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).
Game Gear
Over 300 games were released for the Game Gear, although at the time of the console's launch, there were only six software games available. Prices for game cartridges initially ranged from $24.99 to $29.99 each. The casings were molded black plastic with a rounded front to aid in removal. Games for the system included "Sonic the Hedgehog", "The GG Shinobi", "Space Harrier", and "Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse", which was considered the best game for the system by GamesRadar. Later games took advantage of the success of the Genesis, Sega's 16-bit video game console, with games released from franchises originally released on the Genesis. A large part of the Game Gear's library consists of Master System ports. Because of the landscape orientation of the Game Gear's screen and the similarities in hardware between the handheld console and the Master System, it was easy for developers to port Master System games to the Game Gear.