Picky

Picky (ピッキー) is a species in the Sonic the Hedgehog series which first appeared in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. It is a race of small pig Animals inhabiting various regions all over Sonic's world, and are close friends of Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies. They are perpetually targeted by Dr. Eggman who seeks to use them as energy sources for his Badnik army and often imprisons them in Capsules for later use.

Anatomy
The general Pickies resemble a rotund domestic pig slightly less than half a meter tall. Despite being classified as a member of the world's fauna, the Pickies are remarkably humanoid in anatomy, even standing on two legs. They have light pink skin and possess a large round head with large dark eyes, triangular ears, and a small stubby snout. Other features include a relatively small torso, thin and short arms with five fingers, stubby legs with long feet and two cloven for toes, and a short coiled tail.

Characteristics
Like actual animals, the Pickies can only speak in a language consisting of oinks. Although classified as fauna, Pickies are remarkably intelligent and sociable, being capable of understanding normal language and establishing their own Animal communities. All Pickies are generally good-hearted, helpful, friendly and playful, but their small stature leaves them rather defenseless on their own. They also have great respect and appreciation for nature, choosing to live in complete harmony with it.

Habitats
Pickies can be found inhabiting various natural environments like forests all around Earth, like the lustrous South Island, and even its unusual satellites like the Lost Hex, where they have established their own small villages, more often than not with other Animal species.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
The Pickies first appeared in the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog. The Pickies were amongst the Animals on South Island whom Sonic went to rescue after Dr. Robotnik captured them and used them to power his Badnik army - all as a part of a plot to collect the Chaos Emeralds. They can be found in Spring Yard Zone and Star Light Zone where pop out of destroyed Badniks or opened Capsules at the end of the third Acts. The Pickies also appear in the ending cinematic if all the Chaos Emeralds are collected, where they celebrate Sonic's victory in the Green Hill Zone.

Pickies also appears in the 8-bit version of the game with same name. In this game, they only appear from the opened Capsule at the end of Bridge Zone Act 3.

Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld
In Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld, Picky appeared along with Sonic, Tails, Amy and other Animals. He can be seen in the background among Gameworld testing equipment. In the mini-games, a toy version of Picky can be seen inside a machine in the Toy Drop game and an icon of it is visible inside a slot machine in the Concentration game.

Sonic the Hedgehog The Screen Saver
In Sonic the Hedgehog The Screen Saver, the Pickies make several small cameos in several of the game's artwork images as one of Sonic's friends.

Sonic Jam
In Sonic Jam, the game's Character House features conceptual sketches of Picky and the other Animals.

Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
In Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, a Picky appears alongside several Animals in the game's perfect ending if the player has cleared Chaotic Space Zone.

Sonic Advance
In Sonic Advance, a Picky makes a cameo in the ending cinematic after clearing the Moon Zone. There, the Picky, alongside with Tails, Knuckles, Amy and other Animals awaited Sonic's return from the moon.

Mario & Sonic series
Picky makes small appearances in all spin-off installments of Mario & Sonic series. He is seen cheering in the crowds along with other animal friends and Badniks.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4
Picky also makes an appearance in both episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. He plays the same role as in the original Sonic the Hedgehog as he is released from badniks or capsules. In Episode I he only appears at Casino Street Zone and in Episode II he only appears at Oil Desert Zone. At the end of Episode Metal, Porker Lewis and other animal friends get shocked by Metal Sonic and run away.

Sonic Generations
Picky, Flicky, Tux and Chirps make a brief appearance in Sonic Generations. In the game, they can be freed during Capsule Challenge Acts in which the player has to open as many capsules as possible. Animal friends also serve as the last collectible trophy in the room in console versions.

Sonic Jump (2012)
Picky, Flicky, Pocky and Chirps make an appearance in the intro cutscene in the 2012 remake of Sonic Jump. In the game, Dr. Eggman kidnaps them and takes them to the prison unit on the Egg Mobile, while Sonic and others try to stop them.

