Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

Sonic the Hedgehog
'Sonic the Hedgehog' character
File:Sonicnextgen2.jpg Sonic the Hedgehog, as he appears on his 15th anniversary game.
First game	Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Created by	Naoto Ohshima Yuji Naka

This article is about the video game character. For the Archie comic version, see Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character).

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a video game character and the protagonist of a series of games released by Sega, as well as numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released in 1991 in order to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario. Since then, Sonic has become one of the world's best-known video game characters, with his series having sold over 44 million copies.

Artist Naoto Ohshima, designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka are generally credited with the creation of the character, a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog, whose ability to run faster than the speed of sound is a major part of the gameplay of the series. He is 15 years old, and, as a hedgehog, is significantly shorter and lighter than humans his age, being about 100 centimeters (3 ft 3 in) tall and weighing 35 kilograms (77 lb). His birthday is June 23, the date of the original game's release.

History

In April 1990, Sega requested a game capable of selling over one million copies and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research & development department, including an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, an over-sized Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman's design) and a rabbit (intended to use its extendable ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar). Eventually, Naoto Ohshima's spiky hedgehog was chosen as the new mascot. A group of fifteen started working on Sonic the Hedgehog, and renamed themselves Sonic Team. The game's soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored the group's "Wonder 3" tour, painting Sonic on the tour bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game, and having footage of the game broadcast above stage prior to its release.

File:Sonics.PNG

Sonic's character design has been altered through the years. At left is official Sonic artwork from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game (artwork by Akira Watanabe) and at right is an official render from the more recent game, Shadow the Hedgehog.

Sonic's precise age, weight, height and other physical characteristics vary depending on the continuity in which he appears and the style in which he is drawn. In the videogames, Sonic's original design by Naoto Ohshima was quite short and childlike, with short quills, a round body, and no visible irises. Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog, and most subsequent Sonic videogames featured similar designs. Beginning with Sonic Adventure in 1998, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a taller character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping spikes, and his green-coloured eyes. Further subtle changes to the character's design have been made in subsequent games. Spin-off media such as comics and cartoons have featured variations on all these videogame designs, with restrictions set by the standardised model sheets.[1]

His cobalt blue pigmentation has never been explained in the games; however, explanations were offered as the character was transferred to other media. One origin story was provided in a promotional comic for the original game featured in Disney Adventures, Garfield Magazine, and other children's periodicals, which was later elaborated upon in Mike Pattenden's Stay Sonic, a book about the character published in the UK. This explanation, in which the shockwaves Sonic experienced when he first ran at supersonic speed turned him blue and streamlined his spikes, later became the basic origin for many subsequent UK publications such as Egmont Fleetway's Sonic the Comic. This explanation was offered on the United States Sega website, but it has since been removed.

Appearances

Games

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog series

File:Sonic1.png

Title screen of the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game.

Sonic started his battle against his nemesis Doctor Eggman in the 1991 platform game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System and Game Gear. His sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower joined him in the game's 1992 sequel Sonic 2, which also introduced Sonic's Super Sonic form.

Sonic was solo once again for Sonic CD (1993), in which he used his unrivaled speed to travel through time to defeat Eggman and ensure a good future for the world, and which also introduced Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose, and his robotic doppelgänger Metal Sonic. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles (both 1994) saw Sonic and Tails battle Eggman yet again, with the additional threat of Knuckles the Echidna, tricked by Eggman into fighting Sonic. Other 2D platformers starring Sonic include Sonic Chaos (1993), Sonic Triple Trouble (1994), Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (1999), the Sonic Advance series (2001—2004) and Sonic Rush (2005).

The first Sonic platform game in true 3D, Sonic Adventure (1998) was the original developer Sonic Team's return to the character for a major game. It featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new, powerful foe named Chaos, under the control of Doctor Eggman. It introduced Sonic's homing attack as a standard move, included power-ups that awarded him extra abilities for the rest of the game, and featured interaction with non-playable characters and objects in 3D "Adventure" sequences, where the game world could be freely explored. In addition to Sonic, who was given a full voice-over for the first time, five other major characters were playable, plus Super Sonic. Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) introduced a new rival, Shadow the Hedgehog, and several other new characters, and involved Sonic on-the-run from the military after being framed for a robbery he didn't commit. A third 3D action game, Sonic Heroes, featured four different teams made up by three characters in each, and marked the return of supporting characters Team Chaotix and Metal Sonic. Two other 3D platformers, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic and the Secret Rings, are currently in development.

