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 (2006 video game)
To celebrate the "Sonic" franchise's 20th anniversary in 2011, Sega released "Sonic Generations", which remade aspects of past "Sonic" games. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows versions feature a remake of "Sonic the Hedgehog"s "Crisis City" level, and every version, including the Nintendo 3DS version, includes a reimagined version of the boss battle with Silver. The decision to include "Sonic the Hedgehog" stages and bosses in "Sonic Generations" was criticized by critics and fans of the series; Jim Sterling of "Destructoid" referred to the Silver boss fight as the "catch" of the otherwise high-quality game.