Sonic Lost World
Picky along with other animal friends appeared in Sonic Lost World, where they are shown to inhabit the Lost Hex. During the events of the game, Dr. Eggman, with the assistance of Deadly Six, resumed kidnapping animals, with Picky being among them, to use them once again as the energy source for his badnik army. The few group of animals and a single Picky that managed to escape capture remained behind with Knuckles and Amy while Sonic and Tails went out to save their friends, where some of them had fun at the expense of Knuckles and even carried him around.

Picky and other animals in Sonic Lost World, are collectible content used to progress with the game. Once the player has collected a set amount of Pickies and other animals, the player gain access to the fourth Zone in each area. Sonic is able to free Picky from badniks, smaller capsules and even regular large ones at the end of each Zone. Picky along with other animals can also be collected from Circus tents of each Zone. Picky himself can be found in Windy Hill, Tropical Coast, Frozen Factory and Silent Forest.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, a Picky appears alongside other Animals as a part of one of the collectable trophies representing the Sonic the Hedgehog series:

Excluding the trophy, the Picky also occasionally makes a cameo appearance in the background of the Windy Hill Zone.

Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic
Picky along with other animal friends, appears in Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic manga. He appears in few panels in first and third stories. In Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic Volume 2 ' s story ''Clash!! South Island'' Sonic frees him from being Caterkiller badnik. Picky then starts tell Sonic that he saw Ricky and Cucky also becoming badniks. After hearing this Sonic start his rescue mission.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, Picky is named Porker Lewis. In this media, he was a founding member of the Freedom Fighters and a technical genius. After a mission involving the Brotherhood of Metallix, during which he was held prisoner on the Miracle Planet for a month, Porker suffered a nervous breakdown and left the team. He subsequently moved to the Floating Island and helped Knuckles the Echidna fix the island's ancient Echidna technology.

Archie Comics
Porker is one of the animal friends that appears in the Sonic: GENESIS arc of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. He was one of the animals that was imprisoned in the Badniks. He was rescued by Sonic once Sonic destroyed the Badniks.

Sonic X
Picky has made small cameo appearances in a few episodes of Sonic X anime. He is shown to be much like he's described in video games. He's seen along with Flickies and other animals on the TV-report in the episode Defective Detectives and he's seen with other animals transporting back to their home world in the episode Running Out of Time.

Sonic X (comics)
In the Archie Comics' Sonic X issue 11, Sonic and Tails destroy a pair of Ball Hogs and free two Pickies. Picky also appears on the cover of the issue.

Early Sonic canon
In the early days of the Sonic series, when all the Animals were renamed by Sega of America in the Sonic Bible, Picky was defined as a male and was renamed Pig in the bible's first draft for the western media. He was later renamed Porker Lewis in the bible's second draft. According to the bibles, Porker Lewis comes from a large family like the other animals (which was intended to explain the appearance of multiple identical Pickies in the games) and helped raise an orphaned Sonic. It is said in the first draft of the Sonic Bible that Porker Lewis introduced Sonic to the delights of wallowing in mud, but it was later changed in the second draft for the bible, where it is said that he taught Sonic how to fear fire.

Trivia

 * In DiC's early scrapped Sonic cartoon, Porker Lewis was featured in a cast picture as part of the "Freedom team". He was large with wild hair and wore a leather jacket and sunglasses.
 * Picky is one of only animal friends from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, that doesn't appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles at all.
 * His western name, Porker Lewis, is likely parodying the popular comedy character Parker Lewis, from the series Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
 * Porker Lewis may be the inspiration for the Sonic the Hedgehog television series and Archie Comics' pig character, Hamlin, although the characters' personalities in their respective comics are total opposites.
 * In the American credits of Sonic Gameworld he is labeled with his Japanese name, "Picky" instead of his western name during that time.
 * When Picky was originally featured on his own card in Sonic the Hedgehog Online Trading Cards, he has been misleadingly named as Cookie. Pocky on his own card, has been then misleadingly called as Picky.