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Sonic requires an airboard to reach high speeds in Sonic Riders— in other games he can do this by running.

Sonic has also been featured in games of many genres other than 2D and 3D platform games. The first of these was a pinball game, Sonic Spinball (1993), which expanded upon the pinball sequences in the first two platform games. Sonic has also appeared in "2.5D" isometric platformers (Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic 3D Blast), racing games (Sonic Drift, Sonic R and Sonic Riders) and fighting games (Sonic the Fighters, Sonic Battle and Sonic Rivals). A sequel to Sonic Riders, is currently in development.

Video games such as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Tails Adventures, Knuckles Chaotix and Shadow the Hedgehog starred supporting characters of the Sonic series; in some of them Sonic had a cameo role. The hedgehog has also made cameo appearances in numerous other Sega games such as Daytona USA and Christmas NiGHTS.

Television series

Sonic the Hedgehog opening title card.

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Sonic in the Sonic X anime.

There have been several animated television series featuring Sonic. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the first and featured Sonic, voiced by Jaleel White, and Robotnik, voiced by Long John Baldry. It had a very comical take on Sonic's adventures and battles with Robotnik. Sonic the Hedgehog, originally broadcast on Saturdays on ABC, was broadcast concurrently with the syndicated Adventures series in the United States. Sonic was voiced by Jaleel White, and Robotnik was voiced by Jim Cummings. The Archie Comics continuity was based heavily on this series; it was far more dark and brooding than Adventures, and gained a devoted following. On September 18th, 2006, it was announced that a DVD box set of Sonic the Hedgehog entitled Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Series is in the works by Shout! Factory in partnership with DiC, and will be released early 2007.[2][3]

Sonic Underground, a show in the US, UK and France, ignored the continuity of the previous series and introduced two siblings and Sonic's mother. White returned to voice Sonic, with Samuel Vincent providing his singing voice, while Robotnik was voiced by Gary Chalk.

Additionally, there was a Sonic the Hedgehog Anime OAV in Japan which featured Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and Metal Sonic. Sonic was voiced by Masami Kikuchi in Japan, and Martin Burke in the United States where the OAV was marketed as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. The series was a commercial failure in Japan and was cancelled after a two-episode run, hence its being released in the US as a movie rather than episodes of a series.

The latest animated Sonic television series, Sonic X, is an anime in which a massive Chaos Control blast results in Sonic and his friends being transported from his world to the human world (however Season 3 mainly takes place in Sonic's own world). Like the other television series, it has an original storyline not present in any of the games, although it can be viewed as an elaboration upon the Sonic Adventure games' storylines. Music from the games is used during select key moments in the series, and several animation sequences strongly resemble cutscenes from the console titles. In fact, they have the modern Sonic games' character designs as well. Sonic is voiced by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in the Japanese version, and by Jason Griffith in the English version.

Books and comics

Main article: List of Sonic the Hedgehog printed media

Sonic's first comic appearance was in a promotional comic printed in Disney Adventures magazine, which established an origin for Sonic involving the transformation of kindly scientist Dr Ovi Kintobor into the evil Dr Ivo Robotnik. Numerous British publications, including "Sega handbook" Stay Sonic (1993), four novels published by Virgin Books (1993–1994) and the comic book Sonic the Comic (1993–2002) used this premise as their basis.

The American comics published by Archie Comics, Sonic the Hedgehog (1993—) and Sonic X (2005—) are based on the settings established by earlier animated TV series, the ABC "SatAM" cartoon and the Sonic X anime respectively.

In Japan, Sonic manga have been published.

Cameos/popularity

For game cameos, see List of games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic has proven to be an extremely popular character. After having been around only 3 years, he had already surpassed Nintendo's Mario in popularity according to a June 1993 Q-Survey in Gameplayers magazine. In the October 1996 issue of Ultra Gameplayers, Sonic the Hedgehog's world-wide popularity was claimed to have surpassed even that of Disney's Mickey Mouse, just as Mario had done by the end of 1990. As a result of this popularity, he has been referred to in various parts of culture due to his popularity. One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after the character.

