In Interview, Also Says he’s “Not Sure” about Recreating Sonic
Yuji Naka really got around last week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo as he promoted the domestic release of Ivy the Kiwi? for the Summer. But the big winner for depth went to 1UP’s Ray Barnholt, who not only touched on Mr. Naka’s recent work, but delved deep into the past.
Much of what’s noteworthy to Sonic fans is in the second part of the four page feature. Much is said by Mr. Naka on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but it’s a question posed by Barnholt on Sonic Jam–the Sega Saturn era compilation that in effect served as a placeholder for the next proper Sonic in Dreamcast’s Sonic Adventure–that may catch your eye. Mr. Naka’s response included an acknowledgment that 3D Sonic was first in development for the Saturn, followed by an apology for leaving that generation of followers in the cold:
We were actually creating a 3D Sonic for the Sega Saturn, but right when we were in the thick of development, Sega was getting ready for the next console, Dreamcast. It was at a crucial point where, if we were going to move ahead with the project, we’d better move it to Dreamcast, or else we wouldn’t be able to finish it [for Saturn] in time. But we did have a certain amount of 3D graphics for the Saturn version, so we decided to [keep that and] pull in and emulate the Genesis games. For the Sega Saturn users back then, I’m sorry we couldn’t create a 3D Sonic for them, but [in Jam] you were able to have a glimpse.
Toward the end of the interview, Mr. Naka quips that he’d rather not be involved in another Sonic again, but wouldn’t mind taking another crack at Girl’s Garden, the first Sega title he created for the SG-1000 system in 1984:
Well, I’m not sure I want to make Sonic again, but… Girl’s Garden! It’s a really fun game. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I was using an emulator to play it recently, and I was really surprised how much fun it was.
For more nuggets of Naka wisdom, you can read the interview in full at the link cited above.
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When naka leaves sonic?, after 06 or after shadow?.
Welp looks like Naka just essentially legalized all emulators ever.
Thanks bro
@xamoel:
Naka (along with other members of Sonic Team at the time) left SEGA and Sonic Team in the middle of the development of Sonic ’06 to form his own company, PROPE.
*SOS
Its called moving on, cant dwell on the past forever.
Though I will admit if he at least had some influence in a Sonic game one day, I would squeall
Aww, I forgive you, Naka.
@SOS: Imagine you worked on Shrek. Sure, it was awesome at first, but would you really want to be “typecast” into doing the same thing all your life? It would get real old, real fast.
Naka moved on. Simple as.
@kits’Okami see thats the problem why did they focus so much in sonic when Naka was at SEGA i mean sure why not focus on him cuz he is the company mascot but why not take a break once and make a ristar game
“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I was using an emulator to play it recently, and I was really surprised how much fun it was.”
Loving this.
mr. naka is a great man with sonic he should work with sonic team for 1 year then he could do the others he want so he does not have to rush all diffrent things.
Naka literally makes the least intelligent ideas ever! Bad Sonic ideas and he wants to possible make another girls garden!!!
Naka seems like a snoot. I really don’t like the man to be honest. I get the impression that he thinks his farts smell better than everyone else’s.
Well, boys, pack up your consoles and emulated everything from Wiis to your mothers.
I thought it was common knowledge by now that the reason that there was no 3D Soic on Saturn was because the development time is too close to the start of the Dreamcast era.
What happens if, Miyamoto makes a sonic game?.
@xamoel than we’d finally have a good sonic game
@DAMN: ‘Cos SEGA said so.
@xamoel: Then we’d have a long dull game filled with pointless repetitive missions which have to be completed in order to progress to the next level. If Miyamoto were in charge of the series as a whole, then every major game would be exactly the same and anything that strays from the formula will be made into a spin-off series which just isn’t as “spectacular” as the canon games.
God, it must be fucking dull to be a Nintendo fan.
@Kits’Okami i’ll repeat the same thing i replied to xamoel to you “than we’d finally have a good sonic game”
I hardly think that Sonic would be able to run around in Mario themed levels but whatever.
One of the most famous game creaters using an emulator for one of the games he created. Wow it must be a hard time for him. Girls garden really. Maybe it’s better he left. He created Shadow if you didn’t know that.
@DAMN: Oh please. Nintendo are pussies when it comes to franchises. Sure, when they do eventually try out something brand new, they’re awesome, but when they realise that something works, they stick to the formula and never expand upon or improve it save for prettier graphics and a new mode or two. Although this sounds like a good idea on paper, it’s really a cowardly way of doing things, to the point where each and every one of Nintendo’s franchises can be called “One Trick Ponies”.
Hell, Super Mario 64 got really boring after the first level.
