Naoto Ohshima's Facebook = God Damn Amazing!

[Badnik Mechanic]

You all need to start following Naoto Ohshima... right now.

For the last month he has been posting tons of old concept art, models and some extremely rare pieces of merch on his Facebook page, some of which has never been seen before and there is one thing of particular interest, the very first Sonic plush which was used in the original pitch (we think).

Let's start with one of the more amazing posts, he posted an image of various small Sonic statues/figures created by Taku Makino who he calls 'Sega's greatest artist', this was the first time a 3D model of Sonic was created which would be used for testing purposes for a game. Apparently these figures were used to help design the Sonic CD title screen.

Hoshino's original sketch for Sonic CD's boxart/promotional art.

A draft sketch for Sonic Spinball.

A bunch of concept art, some of it is from the Sonic Screensaver, but more interestingly, the artwork was used for the cover of the internal Sega newsletters.

Finally, we have something extrodinary, this hasn't been confirmed... but if it's what I think it is, then it's extremely important. This might be the plush which was used in the original Sonic 1 pitch.

Then we have this... which you can read my thoughts on it here.

 

 

[Your Vest Friend]

Actually, I think the CD sketch is Ohshima's and he's saying that Hoshino was able to turn it into something great (aka the final promo piece).

Also for those wondering what's on Sonic's wrist, it's an LCD game from 1992. 

Also here's the image that made Hogfather jealous. 

 

[FriendBot]

I like how one of the pins Ohshima has is Sonic holding a gun

althoughithinkontwitterohshimasaiditwasn'tanofficialone

[Osmium]

Out of all the things here, that model has me the most intrigued. Amazing looking, even the face is distinctly Oshima looking on it. Man I want to flip that around so damn much and see the back of it...

also I just realized the buckles are on the in sides of the shoe too.

[Gatestormer]

33 minutes ago, ShroomZed said:

Out of all the things here, that model has me the most intrigued. Amazing looking, even the face is distinctly Oshima looking on it. Man I want to flip that around so damn much and see the back of it...

also I just realized the buckles are on the in sides of the shoe too.

This fooled me too, but the buckles are actually on the outside of the shoes, it's the fact his feet are crossed that make it look wrong on first glance. 

[Osmium]

Just now, Gatestormer said:

This fooled me too, but the buckles are actually on the outside of the shoes, it's the fact his feet are crossed that make it look wrong on first glance. 

oh damn, you're right. That's a bit embarrassing 

[Badnik Mechanic]

1 hour ago, Soni said:

I like how one of the pins Ohshima has is Sonic holding a gun

althoughithinkontwitterohshimasaiditwasn'tanofficialone

I also own that pin.

He is the only other person I know who has it.

[YuTwo]

That art piece with Sonic jumping looks similar to the one seen in the Sonic CD opening.

That art piece even has 1993 in the background which was the same year CD was released.

There's also an Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine article that details the making of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Here's a link to the magazine: http://retrocdn.net/images/2/2c/EGM_US_026.pdf (Page 102)

It has a picture with Ohshima and the very Sonic statue that has been posted above:

Apparently the article also states that the statue is made out of clay.

 

[Pawn]

2 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

Actually, I think the CD sketch is Ohshima's and he's saying that Hoshino was able to turn it into something great (aka the final promo piece).

Also for those wondering what's on Sonic's wrist, it's an LCD game from 1992. 

Heh, I actually had one of these. What a challenge it was to play like that...

[Osmium]

Sorry for another bump, but I just noticed does Sonic have 3 back spines on the plush? 

[TheOcelot]

More drawings:

 

 

[Your Vest Friend]

42 minutes ago, TailsBot said:

 

 

Well that's certainly horrifying. 

[Little T]

The last picture (bottom right) seems to be modeled on that Henry Gordon story that can be found in the Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic manga. It certainly didn't feature anyone using the jacket to transform into Sonic though! Perhaps they were early concepts for the idea.

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh geebus I'm dead.

In other more substantial updates, some sketches for a failed game idea.

