Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

File:Sonicnextgen.png

Sonic the Hedgehog game art from Sonic Wild Fire or Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game) (unsure about the specific source.)

:For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog. For the Archie comics incarnation, 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 who appears in 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.

Sonic is a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with the ability to run at the speed of sound, a talent which forms a major part of the gameplay of the series. He's a teenager, 100 centimeters (3 ft 4 in) tall, and weighs 35 kilograms (77 lb).

Character

Design

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 and at right is an official render from the newer Shadow the Hedgehog.

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 oversized Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman's design) and a rabbit. 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 and distributing pamphlets advertising the game.

Sonic's precise age, weight, height and other physical characteristics vary depending on the continuity in which he appears and the style he in which he is drawn. In early artwork, Sonic had no visible irises, but with the revamp he received for Sonic Adventure, they were shown to be green, though his eyes are visibly red when he is in his "Super Sonic" form and in motion in some earlier games.

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, 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 all subsequent UK publications.

Personality

Sonic 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 would willingly put himself at risk for others, taking on any challenge that confronts him without hesitation. Sonic is not generally modest when it comes to his abilities. In fact, he is often portrayed as being narcissistic and self-absorbed; nevertheless, he is always shown to be caring and selfless when it comes to his actions.

The British Sonic the Comic presented him as being bossy and arrogant, and characters regularly referred to his strange sense of humor. Sonic's attitude frequently made cruel jokes at the expense of his friend Tails, behavior contrary to that seen in most of the continuities.

American TV shows and comics often state Sonic's favorite food as chili dogs. This is also canonical in the game universe, as it is mentioned in the official Japanese Sonic Advance 3 manual, and his Sonic Jam character profile.

Sonic is shown to have an interest in rock music and was a vocalist in his own rock band in the cartoon Sonic Underground. Some official character art suggests that he has a personal hobby as a DJ.

Legendary Hero...And Villain?

Although Sonic is an adventuring hero mostly for the fun of it, there are signs that perhaps there are greater forces shaping his destiny. 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 realised 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."

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!

A trailer for the forthcoming Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game) implies that Sonic may perhaps be the legendary entity referred to by some as the 'Iblis Trigger'. Information from E3 2006 [1] reveals Silver the Hedgehog refers to him as such due to Silver being a time traveller who has been sent back in time to stop Sonic from causing an unknown tragedy.

Home

In the video game continuity, Sonic's home planet is Earth. Sonic lived at a location known as South Island in the Pacific Ocean 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 90's 16-bit era, players elsewhere then believed that Sonic's home world was called "Mobius" because of information provided by Sega of America's instruction manuals to tie-in with then popular American comics and television series. However, all games 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 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.

Mobius: In all American and European comics, cartoons, books and manuals published before 1999, Sonic's home is a planet called Mobius. The long-standing US Archie comic and the 1993 Sonic the hedgehog cartoon (SatAM) would adapt Mobius as the name of Sonic's home planet. However it is noted that these two storylines expand on the relationship between Mobius and Earth, as Mobius being Earth's future. In Archie exclusively, it is set about 1400 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 descibed as the Earth's sister planet. In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground, two other Sonic cartoon series, no relationship between Earth and Mobius had been noted, nor did the creators specify if there was or wasn't one.

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. This logically suggests that the planet is indeed Earth, although this has not been explicitly confirmed.

Abilities

File:Sonic the Hedgehog Poster.jpg

The fastest hedgehog alive.

Sonic is known as "the fastest thing alive", with the ability to run at speeds higher than Mach 1. The source of this ability is not given in the games, although Stay Sonic (which gave his fastest recorded speed as 761mph) and later British publications explained that it was achieved through training on a treadmill. 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. This reduction in air friction also gives him most of his super speed.

Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into a tight ball 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. (In Sonic the Comic, he claims he achieves this effect by "vibrating the molecules of air around me at supersonic speeds".)

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 Peelout" introduced in Sonic CD accelerates him in a similar manner, but allows him to remain running in an upright position.

Sonic can run or bounce across the surface of water, but he can't actually 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.

In episode 13 of the most recent series, Sonic X, Sonic displays a superior degree of strength compared to other characters. This might prove that he has some power in his arms like Knuckles, but, more than likely, not as much.

Game Specific Abilities

Sonic Adventure 1 & 2

Homing Attack: allows him to propel himself towards the nearest enemy while jumping

Light Dash: allows him to run along a path of rings, even through the air

Light Speed Attack: Sonic charges up by Spin Dashing and homing attacks everything in range at light speed. He is able to hold the charge, but doing so significantly slows him down.

Sonic Adventure 2

Bounce attack: he jumps in the air, rolls up, quickly falls, and then bounces a little higher than he can normally jump. This works in the same way as the Water Shield in Sonic 3.

Fire somersault: Sonic rolls in a fiery ball.

