Naoto Oshima is a Japanese character designer, game creator, and executive born on February 26, 1964, in Osaka, Japan. He graduated from Kyoto Seika University and began his career in the video game industry, joining Sega Enterprises in September 1987. Oshima first gained recognition for his graphic design work on the role-playing game Phantasy Star. He later became a foundational member of Sonic Team, where he created the original character designs for the mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and his nemesis, Doctor Eggman, for the 1991 video game that launched the franchise. His early artistic influences included the television anime Lupin III, specifically the work of animation director Yasuo Otsuka and manga artist Monkey Punch, as well as international illustrators such as Moebius.

Within the realm of anime and animated productions, Oshima is recognized as the original creator of the intellectual properties that have been adapted into several films and series. He is credited as the original creator for the live-action films Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which are produced by Paramount Pictures and Sega Sammy Group. He also holds credit as an original creator for the animated series Sonic Prime, which was produced for Netflix. In a 1990s anime adaptation, he served in a supervisory role for the production. Additionally, Oshima contributed to the animated feature Hypergalactic as a co-creator of the story and characters. This film, announced as a production by Toei Animation, represents his direct involvement in creating an original animated feature. Beyond the Sonic franchise, he has been involved in projects such as Balan Wonderworld, for which he served as development producer and character designer.

Following his tenure at Sega, which lasted until 1999, Oshima co-founded and served as president of the independent development studio Artoon. In 2010, after Artoon was absorbed into another company, he left to form Arzest Corporation, where he holds the position of Executive Vice President. Through these studios, he worked on a variety of games for Nintendo platforms, including Yoshi's New Island and Hey! Pikmin, as well as original titles such as Blinx: The Time Sweeper. His industry significance is rooted in his visual storytelling and character design philosophy, which emphasizes creating distinct, symbolic silhouettes that communicate a character’s personality and the narrative theme instantly. He has cited his goal as creating art that brings joy to an audience, similar to the effect of Santa Claus.