Sonic the Hedgehog

"What you see is what you get! Just a guy who loves adventure. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!"

- Sonic the Hedgehog


 * This is about the version of the character in the games continuity. For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog (disambiguation).

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is the main protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and Sega's mascot. He is a 15-year-old, blue, anthropomorphic hedgehog, and is a laid-back and cool-headed character, meant to symbolize peace. Like his name and species would imply, Sonic can move at the speed of sound, and has lightning fast reflexes to match (hence his name), and can as well curl up into a ball (like a regular hedgehog), primarily to attack enemies. These are the distinguishing traits that were used to make his character and world-famous video games.

Well-known for his legendary cocky attitude, easy-going demeanor and somewhat short temper, yet strong sense of justice and love for freedom and adventure, Sonic uses his abilities to protect the innocents and his world (as well as many others) from the forces of evil, especially his arch-nemesis Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik who seeks world domination.

Sonic has been acknowledged as the most recognizable and famous character in the franchise according to a official popularity poll in 2011.

Concept and Creation
While several people have been involved in the creation of Sonic, the artist Naoto Ōshima, designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka are generally credited with the creation of the character.

In April 1990, SEGA requested a game capable of selling more than 1,000,000 copies; a character who could compete against Nintendo's Super Mario, and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research and development department. These included an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (who was later used as the basis of Doctor Eggman's design), and a rabbit (who would use its extendable ears to collect objects, an idea that was later used for Ristar). Eventually, the mascot they selected was Naoto Ōshima's submission, a spiky teal hedgehog codenamed "Mr. Needlemouse", later renamed Sonic. Sonic's color was based on the SEGA logo, his shoe buckles based on Michael Jackson, his shoe color based on Santa Claus, and his personality was inspired by future-President Bill Clinton, who Ōhshima felt embodied a modern sensibility of wanting to get things done right away, righting wrongs as they presented themselves instead of letting them linger. Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so.

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.

The original concepts gave Sonic fangs and put him in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna. However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder, "softened" the character up for an American audience by removing those elements. This sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team. Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best. 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 video games, Sonic's original design by Naoto Ōshima was with short spikes, a round body, one spike in his back, and no visible irises. Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), and most subsequent Sonic video games featured similar designs. When Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Mega Drive appeared, Sonic's proportions changed. The original 1:2 head to height ratio changed to 1:2.5.

Beginning with Sonic Adventure in 1998, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a 15-year-old character, with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping spikes, two spikes in his back, and emerald-green-colored 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 video game designs, with restrictions set by the standardized model sheets.

Early life
Not much is known about Sonic's early life. It is unknown who his family is or if he has one, neither is it known how Sonic gained his trademark speed or if he was born with it. All that is known is that Sonic was born on Christmas Island, and that he has spent his life traveling the world while searching for adventure.

At some point in his life Sonic met Dr. Ivo Robotnik and they became enemies under unknown circumstances; though it could very possibly be the fact that Robotnik is always looking to get more power and to be ruler of any land he finds and knowing Sonic, he always chooses to help those in need. Since meeting with each other, Sonic fought Dr. Robotnik in an untold number of confrontations as the mad scientist attempted time and time again to conquer the world, with Sonic each time emerging victorious. Despite their many battles however, Sonic did not really account of his adversary.

Let the Games Begin
Sonic's first recorded battle against his nemesis, Doctor Robotnik, was in the 1991 platform game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. In this game, Sonic heard news about Robotnik attacking South Island after he had discovered that powerful relics, called the Chaos Emeralds, were hidden on the island and so he sought them to use their power to create weapons of mass destruction. Annoyed by Robotnik's perseverance, Sonic hurried to South Island to stop him.

Once Sonic arrived, he was met by Robotnik who revealed his new method to enslave the animal residents: by trapping them inside robotic shells, he could turn them into Badniks that would then follow his every command, a method that left Sonic greatly shocked.

Despite having the whole island as his enemy Sonic resolved to save the animals and get the Chaos Emeralds before Dr. Robotnik could get his hands on them. After traveling across the island while freeing the animal residents and gathering the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic entered the doctor's stronghold on the island, defeated the mad doctor, and managed to drive him off the island. With Robotnik defeated, Sonic released the Chaos Emeralds in Green Hill and their power ensured the island's prosperity. After this adventure, Sonic became a well-known hero throughout the world.

Back With a Sidekick
In the 1992 sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive, Sonic first performed his signature Spin Dash move. He also meets Miles "Tails" Prower for the first time.

Sometime before the game, Sonic was traveling the world in his old airplane, the Tornado, in search of adventure. As his plane was reaching its limit however, Sonic discovered West Side Island and decided to land there. With nothing else to do, Sonic chose to relax and explore this new region. After a few days of exploring however, Sonic began to notice someone was following him. He saw that it was a young two-tailed fox called Tails, who had seen how fast Sonic could run and had come to idolize him. At first, Sonic was not particularly interested in the fox and left him alone. The young Tails continued to follow Sonic however, and Sonic came to be impressed by the young fox's determination and ability to keep up with him. As such, Sonic decided to let Tails hang around for the time being, despite still not paying any real attention to him.

