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UGNACA has been arrested for alleged insider trading.

This partial headline was published in November of 2022, another chapter in the ongoing

ignoble fall of the co-creator of one of video gaming's most iconic characters.

After joining SEGA as a programmer at the age of 19, Naka-san saw a rapid rise to gaming's

highest tier of talent, having a significant role on major franchises like Space Harrier

and Fantasy Star in his early 20s.

And then in 1991, at just 26 years old, he and collaborator Naoto Oshima unleashed the

game that would make his career.

A speed-focused side-scroller starring a blue hedgehog with track shoes and a tube.

His love of chili dogs would become canon in later entries.

The game's blockbuster success immediately made Naka-san a sought after superstar,

lured away from, and then back to SEGA, where his team named for the character would

create critical favorites like Knights Into Dreams and early MMO progenitor Fantasy Star

Online.

But SEGA's mismanagement of its console hardware and sloppy handling of its key franchises

led the company to receive from feisty Nintendo competitor to third party also ran, and

Naka-san's career similarly lost its luster.

In 2003, following the commercial collapse of SEGA's Dreamcast console, he released his

game Billy Hatcher and the giant egg for the Nintendo GameCube to mixed reviews, arguably

...