 

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh shit, remember Shinichi Higashi aka TOUMA aka the guy who designed Fang (and maybe the Battle Kukku)? Well, looks like SEGA did put to use his other figure-related talents, and Ohshima recalls it.

 

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

His Twitter has some things too though...

Like this cel shaded (?) scene from Sonic CD!

https://mobile.twitter.com/undefined/status/851816000127250432

[Muscles Maximum]

Seeing an actual Sonic CD animation cel is like a dream come true.

I hope someday they get sold on ebay or something. I'd be so happy to own one

[TheOcelot]

 

1 hour ago, Fusion Ellipsis said:

 

Oh wow, this is fucking beautiful. I'd love to own one of these.

[LargoDELLZ]

I love this sort of early stuff for video games, especially Sonic! I wonder what else the creator of Sonic has deep in his archives.

[TheOcelot]

Naoto tweeted another cel, this time from CD's ending:

The boys. THEM DUDES!

 

[Maxtiis]

18 hours ago, Fusion Ellipsis said:

His Twitter has some things too though...

Like this cel shaded (?) scene from Sonic CD!

https://mobile.twitter.com/undefined/status/851816000127250432

It's nice to see that I got confirmation on a post a made a few month back that some of CD's animation cels still exist. I'd love to get my hands on some of these if I could!

[YuTwo]

I made a post a while back discussing about Sonic CD cels: 

https://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/13103-sonic-concept-art/?page=23#comment-1091061

Anyways, I'm going to post the previously posted cels here:

These were showcased at the Japanese Sega World Event. I expressed doubt that these cels could have been preserved but with Ohshima showing that he has some I'm filled with joy to see more. 

Just as I was about to be done posting this I was curious to check if Retro would update their Sonic CD game development page to add these cels.

It turns out that they made there own category to show them: http://info.sonicretro.org/Game_Development:Sonic_the_Hedgehog_CD#Animation_Cels

I saw that there was an extra one that was actually a part of the cels seen at the Sega World event:

 

This could very well mean that the other ones could be preserved as well. 

It seemed like this cel didn't originate from Ohshima's account so out of curiosity I reverse image searched it and the only site that had links to it where a Japanese one where it's last update is stated as being 2002 so it's very old. I'm honestly surprised yet glad at the same time that it was still up.

Here's the Japanese site: http://www.din.or.jp/~koryan/prf_s80.htm

It's a Q&A and the image link is found under Q40 (Question 40)

I used translation which I know means it's not going to be 100% correct but I wanted to figure out if the answer had any more information and it states:

A cell picture of "Sonic CD" who struggled in various ways to obtain it . See Q75.

It states to see Q75 (Question 75) which I did. The answer to that question brings up something intriguing:

With "Sonic CD" time attack done in the magazine "MegaDrive FAN", I got nothing while entering 3rd overall category. Why is Act bought up to 3rd place prizes (such as "Sonic CD" cell paintings), but you can not receive anything! And how many sent protest protest postcards? Later, the cell picture gets in the spring of '97 Spring.

As I just stated the translations are not really properly done but from what I can gather from this statement there was a Sonic CD Time Attack competition that gave away animation cels as prizes. They didn't receive anything at first apparently so there was protest and then they finally got it in the spring of 1997. This is probably why the prior answer in Q40 states that they "struggled in various ways to obtain it" as there was perhaps a delay in receiving the cel.

Maybe I'm digging deep into something that is probably not even translated correctly but this is rather interesting information if it's true.

[TheOcelot]

Here's another cel:

Wow, how many of these do you have, Naoto?

Can't stop drooling 

 

[YuTwo]

Another cel Ohshima uploaded. It seems like the cel has some faint drawing of another piece.

It looks like the ending scene when Sonic carries Amy:

 

 

[D.K.]

As someone who considers the CD cutscenes some of the best pieces of character animation in the industry (not just Sonic, the industry), getting to see official cels straight from Best Boy Oshima is like a wet-dream.

It's hard to believe that the same studio that made it went on to create this.