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When asked about updating any other classic songs like 2021's Tsugi no Se-no! De, he replies he'd like to do all the old songs that way, but from a business perspective, it might be better just to leave the classics alone, since Tsugi no Se-no De hasn't been nearly as popular as the Sonic 1&2 OST.

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He did all the music on a Roland MC-500 MkII synced with a TR-626 or 707, then that MIDI data was saved onto a floppy disk, output to a tracksheet, and sent to Sega. He doesn't talk about Sonic 2 at all except to mention that the scratching (presumably in Metropolis) was inspired by Herbie Hancock.

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So at least some of the music predates the game. Nakamura says he was doing all this while working on DCT's second and third albums, getting only 2-3 hours of sleep a night, but again, the second album was released in November '89, months before work on any Sonic graphics actually began.

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...he met Nakamura only once during development.) Instead, DCT got a prerelease game cartridge, and Nakamura wrote the music based on those visuals. So the music was inspired by the art, but Nakamura says he also included melodies he had written in the years before his debut.

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...they released their first album, but that was in March 1989, so more likely he's thinking of their second album which was released in November '89. All the dealings with Sega were handled by DCT's producer, so they didn't have many direct meetings with Sonic Team. (Naoto Ōshima has said that...

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...seems to have been Mike Pela?) attended a dinner party with some big Sega executive (again, no names but probably Fujio Minegishi) where he heard about the project that would become Sonic. As DCT was still unknown at the time, they jumped at the chance. Nakamura recalls this being right after...

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【お試し読みあり】『CONTINUE』Vol.90は、ソニック誕生35周年記念、アニバーサリー大特集！今年、2026年はセガを代表する世界的人気キャラクター・ソニックの誕生35...コンティニュー編集部著『CONTINUE Vol.90』作品案内。／ISBN:9784778341473、2026年9月24日搬入発売。

There's an interview with Masato Nakamura in the latest issue of Continue magazine, specifically about his work on Sonic. It's not super detailed and he seems to be misremembering some of the timeline, but there's a few interesting tidbits: DCT's producer at the time (he doesn't give a name, but...

ohtabooks.com

CONTINUE Vol.90 - 太田出版

The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I'm a few days behind (in life, always) but for anyone who missed it, this is a delightful interview with Sonic 3 enemy designer Satoshi Yokokawa It's wild how he can remember so many details about Mecha Sonic II 30+ years later, and the interviewers are clearly geeking out. Legit brightened my day

segaretro.org

Making sure you're not a bot!

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The Hidden Palace @handle.invalid · 20/09/2026

A really cool find from Discord member gageiro: A custom Mega CD BIOS made especially for Sonic Team's creative director Kazuyuki Hoshino! Check it out in action below!

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Browsing through the 1997 issues of Famitsu and found this photo of Sonic Canball at Shinjuku Joypolis, along with a bunch of butts. The only previously known location for this was Yokohama Joypolis. Sonic Canball, I mean. The butts are everywhere. everywhere

Photo of a bunch of grown-ass people playing Sonic Canball, a can alley carnival-type game, at Shinjuku Joypolis in late 1996. From the February 21, 1997 issue of Famitsu, page 149.

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Sonic the Comic Rescan Project @stcscans.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Huge milestone for the Sonic The Comic Rescan Project. We now have a complete run of high resolution scans complete from Issue 1 to Issue 184! This completes the original story run of STC. All downloadable in various resolutions from the STC Scans website. stcscans.zone

Issue 1 and Issue 184 of Sonic The Comic

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Sonic the Comic Rescan Project @stcscans.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Issue 1 of Sonic The Poster Mag has been scanned at 600 DPI and is available on the Internet Archive. It will be added to the STC Scans website soon. archive.org/details/soni...

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Sonic Adventure concept art by Kazuyuki Hoshino x.com/KazuyukiHosh...

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I understand the prevailing theory is that the AoStH design was based on this early pixel version of Tails that still used Sonic 1's palette, before Yamaguchi tweaked it to add another shade of orange. Pretty sure it's all speculation, tho

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yamaguchi recalls that when they first saw the cartoon version of Tails the whole dev team called him "Suneo", apparently after the Doraemon character who... he actually looks a lot like, now that I think about it xcancel.com/judy_totoya/...

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Not surprisingly, Yasushi Yamaguchi was not a fan of Tails' 1993 cartoon colors: xcancel.com/judy_totoya/...

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The Sonic Stadium ✪ Sonic the Hedgehog News & Community @sonicstadium.org · 24/08/2026

BREAKING: Concept art for Sage and the Koco have been released via the October issue of Nintendo Dream. The magazine is running a feature on #SonicFrontiers ahead of the release of Sonic Frontiers Super Deluxe for Switch 2 in Japan. #SonicNews You can check them out below:

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GDRI @gdri.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Master System Dynamite Dux has leftover data from Reggie Jackson Baseball and World Games. tcrf.net/Dynamite_Dux...

