedgehog" as being faster, with brighter colors, and "Super Mario World" as having more "depth of play". Frank Ladoire of "" believed "Sonic the Hedgehog" was part of a new generation of games that demonstrate that the Genesis is capable of "beautiful things" in the technical department.