Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN Version 5.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

Sonic's creator, Yuji Naka, wanted to work at Nintendo after leaving SEGA

by rawmeatcowboy
15 May 2018
GN Version 5.0

Yuji Naka departed SEGA shortly after bringing Sonic the Hedgehog into the world. What did he envision for his future? Believe it or not, he was really hoping he could land a job at Nintendo. In the interview snippet below, Naka details what he did after leaving SEGA.

When I was returning from Tokyo to my home in Osaka, I decided to go through the Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto. In fact, I wanted to see how long it would take to travel from Osaka to the Nintendo offices. (Laughter) However, when I stopped my car in the parking lot, a security guard came out and started to look at me suspiciously. I got scared and decided to go home. (Laughter) If that security guard had not been there, who knows how different my future could have been …! (Laughter)

While I was reading those books, I received a call from a third developer asking me if I could work for them. But the truth is that I was waiting for a call from Nintendo.

The reason I thought that was because a few months before I left Sega, I heard a story about another programmer from a great gaming company who had given up his job, and then Nintendo called him. I was like: “Wow, that could also happen to me!” (Laughter). Then, when I left Sega, I had the faint hope of receiving a call … but it never came. (Laughter) It was sad.

[Link]