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Justin Siller was a designer at the center of the Aero the Acrobat series, helping to bring all three games to life and find success outside the shadow of one very famous hedgehog. He also served as producer for the fan-favorite Earthworm Jim: Special Edition on the Sega CD. We recently chatted with him about his work, so read on an enjoy!
Sega-16 recently had the chance to talk with former Iguana mainstay Jools Watsham. During his tenure at the company and later at Acclaim itself, Watsham worked many different titles in a variety of positions as an artist and producer, among other things. He was also involved with quite a few Genesis titles, like Aero the Acrobat, NBA Jam, and NFL Quarterback Club.
Many third party companies from the Genesis era disappeared at the end of the 16-bit era, unable to make the transition to new hardware. Of those that did, many more eventually capitulated under the strain of increased development costs. Sunsoft was one publisher that though quite strong on 8-bit machines, became increasingly unable to sustain itself as gaming consoles progressed. Sega-16 was fortunate to speak with former Sunsoft game designer David Siller about the company’s role on the Genesis and subsequent demise. We also chatted with him about his creation of Aero the Acrobat, as well as his adventure as as Sushi-X, the mysterious, fighting game-loving character featured in Electronic Gaming Monthly.
A game that manages to offend in gameplay as much as it does in premise doesn’t come along often, but somehow Sunsoft pulled it off. Still, people have a thing for small mammals, and there’s actually some meat on this platformer’s bones if you’re willing to stick around long enough to find it.
During the Genesis’ heyday, it seemed all Companies wanted was their own “Sonic,” a character to call their own and to make them lots of cash. During this period, it was a matter of “quantity” over “quality” and Aero the Acrobat is the best example of this.