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Sonic the Hedgehog (Japanese:ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ,
Romaji: Sonikku za hejjihoggu) is the flagship character and mascot for the video game / arcade game (and formerly home game
console) company Sega, which has released a series of video games in which he either
stars or plays a role. Sonic was competing head-to-head with Nintendo's mascot
Mario for over a decade until Sega went out of the home console market. He now lives on
various Nintendo systems and other consoles.
Sonic replaced Alex Kidd, who was Sega's mascot prior to 1990. Naoto Oshima designed the character while Yuji Naka was the main programmer. He would later become head of the Sonic Team division. He was also used as the mascot of Sega's Blast Processing, a feature of the Sega Genesis which supposedly allowed Genesis games to draw polygons faster.
Sonic is a blue, 15 year old hedgehog who lives on the planet Earth, or Mobius in various American sources which is
simply the name of Earth in the future. He has the ability to run at supersonic speeds, hence his name.
He is always running all over the world, rarely stopping for anything. He is carefree and relaxed; however, he is also very
intolerant of injustice, and he will do anything he can to help those in need. He has also got a quick wit, short temper, and a
fairly large ego.
A picture of Sonic the Hedgehog from the manual of Sonic the Hedgehog 3
His blue pigmentation was explained in an issue of gaming magazine Gamepro as being the result of getting caught in an explosion involving cobalt, but this is probably not canonical. There is an alternative explanation in Stay Sonic: Official
Sega Handbook, a book about Sonic the Hedgehog written by Mike
Pattenden. At some point it was divulged (probably from an American source) that Sonic enjoys eating chili dogs.
The premise of the games revolves around Doctor Eggman (Doctor Ivo Robotnik in the earlier releases in North America and Europe) trying to
take over the world by turning the animals into robots called Badniks. Sonic is
charged with saving them. In later games he is joined by Tails (Miles "Tails"
Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, Cream the Rabbit
and a host of other characters. Sonic must collect Golden Rings to protect himself from the Badniks, and he ultimately must
collect the Chaos Emeralds on the Emerald Isle in order to become his
most powerful form, Super Sonic. However, Sonic's quest does not necessitate
collecting the Emeralds himself; he must only prevent Robotnik from collecting them and dooming the world with their power.
Sonic is a poor swimmer, and will drown in water, even as Super Sonic. As Hyper Sonic in Sonic & Knuckles, he can
stay alive in water.
In SatAM Sonic's love interest is Princess Sally Acorn; in the video games Amy Rose thinks
she is Sonic's girlfriend (Sonic, however, is quite repelled by Amy's constant advances but in the modern day Sonic TV show
Sonic X, there is a bit more of a mutual vibe between Sonic and Amy); Breezie
hedgehog in Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog cartoon; and both Sally Acorn and Mina Mongoose in Sonic's Archie comics.
Sonic has faced several other adversaries in the games, such as Metal
Sonic (Mecha Sonic), Fang the Sniper (Nack the Weasel in America),
Shadow the Hedgehog, and Rouge the Bat. Nothing the leader of Sonic Heroes's
Team Sonic can't handle.
Interestingly, one of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes after the name given to the first member of this class discovered, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after this character.
The music of the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Megadrive and Genesis was composed by the Japanese band DREAMS COME TRUE.