At the beginning of the game, Sonic was taking a nap under the Tornado, but he suddenly awoke to find something attacking West Side Island, and Sonic became enraged by this destruction. Believing that Dr. Robotnik was behind this, Sonic ran off to find the mad doctor.

It turned out that it was indeed Robotnik who was at his old schemes again. This time, he was turning the animal residents of West Side Island into his Badnik army to find the Chaos Emeralds, which were located on the island, to create his ultimate weapon, the Death Egg, so that he could conquer the world. Accepting the challenge, Sonic headed off to stop Robotnik, get the Chaos Emeralds first, and save the island, with Tails following him all the way.

When Sonic obtained all seven the Chaos Emeralds, he discovered their powers could turn him into Super Sonic. Tails was at his side in most of the adventure and proved to be great assist to him, such as repairing Sonic's plane so they could board the Death Egg and destroy it. All the while, Sonic began to form a strong bond with Tails. As they neared the Death Egg however, Sonic was forced to leave Tails behind when the Tornado, piloted by Tails, was shot down at the beginning of the Wing Fortress Zone, leaving Sonic by himself. When on the Death Egg, Sonic fought Robotnik's secret weapon, Mecha Sonic, followed by a gigantic robot in the image of the scientist himself. After Robotnik was defeated once again, Sonic escaped the exploding Death Egg by jumping off into space.

As Sonic descended through the atmosphere, he was soon saved from this unfortunate fall by Tails, who caught him in the repaired Tornado. At the end of this adventure, Sonic had not only come to respect Tails, but also see him as a true friend he could rely on, and the two of them became the best of friends.

Escape from Eggman Island
In the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, Sonic was captured by Dr. Robotnik, along with Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Sonic teamed up with the other two and they traveled to escape Eggman Island, which was covered with traps.

In the end, Robotnik self-destructed the island, but Sonic, Ray and Mighty escaped just in time. However, the doctor had escaped once again.

Time Traveling Hedgehog
Sonic was solo once again for Sonic CD (1993). In this game, he went to Little Planet while it was near Sonic's home world once a year in order to explore it. However, his goals changed once he saw that the entire planet had been transformed it into a mechanical wasteland and chained to a nearby mountain, thus preventing it from leaving. After avoiding falling debris created by the massive chain, Sonic climbed the mountain, and as he saw Dr. Robotnik's face carved into the mountain, he knew that his arch-nemesis was behind this and up to no good again. Climbing the large chain that held the planet down to Earth, Sonic traveled to the Little Planet with the intent of liberating it from the scientist's control. As he arrived, Sonic learned he could undo Robotnik's work by using Little Planet's time passages to change the planet's past and by collecting the mystical Time Stones, Robotnik's reason for attacking the planet.

Shortly after his arrival, Sonic met a female hedgehog named Amy Rose, Sonic's biggest fan and want-to-be girlfriend, who was on the planet in hopes of meeting him. Sonic however, was far from excited to meet her and found her overwhelming interest in him annoying. However, only moments after Sonic met her, as they arrived at Collision Chaos, she was captured by Metal Sonic, the newest creation of Dr. Robotnik, which was built to outmatch Sonic in every way and defeat him for good. As Metal Sonic successfully escaped with Amy, Sonic now had the task of saving Amy as well.

Using his unrivaled speed, Sonic managed to travel through time and ensure a good future for the Little Planet. As he neared end of his adventure, Sonic encountered Metal Sonic and the doctor once again, and had a race with his robotic counterpart on the Stardust Speedway and was victorious. In the ensuing victory of Sonic's, Robotnik accidentally damaged Metal Sonic severely which left him out of picture for the time being, and Sonic was able to save Amy from captivity.

Sonic went on and defeated the doctor in a final battle in the Metallic Madness. With his defeat however, the doctor's bases began exploding and were literally crumbling away, but Sonic managed to escape them and the Little Planet with Amy safely. After "seeing" to Amy's safety, Sonic stood in awe as the Little Planet went on to show Sonic's face in a shower of light as a sign of thanks to him before seemingly warping away from Sonic's planet, leaving many new flowers growing around the area it floated above.

Robotnik, on the other hand, seemingly managed to sneak a Time Stone off the Little Planet, but Sonic spotted him and managed to put an end to his current schemes by using his Spin Dash to shoot a rock in the direction of his flying machine, causing it to explode. It is not known what happened with the Time Stone in question. After that, Sonic went on his adventuring ways around the world.

South Island in Chaos
In Sonic Chaos (also known as "Sonic & Tails" in Japan) for the Game Gear and Master System, Sonic and Tails were facing the threat of Dr. Robotnik sinking South Island by improperly using the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Tails had to collect the Emeralds before the doctor could (including the red one he already had in his possession) and liberated the island of his control once more.