Magic hand: traps non-boss enemies in a small, throwable, explosive ball.

Spin Attack: A charged somersault.

Mystic melody: causes something to happen once played in front of a certain kind of strange object.

He also gains abilities from the Chaos Emeralds:

Time Stop: a manipulation of time and space.

Sonic Wind: creates a blue swirl of hazardous energy.

Sonic Heroes

Homing Attack: allows him to propel himself towards the nearest enemy while jumping

Rocket Accel: allows Sonic to be pushed forward by his teammates to accelerate.

Blue Tornado: sweeps enemies off their feet and is used to spin up poles.

Triangle Jump: Sonic jumps between walls within close proximity at high speed to advance forward.

Sonic Advance 3

New Dash Attack: in which he balls up and then dashes, either upward or forward, but this attack was only seen in that game. If performed forward, it will home in on nearby enemies.

Sonic Rush

Hop Jump trick: performed when he's in mid-air, and it allows him to perform a vertical hop.

Humming Top trick: performed in mid-air, allows him to perform a horizontal hop, with his right leg extended out to the right.

Strengths and weaknesses

Sonic's strengths are curling up into a ball and firing himself toward enemies as a projectile, as seen in Sonic X, and the Sonic Adventure series. He is often aided by his friends, notably in Sonic Heroes where teamwork is the only way to complete the game.

Sonic's main weakness is water. Although he can run on it at sufficiently high speeds, when submerged he cannot run as fast as he normally would. If submerged long enough, he will, of course, drown. In the first episode of Sonic X, he was not able to move at all because he does not know how to swim.

Transformations

File:Supersonicx.jpg

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. As Super Sonic he is even faster than normal, can jump higher, can fly in certain situations, and is invincible to most attacks/obstacles. Sonic's appearance also changes; his body becomes yellowish gold, he becomes a bit taller, his quills rise and get wilder, and his eyes, in earlier games, turn a lime green but in more recent games,where sonics eyes are already green, his eyes turn red. This is Similar to the Super Saiyan transformation of Dragon Ball Z fame. The transformation is triggered by collecting all of the 7 Chaos Emeralds and at least 50 rings.

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 and wields the devastating "lightning flash" attack called Sonic Boom by fans which can be used to "double-jump" in any direction, and when performed, destroys all enemies on-screen with a bright flash. Hyper Sonic was only available in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

Many fans believe, however, that Hyper Sonic is not completely canon (meaning it is not real in the game universe), but is just closer to what Super Sonic is really like. Newer games have shown that the Chaos Emeralds grow larger when on the Master Emerald altar, making them appear like the Super Emeralds. This makes many believe that the Chaos Emeralds and the Super Emeralds are one and the same. This would explain the absence of Hyper Sonic and the Super Emeralds in all other games except Sonic & Knuckles.

In most games made after Sonic Adventure, Super Sonic has only been available in the climactic boss battles at the end of the games. Super Sonic is also a secret character on the spin-offs Sonic R, Sonic Shuffle and Sonic Riders.

In Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, Sonic turns into Super Sonic in times of great stress, not just when he finds emeralds. In this form he is very powerful, but also very evil, and will attack both friend and foe without prejudice. This Super Sonic looks a little different, as his quills resemble jagged razor blades, his teeth are like those of a shark, and his eyes are like swirling vortexes.

In the television series Sonic X, he is shown to be able to turn into what's called 'Dark Sonic'. He triggers this by drawing on the power of artificial Chaos Emeralds created by the Metarex. His body turns black and he has a black smoky effect. This transformation also allows him to have extreme speed and attacking power, but this super mode appears to last only a few minutes.

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, using him as bait to capture Sonic. Sonic and Tails are rarely without each other - they often go emerald searching, as seen in Sonic Riders, or stop Eggman's plans together.

File:Son&amy.jpg

Sonic the Hedgehog with Amy Rose

In the video games, Amy Rose is young girl who acts the part of Sonic's Girlfriend. Contrary to popular belief, 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. Whenver 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.

Another friend of Sonic is Knuckles the Echidna. They first met as enemies in Sonic 3, and although they are now allies, it's usual to find them fighting. Knuckles still dislikes Sonic's carefree nature, while Sonic sees Knuckles as being far too serious and perhaps even a bit thickheaded, on occasion referring to him as 'Knucklehead'. Knuckles, however, is a loyal friend, and would sacrifice himself to save Sonic. His main priority, however, is to protect the Master Emerald.

Sonic is also friends with Cream the Rabbit, a 6 year old girl. Sonic doesn't converse with her very much though, as they don't seem to share many interests. Sonic is very impressed by her manners, though.

Blaze the Cat is a 14 year old 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. It may or may not be possible that Blaze is her own dimension's equivalent of Sonic, as Eggman Nega is to Dr. Eggman.