Games involving Sonic the Hedgehog
Key
- J = Japan
- N = North America
- E = PAL (Europe, Asia, Australia, Brazil)
- X = PAL excluding Brazil
- B = Brazil ONLY
- Sonic the Hedgehog (B)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(B)
- Sonic Chaos (B)
- Sonic Spinball (B)
- Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (B)
- Sonic Blast (B)
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (aka Sonic CD) (JEN)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (JNX)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(XNJ)
- Sonic Chaos (aka Sonic &
Tails) (JNX)
- Sonic Spinball (XN)
- Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (NX)
- Sonic Drift (J)
- Sonic Triple
Trouble (aka Sonic & Tails 2) (JNE)
- Sonic Drift 2 (JEN)
- Tails' Adventures
(as an item)(JEN)
- Sonic 2 In 1 (contains
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and
Sonic Spinball (Game Gear
version)) (N)
- Sonic Labryinth
(EJN)
- Tails' Skypatrol
(J)
- Sonic Blast (aka G-Sonic) (NXJ)
For the Sega Pico:
- Sonic's Gameworld
(JN)
- Tails
And The Music Maker (NJ)
For the Sega Meganet Modem:
- Knuckles' Chaotix (aka Chaotix) (cameo)(NJE)
- Sonic Jam (JNE)
- Sonic R (NEJ)
- Sonic 3D Blast (aka Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island) (NEJ)
- Sonic Adventure (J)
- Sonic Adventure International
(NJE)
- Sonic Shuffle (NJE)
- Sonic Adventure 2 (NJE)
For the PC:
- Sonic Schoolhouse
(N)
- Sonic 3D Blast (EN)
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (aka Sonic CD) (JNE)
- Sonic & Knuckles Collection (a
combination of Sonic 3, S&K and S3&K) (JNE)
- Sonic R (NEJ)
- Sonic Adventure DX:
Director's Cut (JE)
- Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (EN)
- Sonic Advance (JNE)
- Sonic Advance 2 (JNE)
- Sonic Pinball
Party (JNE)
- Sonic Battle (JNE)
- Sonic Advance 3
- Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (JNE)
- Sonic Mega Collection (NJE)
- Sonic Adventure DX:
Director's Cut (NJE)
- Sonic Heroes (JNE)
For Nokia N-Gage:
- Waku
Waku Sonic Patrol Car (J)
- Sega Sonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol (J)
- SegaSonic The
Hedgehog (J)
- Sonic the Fighters aka Sonic Championship (JN)
Redemption games
- Sonic Popcorn Shop (J) (made popcorn as you played)
- Sonic the Hedgehog AWP (slot machine)
- Sonic & Tails Spinner
- UFO SegaSonic (J) [1]
Leaked prototypes
- Sonic
the Hedgehog 2 beta
- Sonic Spinball beta
- Sonic Crackers/Sonic Studium
Games that Sonic characters have cameoed in
- Flicky (The blue bird character, Flicky,
became one of many animals that Sonic rescues in the classic games after his appearance in this game.)
- Art Alive (An art game. Sonic
appears as "stamps" to be placed.)
- Gale Racer (A racing game. A
Sonic keychain hangs on the rearview mirror.)
- Popful Mail (The main character
Mail examines a billboard in the game, which has a small drawing of Sonic off to the side.)
- Crusader of Centy
(An action RPG. In a small beach, Sonic lays in a lawn chair. Talk to Sonic and he says: "Tsk, tsk. I'm a gallant hedgehog. Don't
mess or you'll get burned.")
- Daytona USA (A racing title,
Sonic appears carved in a stone mountain on the Three-Seven Speedway course.)
- Outrunners (Another racing title,
in the intro Sonic and Tails fly in two versions of their biplane, the Tornado, and sprinkle the Sega logo. In the game, Sonic
billboards appear off to the sides.)
- Spider-Man for Sega CD (In the
game's ending, a carving of Sonic's head can be spotted on a cave in the background.)
- Tom
& Jerry: The Movie for Game Gear (An ad for Sonic appears on the windows
of a bookstore in one level.)
- F1 World Championship: Beyond the Limit (Sonic and Tails' heads can be spotted on
billboards on some tracks.)
- Wacky Worlds (Another art
title, this game is composed entirely of stamp placement. Sonic and Tails are on the game's cover, Sonic is in a spaceship and is
your cursor to select a world to play in, and Tails is a stamp in the jungle area.)
- Metal Head (Sonic appears on a
billboard in the scenery.)
- Bug! (One of the game's bonus stages
features the character, Bug, racing against Sonic.)
- Virtua Fighter 2 (In
the Saturn version, when Jacky Bryant and Sarah Bryant fight, a hidden stage called Chicago is chosen. There's a brick wall in
the background with graffiti, including a doodle of Sonic.)
