How was Sonic born? Story of Sonic the Hedgehog

[Music] 1974 Osaka Japan a child named Yuji naka is enthralled in fact obsessed with speed meanwhile a young Naruto Oshima is captivated by every move every image of the Western superhero the two will one day join fascinations to change the world of video games armed only with a blue insectivore and red shoes this is the story of Sonic the Hedgehog [Music] 1988 for three years now the mission of pretty much every game console maker in the world has been the same defeat Nintendo nobody can even come close what will the future bring from Nintendo the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System dominates the world market with a 90% share Sega tries to topple the 800-pound gorilla by releasing a 16-bit console called Mega Drive in Japan and Europe and Genesis in the u.s. despite a blistering fast microprocessor and some edgy commercials there's just no shaking Nintendo stranglehold in the US one household out of every four buys an NES falling in love with its chubby little plumber Mario 1989 Sega top brass wants to boast its consoles processing speed by creating a character and game much quicker than Mario there was a big movement campaign to create Sega's mascot icon and it was accompanied by the effort that everyone could submit their ideas and there were about 200 drawings or different characters submitted a ton of cool pitches come in there's a rabid followed by some other interesting calls like an armadillo and a bear enter an idea from the superhero inspired mind of Illustrator Naoto Oshima his crafty creature is a hedgehog with SiC a blue skin named mr. needle mouse the spiny mammal could ball up and use his body as a weapon he's cute but cool Noble and helpful with a little attitude to boot - okay I actually wrote a proposal and showed it to my boss and told him this is a game I want to make it was just a character that runs fast runs in loops so when I told my boss he said the person who can make a game like this is Yuji naka charismatic programmer yuji naka has already created a handful of moderately successful Sega games he kicks off his next project partisan his lifelong love for Speed to create a game like no other I liken this to Super Mario Brothers that had played many many times to play Mario from this point to this point took 30 seconds but if I can go through the same place in ten seconds your skill increases my desire was to play games much faster and have a better sense of accomplishment NACA's fast as heck program lacks one vital element a character Oshima shows naka drawings of mr. needle mouse and explains his unlikely muses life at the time Michael Jackson released bad and his boots had a belt on it and I thought it was really cool but color wise a black boot is kind of boring so I thought of the most famous character in the world Santa Claus and I took his color to make Michael Jackson's boots for sonic mister needle Mouse's get it done now attitude is taken straight from Capitol Hill if there was a problem Bill Clinton took action right away I saw that American attitude on TV that was the kind of character I wanted to make after a few character tweaks the most significant of which is a name change Sega's hopeful savior is born Sonic the Hedgehog for the date survived a war that was the most exciting moment for me it made me think wow this is a great game everyone's going to be so surprised locally surprised is one way to describe Sega's reaction to Sonic many from the anxious stateside management are miffed remember at this time most Americans have never heard of a hedgehog people in the u.s. said what the heck you know what is the Hedgehog it was perceived very strangely but that combined with very Japanese style big cute eyes and that kind of thing put people off initially the struggling game companies challenge is clear how do you make an odd blue insectivore defeat the hottest franchise in videogame history it won't be easy but if they can make it work video games will certainly never be the same [Music] 1990 Sega with its new 16-bit console tries to make a Mario killer as Nintendo is about to release its own 16-bit er Eugenia cos program and now total Oshima's character design yield a speedy blue hedgehog named Sonic but two essential elements are missing the world which Sonic will explore and full support from Sega of America Sega's rookie game designer hero Kazuya Sahara joins naka and Oshima to form the new division Sonic Team Yasuhara designs a prototype featuring the trippy universe sonic will call home the challenge appease two nations American audience and Japanese audience is different American audience feel the challenging it's a most fun part of the videogame but Japanese audience who want more casual gameplay elements so I want to create a game for the both countries audiences not only the hardcore gamer but the you know casual gamers also well guess who Hara constructs levels featuring loops pinball like bumpers and the soon-to-be famous gold rings Oshima build Sonic's backstory casting him as a rock star in a band full of party animals complete with groupie girlfriend a busty damsel named Madonna Sonic Sonic is smaller than a human but he had a human girlfriend who was very attractive and would chase Sonic so it's like a male fantasy the odd nature of the game proves to be a challenge to many namely Sega of America led by their new hired gun Mattel Toys mastermind tom kalinske the new Prez brings with him a new outlook kolinsky x' team goes to work repurposing japan sonic in order to make it more sellable in the US they soften him up literally and figuratively originally Sonic had fame and so we had to remove the things we also had to remove his girlfriend Madonna and we also had to remove him out of a rock band I didn't doubt Sonic as a matter of fact I'm known as the mother of Sonic mother's love their children I protected that character I hope to find that character we had softened him a lot and that was yeah there was war a war starting with a single publicity poster showing Sonic stateside makeover I think Oshima's art style was very Japanese in those days a shake of America's marketing really wanted to make it a little more American and the very first Sonic the Hedgehog games poster shake of America