The trio of comical detectives known as 'Team Chaotix' don't seem to know Sonic very well - although Vector the Crocodile, the group's leader, was originally conceived as Sonic's bandmate in the very first Sonic-game.

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. 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 arch-rival is Shadow the Hedgehog, the "Ultimate Life Form". They became enemies in Sonic Adventure 2, and they have fought and argued with each other whenever they meet in every game since. Although they fight for different reasons, they battle with a certain amount of respect that was learned over time. When they were enemies in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic found Shadow to be violent, humorless(which isn't entirly true as in the end of the dark story mode in Sonic Heroes he crack a joke to Rouge the Bat) and arrogant, while Shadow found Sonic to be foolhardy, irritating and arrogant. Near the end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow willingly fought the Biolizard while Sonic went off with Knuckles to stop the Chaos Emeralds, and in Sonic Heroes they joined forces in the battle against Metal Sonic, showing that they wouldn't hesitate to work together when the situation warranted 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. Even with Shadow in the spotlight now, Metal Sonic still remains a serious threat, as the storyline in Sonic Heroes demonstrated.

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 skate boards, motorcycles & roller blades) and doesn't consider Sonic to be the "fastest thing alive", sparking a rivalry between them. Later, after Sonic beats Jet in a race, they became more friendly, yet still competitive as racing rivals. Jet finally admits that Sonic is the fastest, but warns him to be ready the next time they meet.

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. 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.

In Sonic The Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a new character with vast psychic abilities by the rumored name Silver The Hedgehog will make his first appearance. It's said Silver's from the future and is trying to prevent Sonic from causing a great disaster.

Romance

Sonic X: Sonic's relationship with Amy 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, 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 often do missions together against Robotnik and the two obviously had crushes for each other. Despite this, they had opposite personalities that conflict, because of that 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.

American Sonic Comics: 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).

British Sonic Comics: In the U.K., Fleetway's Sonic the Comic has Sonic paired up with Amy Rose. Their relationship is a little different here than in other mediums. Though she's determined to make Sonic her boyfriend, she's reasonable about it. In fact, her entire character, overall, is more serious, as she's a skilled archer and often fights along Sonic, gaining his respect.

Family

While Sonic has no relatives in the games, he has family members in spinoffs.

Archie Comics

• Grandfather: Olgilive Hedgehog
• Mother: Bernadette Hedgehog
• Father: Jules Hedgehog
• Uncle: Sir Charles Hedgehog (Chuck)
• Dog: Muttski

Sonic Underground

• Uncle: Uncle Chuck
• Mother: Queen Aleena
• Sister: Sonia
• Brother: Manic
• Father: Zokar (not in series)

Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM

• Uncle: Uncle Chuck

In the UK comic series, no relatives of Sonic are mentioned. In one strip, a brown hedgehog appeared claiming to be his brother, Tonic the Hedgehog. However, this turned out to be the evil shape-shifter Metamorphia sent by Dr Robotnik. In one strip, Sonic describes one of his ancestors, 'Bravehog' (a parody of Braveheart) who liberated Mobius from the tyrannical rule of the villainous King Leer.

Alternate versions

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character)

The Archie 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 seperation of Super Sonic as his own entity.

Voices

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, Griffith became the official game voice actor for Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as Jet the Hawk in Sonic Riders. This decision was negatively viewed by many Sonic fans in general and many Anime fans hostile towards 4Kids Entertainment's standards and practices. Many fans of Ryan Drummond want Ryan to be reinstated as the official voice of Sonic.

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/Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive/Genesis. After venturing out on his own in the first game, he was given a sidekick in Miles "Tails" Prower for the sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 who would run behind Sonic as he sped through each zone as they continued the fight against Eggman. The sequel was also the first game to feature Sonic's Super Sonic form. Sonic would be solo once again for Sonic CD, in which Sonic would use his unrivaled speed to travel through time to defeat Eggman and ensure a good future for the world. Sonic CD also introduced Amy Rose, Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend. She would play only minor roles in several Sonic-themed spinoff games until Sonic Adventure. It also introduced Metal Sonic, who wouldn't have another major role until Knuckles Chaotix.

Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles would see Sonic and Tails battle Eggman yet again, with the additional threat of Sonic's newfound nemesis, the misguided Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic would eventually team up with Knuckles to defeat Eggman once again. Sonic 3D Blast, the first Sonic game to feature 3D pre-rendered graphics was a diversion for Sonic as he rescued birds called Flickies on an island.

Sonic Adventure featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new foe named Chaos, under the control of Doctor Eggman. The game was the first true 3D Sonic game and was the debut of Sonic's homing attack (although it could be used in Sonic 3D after acquiring a power-up, Sonic Adventure was the first title to feature it as a standard move). In addition, Sonic was also able to collect power-ups that gave him extra abilities. The game also featured Sonic interacting with non-playable characters and objects in 3D "Adventure" sequences, where the game world could be freely explored. Sonic Adventure was the first video game title that featured a voice-over for Sonic.