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Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik @hatethathedgehog.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"tails get me my arm and leg extenders i don't look like enough of a dipshit to be in the AI slop game"

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

It is now 9 years since Sonic Mania came out 😱... another trivia nugget: at one point we had a screen that showed you the animals that were inside the Heavies giving them their personalities! It didn't make the cut (maybe didn't comply with brand guidelines or there wasn't enough time IDK)

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Sonic The Wereblog @sonichedgeblog.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

One of the model sheets for Robotnik, drawn by Milton Knight, for 'Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog'.

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

In this 1997 E3 vid recently posted at VGHF you can hear an early version of Super Sonic Racing playing in the Sonic R demo. I’ve never heard this before. I think it’s TJ Davis? But it’s not the version we hear in the final game. Sonic R footage starts at about 48:35

archive.gamehistory.org

Electronic Entertainment Expo 1997, "Sony, Sega, etc." [Hi8]

View Electronic Entertainment Expo 1997, "Sony, Sega, etc." [Hi8] in the Video Game History Foundation Library – Digital Archive.

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Ares Arcadia @aresarcadia.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

My buddy @greengibbon.bsky.social translated this Dreamcast Fan 2000/02 Skies of Arcadia interview for me 1.5 years ago, although I didn't know where to publish it. I've since given it a home to the Skies of Arcadia miraheze wiki, check it out! skiesofarcadia.miraheze.org/wiki/Dreamca...

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

One small correction to this timeline, the publication dates on these old mags are usually inaccurate, so the Gekkan Coin Journal was likely not actually published on March 30, but earlier in the month or late February.

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Hinagiku Kigurashi @hinagiku.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Happy 35th Anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog~ I'm a little late, I've been working on this lego build for most of the year. If you like this piece please share~ Details follow~ @sonic-official.bsky.social @ianflynnbkc.bsky.social #sonic #sonicthehedgehog #sonic35thanniversery #sonic35

The mural in Sonic & Knuckles Hidden Palace Zone made out of legos~

Closer shot of the left half of the lego mural~

A picture of the mural with a Sonic the Hedgehog plushie sitting on it.

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

The July 10 release date is probably a myth (can't find any source for it), but this is a game I'd love to know more about. How, who, why. There should be no debate about the worst Sonic game ever because this is clearly it. Also, PC aside, Sonic's first appearance on a non-Sega console

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I could, sure. There's not a whole lot to say, it wouldn't be a deep dive or anything, but there's a couple fun factoids. Gimme a few weeks to throw something together 👍

Sources 3/3: www.famitsu.com/news/201606/24107383.html?page=3 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC6WuqNhtGw xcancel.com/KazuyukiHoshino/status/1544180582615113728 nights.sega.jp/nights1//snd/nsnd/drehiwa/dre3.html

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Sources 2/3: note.com/beep21/n/n6c043a1e1d10 note.com/beep21/n/n5336480dfcd0 Sega Saturn Magazine 1996/05/10, p. 48-50 Sega Saturn Magazine 1996/07/12, p. 53

As much as I love NiGHTS, I'm grateful it never turned into a franchise. But y'know. I'd be okay with some anniversary merch, or an IDW one-shot, or SOMEthing Sources 1/3: Saturn Fan 1996/04/26, p. 35 NiGHTS Nice Night Tours, p. 122-125 xcancel.com/NaotoOhshima/status/1694798352947286039

#13: 14-year old Cameron Earl Strother sang the boy part of the Dreams Dreams duet but almost lost the job to his brother because his singing, well... sucked. After a month of coaching from Sasaki, he managed to get good enough in time for the recording day—much to Sasaki's relief.

#12: At first, Elliot was the only human protag, but the team thought they should have a character female players could relate to as well, so Claris was added. Ōshima laughs they argued for months over what to name the two. (Elliot was voiced by Kazuyuki Hoshino, who also designed the logo.)

They kept missing their marks and had to loop back to return to the course, so they turned it into a mechanic. #11: Ōshima didn't work on gameplay, and he—like all of us—was surprised and delighted by THAT moment in the final stage. The dramatic pause in the music was composer Tomoko Sasaki's idea.

Screenshot of the game's final stage, Twin Seeds, just before the player makes a fateful leap—one of the most memorable moments of 90s gaming. Gives me goosebumps to this day

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Naka recalls it was fall of 1995 when they settled on analog control, but before that they (allegedly) came up with over 100 different ideas, including a foot controller they built a big mock-up for. #10: NiGHTS' signature paraloop was also the result of the team struggling with the controls...