Return of the Death Egg
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and its expansion Sonic & Knuckles, both released in 1994 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sonic meets Knuckles the Echidna for the first time, who would become one of his oldest rivals, as he sought to destroy the Death Egg once and for all.

The story starts with Sonic taking a nap on the beach, until he was awoken by Tails who had discovered a large reaction of Chaos Energy out on the sea. At the same time, Sonic found an ancient ring washed on shore, which made him recall a legend he had heard about a floating Island in the sky with a highly unique culture that was supported by a powerful stone. Now filled with excitement, Sonic decided it was time for another adventure, and headed out with Tails in the Tornado to check out the reaction at sea.

When Sonic and Tails arrived at the location of the Chaos Energy reaction, they found the legendary Angel Island, the same island Sonic had thought of beforehanded. The duo soon noticed however that the island was kept at the ocean's surface and not flying in the sky where it belonged. To Sonic's surprise this was due to the impact of Death Egg's crash landing, which Sonic thought was destroyed after his adventure in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but had actually just crash landed on the floating island and now was being rebuilt. Not intending to let Dr. Robotnik salvage and rebuild the Death Egg so he could use it to conquer the world, Sonic headed out with Tails to stop Dr. Robotnik from relaunching the Death Egg.

As they neared the Island, Sonic used the Chaos Emeralds he had collected prior to the game to transform into his super form and stormed the island. Shortly after arriving however, Sonic was ambushed by Knuckles the Echidna, the guardian of the floating island and its treasure, the powerful Master Emerald. The echidna, who had been tricked by Dr. Robotnik into believing that Sonic had come to steal the Master Emerald, somehow managed to force the Chaos Emeralds out of Sonic, and he returned to his normal form. After the loss of the emeralds, Sonic could only witness as Knuckles quickly snatched them and escaped to hide them, leaving Sonic and Tails forced to search the island for the emeralds.

Despite this setback, Sonic and Tails headed out to to liberate the island from the control of Dr. Robotnik's robots and destroy the Death Egg for good. After a long struggle, Sonic and Tails made it to the doctor's Launch Base, despite Knuckles many attempts to stop them, and the duo managed to defeat Robotnik just before the doctor could relaunch the Death Egg, making it crash into the Lava Reef Zone.

Master Emerald Showdown
After escaping the launch base, Sonic landed safely with Tails' help in the Mushroom Hill. Annoyed that the Death Egg had survived yet another crash landing, Sonic knew it would not be long before the doctor tried to revive the Death Egg again and headed out with Tails once more to destroy it once and for all, while keeping Robotnik from using the Master Emerald and its power to relaunch the Death Egg again.

As the duo was about to make their way through Mushroom Hill however, Sonic and Tails spotted Knuckles passing through a hidden doorway. After making sure Knuckles was gone, Sonic and Tails took a look on the hidden doorway themselves and found a Warp Ring. After entering this ring, Sonic found himself with Tails at the Emerald Shrine in the Hidden Palace Zone where the Master Emerald rested. Here, Sonic discovered the Chaos Emeralds' connection to the Master Emerald by witnessing them turn into Super Emeralds after exposure to the Master Emerald. Sonic also learned that these empowered emeralds allowed him to become Hyper Sonic, an even stronger form of Super Sonic.

After a long struggle, the heroic duo reached the Hidden Palace Zone on their own, where Sonic and Knuckles fought against each other for the first of many times to come. After his defeat at the hands of Sonic, the red echidna went to check on the status of the Master Emerald, which was kept here at the time.

After arriving too late, Knuckles realized he was being tricked by the mad scientist. As the doctor made his escape, Master Emerald in tow, Knuckles guided Sonic and Tails to a hidden teleportation device to the Sky Sanctuary, from which the trio could witness the successful relaunch of the Death Egg. However, the two had to leave Knuckles there as he was too exhausted from the previous two struggles. On their way through the Sanctuary, Sonic and Tails encountered two peculiar robots of the Eggman's; The Egg Robo, a robot in the image of Robotnik himself, and Mecha Sonic, the third robotic doppelganger of Sonic, which, during the first two encounters with the heroes, copied the behavior of the doctor as witnessed on two previous occasions. On their third encounter, however, the original managed to defeat the copy. The resulting explosion managed to make a tall pillar nearby crumble, but Sonic managed to get on the Death Egg by running along the pillar as it was crumbling to pieces just in time.

Onboard the Death Egg, Sonic encountered Dr. Robotnik for the final showdown. The doctor attacked him with the giant Great Eggman Robo, loosely made in his own image, powered by the Master Emerald. Sonic managed to defeat the contraption which finally destroyed the Death Egg for good, but the doctor still had a trick up his sleeve, as he managed to steal the Master Emerald again using the Egg Missile. In order to pursuit him, Sonic transformed once again in his Super/Hyper form, chasing the evil genius' across an orbit around the planet. After a long battle, Sonic emerged victorious against the Egg Missile, and later the Egg Bomber, descending to Earth with the Master Emerald. In mid-flight, he powered down to his regular form but was rescued by Tails, piloting the Tornado. The two then brought the Master Emerald back to where it belonged, thus allowing Angel Island to float into the sky once more before leaving Knuckles for the time being.