Sonic Adventure 2 involved Sonic being framed for a robbery he didn't commit and on-the-run from the military. He also faces a new rival in Shadow the Hedgehog. However, the two must put their differences aside and save the world from destruction yet again. The game featured power-ups just as the original Sonic Adventure had, but had two parallel stories: "Hero" and "Dark". Despite the title, it did not have 3D "Adventure" sequences.

Sonic's third 3D action game was Sonic Heroes, which featured four different teams made up by three characters in each. This game marked the return of the group of characters known as Team Chaotix, as well as Sonic's longtime rival Metal Sonic.

File:SR Sonic.jpg

Sonic in Sonic Riders

For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog. For the Archie Comics incarnation, see Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character)

File:Sonicnextgen.png

Sonic the Hedgehog game art from Sonic Wild Fire or Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game) (unsure about the specific source.)

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a video game character who appears in 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.

Sonic is a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with the ability to run at the speed of sound, a talent which forms a major part of the gameplay of the series. He a teenager, 100 centimeters (3 ft 4 in) tall, and weighs 35 kilograms (77 lb).

Character

Design

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 and at right is an official render from the newer Shadow the Hedgehog.

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 oversized Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman's design) and a rabbit. 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 and distributing pamphlets advertising the game.

Sonic's precise age, weight, height and other physical characteristics vary depending on the continuity in which he appears and the style he in which he is drawn. In early artwork, Sonic had no visible irises, but with the revamp he received for Sonic Adventure, they were shown to be green, though his eyes are visibly red when he is in his "Super Sonic" form and in motion in some earlier games.

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, 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 all subsequent UK publications.

Personality

Sonic 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 would willingly put himself at risk for others, taking on any challenge that confronts him without hesitation. Sonic is not generally modest when it comes to his abilities. In fact, he is often portrayed as being narcissistic and self-absorbed; nevertheless, he is always shown to be caring and selfless when it comes to his actions.

The British Sonic the Comic presented him as being bossy and arrogant, and characters regularly referred to his strange sense of humor. Sonic's attitude frequently made cruel jokes at the expense of his friend Tails, behavior contrary to that seen in most of the continuities.

American TV shows and comics often state Sonic's favorite food as chili dogs. This is also canonical in the game universe, as it is mentioned in the official Japanese Sonic Advance 3 manual, and his Sonic Jam character profile.

Sonic is shown to have an interest in rock music and was a vocalist in his own rock band in the cartoon Sonic Underground. Some official character art suggests that he has a personal hobby as a DJ.

Legendary Hero...And Villain?

Although Sonic is an adventuring hero mostly for the fun of it, there are signs that perhaps there are greater forces shaping his destiny. 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 realised 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."

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!

A trailer for the forthcoming Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game) implies that Sonic may perhaps be the legendary entity referred to by some as the 'Iblis Trigger'. Information from E3 2006 [2] reveals Silver the Hedgehog refers to him as such due to Silver being 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 it is referred by has varied slightly depending on minor regional differences. Sonic lived at a location known as South Island in the Pacific Ocean 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 90's 16-bit era, players elsewhere then believed that Sonic's home world was called "Mobius" because of information provided by Sega of America's instruction manuals to tie-in with then popular American comics and television series. However, all games 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 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.

Mobius: In all American and European comics, cartoons, books and manuals published before 1999, Sonic's home is a planet called Mobius. The long-standing US Archie comic and the 1993 Sonic the hedgehog cartoon (SatAM) would adapt Mobius as the name of Sonic's home planet. However it is noted that these two storylines expand on the relationship between Mobius and Earth, as Mobius being Earth's future. In Archie exclusively, it is set about 1400 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 descibed as the Earth's sister planet. In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground, two other Sonic cartoon series, no relationship between Earth and Mobius had been noted, nor did the creators specify if there was or wasn't one.

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. This logically suggests that the planet is indeed Earth, although this has not been explicitly confirmed.

Abilities

File:Sonic the Hedgehog Poster.jpg

The fastest hedgehog alive.

Sonic is known as "the fastest thing alive", with the ability to run at speeds higher than Mach 1. The source of this ability is not given in the games, although Stay Sonic (which gave his fastest recorded speed as 761mph) and later British publications explained that it was achieved through training on a treadmill. 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. This reduction in air friction also gives him most of his super speed.

Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into a tight ball 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. (In Sonic the Comic, he claims he achieves this effect by "vibrating the molecules of air around me at supersonic speeds".)

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 Peelout" introduced in Sonic CD accelerates him in a similar manner, but allows him to remain running in an upright position.

Sonic can run or bounce across the surface of water, but he can't actually 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.

