Sonic Co-Creator Wanted to Name Sega Game Giant Cock

"Can we call the game Giant Cock in English?" That's a real question Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka allegedly asked his American colleagues during the development of the 2003 GameCube platformer Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. The story comes from a lengthy interview with former Sega of America VP Mike Fischer, conducted by Sega-16, and it's one of several anecdotes that paint a picture of Naka as someone who was extraordinarily difficult to work alongside.

The naming saga started simply enough. Fischer says Naka originally wanted to call the game just "Giant Eggs," but the American team had to explain that "laying a big egg" is English slang for failing spectacularly. They suggested "Billy Hatcher" instead, since the game was about a boy character, not the eggs themselves. Naka hated it. They compromised on Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. He still hated it. Then, during a visit to the US offices, Naka made his counter-proposal: since the boy wears a rooster suit, and another word for rooster is cock, why not call it Giant Cock? Fischer swears the story is true and says he has two witnesses.

The name obviously didn't stick, and Billy Hatcher went on to become one of those GameCube-era curiosities that most people have forgotten entirely. But the anecdote is less about a funny translation mishap and more about the dynamic Fischer describes between Sega of America and Naka's team in Japan. This wasn't a language barrier problem. By Fischer's account, it was a control problem.

A Pattern, Not a Punchline

Fischer's interview makes clear that the Giant Cock story isn't an isolated moment of absurdity. He describes Naka going "fucking ballistic" on him during a meeting where Fischer suggested Sega pursue more mature, M-rated games for the western market. "Literally, I've never seen someone foam at the mouth, but he had literally like foamy spit at the corners of his mouth," Fischer recalled, quoting Naka as screaming, "How many games have you made? How many hits have you delivered? Who are you to come here and tell us?"

Fischer doesn't mince words about his overall assessment: "He is literally the most miserable person I have ever worked with in games or anything else in my life, just a horrible human being, and you can quote me on that." He also referenced Naka's 2022 arrest and subsequent conviction for insider trading while at Square Enix, where Naka received a suspended two-and-a-half-year prison sentence and was ordered to forfeit 171 million yen.

What strikes me about Fischer's account is how consistent it is with everything else that's surfaced about Naka over the years. The Balan Wonderworld disaster, the insider trading conviction, the long history of credit disputes with Sonic's other co-creator, Naoto Ōshima. Fischer says Naka "was so malignant in trying to rewrite history" and at one point refused to sit in the same row as Ōshima at the Xbox One debut event because he accused Ōshima of trying to steal his credit. This is someone who, by multiple accounts from people who actually worked with him, treated colleagues with open contempt.

Fischer's praise for Ōshima makes the contrast sharper. He calls Ōshima "one of the most wonderful, kindhearted people you'll ever meet in your life," and expresses frustration at Naka taking credit in interviews for decisions like making Sonic blue, something that was Ōshima's work as the character artist. The games industry has a long history of letting difficult people operate unchecked because they're attached to a beloved franchise, and Naka's career reads like a case study in exactly that.

The full Sega-16 interview covers far more than just Naka. Fischer talks about taking Michael Jackson to a Sega arcade and orchestrating a moment where a Sonic mascot hugged a Mario mascot outside Nintendo of America's offices. He also ends with a surprisingly generous Naka story: apparently, when Naka discovered a team of Chinese pirates making bootleg Dreamcast games, he bought their company and hired them to do porting work instead of shutting them down. Even Fischer seems to acknowledge the picture is complicated, though his overall verdict is unmistakable.

Fischer also mentioned during the interview that he's heard Sega is remaking Sonic CD, calling it his favourite game in the franchise. I covered that claim separately earlier this week, but it's another nugget from a conversation that turned out to be one of the most candid pieces of Sega history anyone has shared in years.