Other references are present in television programs. In the show Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, in the episode "Camp Capers", Ami is captured by Bigfoot. Yumi pretends she is in a video game, and she runs through a 16-bit forest area, jumps on a crab (thus killing it) then goes at sound-barrier-breaking speeds and runs over a checkered loop, obviously a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone. An episode of Megas XLR spoofed Sonic with a parade balloon called Auggie the Adorable Aardvark (that also spoofs Mickey Mouse by wearing the same clothes), that was mutated and could do Sonic attacks such as the Spin Dash. In the show "15/Love", in Adena and Tannis' dorm room, there is a poster with the cover of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game in it. Sonic also made a cameo appearance in the episode of The Simpsons entitled "Marge Be Not Proud", voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He appears (along with Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and fictional pro golfer Lee Carvallo), trying to convince Bart Simpson to steal a video game. On Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Space Ghost is seen playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the guest monitor. Also, on G4's Attack of the Show Video Game Director's Cut founder Randy Solem showed a clip from his then-most recent short, Sonic the Hedgehog in Bad Bubbles.

Sonic has also made appearances in films. In the 1996 movie Jingle All The Way, in the scene where Jamie arrives at the parade, Sonic can be seen as a character marching in the parade. In the movie Hitch, on the side of an ice cream truck, there is a picture of a Sonic popsicle. Sonic has also appeared in Wayne's World: the background of the Noah's Arcade commercial is the Starlight Zone from the original game.

He has also been referred to in other video games. In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Moneybags threatens to turn Spyro into a blue hedgehog if he replies that he won't pay him to continue through Crystal Islands. In April 2002, EGM made a hoax that Sonic and Tails were the last two secret characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Some players even tried the "cheats" published, before the magazine revealed it was an April Fool's joke. However, Sakurai and Miyamoto have stated that Sonic is the most requested third-party character to be put in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though this does not indicate whether or not he will be in.

Sonic has also made appearances as a character in parades. In 1996, Sonic was the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade. Sonic was also in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; the only other video game character to ever be in the parade was Pikachu.

Sonic has been a mascot for various sports teams as well. Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team. During this period, Sonic appeared on the team's uniform. During the 1993 Formula One championship, Sega sponsored WilliamsF1, which won the season. Sonic was featured in the cars, helmets, and rival McLaren used to paint a squashed hedgehog after winning races over Williams. The 1993 European Grand Prix featured a Sonic balloon and Sonic billboards. The trophy was a statue of the hedgehog.

Voice acting

The earliest voice of Sonic was Takeshi Kusao in the game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, a June 1993 arcade release starring Sonic the Hedgehog, Mighty the Armadillo, and Ray the Flying Squirrel.

In September 1993, DiC Entertainment cast Jaleel White, more popularly known as portraying the character of Steve Urkel, as Sonic in their simultaneously released shows Sonic the Hedgehog and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. White would later be cast as Sonic for DiC's 1999 show Sonic Underground.

In 1996, when the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA was produced in Japan, Sonic was voiced by Masami Kikuchi. The 1999 English-language dub featured Martin Burke in Sonic's role.

Starting with the 1999 game Sonic Adventure, all of Sonic's video games feature voice acting. Sonic was played by Junichi Kanemaru, who later went on to play Sonic in the Japanese version of Sonic X. Ryan Drummond performed the role of Sonic in Sonic Adventure and continued to play the role for several games. However, 4Kids Entertainment decided not to use Drummond's voice in their US/UK dub of Sonic X, instead choosing their own Jason Griffith. Despite this, Drummond continued to provide the voice of Sonic in the series until 2005, when Sega replaced all their Sonic voice actors with their 4Kids counterparts, in order to keep his voice the same in all media forms. Effectively, this meant that beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Rush, Jason Griffith became the official game voice actor for Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog (and Jet the Hawk in Sonic Riders). This has been a controversial decision among fans of the Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes voice cast.

Character

Personality

Sonic has been described as being "like the wind". He is noted for being heroic, adventurous, and free-spirited. He enjoys relaxation, but is never one to rest in the face of injustice. He is extremely benevolent, and willingly puts himself at risk to help others, taking on any challenge that confronts him without hesitation. However, Sonic is not generally modest when it comes to his abilities; in fact, he is often portrayed as being narcissistic and self-absorbed. The British Sonic the Comic presented him as being bossy and arrogant, often making cruel jokes about his friend Tails, and characters regularly referred to his strange sense of humour.