marketing created was hated by the Sonic Team and I became a big issue at that time I had to go to Japan and negotiate or rationalize why Sonic should look like this going forward and that wasn't a fun meeting in those days I hated the American change to the look and feel and I didn't know how the consumers would perceive it but looking back now that was one of the reasons it succeeded somewhat content with the character tweaks the man considered by many as the father of Sonic takes a first whack at the prototype so at the very beginning honestly it kind of gave me motion sickness it was that fast sonic team slows the game down just a bit while finalizing the Stars mission he must stop the sinister dr. Robotnik from stealing six mystical power giving gemstones called Chaos Emeralds in an attempt to rule Sonic's homeland of South Island after months and months of twenty-one hour workdays Sonic Team buckles down to finish on time on the 23rd of June 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog wags his finger at all of America this thing has the tential to become one of the most popular characters in game history thanks in part to risky aggressive ads and a little guerilla marketing we're a guerrilla marketer so we did a mall tour purpose of the mall tour was to show sonic but we did something very interesting we also introduced the world to 16-bit Super NES Mario we had a giant 32 inch TV it was giant at that time showing Mario and letting kids play it and right next to it same type of TV with Sonic I used to attend them all tours put on the Sonic costume I saw this three-year-old playing Sonic he didn't even look up at me I was completely invisible to him and here I'm wearing this big blue Sonic costume right next to him was a teen right next to him wasn't a dog and they were all playing Sonic the Hedgehog never seen people gravitate to a video game or to a character as they did with Sonic because we had nothing else to lose we had to go up against Nintendo for every dollar that we had in our marketing budget and intend to had $15 some people may think we were crazy some people were thinking that we were risking everything we had by going head to head within hours of its release Sega would find out if their risky game starring a risky character would pay off the fiercest fight in videogame history is on Sega releases Sonic the Hedgehog in June of 1991 overnight the tiny blue creature loop-de-loops into the hearts of Americans he's every bit the instant classic Sega wants and needs Nintendo's market share starts to budge a little after other successful premieres in Japan and Europe Sonic is on its way to break 1 million sold before the year's end however Sega management looks to enter the ever-important holiday season with a very odd strategy give their hottest game away executive vp Shinobu toyota and sega america pres tom kalinske pitched the idea of bundling sonic with the genesis to sega can press io Nakayama he said to us you crazy we make money from software and you give that very best title away he stood up he kicked the chair we started to walk to the conference room door then he turned around to Tom Kerensky and said to Tom if you believe this is the way to beat Nintendo do it we gave sonic away eventually 250 million household with our Hardware system perhaps the riskiest move of that consoles generation pays off Nintendo the once untouchable king of console sales loses the coveted market majority to Sega it's a dream come true for Sonic's three creators when sonic beat Mario it made me very happy I went to Universal Studios and everyone asked for my autograph at that moment I was like wow Sonic is very famous great did the proof it's possible to defeat the giant if we had hardware for the new generation sonic to me was like a beloved son I was very proud of him I wanted him to continue to grow and continue to make me proud Sega and Sonic team immediately go to work on Sonic the Hedgehog to because of the remarkable American launch of Sonic 1 development of the sequel moves from Japan to the newly formed Sega Technical Institute or STI in palo alto california a plugin will be delayed for sonic one speed was at its max we had to recreate the program on Sonic 2 because we had to move to Sonics at once so we really needed to focus on speed and the 2 player battling games to introduce the character tails tails aka miles per hour is a fox born with well 2 tails they allow him to fly for short periods of time in an effort to help Sonic save the world yet again from dr. Robotnik Sonic 2 premieres worldwide in November of 1992 among critical and fan-based praise it sells almost a half million units in the first five days very impressive for that era it goes on to sell 6 million sonic 2 was a huge success and it was one of those situations where immediately you have to start thinking if you're in the game's business how do you top that what do you do next well two things you make more games and you take your big star for a walk up Madison Avenue Sega and Sonic pin numerous lucrative promotional deals with everyone from Hojo's to SpaghettiOs it's as if the entire commerce world wants to slap the hedgehogs mug on their product including the mack daddy of all fast foods Sonic figurines are sold in more than 50 million McDonald's Happy Meals in Q score ratings across the nation Sonic the Hedgehog is more recognizable to children than Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse has had several generations in the American consciousness going all the way back to 1927 to consider that Sonic has been able to overtake Mickey to score ratings in just a few short years after its introduction is quite amazing by late 93 he even inks a deal for a comic book series and a couple of animated TV shows I was built for speed and Kornberg dangers he makes a cameo on The Simpsons and has represented as an enormous balloon in the Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade the first time a video game character has appeared in the long-running Americana centerpiece we needed sonic everywhere we need to sonic on TV in the game in your bedroom on your bedroom sheets you wanted Sonic the Hedgehog all throughout a person's life he talked about him as though he was alive as though he was with us it's kind of strange