Some time after this, Sonic, piloting the Tornado personally, rescued Knuckles after the latter's fight against the recently-reactivated Mecha Sonic from falling into the ocean. The two brought the Master Emerald back to Angel Island and the hedgehog and echidna parted ways once more.

Tough Trouble Times Three!
In Sonic Triple Trouble (also known as "Sonic & Tails 2" in Japan), Dr. Robotnik, in a failed attempt to create the ultimate weapon, the Atomic Destroyer, with the Chaos Emeralds, accidentally scatters the emeralds across the planet. As such, Sonic and Tails had to gather the Chaos Emeralds once more, before Dr. Robotnik could get his hands on them.

After springing into action, Sonic and Tails began searching for information on the Chaos Emeralds. The heroic duo soon learned however, that their quest would get more difficult than usual, as they found themselves facing Knuckles the Echidna, who had been tricked by the doctor into helping him once more. As things got more confusing for Sonic and Tails, a dangerous treasure hunter by the name of Fang the Sniper also set his eyes on the mysterious gems, bent on stealing them for his own personal gain. Despite their many adversaries however, Sonic's resolve remained unshaken.

The heroes managed to race and battle their way through the world, getting the Emeralds before any of the others and confronted Fang in the mad scientist's base. However, the treasure hunter was scared away when the evil genius arrived with his newest contraption.

In the end, the machine was destroyed by the heroes, who then found Knuckles imprisoned by the doctor. They freed him and Sonic and Knuckles made up on good terms once more.

Slow Boots in the Labyrinth
In the 1995 game Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic was taking a nap on South Island, until he woke up in the afternoon. While thinking to himself, Sonic tried to get up and make a jump, but suddenly found himself unable to, as his feet felt heavier than usual. Looking carefully at his shoes, Sonic found, to his shock, Dr. Robotnik's symbol imprinted on the soles.

After inspecting his shoes, Sonic looked up again, only to see Dr. Robotnik's face. Having snuck up on him while Sonic was unaware, Dr. Robotnik proclamined triumphantly to the blue hedgehog that he had collected all the Chaos Emeralds. It turned out that the doctor had switched Sonic's regular shoes with his Slow-Down Boots, unique shoes made from the Chaos Emeralds' power, while the hero was sleeping, which disabled Sonic from jumping or running at higher speeds.

Stripped of both his speed and agility, Sonic was captured by Robotnik and put into the doctor's newly constructed super labyrinth on South Island, where Robotnik had set up his new fortress. While trapped in the labyrinth, Sonic could hear Robotnik's fortress expanding on South Island, slowly taking over the island. Though he had lost his greatest strength, Sonic refused to give up and soon after realized that he could still use his Spin Dash move to around and resolved to brave this labyrinth, stop the doctor, reclaim the Chaos Emeralds and regain his speed.

Despite his new pair of Slow-Down shoes, Sonic made his way through the labyrinth, and, in the end defeating the mad scientist, making him flee from the isand, regaining the Chaos Emeralds as well as his regular shoes.

The Fighting Tournament
In the 1996 game Sonic the Fighters (also known as Sonic Championship), Doctor Robotnik went on to build a second Death Egg, known as the Death Egg 2 and again announced plans for world conquest. Luckily, Tails had recently built a rocket that could fly it's pilot directly to the new Death Egg, however, it was only a one-seater and it needed Chaos Emeralds to take off. Therefore, Sonic and Tails entered a battle tournament where the winner got to collect all the Chaos Emeralds, which was in the possession of all the participants.

In order to gather all of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic had to fight many friends and foes, old and new: Knuckles, Amy, Bark the Polar Bear, future Team Chaotix member Espio the Chameleon, his friend Tails, Bean the Dynamite and the treasure hunter previously encountered known as Fang.

Before Sonic could be off to launch the rocket the doctor showed up once again in a peculiarly familiar-looking spaceship. An unusual ray hit Sonic that knocked him out for a few seconds. When he came back to his senses, the doctor was gone and before him stood a near-identical copy of himself, the only difference being that the copy was completely monochrome. The hedgehogs fought, but in the end, the original hedgehog was victorious over his copy. Afterwards, Sonic headed back to Tails' workshop to launch the rocket, heading straight for the new Death Egg.

Upon his arrival, he was "welcomed" by Metal Sonic. The two fought a tough battle, but Sonic could turn the tide in the middle of the fight by using the Emeralds' power to transform into Super Sonic once more, defeating his mechanical doppelganger again. He was then facing the mad scientist himself, who built a battle suit for himself in order to face Sonic. At the same time, it appeared that the station's self-destruct sequence had been initiated, leaving the two combatants under time-pressure. However, since Sonic was still in his super form, the mad scientist proved no match for him.

