Fang was conceived by S&T2 planner Tadashi Ihoroi and designed—with Naoto Ōshima’s blessing—by artist Shin’ichi Higashi, both of whom had joined Sega about a year earlier in 1993.

Higashi was inspired by the compact design of Opa-Opa and the wackiness of long-running gag manga Tensai Bakabon.

And here’s where things start getting weird: the ad specifically describes the new character as a “jerboa-wolf hybrid” who “lives in subspace” and has a “cunning personality.” Furthermore, they are specifically asking for “cool” names.

There's no hint of his comicality, and wait—jerboa/wolf HYBRID?

So for 30 years, we just had to accept the uncomfortable reality that at some point somewhere in the Sonic universe, a wolf and a jerboa got very close.

Anyway, in the Oct. 14, 1994 issue of Famitsū, two winners were announced in the naming contest, both evidently having submitted the name “Fang.”

The “Sniper” part came from the dev team, though of course that hits different in the current sociopolitical climate than it did in 1994, clearly causing some headaches for the lore council.

But bottom line, you can see how people starting perceiving Fang as a cool type character.

Even within Sega

I grew up playing my copy of Sonic Drift 2, and I never actually saw the credits until now-ish. The game doesn't have a save battery. So if you're 7 years old or whatever, you just kind of assume, "Run a cup, then it's over."

Once I actually knew how to beat it, I ran the other cups just because.

"That's the moment they lose their sanity, the moment they lose their mind or identity, when they don't know what they see in their reflection."🪞 (I'm sorry, your AWESOME comic is unleashing my inner poet)