[quote:290628b02b][quote="rika_chou"]Also, I would like to get started on things soon. Does anyone know who the artist was for Green Hill Zone was? I would be more interested in contacting artists, rather than programmers so that I actually have something to talk about with them. I just hope the artist for GHZ knows English. (S1 was made in Japan, right?)[/quote:290628b02b]

Didn't that old interview with Yasuhara say that he had the Green Hill zone planned even before Sonic was created? Even if he didn't make the final graphics, he might have made an earlier version of it (the leftovers found in the VRAM, perhaps?).

And I believe he speaks English.

EDIT:
[quote:290628b02b][quote="Yasuhara"]First, I made a tentative map using a green field which I had planned to use on a new game when I reached the U.S., and then place the characters Ooshima had designed in it.[/quote:290628b02b]
Well... So it might or might not be Green Hill, but it wouldn't hurt to ask about it.

EDIT 2: Somebody fix the quoting bugs, please...