Naoto Ohshima

Naoto Ōshima (also Ohshima or Osima) is a Japanese national and former SEGA employee that was the character designer of Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Eggman. Ohshima gained notoriety at Sega's Sonic Team for creating characters and playing integral roles in the development of games like Phantasy Star, NiGHTS, and Sonic Adventure. After leaving Sonic Team, he formed an independent game company called Artoon, which he is currently president of. There he went on to work on such games as Pinobee and Blinx: The Time Sweeper.

Production History

• Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1987) — Graphic Programmer
• Kujakuo (1988) — Designer
• Phantasy Star (1988) — Designer
• Phantasy Star II (1989) — Designer
• Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (1990) — Graphic Designer
• Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (1990) — Graphic Designer
• Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) — Character Design, Project
• Fatal Labyrinth (1991) — Designer
• Sonic Eraser (1991) — Special Thanks
• Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (1992) — Graphic Designer
• Sonic CD (1993) — Director
• SegaSonic the Hedgehog (1993) — Special Thanks
• Knuckles' Chaotix (1995) — Original Character Concept
• Hyper Athlete (1996) — 3D Background, Camera Work
• Sonic 3D Blast (1996) — Advisor
• NiGHTS into Dreams (1996) — Director, NiGHTS Designer
• Christmas NiGHTS (1996) — Director, Visual Designer
• Sonic R (1997) — Graphic Advisor
• Sonic Jam (1997) — Supervisor
• Burning Rangers (1998) — Director, Character Designer, Graphic Artist
• Sonic Adventure (1998) — Story Event Motion Designer, Story Event Coordinator, CG Movie Producer, Opening Movie Editor
• Silent Hill (1999) — Effect Programmer
• Kessen (2000) — Special Thanks, Sound
• Pinobee: Wings of Adventure (2001) — Director
• Blinx: The Time Sweeper (2002) — Director, Game Designer
• The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood (2002) — Art Director
• Silent Hill 3 (2003) — Effect Programmmer
• Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space (2004) — Director, Game Designer
• Yoshi Topsy-Turvy (2004) — Producer
• Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004) — Camera Programmer
• Go! Fight! Cheer Squad (2005) — Motion Capture
• Yoshi's Island DS (2006) — Producer
• Blue Dragon (2006) — Executive Producer
• Lost Odyssey (2007) — Special Thanks
• Away Shuffle Dungeon (2008) — Character Designer

He's been listed in game credits under the nickname "Big Island", which is a literal translation of his surname.

Yuji Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara often gets the credit for his work on the Sonic series, because of his close association with the series.

Interview

• Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima interview by Saturn Power (July 1997)