American TV shows and comics often state Sonic's favorite food as chili dogs. While this fact is never emphasized in any of the games, it was mentioned in the official Japanese Sonic Advance 3 manual. Sonic displays an interest in rock music, and in the cartoon Sonic Underground was a vocalist in his own band. Some official character art and a television commercial for Sonic Adventure suggests that he has a personal hobby as a DJ. Furthermore, it is displayed in Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS that Sonic also enjoys breakdancing as it is one of his primary ways for filling up his Rush meter. His battle moves in Sonic Battle are also based on breakdancing, as mentioned in the attack descriptions. Lastly, he breakdances in Sonic Advance 3 if he finishes a level in a short-enough time.

Destiny

Throughout the games, there are various references to Sonic having a larger destiny. He seems to know far more about using the Chaos Emeralds than any other character (except perhaps Knuckles, Shadow, or Dr. Eggman). In Sonic & Knuckles, a mural deep in Angel Island's Hidden Palace fortells the battle between Super Sonic and Eggman for the Master Emerald that would occur in the game's Doomsday Zone. Knuckles initially misread the mural to mean that Eggman would protect the Master Emerald from a villainous powered-up Sonic but eventually realized the truth. There is also speculation that Gerald Robotnik had seen the mural during his studies of Echidna culture and that the lasting image played a hand in the appearance of Shadow the Hedgehog. Super Sonic's role in Echidna legend is expanded on in Sonic Adventure where via Tikal the Echidna the player learns that Sonic could be taken to be the 'controller' spoken of in a verse Tikal learned from her grandmother.

It goes like this, "The servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos."
I'm still not sure what it all means. But the number 7... is the same as the number of Emeralds there are.

Later in the game, it appears that the 'controller' is also the Master Emerald, for the verse changes slightly when Tikal asks it for help in trapping Chaos inside the Emerald.

The Seven Emeralds are the servers. Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the chaos. Uhh... The Seven Emeralds can change our thoughts into power. If this Emerald controls that power... Please, you must stop him!

In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles alludes to this role when he recites the verse himself and tells Sonic only his Super form can beat Finalhazard to save the world. Only to say at first

The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power; power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. Only you can do this; stop the Chaos Emeralds!

Comments made by SEGA staff in regards to Sonic the Hedgehog reveal that Sonic may perhaps be the legendary entity referred to by some as the 'Iblis Trigger'; an associated trailer shows Silver the Hedgehog referring to him as such. The word Iblis relates to the equivalent of the devil, or Satan, in Islamic culture. Silver is a time traveller who has been sent back in time to stop Sonic from causing an unknown tragedy.

Home

Sonic's home planet is Earth, although the name is referred by has varied slightly depending on minor regional differences. Sonic lives at a location known as South Island during Sonic 1, and (according to early written material from Sonic Team) was originally born on Christmas Island.

Earth: Although Sonic has always lived on Earth to players living in Japan during the 1990s 16-bit era, players elsewhere then believed that Sonic's home world was called "Mobius" because of localized information provided by some later American and European instruction manuals. This name stemmed from a mistranslation of the word "Mobius" in a 1992 Sega Visions interview with Yuji Naka; he was in fact referring to a Mobius strip used in Sonic 2. However, all games produced since 1999's Sonic Adventure have taken place on Earth, and all of them use the same story and names regardless of the language they are played in. Sonic Adventure 2 was the first game of the franchise to consistently use the term "Earth" in-game, a standard which holds true down to the present day. It, its remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and subsequent game Shadow the Hedgehog even show views of Earth from space.

Mobius: In all American and European comics, cartoons, books and some manuals published before 1999, Sonic's home is a planet called Mobius. The long-standing US Archie comic expand on the relationship between Mobius and Earth, as Mobius being Earth's future. This occurs after Xorda aliens set off a Gene Bomb, wiping out the human race. How Dr. Robotnik survived is an unexplained question. This is a possible reason why the animals talk, as everything except for the animals died in the explosion, and over time the animals mutated and evolved into the various species. The timeline in the Archie comic series is set about 1300 years in the future. The British spin-off Sonic the Comic stated that the version of Mobius in that comic is a world completely separate from Earth, and is described as the Earth's sister planet (to the point of actual humans from Earth invading it). In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground, two other Sonic cartoon series, no relationship between Earth and Mobius had been noted.

Planet Freedom: This world only appeared in the Sonic OVA (Sonic the Movie). During the course of the film, it is explained that this world is split into two dimensions: The Land of the Sky, which is home to Sonic and his friends, and the Land of Darkness, where Dr. Eggman resides.