@TrueRadiantFree: I wouldn’t say so. Remember, “Girl’s Garden” is three decades and several console generations old. It would be nigh impossible to play it nowadays without an emulator of some kind.
Girl’s Garden SEGA’s Sonic Team Naka-san? really never mined. year?
@Kits’Okami
I have an original handheld Nomad and it works perfectly fine. Naka used to work for Sega and you’re telling me it’s hard to play it without an emulator. Somehow your logic doesn’t match up.
Sonic and mario each have their own good points to games. Sonic has speed based level design while Mario has a free roaming adventure sort of gameplay. You can’t compare them and say one is better since they are different styles.
I’m glad that there was no Sonic for the Saturn. Because if there were a Sonic game on the Saturn, SEGA would probably be in very bad shape today. Why? The main reason the Saturn didn’t sell was because it was expensive. The public knew of Jam’s free roaming hub world, Sonic R, and the completely different 3D Blast. Add another Sonic game on top of that and the Saturn’s sales still wouldn’t have changed. A few exclusive Sonic games aren’t enough to drive people into buying a very expensive console.
If SEGA threw a lot of money into yet another poor selling 3D Sonic game, SEGA would have lost even more money and we probably wouldn’t have had the Dreamcast. Yes. One bad move can change that much history.
… At least that’s what I think.
Oh, and a new Girl’s Garden would be pretty awesome. That was a good game for it’s time.
xameol : It`ll be the greatest Sonic title ever
We always had awsome Sonic games, it would be cool if Naka comed back, but since that’s higly improbable, we stick with our AWSOME Sonic Unleashed type game, Sonic Colors
the game looks SWEET 
, and Sonic4 awsome as well
@Kits’Okami
Oh please, one trick ponies? Look at COD for crying out loud, “Lets make ANOTHER new shooter, with a different story that lasts a day, and lets see… we will add 2 new guns and a few new perks.” I think thats worse…
@Sonic Unleashed (SU) ughhh shut up were tired of constantly praising SU,SC(without playing it) and Sonic 4(nothing like the classics you’re one of those furries who will accept everything sega throws at them
@Damn:
1) Who’s this “we” you speak of?
2) The furbashing is unnecessary. Kindly refrain from engaging in it.
3) Consider fixing your grammar. Your posts are hard to understand at times.
@Komodin 1.”We” is those who actually want sonic 4 to suceed and not those who kisses sega’s ass
2.I call furrie(and yes i know what it actually means but i give it my own meaning) anyone who thinks all sonic games are great and say things like “Thank You Sega.This is a Great Game” and then sega always gets wrong hints about what people want
3.why should i this is the internet english isnt even my first language so yeah
@DAMN
I know exactly what you mean. I can’t stand it when people can’t even state one flaw with a single game in a series, then praise games they haven’t even played. I’m always skeptical and I am loving what I have seen of the game, that doesn’t mean that I think the games are amazing though, I can’t judge them because I haven’t played them. I hope they are good, but I really don’t know.
I also agree with misleading SEGA, it happens to game companies all the time.
@Edge thanks really aprecciate someone who understands me and sonic 06′ had obvious flaws and yet some trolls on the internet say “its the best sonic game ever blah blah blah” and deny that there are glitches and thats why i call them furries coz they dont even mind the bestiallity,emo stupid story and “THAT SCENE” i mean if there is something i frogive in past sonic titlesi can’t forgive that scene.THAT SCENE really ruined the image of sonic completely and caused alot of fans of the blue blur to enrage(me included when i saw it on youtube and yes i didnt play 06′(except only once and i was wandering through soleanna the whole time not knowing what was i supposed to do) but saw a 06′ glitch video and i was OMG ughh) thats one of the reasons us classic sonic design loving modern sonig hating fans denied in the past(i recently joined though) that the classic sonic games have anything to do with Sonic adventure and the ongoinggames but noooooooooooo sonic 4 ruined that by implementing porkupine man into the game i honestly dont believe sonic team and dimps will ever make a good games cuz they’re amateurs and they realize that they can just rush a game how they please and make it as bad as possible but they know that the fans will buy it anyway i hope sega fires all of sonic team(including that dimwit Takashi Iizuka) and dimps on the future and hires REAL proffesionals
@Damn:
… I’m sorry, what?
@Komodin look just shut up and dont reply to my posts im tired of you
Despite DAMN’s poor grammar and spelling skills, he’s got a point.
It’s people like SU who praise such inferior and broken games like Sonic ’06 and Sonic Unleashed, giving Sega the wrong impression of the game.
I thought games like SA1 and SA2 were great, I’d even say SU had it’s moments, minus the pit falls and the warehog levels, but it’s people like SU who really don’t know what a great Sonic game is and just play the new stuff who give these new games good feedback, when it’s not the feedback Sega needs.