After having defeated Eggman, Super Sonic left the station in Tails' rocket, moments before it self-destructed.

Save the Flickies
On yet another adventure, Sonic traveled with Tails and Knuckles as they visited Flickies' Island, the eponymous island that is the main point of action in Sonic 3D Blast: Flickies' Island (also known as simply Sonic 3D and Sonic 3D Blast). Once the trio arrived Sonic discovered that Doctor Robotnik was at his evil schemes once more, as he had established a base on the island and was trapping the helpless Flickies resident so they power his robots and be used to find the Chaos Emeralds, which was located on the island.

Enraged by Robotnik's actions, Sonic decides to save the Flickies, return them to their home dimension and find the Chaos Emeralds before the doctor could get them. Sonic eventually managed to rescue all the Flickies on the island and, with the help of Tails and Knuckles, managed to gather all of the Chaos Emeralds before the doctor could do so himself.

With support from the rescued Flickies, Sonic managed to get to the secret lair of the mad scientist, where Sonic confronted him in a final, lengthy battle. Ultimately, Sonic emerged victorious and managed to escape the lair in time. With the island now liberated from the evil genius' control, the Flickies thanked Sonic for his help and peace reigned over the island once more.

Super Sonic Racing
In the prelude to the 1997 Sega Saturn and Windows game Sonic R, Sonic and Tails went on a relaxing vacation where they hoped to take a break from their adventures. As the two of them were strolling down the road however, they caught news about a racing competition. Despite Tails' urging, Sonic was not initially interested in a race as he knew he was the fastest. However, once he glimpsed at the list of registered participants, he saw Dr. Robotnik's name on the list as well. This caused a change of mind for Sonic, and he immediately ran off to register himself to the race. In the competition, Sonic had to face his friends Tails, Knuckles and Amy, as well as the scientist that was the reason for him joining in the first place. The evil genius planned to use Sonic to locate the Chaos Emeralds which were scattered around the race tracks and had brought with him robots to participate, both old and new: Metal Sonic and EggRobo, as well as Metal Knuckles and the ominous Tails Doll.

In the end, however, Sonic outraced them all and Dr. Robotnik did not get his hands on the Chaos Emeralds, proving himself once again as the fastest thing alive.

An Ancient Prophecy is Fulfilled
In Sonic's first true 3D Adventure Sonic Adventure (1998) for the Dreamcast, Sonic was put up against an ancient water monster named Chaos who was under control of Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Now named Eggman from then on).

While enjoying himself, traveling through Station Square, Sonic saw the Station Square Police fighting Chaos. Sonic stepped in and defeated Chaos, but it escaped through the drains, leaving Sonic without answers. The following day, Sonic woke up to see Tails' newest plane crash. After finding Tails, he revealed to Sonic that his new plane was powered by a Chaos Emerald. They then traveled to Tails' workshop, where Eggman showed up in the Egg Hornet, demanding the emerald, but they refused. As Sonic and Tails repeled the Egg Hornet, Eggman snatched the Chaos Emerald and revealed Chaos, who he transformed into Chaos 1. As Sonic recognized the creature from the day before, Dr. Eggman revealed to him that he planned to make Chaos invincible with all the Chaos Emeralds and then use it to build Robotnikland upon Station Square. The doctor then escaped.

Sonic and Tails then began collecting the Chaos Emeralds, before Dr. Eggman could give them to Chaos. After collecting the first two emeralds however, Dr. Eggman appeared and stole one of them. As they could not do anything about it, Sonic and Tails then went ahead to find the next one. However, they ran into Knuckles, who had been tricked into believing Sonic had stolen parts of the Master Emerald, and the two of them began fighting. During the fight, Sonic dropped the two Chaos Emeralds, which was taken by Dr. Eggman who had appeared and gave them to Chaos 2, transforming it into Chaos 4. Despite it's increase in power, Sonic and the others still beat it and Eggman escaped in the Egg Carrier. Sonic and Tails tried to follow Dr. Eggman in the Tornado, but they were shot down. Sonic landed in Station Square and hurried out to find Tails. He soon ran into Amy, who asked him to help her protect "Birdie", a bird she met earlier. Sonic was then dragged along for while, until Amy was kidnapped by ZERO, and Sonic chased after it.