- Clockwork Knight
2 (In a hidden movie, a Sonic toy can be seen sitting on a shelf.)
- Donkey Kong Country 2 (At the end of the game, Diddy
gets rated as a video game hero according to how many of the DK Coins you collect. On the screen is a trash can labeled "No
Hopers" with Sonic's shoes next to it.)
- Fighting Vipers (In the
intro movie, Sanman's pile of toys contains a model of the Lunar Fox, the spaceship Tails creats in Sonic the Fighters.)
- Virtua Fighter
Kids (Same as Virtua Fighter 2's cameo.)
- Scud Race (Sonic appears on a
billboard in the Beginner track.)
- Fighters Megamix
(Bark the Polarbear
and Bean the
Dynamite Dux are unlockable fighters)
- Last Bronx (In Tommy's stage,
there is a poster of Sonic on a building in the background. Also, there's a sticker of Sonic on Tommy's outfit.)
- Waverunner (Sonic appears on the
back of a racer's lifejacket.)
- Virtua Striker 2 (A
hidden team has Bean the Dynamite and a slew of other weird
characters.)
- Tamagotchi on Sega
Saturn (Treat your tamagotchi right, and it'll become a Sonagotchi.)
- Spikeout (Sonic appears near an
elevator in one of the levels.)
- Le Mans 24 (Sonic is a hidden
racer.)
- LA Machineguns (Sonic and
the Sonic Adventure logo appear as neon signs in the Las Vegas
stage.)
- Blue Stinger (A store is
occupied by copies of Sonic Adventure.)
- Get Bass (In the Dreamcast version,
after a few courses you receive a Sonic lure.)
- Toy Commander (Sonic
appears on a calendar on the floor in some stages.)
- NBA 2K (Players can create a team called
the Hedgehogs, which features Sonic holding a basketball as the logo.)
- NHL 2K (Sonic appears on the Jumbotron
occasionally.)
- Shenmue (Sonic character dolls are available.)
- Phantasy Star Online (Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails have
cameoed online numerous times.)
- Christmas NiGHTS (One
of the presents is to play as Sonic in the Spring Valley Time Attack)
- RadMobile (an arcade game, Sonic dangles from the rear view mirror)
- Virtua Striker 3 (A
hidden team has Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Dr. Eggman, and a Chao as players, with Yuji Naka as the coach)
- Beach Spikers (A giant
inflatable Sonic floats above one of the volleyball courts)
- Phantasy Star IV (A
book in the grammar school is about Sonic)
Pirated games which are not from above starring Sonic the
Hedgehog
- Somari, a pirated version of Sonic the Hedgehog that was ported to the Famicom and instead stars Somari, n altered Mario; the game is from
Hong Kong
- Sonic-Boy in Monsterland, pirated version of Wonder Boy in Monster Land for the Sega Master System
- Sonic-Boy in Monsterland 2 - Eggman's Trap, pirated version of Wonder Boy in
Monster Land 3 for the Sega Master System - pirated by
Brazilian outfit Yuski
- Sonic-Boy in Monsterland 3 - Eggman's Room, pirated version of Geraldinho, a Teddy Boy clone for the Sega Master System
- Sonic-Boy in Monsterland 4 - a pirated version of Wonder Boy in Monster World
- Sonic vs. Os. Mauniks, pirated version of Psycho Fox for the Sega Master System - the
game is from Brazil
- Sonic Jam 6, a pirated version of a pirated version of Super Mario Collection; the game is from China
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (actually a Speedy Gonzalez game for the Super Nintendo)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 6 (another Speedy Gonzalez game for
the Game Boy)
Public domain
- Sonic the Hedgehog for the Gameboy - a
demonstration program
Television series
- Adventures of Sonic the
Hedgehog (AoStH, US)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM, US)
- Sonic Underground (US, France)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Anime, Japan)
- Sonic X (Anime, Japan)
Comic books
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie, US)
- Sonic the Comic (Fleetway, UK)
Sonic manga and fanmade Doujinshi have
also been released in Japan.
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