Unknown: Sonic's home in the Sonic X anime series is an unknown planet in an alternate reality that shares the same space as Earth, as revealed in Episode 49. This logically suggests that the planet is indeed an alternative Earth, although this has not been explicitly confirmed.

Abilities

Sonic is known as "the fastest thing alive", with the ability to run at speeds higher than Mach 1. He can run backwards just as well as forwards. In the games, his super speed has not been explained, although according to the official American Sega website,[4] he was born with this ability. A promotional comic printed in Disney Adventures magazine and other publications in 1991 established an origin story (later used in numerous British publications including Stay Sonic and Sonic the Comic) in which his running ability was achieved through training on a high-tech treadmill until he surpassed the speed of sound. Stay Sonic also gave his fastest recorded speed as 761mph, while in the Archie Comics, a response to a piece of fan mail stated that the fastest he ever ran was twice the speed of sound, and that in his "super" state he can travel at the speed of light. In both Stay Sonic and the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, Sonic's distinctive "Power Sneaker" shoes are used to protect his feet from the heat arising from the friction involved when running at such speeds. In Sonic Adventure 2, He sported new Soap shoes(that looked nearly identical to his old ones), with gaps in the heel allowing him to grind on rails.

In the original 2D games, once Sonic had reached his top speed, he ran with his arms fixed pointing forwards. However, in the 3D titles and the Sonic Advance series, his top-speed running animation was altered so that his arms trailed behind him and that he leaned forwards more. This animation is copied by most of the other, super-fast characters.

Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection. His primary offensive maneuver is the spin jump (or "Sonic Spin Attack"); as Sonic jumps, he curls up and spins round, damaging any enemies which come into contact with him. This ability was enhanced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with the introduction of the "Insta-Shield", which allows Sonic to momentarily surround himself with a spherical force field, giving him a split-second's worth of protection, and slightly increasing his attack range while jumping.

He can also curl into a ball while running, allowing his momentum to carry him along in an equally dangerous attack. Although well-protected, in this position he cannot maintain his top speed, and curling up limits the amount of control he (and the player) has over his movements. The "Spin-Dash", introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, allows Sonic to quickly accelerate into this roll from a stationary position. The "Super Peel-Out" introduced in Sonic CD (also known as the "Figure Eight" move in the comics, so called due to the shape his feet take when he does this) accelerates him in a similar manner, but allows him to remain running in an upright position.

Another of Sonic's moves is the homing attack, introduced in Sonic Adventure. Sonic performs the homing attack in midair during a jump, speeding towards a target in his ball form to damage or destroy it. Sonic can perform multiple homing attacks in rapid succession; as he bounces off of one target, he can aim for another one and attack it. Alternatively, Sonic can use the homing attack to hit a single target multiple times. Sonic can run or bounce across the surface of water, but he cannot swim. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a water shield allows Sonic to breathe underwater, but in the 3D Sonic games, landing in water is usually the equivalent of instant death. In the Fleetway comic book Sonic the Comic, his inability to swim was one of his major weaknesses for a long time. Sonic's fear of water is often alluded to in the animated series Sonic X and Sonic Underground, though in Episode 9 of Sonic X, Sonic is seen to be able to swim when he rescues Amy from drowning. In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic is able to use Chaos Control like Shadow the Hedgehog, and is also shown using the ability even without a real Chaos Emerald. In Sonic X season 1, Episode 13, Sonic displays a superior degree of strength than other characters.

Transformations

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Super Sonic in the television show Sonic X.

Main article: Super Sonic

Since the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic has had the ability to transform into an incredibly powerful form known as Super Sonic. The transformation is triggered by collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds, and at least fifty rings. As Super Sonic, he is even faster than normal, can jump higher, can fly, and is invincible to most attacks and obstacles. Sonic's appearance also changes; his body becomes yellowish-gold, he becomes a bit taller, his quills rise into a wilder arrangement, his eyes turn red, and he physically resembles Shadow. This is similar to the Super Saiyan transformation of Dragon Ball Z fame.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles introduced the even more powerful Hyper Sonic. Hyper Sonic glows with the colors of the Chaos Emeralds, is surrounded by glowing sparks, and leaves afterimages in his wake. Unlike Super Sonic, he cannot drown underwater. He also wields the devastating "lightning flash" attack which can be used to "double-jump" in any direction; when it is performed, it destroys all enemies on-screen with a bright flash. Hyper Sonic was only available in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, which featured fourteen Chaos Emeralds instead of seven.