After a brief chase, ZERO took Amy to the Egg Carrier. As Sonic's chase reached a dead end, Tails appeared in the Tornado 2, powered by another Chaos Emerald. Relieved to see Tails all right, they gave chase and managed to land on the Egg Carrier. After searching the Egg Carrier, Sonic found Amy, only to see Eggman take a Chaos Emerald from Birdie. Dr. Eggman then unleashed E-102 Gamma on Sonic while he escaped. Before Sonic could destroy Gamma however, Amy stopped him. Sonic then told Tails to take Amy to safety, while he chased after Eggman on his own. Sonic eventually found Eggman, but also saw that Chaos had arrived too and had become Chaos 6. Big the Cat then arrived and pointed out that his friend Froggy was trapped inside Chaos, and Sonic promised that he would help save him. After helping Big save Froggy and fending off Chaos, Knuckles appeared and as Eggman tried to escape, Sonic left Chaos to Knuckles, while Sonic chased after Eggman. As Sonic ventured through the jungle, he came across a ruin where he was taken back in time to when Tikal and the shrine were under attack. He was then returned to the present, before Sonic could understand what happened. He then found Eggman and followed him into his main base, the Final Egg, and defeated him. As Eggman flew away, Sonic met up with Tails again, having seemingly saved the day.

After resting from all these ordeals, Sonic learned from Tails that Angel Island had fallen. As he arrived there, Sonic found Knuckles and Eggman knocked down and learned from them that Chaos was still alive and had rebelled against Eggman, and now had six Chaos Emeralds. After Eggman left to get revenge, Sonic and Tails were about to head out to stop Chaos, but Sonic was then suddenly drawn into the past again. There he saw the Knuckles Clan's attack on the Alter, Tikal futiley attempts to stop her clan and the event that drove Chaos to destroy the world to begin with. As Sonic came to Tikals aid, he witnessed Tikal sealing herself and Chaos inside the Master Emerald.

Sonic was returned to the present, thinking he just snoozed for a second and headed out with Tails to find the last Chaos Emerald in the Tornado 2 before Chaos, but Chaos beat them to it and took the Chaos Emerald before their eyes. Sonic then returned to Station Square which was being attacked by Perfect Chaos. As Perfect Chaos destroyed the Egg Carrier 2, Tikal appeared before Sonic, and explained that the sadness and anger Chaos felt from her clan's attack was the reason for its current destructive behavior. As Perfect Chaos released the partially drained Chaos Emeralds, Tikal said they must seal Chaos again, but Sonic said it would not work as Chaos' heart would still be full of rage and that it would not vanish if they just sealed it away again. Tails, Big, Amy and Knuckles then came to Sonic with all seven Chaos Emeralds, claiming that Sonic could still use their positive energies to stop Chaos. With everyone cheering him on, Sonic transformed into Super Sonic and defeated Perfect Chaos, while cleansing it of evil, thus returning it to a benevolent creature once more.

With Chaos and Tikal taking their leave and everything returning to normal, Sonic headed off once more, seeking out his next adventure.

Hedgehog of Dreams
In Sonic Shuffle (2000), Sonic was hanging out with Tails, Knuckles and Amy, until they were suddenly transported into Maginary World, a world created from the dreams of people in other dimensions. After a rough landing in the Temple of Light, the group began questioning where they were, while Sonic just called it a “very strange place”. Not long after they met a fairy-like being. Sonic asked who she was and she told him that she was Lumina Flowlight, the person responsible for transporting them to Maginary World.

After introducing herself and the world to Sonic and the gang, she explained that she had called them here to help her save the Precioustone, the object that sustained Maginary World, which had been shattered by a person called Void when he tried to steal it. Its pieces was then scattered to different part of Marginary World and had made their ruler and protector of the Precioustone, Illumina, vanish as well. Sonic listen on as Lumina explained that she needed him and the others’ help to recover the pieces of the Preciousstone, or Void’s darkness would spell the end of Marginary World. With everyone in agreement, Sonic willingly agreed to help Lumina save Maginary World.

The party began their journey by traveling to the different worlds inside Maginary World in order to recover the Precioustone pieces and restore the worlds affected by Void. Each time after collecting a Preciousstone piece, Sonic and the others had a vision where they saw and interacted with Void. While Sonic and the gang initially stood defiant against Void, they began to see that Void showed signs of depression and loneliness which touched their hearts and they began to think that there were more to Void than met the eye.

After Sonic and his friends had collected all the Precioustone pieces and returned them to the Temple of Light, they headed back to the temple as Lumina saw Void heading there to seek out the Precioustone again. As Sonic, Lumina and the rest arrived at the temple to stop Void, Void claimed he just want to become whole, but never could. As Sonic began to see Void’s true nature, Void’s loneliness and despair reached its peak and he transformed into a monster.

Sonic, Knuckles Tails and Amy eventually managed to defeat Void, but Lumina was lost in despair as the Precioustone was not recovering and began to lose faith. They others however tried to cheers up Lumina, and Sonic found Void in the form of a dark gem. The group now understood that Void and Lumina embodied the positive and negative aspects of dreams and were two halves of the same being. Sonic then explained to Lumina that she should not reject Void as the despair and emptiness that he embodied made it possible for people to have dreams.

With everyone’s help, Lumina came to understand that both positive and negative feelings were necessary for dreams to exist and Sonic handed Void over to Lumina, who now accepted Void. They then witnessed Lumina restoring the Precioustone, and Lumina and Void returning to their original form, Illumina. As Marginary World was restored to an even better place, Sonic and the gang heard Illumina explaining that her own despair caused her to split into Lumina and Void to begin with. After receiving Illumina's gratitude, Sonic and the others returned home to their own world.

