Game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and character designer Naoto Oshima shared a bunch of interesting Sonic details during their GDC panel. You can get a rundown of their discussion via the bulletpoints below.
- Sonic's original backstory involved a fighter pilot with Sonic painted on the nose of his plane
- the pilot tirelessly sought to fly his plane at yet-unknown speeds
- his hair, always standing up, led to him being called the “Hedgehog”
- the nose art on the plane he flew depicted Sonic
- he got married to an author of children’s literature, and she wrote a children’s story about a hedgehog that was based on him
- his flight jacket still exists today
- the classic Sonic emblem, as seen on the game’s title screen, was originally the “nose art” on the plane in this story
- the story of Sonic and Eggman that took place in the game was a story told by the wife of the pilot
- Oshima originally wanted Sonic to be a hedgehog who knew how dance
- there wasn't enough room on the cartridge to include all of Sonic's dance moves, so they idea was cut
- Sonic is blue to match SEGA's logo
- Sonic is an animal because it’s easier to be politically correct if your mascot is a colorful animal
- a cute, “cool” hedgehog is a good ambassador for Sega’s youth-oriented brand
- loops and tunnels, multi-scrolling, and lots of objects were used to showcase what the Genesis could do
- a good portion of the game's design was done by hand, with pen and paper
- Yasuhara would sketch out a design on paper, then show it to an artist and discuss how they could make it work
- levels would be drawn by hand, assembled from the limit of 64 “parts” or panels in each zone
- enemies would be sketched out on paper, then shown to the team, and animations were also roughly sketched out on paper
from GoNintendo
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