In the games, Sonic always has full control in his Super and Hyper Sonic forms. However, in Sonic the Comic, Super Sonic was portrayed as a psychopath bent on causing destruction, attacking friends just as readily as enemies. In STC, it was also possible for the hedgehog to tranform into Super Sonic even when away from the Chaos Emeralds, during times of great stress or anger, like the Marvel Comics character the Hulk.

In addition, the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic introduced an Ultra Sonic form. Episode 67 of the television series Sonic X featured Dark Super Sonic. Triggered by artificial Chaos Emeralds created by the Metarex, this form turns Sonic's body black and surrounds him with a black smoky effect. An ascended form of Sonic gone out of control from grief and stress, this character had a personality similar to Fleetway's Super Sonic. However, it only appeared for a few minutes, until Dr. Eggman arrived and calmed Sonic down.

Relationships

Friends

Sonic's best friend is a young fox called Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails idolizes Sonic and sees him as a mentor, while Sonic views Tails as a little brother. This is particularly prevalent in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog TV series, in which Sonic takes in Tails, an orphan unaware of who his parents are. This weakness of Tails is used a few times by Doctor Eggman to lure and capture him so that he can use Tails as bait to capture Sonic. Sonic and Tails are rarely without each other - they often go emerald searching, as seen in Sonic Adventure, or stop Eggman's plans together. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are chosen as a team, they are described as the "Unbreakable Bond".

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Sonic the Hedgehog with Amy Rose.

In the video games, Amy Rose is a young girl who acts the part of Sonic's girlfriend. Sonic does not dislike Amy, and although he is still quite repelled by her constant advances to marry him, the two have been fast friends since Sonic CD. Whenever Amy is kidnapped he often goes out of his way to save her, as seen in Sonic CD, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Riders. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are chosen as a team, they are described as a "Lovely Couple".

Another friend of Sonic is Knuckles the Echidna. They first met as enemies in Sonic 3, and although they are now allies, they can usually be found fighting. Knuckles and Sonic are both good friends, yet also rivals and equally powerful (or, rather, Sonic's speed is equally balanced with Knuckles's power), which explains why there never was a final victorious ending in their fights. Although he is envious of Sonic's adventurous lifestyle, Knuckles still dislikes Sonic's carefree nature. On the other hand, Sonic sees Knuckles as being far too serious and perhaps even a bit thickheaded, on occasion referring to him as "Knucklehead". In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are chosen as a team, they are described as "Fighting Buddies".

Sonic is also friends with Cream the Rabbit, a six year old girl. Sonic does not converse with her very much, as they do not seem to share many interests. As is seen in Sonic Advance 2, he is very impressed by her manners. In addition, the two of them are connected, more than any of the other characters, to Blaze the Cat.

Emerl had a sort of father-son relationship with Sonic. The two became close friends, with Sonic helping Emerl "grow up". At the end of Sonic Battle, when Emerl was near death, Sonic was in obvious emotional turmoil, though he never expressed sadness, rather distress.

Blaze the Cat is a princess brought to Sonic's world from another dimension. At first, the other characters suggest she should seek Sonic's help - Blaze denies this and wonders why they are so dependent on him. However, through working with Sonic in order to save the universe from Eggman and Eggman Nega, Blaze learns the value of friendship, and before she goes back to her own dimension, she promises to meet him again. Similar to Sonic's transformation with the Chaos Emeralds, she has the ability to transform into Burning Blaze using the Sol Emeralds from her world.

The three comical detectives known as Team Chaotix do not seem to know Sonic very well, despite the fact that Vector the Crocodile, the group's leader, was originally conceived as Sonic's bandmate in the very first Sonic game. They do however seem to have a friendly relationship and they were able to work together to defeat Metal Sonic without a problem.

Enemies and rivals

Sonic's eternal enemy is Dr. Eggman, also known as Doctor Robotnik. Eggman is a brilliant scientist who uses his numerous machines to attempt to conquer the world, but Sonic has always intervened. Sonic originally fought Dr. Eggman because he was turning his animal friends into robotic slaves known as Badniks. Sonic freed his friends, then stopped Eggman multiple times from conquering Earth using the Chaos Emeralds, Time Stones and Master Emerald. Often, these would be used to power Robotnik's huge Mech suits, gigantic and incredibly powerful images of himself. However, in the recent games, Dr. Eggman has taken a different approach, using warships and even a nuclear missile to conquer the world.

