Conceptual art showing the origin of Sonic the Hedgehog has been released on the Twitter account of the Sega mascot's designer and co-creator, Naoto Ohshima. As pointed out by CBR, the post showed up on Ohshima's profile on Saturday, featuring sketches of characters from the franchise today compared to what they looked like in an earlier game that he had made a draft of, which served as the basis for the original Sonic game.

Bearing the name Twin Stars on a sketch of the prototype game's characters, the sketch features two human-looking, anime-inspired, spiky-haired boys, one with blue hair and the other with red. In one image, they wear t-shirts, each emblazoned with a single star in the center and the other boy's signature color across the neckline and shoulders. A black-and-white sketch shows the two boys to be runners, much like Sonic, although instead of curling up into a spiky ball of quills, they simply run with their arms extended, kicking up clouds of dust. And in the background of one image, a familiar, rocky loop de loop calls back to Sonic's early days.

Ohshima explains in the tweet, which he conveniently posted in both English and Japanese, "I made a draft of the game. An action game about twin brothers who protect the dream world from Nightmare World's boss 'Thirteen'. It evolved into Sonic."

I made a draft of the game. An action game about twin brothers who protect the dream world from Nightmare World's boss "Thirteen". It evolved into Sonic.
私はゲーム原案書を作った。 ナイトメア世界のボス「サーティーン」から夢の世界を守る双子のアクションゲーム。 ソニックに進化した pic.twitter.com/nJECKnsI4w

— Naoto Ohshima (@NaotoOhshima) January 21, 2023

The images also provide a look into what the enemies might have been like had things gone differently for the franchise. Thirteen is depicted simply as a long-nosed, pointy-toothed face in the sky, though he's much menacing in appearance than Sonic's eternal rival, Doctor Eggman/Robotnik. Also pictured in the black-and-white sketch are some enemy prototypes, which include a grumpy tree, grumpy rock, grumpy cannon, and what appear to be a grumpy thermometer and molar.

This is not the first time Ohshima has discussed the concept of Twin Stars, but the recent comparison between it and the finished Sonic product provides a glimpse into the creative process that has produced one of the longest-lasting characters in video game history.



Posted: Jan 26, 2023 7:38 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/sonic-co-creator-early-art-before-hedgehog/