In episode 13 of the most recent series, Sonic X, Sonic displays a superior degree of strength compared to other characters. This might prove that he has some power in his arms like Knuckles, but, more than likely, not as much.

Game Specific Abilities

Sonic Adventure 1 & 2

Homing Attack: allows him to propel himself towards the nearest enemy while jumping

Light Dash: allows him to run along a path of rings, even through the air

Light Speed Attack: Sonic charges up by Spin Dashing and homing attacks everything in range at light speed. He is able to hold the charge, but doing so significantly slows him down.

Sonic Adventure 2

Bounce attack: he jumps in the air, rolls up, quickly falls, and then bounces a little higher than he can normally jump. This works in the same way as the Water Shield in Sonic 3.

Fire somersault: Sonic rolls in a fiery ball.

Magic hand: traps non-boss enemies in a small, throwable, explosive ball.

Spin Attack: A charged somersault.

Mystic melody: causes something to happen once played in front of a certain kind of strange object.

He also gains abilities from the Chaos Emeralds:

Time Stop: a manipulation of time and space.

Sonic Wind: creates a blue swirl of hazardous energy.

Sonic Heroes

Homing Attack: allows him to propel himself towards the nearest enemy while jumping

Rocket Accel: allows Sonic to be pushed forward by his teammates to accelerate.

Blue Tornado: sweeps enemies off their feet and is used to spin up poles.

Triangle Jump: Sonic jumps between walls within close proximity at high speed to advance forward.

Sonic Advance 3

New Dash Attack: in which he balls up and then dashes, either upward or forward, but this attack was only seen in that game. If performed forward, it will home in on nearby enemies.

Sonic Rush

Hop Jump trick: performed when he's in mid-air, and it allows him to perform a vertical hop.

Humming Top trick: performed in mid-air, allows him to perform a horizontal hop, with his right leg extended out to the right.

Strengths and weaknesses

Sonic's strengths are curling up into a ball and firing himself toward enemies as a projectile, as seen in Sonic X, and the Sonic Adventure series. He is often aided by his friends, notably in Sonic Heroes where teamwork is the only way to complete the game.

Sonic's main weakness is water. Although he can run on it at sufficiently high speeds, when submerged he cannot run as fast as he normally would. If submerged long enough, he will, of course, drown. In the first episode of Sonic X, he was not able to move at all because he does not know how to swim.

Transformations

File:Supersonicx.jpg

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. As Super Sonic he is even faster than normal, can jump higher, can fly in certain situations, and is invincible to most attacks/obstacles. Sonic's appearance also changes; his body becomes yellowish gold, he becomes a bit taller, his quills rise and get wilder, and his eyes, in earlier games, turn a lime green but in more recent games,where sonics eyes are already green, his eyes turn red. This is Similar to the Super Saiyan transformation of Dragon Ball Z fame. The transformation is triggered by collecting all of the 7 Chaos Emeralds and at least 50 rings.

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 and wields the devastating "lightning flash" attack called Sonic Boom by fans which can be used to "double-jump" in any direction, and when performed, destroys all enemies on-screen with a bright flash. Hyper Sonic was only available in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

It's been a theory by many fans, however, that Hyper Sonic isn't completely canon (meaning it isn't really real, at least in the games), but is just closer to what Super Sonic is really like. Newer games have shown that the Chaos Emeralds grow larger when on the Master Emerald alter, making them appear like the Super Emeralds, making many believe that the Chaos Emeralds and the Super Emeralds are one and the same. This would explain the absence of Hyper Sonic and the Super Emeralds in all other games except Sonic & Knuckles.

In most games made after Sonic Adventure, Super Sonic has only been available in the climactic boss battles at the end of the games. Super Sonic is also a secret character on the spin-offs Sonic R, Sonic Shuffle and Sonic Riders.

In Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, Sonic turns into Super Sonic in times of great stress, rather than with the help of any emeralds. In this form he's very powerful, but also very evil, and will attack both friend and foe without prejudice. This Super Sonic looks a little different, as his quills resemble jagged razor blades, his teeth are like those of a shark, and his eyes are like swirling vortexes.

In the television series Sonic X, he is shown to be able to turn into what's called 'Dark Sonic'. He triggers this by drawing on the power of artificial Chaos Emeralds created by the Metarex. His body turns black and he has a black smoky effect. This transformation also allows him to have extreme speed and attacking power, but this super mode appears to last only a few minutes.

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, using him as bait to capture Sonic. Sonic and Tails are rarely without each other - they often go emerald searching, as seen in Sonic Riders, or stop Eggman's plans together.

File:Son&amy.jpg

Sonic the Hedgehog with Amy Rose

In the video games, Amy Rose is young girl who acts the part of Sonic's girlfriend. Contrary to popular belief, 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. Whenver 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.