perhaps looking back at it but we were very much wrapped up in his success and success is precisely but Sega desires with their upcoming release Sonic 3 with Sonic the Hedgehog currently on top of the video game charts and pretty much every other chart imaginable what could possibly go wrong with this future the answer a whole lot [Music] 1993 after two mega hits in a row Sega strategy for continued success sounds simple make a third sonic Dolby you making Sonic 3 I wanted to make a big game and it was scary we felt that we needed a deeper story to expand the world of Sonic anymore of a storyline to this action game made the project huge a new character is born an echidna named knuckles in true sonic style this cousin to the porcupine has given an unusual makeover red skin dreadlocks and shoes inspired by Jamaica's flag he alternates roles as Sonic's enemy and partner sonic symbolizes speed but knuckles symbolizes power he can break topography or land he can climb up things and fly those were the requirements for the character features the map for Sonic 3 ends up triple the size of the first two games with numerous paths for each character more bosses and environments along with greater speed add to the workload after delays in production and premieres Sonic 3 drops in February of 94 it's just as good as everyone hopes and Sega has a surprise sequel just eight months down the road Sonic and Knuckles the game's cartridge actually connects to Sonic 1 2 & 3 allowing players to explore each as Knuckles the two games sell 4 million units most 2d platform connoisseurs will tell you this is the high point of the franchise unfortunately they are right it will never get much better than this after Sonic and Knuckles Yuji naka and team returned to Japan to make a new Sega game nice as a faux surfaces that not even Sonic can outrun the constant change of technology sony is about to release their first console called the playstation with its sleek new optical disc format changing the way games are made and sold trying to compete sega launches the saturn a 32-bit er hitting Japan in November of 94 and the US six months later sales suffer as the console is unable to overcome its high price of $399 in competition from the superhot PlayStation and a hundred bucks less the coveted market majority no longer belongs to Sega trying to keep their heads above water a new uk-based Sega group produces Sonic titles for the Saturn with Sega Saturn we deliver a game such as Sonic blast sonic our sonic racing game they did reasonably well but it was a struggle for us to fight against Sony and this was a very fast road rock sonic had faced had an old rival to the new one and things get worse the Nintendo 64 arrived summer of 96 and steal Sonic's already fading thunder super mario 64 sells 11 million while sega halts production on Sonic Xtreme after multiple engine problems and missed deadlines Sonic the Hedgehog's once bright star fades into a crowded sky the father of Sonic returns to the franchise as Sega makes one last go at a console the Dreamcast is developed along with a new look Sonic we can't transport Sonic's to the features to a 3d game so we had to come up with a unique new 3d sonic speed is what everyone talks about with Sonic but what you will physically feel like to win blowing your face and all this scenery coming at you that kind of speed was enhanced in the 3d game sonic adventure would be the hedgehogs biggest challenge ever featuring a whopping six characters each with their own storyline and abilities our mission was to renew the character so we had to ask ourselves to what extent do we change the sonic what are the reasons for changing the way it looks that's what I paid close attention to the move from 2d to 3d is where sonic changed the most at that stage I talked with naka Oshima and the whole original Genesis team we talked about the characteristics of Sonic and how Sonic should be in the future we talked about it a lot and we took a long time to make decisions fortunately not too long the game is finished in time to join Sega's much-hyped Dreamcast launch on $99.99 both console and games sell out within hours after five years of drift sonic is back and looking better than ever fans love the mind-bending collection of loop-de-loops and vertigo-inducing jumps overall Sonic Adventure is a triumphant relaunch of the franchise but the run doesn't last long at all Sega is still in trouble the company is drowning in debt thanks to the Saturn roadblocks and their pricy ad campaigns they also spend millions on new hardware that just doesn't sell in early 2001 Sega announces that they will discontinue their hardware initiatives and focus strictly on game development in the coming years Sonic and his friends appear in a staggering number of games for pretty much every platform available Sony Microsoft mobile phones and yes even Nintendo today as sonic team gets a handle on next-gen systems the world is sure to see even bigger games and adventures it's hard to believe that an odd little creature from a couple of young minds forever changed the way we look at video games and characters when I get a compliment I take it as a compliment to the team I did program the game but just because the programming is good that doesn't make it a good game you need a good illustrator for the characters and a good map and I couldn't have done that by myself so it was Sonic Team that was great he was really a good experience I want Sonic to continue running for another 50 or 100 years Sonic has appeared in more than a hundred games and racked up billions in sales he will surely be remembered for generations to come [Music]

Channel: Sonic Destiny

Views: 681,119

Keywords: sonic, history of sonic, sonic the hedgehog, history, full, how was sonic born, how was sonic made, new, sonic history, sonic story, history of sonic the hedgehog, how sonic was born, sonic the hedgehog history, the story of sonic, the history of sonic the hedgehog, sonic the hedgehog story, story of sonic, sonic documentary, sonic mania, sonic generations, the story of sonic the hedgehog, sonic 1, origin of sonic, amy rose, sonic hedgehog, sonic the hedgehog documentary

Id: AcqJElFI2h4

Length: 24min 26sec (1466 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 30 2017