Sonic the Hedgehog’s co-creator and former president of Sonic Crew, Yuji Naka, has unexpectedly provided an update for a somewhat obscure eight-year-old mobile game, in an announcement that feels like a return to routine following one of the prominent developer’s more recent news stories.
Although Naka has accumulated credits on countless legendary games throughout his career, from the original Sonic the Hedgehog to Phantasy Star, as reported by Time Extension, the game he has focused on once again is Pirates of Coin, developed by PROPE – the studio he founded in 2006 after departing Sega. You might easily overlook it – it’s a mobile, pirate-themed coin-pusher game accessible on iOS and Android, where the coins you collect transform into pirates that launch themselves at approaching foes.
“After eight years, I have updated our PROPE application Pirates of Coin,” Naka announced on Twitter. “It was initially developed in Unity 5, but I had to revise many elements as there have been numerous updates to Unity between then and now, including Unity 6. I converted Javascript to C# and resolved a lot of deprecated components.”
After 8 years, I have indeed updated our PROPE app “Pirates of Coin.” It was built in Unity 5 back then, but I needed to refresh numerous aspects as there have been many Unities between that time and Unity 6. I switched Javascript to C# and addressed a lot of Obsoletes. https://t.co/UlRrWdQEUn pic.twitter.com/DGirsWWRY5February 10, 2025
The question lingers, though, why now after all this time? It’s certainly a remarkable gesture to maintain the game for someone still interested after so many years, but one can’t help but wonder what inspired him to revisit it in the first place.
It feels like it’s been a long time since Naka made news for something as straightforward as updating a game. After leaving Sega and establishing Prope, he joined Square Enix in 2018, where he was involved with the lackluster 3D platformer Balan Wonderworld. He departed in 2021, but a year later, he was arrested on charges of insider trading. Subsequently, it was reported in 2023 that Naka received a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence – suspended for four years – along with substantial fines.
On the topic of Sonic, did you know that BioWare’s Sonic The Hedgehog RPG “actually utilizes the Dragon Age: Origins dialogue system heavily streamlined for the Nintendo DS”?