Another friend of Sonic is Knuckles the Echidna. They first met as enemies in Sonic 3 and many other games leading every one to the conclusion that "Knux" is very gullible , and although they are now allies, it's usual to find them fighting. Knuckles still dislikes Sonic's carefree nature, while Sonic sees Knuckles as being far too serious and perhaps even a bit thickheaded, on occasion referring to him as 'Knucklehead'. Knuckles, however, is a loyal friend, and would sacrifice himself to save Sonic. His main priority, however, is to protect the Master Emerald.

Sonic is also friends with Cream the Rabbit, a 6 year old girl. Sonic doesn't converse with her very much though, as they don't seem to share many interests. Sonic is very impressed by her manners, though.

Blaze the Cat is a 14 year old 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. It may or may not be possible that Blaze is her own dimension's equivalent of Sonic, as Eggman Nega is to Dr. Eggman.

The trio of comical detectives known as 'Team Chaotix' don't seem to know Sonic very well - although Vector the Crocodile, the group's leader, was originally conceived as Sonic's bandmate in the very first Sonic-game.

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. 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 arch-rival is Shadow the Hedgehog, the "Ultimate Life Form". They became enemies in Sonic Adventure 2, and they have fought and argued with each other whenever they meet in every game since. Although they fight for different reasons, they battle with a certain amount of respect that was learned over time. When they were enemies in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic found Shadow to be violent, humorless(which isn't entirly true as in the end of the dark story mode in Sonic Heroes he crack a joke to Rouge the Bat) and arrogant, while Shadow found Sonic to be foolhardy, irritating and arrogant. Near the end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow willingly fought the Biolizard while Sonic went off with Knuckles to stop the Chaos Emeralds, and in Sonic Heroes they joined forces in the battle against Metal Sonic, showing that they wouldn't hesitate to work together when the situation warranted 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. Even with Shadow in the spotlight now, Metal Sonic still remains a serious threat, as the storyline in Sonic Heroes demonstrated.

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 skate boards, motorcycles & roller blades) and doesn't consider Sonic to be the "fastest thing alive", sparking a rivalry between them. Later, after Sonic beats Jet in a race, they became more friendly, yet still competitive as racing rivals. Jet finally admits that Sonic is the fastest, but warns him to be ready the next time they meet.

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. 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.

In Sonic The Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a new character with vast psychic abilities by the rumored name Silver The Hedgehog will make his first appearance. It's said Silver's from the future and is trying to prevent Sonic from causing a great disaster.

Romance

Sonic X: Sonic's relationship with Amy 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, 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 often do missions together against Robotnik and the two obviously had crushes for each other. Despite this, they had opposite personalities that conflict, because of that 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.

American Sonic Comics: 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).

British Sonic Comics: In the U.K., Fleetway's Sonic the Comic has Sonic paired up with Amy Rose. Their relationship is a little different here than in other mediums. Though she's determined to make Sonic her boyfriend, she's reasonable about it. In fact, her entire character, overall, is more serious, as she's a skilled archer and often fights along Sonic, gaining his respect.

Family

While Sonic has no relatives in the games, he has family members in spinoffs.

Archie Comics

• Grandfather: Olgilive Hedgehog
• Mother: Bernadette Hedgehog
• Father: Jules Hedgehog
• Uncle: Sir Charles Hedgehog (Chuck)
• Dog: Muttski

Sonic Underground

• Uncle: Uncle Chuck
• Mother: Queen Aleena
• Sister: Sonia
• Brother: Manic
• Father: Zokar (not in series)

Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM

• Uncle: Uncle Chuck

In the UK comic series, no relatives of Sonic are mentioned. In one strip, a brown hedgehog appeared claiming to be his brother, Tonic the Hedgehog. However, this turned out to be the evil shape-shifter Metamorphia sent by Dr Robotnik. In one strip, Sonic describes one of his ancestors, 'Bravehog' (a parody of Braveheart) who liberated Mobius from the tyrannical rule of the villainous King Leer.

Alternate versions

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character)

The Archie 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 seperation of Super Sonic as his own entity.

Voices

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, Griffith became the official game voice actor for Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as Jet the Hawk in Sonic Riders. This decision was negatively viewed by many Sonic fans in general and many Anime fans hostile towards 4Kids Entertainment's standards and practices. Many fans of Ryan Drummond want Ryan to be reinstated as the official voice of Sonic.

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/Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive/Genesis. After venturing out on his own in the first game, he was given a sidekick in Miles "Tails" Prower for the sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 who would run behind Sonic as he sped through each zone as they continued the fight against Eggman. The sequel was also the first game to feature Sonic's Super Sonic form. Sonic would be solo once again for Sonic CD, in which Sonic would use his unrivaled speed to travel through time to defeat Eggman and ensure a good future for the world. Sonic CD also introduced Amy Rose, Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend. She would play only minor roles in several Sonic-themed spinoff games until Sonic Adventure. It also introduced Metal Sonic, who wouldn't have another major role until Knuckles Chaotix.

Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles would see Sonic and Tails battle Eggman yet again, with the additional threat of Sonic's newfound nemesis, the misguided Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic would eventually team up with Knuckles to defeat Eggman once again. Sonic 3D Blast, the first Sonic game to feature 3D pre-rendered graphics was a diversion for Sonic as he rescued birds called Flickies on an island.

Sonic Adventure featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new foe named Chaos, under the control of Doctor Eggman. The game was the first true 3D Sonic game and was the debut of Sonic's homing attack (although it could be used in Sonic 3D after acquiring a power-up, Sonic Adventure was the first title to feature it as a standard move). In addition, Sonic was also able to collect power-ups that gave him extra abilities. The game also featured Sonic interacting with non-playable characters and objects in 3D "Adventure" sequences, where the game world could be freely explored. Sonic Adventure was the first video game title that featured a voice-over for Sonic.

Sonic Adventure 2 involved Sonic being framed for a robbery he didn't commit and on-the-run from the military. He also faces a new rival in Shadow the Hedgehog. However, the two must put their differences aside and save the world from destruction yet again. The game featured power-ups just as the original Sonic Adventure had, but had two parallel stories: "Hero" and "Dark". Despite the title, it did not have 3D "Adventure" sequences.

Sonic's third 3D action game was Sonic Heroes, which featured four different teams made up by three characters in each. This game marked the return of the group of characters known as Team Chaotix, as well as Sonic's longtime rival Metal Sonic.

File:SR Sonic.jpg

Sonic in Sonic Riders

In addition to these games, Sonic has been featured in a variety of 8-bit console and handheld games as well. Sonic Triple Trouble saw Sonic and Tails face off against Fang the Sniper for the first time. Sonic Advance and Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure for the Game Boy Advance and the Neo Geo Pocket respectively were the first games to feature Sonic on a non-Sega game platform. Two sequels to Sonic Advance were released and Sonic has continued his appearances on Nintendo handheld game units with Sonic Rush for Nintendo DS.

Sonic has also been a featured character in several spin-off titles. The arcade SegaSonic the Hedgehog had Sonic as one of three playable characters. Sonic has also been featured in some pinball games including Sonic Spinball. He is also a selectable character in Sonic R, Sonic Riders and the Sonic Drift racing games. Sonic is a selectable fighter in both Sonic Battle and Sonic Championship. He also appears as a Hero Side mission partner in the game Shadow the Hedgehog.

Screenshots and some newly released information has revealed that a brand new Sonic game is in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Naka has claimed that Sonic Team is going back to their origins, nearly fifteen years ago, to recreate Sonic's personality and attitude, as well as the gameplay style, to make the title feel more like the original games. Another Sonic title is in development for Nintendo's upcoming Wii console: Sonic Wild Fire, which is, from sources, reported as an entirely different game than the one being released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and will utilize the new functions of the Wii console. Sonic is confirmed to be in his first PSP game Sonic Rivals, a game where you race against other characters to the end of a level. A sequel to Sonic Riders for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was also mentioned by Takashi Yuda (creator of the original Sonic Riders game and original designer of Knuckles), but no official announcements have been made by Sega as of yet.

See also: List of games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog

Television series

File:SonicXSTH.jpg

Sonic's character design in Sonic X was influenced by his design in the newer Sonic games.

File:002sonic.jpg

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 series was far more dark and brooding than Adventures and found a devoted following.

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, while Robotnik was voiced by Gary Chalk.

Additionally, there was a Sonic the Hedgehog Anime 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.

The latest animated Sonic television series, Sonic X, is an anime that features Sonic being transported from his world to the human world. Like the other television series, it has an original storyline not present in any of the games, however it does at some point adapt the storylines from the Sonic Adventure game series. Sonic is voiced by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in the Japanese version, and by Jason Griffith in the English language version.

Sonic also made a cameo appearance in The Simpsons's episode "Marge Be Not Proud", voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He appears, along with Mario and Luigi of Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong if Donkey Kong, trying to convince Bart Simpson to steal a video game.

Books

Comic books

Several comic books have also been released, each establishing a different storyline about Sonic.

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Shogakukan, Japan)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics, US)
• Sonic X (Archie Comics, US)
• Sonic the Comic (Fleetway, UK)

Sonic fan-made dōjinshi made by a variety of artists (including Rikdo Koshi) have also been released in Japan.

Gamebooks

A series of six Sonic Adventures gamebooks were published in the UK between 1993 and 1996 by Puffin under the Fantail label.

