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 Blast
The game was developed by Aspect Co. and published by Sega for the Game Gear. It was the final "Sonic the Hedgehog" game for the system, and has been rereleased on the Master System (1997), through two "Sonic"-themed compilations (2003 and 2004), and the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console (2012). Despite their similar titles and coinciding releases, "Sonic Blast" and "Sonic 3D Blast" have little in common. Retrospective reviewers generally had little praise for "Sonic Blast" and have deemed it one of the series' worst games. Although some considered its graphics impressive when considering the technological restrictions of the Game Gear, most found its animations and colors mediocre. The level designs and slow gameplay were also criticized.