You've Got the Wrong Hedgehog!
Dreamcast's Sonic Adventure 2 (2001), which celebrated the 10th anniversary of the series, introduced a new rival to Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow was released by Dr. Eggman to help in his plans of world domination, and in order to achieve that, Shadow began hunting down the Chaos Emeralds.

After Shadow robbed a federal reserve bank and stole a Chaos Emerald, everyone else mistook him for Sonic, and as a result, Sonic became wanted by the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.). Sonic was eventually hunted down and captured by G.U.N. However, as they were transporting Sonic in a Military helicopter, he managed to escape.

After escaping G.U.N. and destroying a Bigfoot vehicle, Sonic met Shadow, who had just arrived at the scene with a Chaos Emerald. Realizing that Shadow was the one behind the false accusations, Sonic demanded an explanation, but instead, Shadow demonstrated Chaos Control for Sonic and escaped his attack. Shadow then revealed his name and title to Sonic, before disappearing in flash. Suddenly, Sonic found himself surrounded by G.U.N. soldiers, and was arrested once more.

Following his arrest, Sonic was brought to Prison Island, where he was locked up in a jail cell. Being locked up proved to be specially frustrating for Sonic, due to him having such limited space to move around on. Luckily, the following day, Sonic was surprised to see Amy arriving at his jail cell, where she revealed that she and Tails had come to break him out. As Sonic explained it was Shadow's fault he was here, he heard from Amy that she had seen Shadow on the island. Sonic then tried to ask Amy about Shadow, but as she said that she would reveal more if he married her, Sonic changed his mind and refused. Nevertheless, Sonic was freed from his cell by Amy and he learned that Eggman was behind it all when she said that Shadow was seen with the doctor. No sooner, Sonic quickly took off to find his imposter. After a while, Sonic found Shadow, and the two hedgehogs had a brief battle, but were interrupted when they learned that the island was about to explode. Fortunately, Sonic managed to escape the island with Tails and Amy just before it exploded.

Back on the mainland, Sonic and the others saw Eggman's broadcast, where he revealed the Space Colony ARK, displayed the Eclipse Cannon by blowing up half of the moon, and demanded total world control within 24 hours or he would fire the cannon at Earth. Seeing this display of power, Sonic realized that had to be the reason that Eggman had been collecting Chaos Emeralds lately. Tails began to plan how to track Eggman down, but the police arrived. Fortunately, Sonic managed to led them away to give Tails time to work. Sonic was later contacted by Tails, who said that he could use the President's limousine to trace Eggman's signal. The two of them met up inside the president's limo, where they discovered that Eggman was on board the ARK. As the duo prepared to leave the limo, Sonic told the president to leave it to them.

With Knuckles' help, Sonic, Tails, and Amy found Eggman's base, hoping to find a space ship that could take them to the ARK. While they managed to enter the base, Eggman appeared and unleashed the Egg Golem. Sonic eventually managed to stop it and joined the others in a space ship just before liftoff.

After a crash landing on the ARK, Sonic planned to destroy the Eclipse Cannon. For this mission, Tails gave Sonic a fake Chaos Emerald that he could use to destroy the cannon from the inside out. Before Sonic could insert the fake emerald into the cannon, however, he was contacted by Dr. Eggman. He demanded that Sonic handed over the final Chaos Emerald or he would kill Amy. Sonic thought he could trick Eggman into taking the fake emerald, but Eggman saw through this, captured Sonic in a capsule, and ejected it into space. Before the capsule could explode, however, Sonic managed to use Chaos Control with the fake emerald and send himself back on board the ARK. Back onboard, Sonic found Knuckles and asked him find Tails and Amy while he headed to the cannon to destroy it with the fake emerald when it was going to fire. On his way, Sonic met Shadow again, and they fought one final time. After Sonic won, he managed to destroy the Eclipse Cannon just before it fired.

As Sonic returned to the ARK, however, he and all the others witnessed a recording of Gerald Robotnik that announced to the world that the ARK would crash into the planet, wiping out the human race as his revenge at the world for the death of his granddaughter, Maria. Banding together, the group came up with plan of using the Master Emerald to deactivate the cannon's core, which was powered by the seven Chaos Emeralds, to stop the Space Colony's crash course. With the plan set, Sonic told them to leave it to him.

With everyone working together, Sonic and Knuckles made it to the core, but were then intercepted by the Biolizard. Suddenly, Shadow showed up and held off the Biolizard, while Sonic and Knuckles deactivated the Chaos Emeralds. Instead of the ARK halting, however, the Biolizard teleported outside the ARK and merged with it, thus becoming the FinalHazard and kept the ARK on its collision course. Determined to stop this catastrophe, Sonic and Shadow used the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow, and together they defeated the FinalHazard. The duo then stopped the ARK by sending it back into orbit with a massive Chaos Control, but Shadow ran out of energy from the effort, fell into the atmosphere, and was presumed dead, while Sonic survived. As Sonic came back on board, he only brought them Shadow's Inhibitor Ring, which he gave to Rouge, and assured them that Shadow was a great hero that he would never forget. As the rest of the gang returned to the Earth, Sonic bid farewell to his worthy opponent.

