After Yasuhara joined Naka and Ohshima, their focus shifted to the protagonist, who Sega hoped could become its mascot. The protagonist was initially a rabbit able to grasp objects with prehensile ears, but the concept proved too complex for available hardware. The team moved on to animals that could roll into a ball, and eventually settled on Sonic, a teal hedgehog created by Ohshima. Naka's prototype was then fleshed out with Ohshima's character design and levels conceived by Yasuhara. Sonic's color was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, and his shoes evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson's boots; the red and white shoe color was inspired by Santa Claus and the cover of Jackson's 1987 album "Bad". His personality was based on Bill Clinton's "can-do" attitude. The antagonist, Doctor Eggman, was another character Ohshima had designed for the contest. The development team thought the abandoned design was excellent and retooled the character into a villain. The team took the name Sonic Team for the game's release. Sonic's first appearance came in Sega AM3's racing game "Rad Mobile" (1991) five months before the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog", as an ornament hanging from the driver's rearview mirror. The "Sonic" developers let AM3 use Sonic because they were interested in getting the character visible to the public.