Sonic's first friendly rival was Knuckles, who fought to deter the Hedgehog's progress in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It has also taken place in the Archie Comics, Fleetway Comics, Sonic X and in Sonic Underground. This rivalry sparked many battles, both in the video games and the TV Series. In all continuities, this stems from a misunderstanding, usually prompted by Knuckles falling victim to deception from various villains. Virtually every video game in which Knuckles has appeared since his debut has featured at least one battle between the two, the tradition ending in Sonic Adventure. In later games, Sonic and Knuckles' rivalry becomes more friendly, even developing into a sort of competition, which serves as a side plot for the game Sonic Rivals.

Sonic's arch-rival is Shadow the Hedgehog, the "Ultimate Life Form". They became rivals in Sonic Adventure 2, and they have fought and argued with each other whenever they meet in every game since. They fight for different reasons, yet have similar opinions about each other. Sonic finds Shadow to be violent, humorless, and arrogant, while Shadow finds Sonic to be foolhardy, irritating, and arrogant. However, near the end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow willingly fought the Biolizard to allow Sonic to go with Knuckles to stop the Chaos Emeralds. In Sonic Heroes, they joined forces in the battle against Metal Sonic. Hence, while these two do not enjoy being in each other's company, they will work together when the situation warrants it.

Before Shadow's introduction, Metal Sonic was one of Sonic's fiercest adversaries. During the older days, Eggman tried to beat Sonic at his own game by creating numerous Sonic robots to destroy his nemesis. Though they all tried and failed, Metal Sonic was by far Eggman's most successful creation, having the same capabilities as his counterpart. For example, in the game Sonic & Knuckles Metal Sonic had the ability to transform into Super Metal Sonic. Even with Shadow in the spotlight now, Metal Sonic still remains a serious threat, as the storyline in Sonic Heroes demonstrated. In the game, metal sonic becomes so powerful that only Super Sonic can defeat him. Metal Sonic was defeated, not destroyed, at the end of the game; Sonic later vows to battle him again in the final cutscene.

Another one of Sonic's rivals is Jet the Hawk from Sonic Riders. Jet mocks him for being inexperienced with Extreme Gear (an air powered hovercraft that comes in the form of skateboards, motorcycles & rollerblades) and does not respect Sonic's title of "fastest thing alive", sparking a rivalry between them. Later, after Sonic beats Jet in a race, they become more friendly, but are still competitive as racing rivals. Jet finally admits that Sonic is the fastest, but warns him to be ready the next time they meet.

Black Doom is also one of Sonic's enemies, along with the Black Arms aliens who try to invade Earth in search of the Chaos Emeralds. While Black Doom is primarily Shadow the Hedgehog's main enemy, (or ally, depending on the route the player takes) Black Doom is still considered one of Sonic's enemies due to his actions against innocent people. (It should be noted that Black Doom sees humanity as being far from innocent; however, this is likely little more than justification for Black Doom's plan to use humans as a food source for the Black Arms.) Sonic can battle Black Doom along with Shadow in one of the game's boss battles against him.

In Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a new character with vast psychic abilities by the name Silver the Hedgehog will make his first appearance. Interviews with Sega staff and promotional material indicate that Silver is from the future and is trying to prevent the "Iblis Trigger" (which could be Sonic, or Mephilles) from causing a great disaster.

In other media

The SatAM cartoon series features Sonic's usual rivalry with Dr. Robotnik, as well as with Robotnik's nephew Snively Kintobor. Another of his foes, who only appeared in one episode, was the wizard Ixis Naugus, who also appears in the Archie Comics. Sonic Underground continues the Robotnik/Sonic rivalry, and also features the bounty hunters Sleet and Dingo.

In the anime Sonic X, Dark Oak is Sonic's main enemy during Series 3. Ruthless and cold-hearted, Dark Oak wishes all animal life dead so that plants can rule. He belongs to the same species of alien as Cosmo and the other Metarex commanders. Dark Oak, although fairly small compared to others of his kind, possesses great power, enough to even fight Super Sonic toe-to-toe. He is eventually destroyed by a blast from the Sonic Driver, the Blue Typhoon's main weapon.

