Yuji Naka Chills Out With Naoto Oshima and Takashi Iizuka

Yuji Naka Chills Out With Naoto Oshima and Takashi Iizuka

You probably thought that most of the Sonic Team Old Guard don’t really get on. Well, today Yuji Naka proved that this was not the case, as he posted photos on his Twitter account about an encounter with Sonic the Hedgehog designer Naoto Oshima! The artist, who left Sega shortly after Sonic Adventure to form Artoon, visited Naka’s PROPE studio and brought with him a little gift.

I think it’s fair to say we all want that picture. Yuji Naka then posted a Tweet with the following photo, adding that current Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka joined the pair for some dinner in a local grilled chicken restaurant. Beers in hand as well, it seems like. The Japanese work hard and dine hard as well, it seems.

This funky meeting of minds most likely served absolutely no purpose other than to have old friends sit down and have a few drinks – but no doubt the topic of Sonic will come up. We can just imagine Naka-san asking Iizuka how work is like, with Iizuka throwing his hands up and jovially exclaiming “oh you know, the same old. That crazy fanbase, eh?” followed by chuckles around the table.

All three developers have had a big hand in shaping Sonic into the gaming icon he is today – Naka-san programmed the original Sonic games, and led Sonic Team during the Dreamcast era, while Naoto Oshima designed the Sonic characters themselves. Takashi Iizuka, although he largely oversees development on modern Sonic titles, began his tenure at the studio working as a level designer for Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and was the lead game designer for NiGHTS into Dreams.

Yuji Naka’s Twitter

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Published by

Dreadknux

Founder of The Sonic Stadium and creator/co-organiser of the Summer of Sonic convention. Loves talking about Sonic the Hedgehog in his spare time. Likes Sonic Colours a little too much for his own good, apparently.

18 Comments

  1. Me too.

    But with that being said, it’s cool that these three Sonic creators can enjoy an evening out. I wonder if Naka asked Iizuka about Sonic 4.

  2. Maybe they talked about Sonic Anniversary. It makes sense since they might put old and new levels in it.

  3. I hope they all run around Tokyo dressed as “OH!-Shima”, “The Kiwi Kid” and “The Bizuka”…fighting crime and promoting their new titles. And getting drunk.

  4. Yes, the fanbase consists of 50% flamers, 49.5% die-hards, but there is that fine .5% that are just ultimately awesome. Like Damizean, T-Bird, Dreadknux, and all the guys over at Sonic Paradox.

  5. Lol of course there’s beer. Yakitori restaurants are all about the beer and finger food.

    Now if only some SEGA pros would invite me out to yakitori. Hmmm-mmm

    Also I never figured out how the “I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT SONIC” people qualified as the “Fan” base lmfao

  6. Thanks for sharing this piece of news with us Dreadster! 🙂

    It touches my heart to see stories like this, especially when it’s with regards to the Sonic franchise/community.

    I’ve recently added Yuji Naka to my Facebook and I’ve been added as a friend – I was like, ‘Sweet as!’. I should draw him a picture too when I have spare time as a small way of saying thanks. ^^

  7. I would give anything to hangout with Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima. Name your price you guys, I know it will be worth it. 🙂

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