Oh, so it does. Huh. I guess I got confused because it immediately goes into how Madeline was looking at the picture of Sonic and Madonna...that's where my confusion came from. That's what happens when you explain the creation of Sonic in a paragraph. It still doesn't make much sense though, because nowhere else is this mysterious woman mentioned. Unless she told Ohshima "I like Hedgehogs" and he started sketching. The evolution of Sonic has always been credited to Ohshima, including those early napkin sketches, which is why I always seemed to dismiss this. Of course, I also read it wrong, so...hmm. I don't know. It would be different if someone else ever told this story. Not even Madeline Schroeder mentioned that a girl helped come up with Sonic. And who would be the pastel animal that is mentioned? The wolf, the bulldog? I don't know.
I should abstain from speculation, but what the hell. Here we have a comparison between Ohshima's and Yamaguchi's hedgehog concept sketches, and Ohshima's was the basis for Sonic. It's entirely possible that it wasn't as simple as Contest -> Ohshima's hedgehog wins, but more like Contest -> Hedgehog idea chosen -> Ohshima's particular hedgehog design chosen from many. The precise timeline, and the details of who came up with what and how are still maddeningly vague.
It certainly doesn't help that the brand spanking new History Of Sonic The Hedgehog makes the claim that it wasn't Sonic who won that contest, but the rabbit character, and that Sonic Team changed it to Sonic after the fact. Boy, isn't it awesome that we have such a concise and accurate account on the creation of the most famous hedgehog in the world?! I don't even know how the story of Sonic Team pitching Sonic to the higher ups complete with Sonic plush fits into all of this... But I do have one question to you. Where did you get that Yamaguchi made any of those sketches? I know it's not mentioned on the page you linked, and I have never heard him being involved in the first game in any respect. I know he created Tails, but...yeah. Are you talking about that warrior-like hedgehog belonging to Yamaguchi?
Jesus christ, can't they even copypaste websites properly? EDIT: By the way, I've been checking the link Mercury posted and it's really worrying to see how it's never mentioned where any of the scans and related pics come from... Many of us do know the origin of most of them, but that's knowledge that's going to be lost forever if it's not reflected where all this material is presented. Same goes for the art archives.
Yes, this image: because of this text: ?????... etc It translates to "Yamaguchi Yasushi-shi's rough sketch". "Shi" is an honorific (I see Sega use it for their artists a lot, like in the Phantasy Star Compendium). (The warrior hedgehog is also consistent with Yamaguchi's style.) The second text says "Ohshima Naoto-shi's rough sketch". Yamaguchi has been a member of Sonic team since the late eighties, being involved with both Phantasy Star games. I guess he had a competing Sonic design. I can see why Ohshima's was picked; it's simpler to work with. The images are from the Sega History of Sonic video tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gJwetZpQBg Which I would dearly love to see translated.
And the same might have been true for the other winning idea (the pastel thing Al Nilsen mentioned). Then, after all that process, both resulting designs would have been the ones shown at SEGA of America for the final decision... Makes sense, but of course we shouldn't jump into conclusions until we get official confirmation.
Hey how about someone translates this maybe it has the names of the band members oh maybe someone should translate these too
WHAT ARE THESE PAGES FROM? 8O That picture with the gargoyle head is new to me! These are awesome! And yes, all the band member names are listed there.
The pictures are from the Sonic Jam strategy guide, the same place that fancy commentary comes from on the wiki for the Mega Drive levels. As far as I know, we don't have a full translation. Heck, I'm not sure if we have scans of the whole thing. It isn't super rare, either. And yeah, that Gargoyle image isn't on the wiki, is it? The scans for that style of concept art came from that Material Collection, which I think we've assumed was all of it. But here is another that saw print in 1997, and we don't even have a thumbnail on it. Makes you wonder if even more was drawn that looks like that. If so, I would love to see it! Also, I was having a discussion with someone about that level concept art, and they were saying they think it might have been Yasuhara who drew it, citing how Sonic looks in those action shots and comparing to how Sonic looks in other concept art, like for Mushroom Hill. And I mean, I suppose it's possible? Since Yasuhara was the one who worked on the levels. I had just assumed it was Ohshima who drew them, since the concept art for the characters and such was definitely in his hand.
Also, the Sonic Band text mentions the BEEP! Mega Drive magazine, so it might still be interesting to track down the issue with them.
Also, the scans of it are from Tom Payne, who worked directly with Yasuhara but not Ohshima. Furthermore, the copies I have of the files are named "tpyasu[number].JPG" and I do NOT remember renaming them myself (nor do I think I would have renamed them in that format). But the original versions in the thread and on the wiki are not called that, so I don't know what to think yet. I can't find hide nor hair of it online, though (I keep finding references to the Sonic Mega Collection Strategy Guide, which might also be interesting). I would absolutely LOVE to own it. So the Strategy Guide is from 1997? If so, then it probably predates this (and is indeed most likely the source for that GIF version of the image). Unlike something published today, which could just steal borrow from sites like Sonic Retro, this was an actually Sega publication with involvement from Ohshima, Naka, and Iizuka. So I could consider this one "resolved", as well.
Not completely resolved yet. As the strategy guide itself seems to hint towards, the original source for those pics and info might have been some issue of BEEP! Mega Drive, which still hasn't been found.
Well, at least I can be sure they weren't pulled out of a 13-year-old Sonic fan's butt circa 2002 for an internet hoax. =P So can anyone give me any info on the Sonic Jam strategy guide? Publisher, ISBN, anything?
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%BD%E3%83%8B%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A0-%E3%82%AA%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AC%E3%82%A4%E3%83%89-SEGASATURN-MAGAZINE%E7%B7%A8%E9%9B%86%E9%83%A8/dp/4797303379/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360145000&sr=1-1 That it?
Okay, OP updated, and a new batch of questions: This question still stands, too: I would even be willing to pay someone to buy it for me and send it along.
The name Dreds came from an old SEGA employee, whom answered questions about names etc. on the forums. I think some magazines also showed the name Dreds as well. It fits in the 5 name theme. It's also how we found out who named the enemies from Sonic 1, it was the same person. I'm not sure where the Green Knuckles came from, maybe from the same thread? I didn't really go through all of it, and it's been a while since I read it. I'm not sure what his forum name was, but he had a lot of typos and claimed his keyboard was broken. But after he replaced his keyboard, I don't think it really helped. Sorry I can't really help more then that.
Looks like none of the amazon sellers ship overseas. You could use a service like Rinkya to buy from Yahoo! Auctions, but that would be pretty expensive.... http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w74269033 :/ Or you could try: http://auction.item.rakuten.co.jp/10702286/a/10012298/ (looks cheaper, but I am not familiar with buying from this site)
