Editing Yuji Naka (section)

===''Sonic the Hedgehog''===
Yuji Naka would later find himself in charge of programing the original ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' game, while [[Naoto Ohshima]] designed the characters and [[Hirokazu Yasuhara]] designed the levels. Naka has also produced many other titles like ''[[wikipedia:Nights into Dreams|Nights into Dreams...]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Burning Rangers|Burning Rangers]]'', ''[[w:c:pso:Phantasy Star Online|Phantasy Star Online]]'', ''[[Sega Superstars]]'', ''[[w:c:billyhatcher:Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg|Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg]]'' and ''[[w:c:rodea-the-sky-soldier:Rodea the Sky Soldier|Rodea the Sky Soldier]]''. In early games he was often credited as "YU2" (in reference to Yu Suzuki) and "Muuu Yuji". He is one of the few famous Japanese game creators to speak fluent English.

When asked about the famous [[Nintendo]] vs. Sega [[Wikipedia:Console war|console wars]] of the 1990's in an episode of ''[[Wikipedia:Icon (TV series)|Icons]]'', he states that his intentions while making the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game were different than the direction it was taken, and that the comparisons between Sonic and Mario were a misunderstanding by the media. He also says that he is good friends with Nintendo and that Sega had respect for Nintendo with their ''[[Mario]]'' games, which were viewed as a watermark of quality for Sega to strive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://xbox.gamespy.com/articles/654/654750p4.html|title=Sega's Yuji Naka Talks!|publisher=[[Wikipedia:GameSpy|GameSpy]]|quote='''Yuji Naka''': I will go on the record here and state that we at Sega have always had nothing but the utmost respect for Nintendo and the Mario games. Even when they were our direct competitor in the hardware arena, we have viewed the games as a watermark of quality for us to strive towards. It is a pleasure and an honor for us to work with Nintendo as a third party today.|accessdate=3 January 2015}}</ref>

Yuji Naka would later reflect on his time in the video game industry, from his beginning through the fable "console wars" to leaving the [[Sonic the Hedgehog series|''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series]] in the June 2009 issue of ''[[Nintendo Power]]''. He was asked how he saw the video game industry change over time. Naka, interestingly, compared the games, such as Sonic's classic games, made during the console war as novels, games that allowed the players freedom to use their imaginations, while the direction taken by the video game industry turned games into movies with marketing's pursuit for realism, laying out everything, and diminishing the player's creative response to the games. What he missed the most was being involved with hardware development, reflecting that it was fun battling [[Nintendo]] in that area.<ref name="2009NintendoPowerTime">{{Cite journal |journal=[[Nintendo Power]] |volume242 |date=June 2009 |pages=46–48 |title=Power Profiles: Yuji Naka |quote='''Questionnaire''': You addressed this a little bit already regarding the longer development cycles, but how would you say the video game industry has changed during the time you've been involved with it? / '''Yuji Naka''': Previously, games didn't need to be realistic. Now a big part of a game's marketing is how realistic it is. Think of it like the difference between a novel and a movie. Games used to be like novels in that there was a lot of room for the player's imagination. With current games, everything is laid out for the player. The biggest change for me, personally, over the past 25 years is that I'm no longer involved in hardware development. I used to work on the hardware side, and in those days, I was battling Nintendo! [Laughs] That's no longer the case, obviously. But for me, I think those hardware battles were more fun. [Laughs]}}</ref>