GAME DESIGNER

Naoto Ohshima

1964 - Today

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Naoto Ohshima (大島 直人, Ōshima Naoto) (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer and artist, best known for designing Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Although Yuji Naka made a tech demo around which Sonic's gameplay was based, the character in his prototype was a ball that lacked any specific features and was based on Ohshima's game proposal. Sonic Team considered numerous potential animal mascots before deciding on Ohshima's design, with an armadillo or hedgehog being the top choices because their spikes worked well with the concept of rolling into enemies. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 18 different languages on Wikipedia. Naoto Ohshima is the 23rd most popular game designer (up from 53rd in 2024), the 1,240th most popular biography from Japan (up from 1,951st in 2019) and the 11th most popular Japanese Game Designer.

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Among GAME DESIGNERS

Among game designers, Naoto Ohshima ranks 23 out of 77. Before him are Steve Jackson, Shigesato Itoi, Masayuki Uemura, Klaus Teuber, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Shinji Mikami. After him are Hidetaka Miyazaki, Reiner Knizia, Carol Shaw, Will Wright, Masahiro Sakurai, and Yoko Taro.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1964, Naoto Ohshima ranks 219. Before him are Sven Väth, Jim Jordan, Penelope Ann Miller, Magnus Wislander, Saud Al-Shuraim, and Giuseppe Giannini. After him are Willie Garson, David W. Panuelo, James Purefoy, Han Suk-kyu, Mikhail Popkov, and Karen Karapetyan.

Others Born in 1964

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Naoto Ohshima ranks 1,240 out of 6,245. Before him are Shinichi Kawano (1969), Damo Suzuki (1950), Chūhei Nambu (1904), Koji Kondo (1961), Sadakazu Tanigaki (1945), and Peter Takeo Okada (1941). After him are Shirase Nobu (1861), Shinji Kagawa (1989), Yasushi Akutagawa (1925), Kazuo Ozaki (1960), Yumi Matsutoya (1954), and Nobuyuki Kato (1920).

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Among GAME DESIGNERS In Japan

Among game designers born in Japan, Naoto Ohshima ranks 11. Before him are Toru Iwatani (1955), Satoshi Tajiri (1965), Shigesato Itoi (1948), Masayuki Uemura (1943), Hironobu Sakaguchi (1962), and Shinji Mikami (1965). After him are Hidetaka Miyazaki (1974), Masahiro Sakurai (1970), Yoko Taro (1970), Yu Suzuki (1958), Kazunori Yamauchi (1967), and Hideki Kamiya (1970).

Japanese born Game Designers

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