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吉井正晴インタビュー第2回後半：セガおよびセガ・オブ・アメリカにおけるゲーム開発・販売業務についての証言

Moriyuki, Shigehara,, Ikuine, Fumihiko, Shimizu, Hiroshi, Yoshii, and Masaharu. 2020. “吉井正晴インタビュー第2回後半：セガおよびセガ・オブ・アメリカにおけるゲーム開発・販売業務についての証言.” Hitotsubashi University Institute of Innovation Research.

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Hitotsubashi, Yoshii interview
Original
http://pubs.iir.hit-u.ac.jp/admin/ja/pdfs/show/2381
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https://web.archive.org/web/20210422010343id_/http://pubs.iir.hit-u.ac.jp/admin/ja/pdfs/file/2381
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2026-10-26
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© Hitotsubashi University Institute of Innovation Research
Credit
Interview with Masaharu Yoshii by Moriyuki Shigehara, Fumihiko Ikuine, and Hiroshi Shimizu, 14 February 2020, second half.
Notes
Part two of the second session (pp. 12-16 cover Sonic 2). Yoshii, Sonic 2's credited director, took over STI after Mark Cerny left. He describes the staff brought from Japan, the cartridge growing from 4 to 6 "mega", the release date, and the worldwide launch decision. Japanese; the translations in the claims are ours. Locators are the printed page numbers.

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Claims (6)

Masaharu Yoshii, the credited director, recalled in a 2020 interview that the game came out on 21 November, so that it would be out just before Thanksgiving, after which people take time off and the Christmas season begins.p. 15, Yoshiip. 15, YoshiiInterview
Asked in 2020 who finally decided to launch Sonic 2 around the world at the same time, Yoshii said he thought it was the Japanese side, though it might have been the American side.p. 15, YoshiiInterview
Yoshii said he took over the Sega Technical Institute in the year Mark Cerny left, without remembering when, and joined Sonic 2 partway through, when he thought about half of it was done; he put the real start of development at around the beginning of 1992, with the game finished about a month before release.p. 13, Yoshiip. 14, Yoshiip. 13, Yoshiip. 13, YoshiiInterview
Yoshii said that to make Sonic 2 quickly about five to ten development staff were brought from Japan, that at its peak about 20 people worked on the project, and that because this time the game was developed in the United States, in-house, everyone at Sega of America saw it as their own project.p. 12, Yoshiip. 12, Yoshiip. 13, YoshiiInterview
Yoshii said that shortly before release Sonic 2 ran out of room; it had been planned for two 2-"mega" ROMs, 4 in all, and Sega president Hayao Nakayama approved adding a third to make 6 rather than lose two or three weeks cutting the game down.p. 14, Yoshiip. 14, Yoshiip. 15, YoshiiInterview
Yoshii said in 2020 that he thought about a million copies had probably sold by the end of 1992, and that thanks to Sonic 2 the Genesis console itself began to sell well.p. 16, Yoshiip. 16, YoshiiInterview