@Zivko I have arleady stated that i don’t care about my grammar in the internet(plus englsh is not my 1st language) and sure i could go for a sonic adventure-esque game but the new sonic team sucks ass SEGA really needs to fire them and hire professionals who have played sonic games and know what’s wrong with them and making some good sonic games again and a “GOOD Sonic 4″ meh whatever i have no hope for sonic 4 anyways i’ll just wait for SonicRetro’s Genesis Edition of the Game now they are real professionals not some lazy asses like Sonic Team and Dimps who just want to make Sonic go so fast to the point where he goes to the future and sees he doesnt exist cuz sega went bankrupt because of the Low Quality Sonic games the Neo Sonic Team and Dimps produced
@Damn:
Y’know, Damn, it would make it much easier to take you more seriously if you would actually fix the grammar of your posts so that they’re not huge run-on sentences.
@DAMN
I completely agree with you about Sonic 06 messing up Sonic’s image. Sonc Adventure 1, 2 were the best 3D sonic games. It is true that people who praise the Sonc Unleashed and Colors are giving Sega the idea that most fans like the recent inferior 3D Sonic games and I don’t like that. Ugh…Sonic 06 could have been Sonic Adventure 3 but no Sonic Team had to but all that trash in it. I don’t see why you want all of Sonic Team to be fired though. Iizuka and many others have been around long and have worked on the classics and Adventure series. They are just misled. Whether that has to do with Naka leaving I don’t know. They need to keep the Sonic games within Sonic Team and not be influenced from other level designers who aren’t as skilled. I know Iizuka did have a lot to do with the recent low quality 3D games but if they look at Adventure level design along with classics and Advance series they can create a unique and awesome game for 2011. Sonic Team is talented they just have to direct it in the right area and mess up again. But it looks like they have with Colors….
@Zivko
“but it’s people like SU who really don’t know what a great Sonic game is”
And are you supposed to know what a great Sonic game is?
What makes you so special? What makes you different from the others and gives you the right to criticize the opinions of other people? Nothing, absolutely nothing. This kind of mentality is killing a lot of games/comics/whatever’s enjoyment.
You must think that loving a game or series or whatever makes you part of the development team and gives you the right to say what is right and wrong about it according to your own preferences and if it doens’t follow them it sucks
Well, guess what? You are no part of nothing, you’re just a consumer, and if you don’t like the product, stop consuming the product and let the ones that love the product enjoy it, if the product is bad it will stop selling and it eventually die, but if it doesn’t it will gather it’s own followers and become a better product on it’s own.
That’s why we got Sonic Colors with Sonic Unleashed’s gameplay, the product it’s getting better, the company is learning and if you don’t like that the the product it’s not for you, that’s all. That’s why they are making Sonic 4, oops, I forgot, Classic fans don’t think it’s calssic enough, Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
Also, Sonic Unleashed is a broken game? Sonic 06 is justifiable but Sonic Unleashed is the most solid console Sonic game in years, the only thing that could get people mad was the werehog but even he got his own fans, I suppose you’re gonna call thos poeple “tasteless” too uh? Bullshit.
And @DAMN, seriosly, learn grammar. You write like a poor man’s 4chan troll.
And :
“anyway i hope sega fires all of sonic team(including that dimwit Takashi Iizuka) and dimps on the future and hires REAL proffesionals”
Real professionals? Like you for example? *snicker*
@TrueRadiantFree
I don’t agree with you, but I got to say this:
“They are just misled. Whether that has to do with Naka leaving I don’t know”
Naka was there when Shadow the Hedgehog was created, and left mid-Sonic06 by your explanation I would say that he was misled as well.
@ Zivko
I agree for the most part aside from the fact that I absolutely love Sonic 06, but I can see how that game ruined SEGA’s reputation with all of it’s flaws. I of course, love that game and a majority of Sonic games because I attempt to look past all of the flaws and find some fun in the game. For example, Sonic Unleashed’s daytime stages were awful on the Wii (opinion) but were pretty good on the PS3 and 360 (opinion), however, nighttime stages were excellent on the Wii (opinion) and decent at best on the PS360 (opinion).
Of course it’s all subjective to opinion, however, I must say this before I get people hounding me for my statement. An opinion is liking and disliking. Being able to like everything is not opinion, at that point it is obsession. I can safely say that I do not like every Sonic game, however, I do find some fun in them because I look past the flaws.