In the game, Sonic has many unlockable costumes for multiplayer mode.

Back to Protecting the Emeralds
After the 1999 game Sonic Pocket Adventure, Sonic returned to the handheld games with Sonic Advance (2002) where Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy went back to their adventures fighting Dr. Eggman in 2D side-scrolling levels, as the doctor resumed his hunt for the Chaos Emeralds. In the end, Sonic and his friends collected the Chaos Emeralds first and Sonic used them to become Super Sonic to confront Dr. Eggman on the moon and defeated him. After the fight, Sonic seemly disappeared, but then reappeared a few days later (stil in his super form) as he flew through the sky.

Sonic to the Rescue
In Sonic Advance 2, Dr. Eggman kidnapped Tails and Knuckles as he attempted once more to build the Eggman Empire, but as soon as Sonic learned about his friends kidnappings, he immediately headed out to save them. Along the way, Sonic encountered Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao for the first time, who were held hostage by Dr. Eggman. Sonic however, managed to save Cream and Cheese and was amazed by the young girl's manners when she thanked him. They would then join Sonic on his adventure as Eggman had kidnapped Cream's mother, Vanilla the Rabbit, too and they wanted to save her. Shortly after, Sonic rescued Tails from Eggman too and confronted Knuckles, who was tricked by Eggman again to fight Sonic and joined them on their adventure fighting Dr. Eggman. After seemingly beating Eggman, Cream found her mother, only to have her kidnapped by Eggman again, leaving Sonic frustrated for being too late. Seeing Cream cry at the loss of her mother, however, Sonic transformed into Super Sonic and pursued Eggman in his Egg Shooter. Eventually. Super Sonic defeated the Egg Shooter and escaped with the capsule containing Vanilla.

As they descended through the atmosphere, Super Sonic tried his best to break his and the capsule with Vanilla inside's fall, but the atmospheric reentry tore the capsule apart and Super Sonic powered down to normal. As Vanilla fell through the sky, however, Sonic managed to catch her and brought her safely down to earth. There, Sonic reunited Cream and her mother, and he thanked Tails and Knuckles for their help. Sonic did not stay for long however and soon ran off again, looking for new adventures.

An Old Friend, a New Enemy
The final Sonic Advance title was Sonic Advance 3 (2004). While hanging out with Tails, Sonic witnessed Dr. Eggman splitting the Earth apart with Chaos Control. Sonic then immediately headed out with Tails to stop Dr. Eggman, restore the world and collect the Chaos Emeralds before Eggman could use them to build his empire. Along the way Sonic also faced Dr. Eggmans newest creation, Gemerl, a rebuilt version of Sonic's old friend Emerl, on several occasions. After beating Eggman and Gemerl at the Emerald Altar, Sonic and his friends used the Master Emerald to restore the world. Shortly after their defeat, however, Gemerl betrayed Eggman, took the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic and transformed into a robot-like orb. Sonic then transformed into Super Sonic and was joined up by Eggman and together they defeated Gemerl. After the battle Sonic passed out, but woke up and found himself surrounded by his friends who had awaited his return. After seeing Eggman leaving, Sonic then headed out himself, searching for new adventures.

An Old Rival's Deadly Return
A third 3D action game, Sonic Heroes (2003) was the first multi-platform release for Sonic. It featured four different teams with three characters in each, and marked the official return of Team Chaotix as the teams battled Eggman. The story for Sonic begins with him running around on his own, until Tails and Knuckles appear in the Tornado. After Sonic greeted his friends, Tails revealed that Dr. Eggman had sent them a letter, where he claimed to have created "the ultimate weapon" that would let him take on the world and that he challenged Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to stop him within three days time. Sonic, confident as ever, saw this as an invitation to a "party", and said to Tails and Knuckles that he would not miss this challenge for anything. He then headed out with Tails and Knuckles right behind him, officially forming Team Sonic.

Sonic and the gang began their quest by tracking down Dr. Eggman. They first met the doctor after Ocean Palace where he attacked them in the Egg Hawk, but the team managed to beat it, though Eggman escaped. The team then tracked Eggman to Grand Metropolis, but along the way, they came across Team Rose and Amy, who Sonic was surprised to see.

Sonic and his team were forced to briefly fight Team Rose, but it later turned out that Sonic used the fight as a distraction to escape Amy. As the team arrived in Casino Park after escaping Team Rose, Sonic casually proposed they took some time off, but was pressed on by Tails as they only had 24 hours left. After confronting Eggman's Robot Carnival, the team chased the doctor to Rail Canyon. Having only until sunset, