One of the game's antagonists Fang the Sniper (called Nack the Weasel in the English release of the game and various English-language comic books) originally wielded a realistic gun in early development screenshots and concept art. However, this was later changed to a cork-shooting popgun during the game's development. According to his character designer Shinichi "Touma" Higashi, Fang was originally supposed to be a gangster-like character with a "slightly futuristic" gun, but as a result of the creation of Knuckles the Echidna around the same time, he was redesigned into a "clumsy, impatient, and somewhat foolish character—someone who was charming and impossible to hate."