• Book 1 - Metal City Mayhem, James Wallis (ISBN 0140903917)
• Book 2 - Zone Rangers, James Wallis (ISBN 0140903925)
• Book 3 - Sonic v Zonik, Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland (ISBN 0140904069)
• Book 4 - The Zone Zapper, Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland (ISBN 0140904077)
• Book 5 - Theme Park Panic, Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green (ISBN 0140378472)
• Book 6 - Stormin' Sonic, Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green (ISBN 0140378480)

Novels

Stay Sonic by Mike Pattenden developed the "Kintobor origin", first introduced in the Disney Adventures comic book, in much greater detail. This background was used as the basis of most subsequent UK Sonic stories.

James Wallis, Marc Gascoigne, and Carl Sargent wrote four Sonic the Hedgehog novels based on his origin established in Stay Sonic. They were published in the UK by Virgin Publishing.

• Book 1 - Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory
• Book 2 - Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension
• Book 3 - Sonic the Hedgehog and the Silicon Warriors
• Book 4 - Sonic the Hedgehog in Castle Robotnik

Michael Teitelbaum has also written a series of Sonic novels:

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik's Revenge
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Fortress of Fear
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Friend or Foe?
• Sonic & Knuckles
• Sonic X-Treme

Two novels have been written based on the episodes "Meteor Shower Messenger" and "Spaceship Blue Typhoon" from the third season of Sonic X.

Others

• Where's Sonic? Using a similar idea to the Where's Wally?/Where's Waldo? books, each page presented the reader with a different puzzle, each one inspired by a different level from Sonic 2 on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Published by Ladybird Books Ltd.
• Where's Sonic Now?
• A series of other children's books were written by Ladybird. These include two puzzle books, a coloring book and the picture books Robotnik's Oil and The Invisible Robotnik. Sonic the Story was a book explaining Sonic's transformation from brown to blue.

Sonic cameos/references

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

• 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.
• Animal Crossing and its sequel Animal Crossing: Wild World feature a female character named "Mabel". Mabel is a hedgehog that has Sonic's colouring.
• The video game The Fairly OddParents: Breakin' Da Rules contains a level called The Vicky Virus. While Timmy Turner is battling a Mother Brain spoof, the boss occassionally shouts "When I'm done, I'll re-program you into... a hedgehog!"
• In the show Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, in the episode "Camp Capers", Ami is captured by Bigfoot. Yumi pretends it is 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.
• In the movie Hitch, on the side of an ice cream truck, there is a picture of a Sonic popsicle[3].
• 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.
• 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 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 Video & Arcade Top 10, two of the video games that were once shown were Tails' Skypatrol and Sonic Spinball.
• In Rosanne, Dan buys a Super Nintendofor DJ. When Dan is being instructed how to play, Mark says "It's like the Sega game with the hedgehog".

Trivia

• One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after the character.
• In 1996, Sonic was the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade.
• Sonic was also the first video game character to be featured as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• The NBA team the Seattle SuperSonics is often nicknamed the "Hedgehogs" in reference to this character.
• Miles isn't the only fictional fox to have more than one tail, characters such as Ninetails and Keaton also have more than one tail. Miles, Keaton and Ninetails are all inspired by the Japanese Kitsune, a lucky fox of Japanese Lore that can grow up to 9 tails.
• 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.
• 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 and 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.
• Some of the rejected designs for the mascot character were later reused by Sega. An obese Theodore Roosevelt later became the basis of Doctor Eggman's design; the armadillo influenced the design of Mighty the Armadillo. Aspects of the rabbit design, intended to use its extendable ears to collect objects, were later incorporated into Ristar.
• 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 bent over more. This animation is copied by most other super fast characters.
• 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. With the announcement of Super Smash Bros. Brawl coming out for the Wii, and the appearance of 3rd party character Solid Snake, rumors of Sonic possibly appearing as a playable character have circulated.
• In the Archie comics, Sonic's real name is revealed to be Olgilvie Maurice the Hedgehog. He tries desperately to protect that information, possibly out of embarrassment. This name doesn't apply to the game series, however, and he is simply known as Sonic the Hedgehog.

See also

• List of games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog
• Anthropomorphic Superheroes
• Sonic the Hedgehog series
• Kemono
• Funny Animal

External links

Official sites

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

Fan sites

• The Sonic Stadium - Website with an extensive gallery of pictures, information, etc.
• TalkSonic.com - Community forum dedicated to Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic Ultimate - Containing information mostly about Sonic from the comic book
• Concept-Mobius Research-based character profile
• Sonic Rapid Board - Community forum largely used for Sonic the Hedgehog role-playing, with discussion of the character as well.
• Sonic HQ - Website with plentiful info
• Sonic World
• The Sonic Zone - A Sonic website like no other, Information, Music (MP3's), Wallpaper, Sprites, Lyrics, Codes, Videos, Forums & Fan Art/Comix/Fictions. Definitely not to be overlooked.