In the UK series Sonic the Comic, Sonic had a rival for several issues named Commander Brutus. A highly advanced Badnik Trooper programmed with a copy of Doctor Robotnik's brain patterns, Brutus was the only villain that Sonic could never truly defeat. In armour constructed from the indestructible metal alloy 'Megatel' that granted him near-invulnerability and immense physical strength and endurance, and a built in anti-gravity device that allowed him to fly, Brutus easily matched and defeated Sonic in battle. Transforming into Super Sonic, Sonic was able to shatter Brutus' right hand and drive him off. They clashed several more times until Brutus led a rebellion against Dr Robotnik and was defeated and destroyed by the dictator.

The Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics feature a number of other enemies. Aside from various versions of Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic, and a number of villains from both the games and SatAM, he also faces the powerful Mammoth Mogul, the cyborg Echidna organization known as the Dark Legion led by the nefarious Dimitri and his successor Lien-Da, and an evil counterpart of himself named Scourge the Hedgehog. Sonic must also contend with a number of mechanical enemies.

Love life

Sonic X: Sonic's relationship with Amy Rose is further developed in Sonic X than in the games. In this version the two share a more mutual friendship and work together far more often. Sonic even promises Amy a date at one time (however, this is only in the English dub), and numerous times the two are more intimate.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The cartoon featured a beautiful, robotic (unbeknownst to Sonic) girlfriend named Breezie Hedgehog. Breezie abused Sonic, asking him for impossible things, exhausting his infatuation with her to capture and trap him by order of Robotnik. Breezie realized she was wrong and set Sonic free, this time being sincere with Sonic. As time passed, she would later end up having a relationship with Robotnik Jr.

SatAM: In the Saturday morning cartoon, Sonic's love interest is Princess Sally Acorn. The two share a co-leadership role of the Freedom Fighters and parent/sibling/aunt type roles over Tails. Sonic and Sally are the same age and often do missions together against Robotnik. Although the two have obvious crushes for each other, they had opposite personalities that conflict, because of which they had a hard time admitting their affections. Sally finds Sonic to be too carefree and an airhead, while Sonic finds her to be serious and prissy. However, in the final episode, the two kiss.

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic: The main American Sonic comic (Archie Comics) has by far the most complex love triangles of all Sonic related media. Love interests within the series include Sally Acorn, Amy Rose, Mina Mongoose and Fiona Fox. For more details on this topic, see Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character).

Fleetway's Sonic the Comic: Early appearances of Amy Rose in the UK comic portray her as being so enamored with Sonic that she openly lies about being his girlfriend, leading to her being captured by Robotnik's forces for consorting with an outlaw. After being rescued, she joins Sonic's Freedom Fighters and repeatedly teases and pesters Sonic with her affections. Writer Nigel Kitching intended to create an air of ambiguity as to whether or not she really doted over Sonic, was just winding him up for fun, or both. However, this was played down and finally dropped entirely as time went on – largely as a result of the "Girl Power" phenomenon sweeping the United Kingdom – and Amy transitioned from being a lovesick hanger-on into a capable, intelligent hero in her own right.

Alternate versions

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character)

Archie's Sonic comic features Sonic with alternate dimensional versions of himself. Many of these versions are similar in personality to the classic Sonic, being heroic and carefree. However, other versions are drastically different. Archie's Sonic comic recently bore witness to an evolution of one such form, wherein a being formerly known as Evil Sonic charged himself on Master Emerald energy to evolve into Scourge the Hedgehog. Other such splits have happened in the past, such as Sonic the Comic's separation of Super Sonic as his own entity. In the Archie comics, Sonic's real name is revealed to be Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog. He tries desperately to protect that information, possibly out of embarrassment. This name is not canon (official) in the game continuity, however, and he is simply known as Sonic the Hedgehog in the games. It is unknown why his name was changed in the comics.

In Sonic the Comic, Sonic encounters an alternate reality where he became evil instead of Kintobor. King Sonic and his Badniks ruled this alternate Mobius until Sonic forced him to turn into Super Sonic, who (in his reality) was a mellow hippie.

See also

• Anthropomorphic Superheroes
• Kemono

References

In addition to information taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog games themselves, the instruction manuals of the US and Japanese versions of the games were also used as references for this article.

External links

Official sites

• Sonic Central - Official Sonic the Hedgehog microsite at Sega.com
• Sonic Channel - Official Japanese website
• Sonic City - Official European Sonic the Hedgehog website

Fan sites

• Sonic Ultimate - Containing information mostly about Sonic from the comic book