Photo of the Saturn Multi-Controller, or "Marucon," a controller with a bulbous analog thumbstick and analog shoulder triggers, designed for NiGHTS but intended to be used as an all-purpose controller for any and all Saturn games moving forward. From www.sega.jp/fb/segahard/ss/multi.html

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#8: Stages are designed with incongruous real-world elements because that's how people dream—familiar things mixed up in surreal ways. In contrast, the nightmare (boss) stages are almost entirely abstract. #9: Some painful playtesting led the team to conclude they needed a purpose-made controller.

Concept art of the Mystic Forest stage, featuring traffic lights juxtaposed against a shadowy forest backdrop.

Screenshot of the Gillwing boss stage, a delightfully colorful mess of alien-looking formations and plants.

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#7: The addictive score system was inspired by pinball—specifically, a Twilight Zone pinball machine that Naka had spent a lot of time playing during his stint at Sega Technical Institute during the development of Sonic 3. He really wanted to capture that “git gud” thrill.

Photo of Bally's Twilight Zone pinball, released in 1993. From www.selkirkauctions.com

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...there is very little to do or find. Still, the team felt it was important to give the player some control over those characters to build empathy. #6: The bonus banner is a remnant of a scrapped formation flying idea, inspired by a Blue Angels airshow Naka had seen at the S&K Rock the Rock event.

Screenshot of NiGHTS trailed by a long ribbon power-up

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#5: The starting team of 7 was split between making a 2D or a 3D game, with both Naka and Ōshima firmly in the 2D camp. They settled on 2D flight in 3D space, but Ōshima describes deciding what to do with that 3D space as being the hardest part. The two human protags can explore it freely, but...

Naka jokes that Ōshima's original bird designs were so bad it had to have been a deliberate effort to sabotage the project. #4: Lead designer Takashi Iizuka, on the other hand, was relieved to get pulled off a J-League soccer game he had no interest in making.

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#2: Yūji Naka's original idea was for an emotional story arc in which a flightless bird—an Okinawa rail—learns to fly. #3: Ōshima didn't want to do it at first. He had been working on a Cirque du Soleil-inspired 3D fighting game with a human cast and did NOT want to do another cartoon animal.

Photo of an Okinawa rail, a medium-small flightless bird with disproportionately large legs and feet. From www.gov-online.go.jp/hlj/en/december_2025/december_2025-12.html

Concept art of Fighting Circus, a "one vs many" 3D fighting game for Saturn that Ōshima had been working on. The art features several humanesque characters in elaborate circus-style costumes reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil. Shared by Ōshima on twitter

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Hey, your favorite Saturn game turns 30 today Don't worry, here's a smattering of facts to take your mind off your own mortality: 🧵 #1: Yes, NiGHTS is canonically agender. Naoto Ōshima explains: “[NiGHTS] is a master of the dream world and so is neither male or female. Hence the ambiguous design.”

Japanese cover of NiGHTS on Saturn. From Segaretro.org

Photo of some key members of the NiGHTS team. From left: character designer Naoto Ōshima, producer Yūji Naka, sound designer Tomoko Sasaki, and programmer Takuya Matsumoto. On the far right is Takao Miyoshi, who was a designer on Christmas NiGHTS but doesn’t seem to have been involved in the original game (I believe he was working on Sonic 3D Blast at the time). Photo from the January 1997 issue of Hyper Saturn, page 82.

Photo of lead game designer Takashi Iizuka. From the September 25, 1998 issue of Sega Saturn Magazine, page 46.

Render of NiGHTS with the agender pride flag in the background

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I noticed! Yeah, I haven't done anything on that in years, but a friend of mine who helped me with it back in the day has been keeping it online all this time out of his own pocket. It's thanks to him it's even been online this long I want to do something new, but money's tight these days

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Based on an idea used in Rad Mobile, Sonic appeared in Sega SuperCoaster, a simulator running on the AS-1 system that underwent a location test (in 1991, according to Kenji Sasaki) but was ultimately never released. xcancel.com/sasappo/stat... segaretro.org/Sega_SuperCo...

a screenshot showing a floating screen with 2 Sonic

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

If you’d like to get your hands on some concept art for Sonic 2 or the cancelled Mega Drive game B-Bomb, graphic designer Tom Payne has put items from his archive up for auction. The images should be available soon (though you can already find scans elsewhere online). www.ha.com/c/search/res...

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

One of Taku Makino's original Sonic models was on display at the fan meet-up in Tokyo on Sunday. Apparently according to the info card it was restored by Makino himself? www.4gamer.net/games/797/G0...

Photo of a restored original Sonic model on display at the Sonic fan meet-up in Tokyo on Sunday.

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The GHZ @theghz.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Great find, more hard evidence that Sonic was released in the UK in June. According to the chart tho, it first appeared not the week ending June 29, but the week before, ending June 22? That would put even the UK release before June 23