@TrueRadientFree out of all of the old guys(developers and stuff) the only one left is Takshi Iizuka and i really dont think he did much in sonic 3 the majority was made thanks to Yasuhara,most of the STI(Sega Technical Institute) have gone working for microsoft and the majority of the old Sonic Team are with Artoon(Naoto Oshima’s Developing Studio) see we got new dimwits working here at Sonic Team.And Dimps was never good Sonic Advance was their only good game and thats because Naka was involved these are facts here im talking i want all of Sonic Team(yes including that dimwit Takashi Iizuka) and Dimps and give a chance to a small development studio to shine where the Neo Sonic Team and Dimps Sucked at nuff said
@Zivko wait wait wait Wii SU day segments worse than 360 lol the 360/PS3 version was 90% boosting all of the time and merely had any platforming IMO if they want to make a Good 3D Sonic Game they have to make a game like say SA3(yeah i know the subject is overrated but we’d finally have a good 3D sonic game) and the only way i’d accept a SA3 is if Sonic Team took their time like 3 years or so in development so that their puny brains can understand the concept of the formula(the thing that i would of want Dimps to do that same thing with sonic 4)
@ DAMN
The PS3 and 360 versions of the Sonic Unleashed daytime stages were much longer and complex. Yes there was a lot of boosting, but the Wii versions daytime stages were about 2 minutes long and required no skill. Try comparing the daytime Eggmanland on the Wii to the daytime Empire City. Big difference.
@DAMN
If you want Sonic Adventure 3 and think it would be a good Sonic 3D game then I hope you know that Iizuka just so happened to be the main level designer for Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. You need to get rid of your obnoxious attitude and maybe try to enjoy a game for once. If ou think you know what good platforming for Sonic games is then why don’t you to something other than talk. Go get a career in graphic design and computer programming languages. Then you can put your ideas to some good use instead of sounded like a fool who hates Sonic Team. If you don’t like many of the Sonic games why do you even go on this site and cuss and put down people.
@DAMN
“Takashi Iizuka I really don’t think he much in Sonic 3″
Yeah like you know him personally and were there when Sonic 3 was made. Iizuka knows that he was part of actually making a Sonic game unlike you.
I agree with everything Zeth said, thank you homie.
And some of you fans (you know who you are) should stop saying crap about what I’ve said before about Sonic Colors be awsome and the same thing about Sonic4, just to shut you up, I was on E3 and I had the change of playing those games, and I loved them!
Still I think SEGA should launch Sonic Colors on Xbox 360
I am hoping that both Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors succeed, cause I am looking forward to both. Too bad Sonic X-treme was canceled, though.
@TrueRadientFree i know that and i happened to love SA1 and SA2 and i love SA1′s levels but in SA2 Iizuka went as far as ruining the level design like making such stages like City Escape,Metal Harbor etc and those are too realistic and thats when he pissed me off what.I cant do that cuz im not experienced or know crap about grapichs and whatever you said but i know professionals when i see the game what im saying is im tired of Sonic Team spaming a game each fukin year i want them to take their time with a game for example like 3 years and make it good as possible.Okay i get the feeling he didn’t do much are you happy now and if he did why isnt he working as a level main designer in Sonic 4 i mean sonic 3 & knuckles had awesome level design
@Sonic Unleashed (SU) still dont mention them every single post cuz its tiring to read and WTF you were in E3 how did you get there? please tell us about the games you played(except Sonic 4 and Colors) what was the 3DS like did it have cool 3D effects cuz you know an untitled sonic game is coming to the 3DS if you didnt know?
@Vulpine yeah said they underastimated Sonic X-treme and i always think SMG stole its idea of the rotating world and such and if Sonic X-treme came to be maybe sonic wouldnt be in his Modern Design now and again @TrueRadient Free plus i hate Iizuka for Sonic Adventure cuz then they completely ignored the 2D original series those bastards i still think that if Sonic Team back then made Sonic 4 for the Dreamcast today they would still be a 1st party developer
Damn@: man first I mean no disrespect for whattever I said or I will sayd ok, you must understand that like some dude’s out there, next… you said to me to not mention in every post S4 and SC, but wait I think it’s about those games we are having a discution right now but ok… well…. I just said to you and other dude’s stop complaining all the friggin time, if you don’t like it don’t buy it, stop dissin’ people and SEGA and Sonic, they don’t need that! SONIC is, was, and wiil always be that DAMN FAMOUS because he’s that damn good ok…
And the most impressive thing I saw in E3 was definetly the Xbox 360º KINECT tat was IMPRESSIVE dude’s
@Sonic Unleashed (SU) but you didnt answer my question how did you get in there?Wasnt E3 only for those who are invited.And really the kinect was the most impressive thing i tell ya its not going to be a success it doesnt even recognize black and the price for it is 150 bucks its the sega CD all OVER again did you play any other game like donkey kong country returns,zelda skyward sword,kirby epic yarn etc if you did play another game tell us if you liked it or was it good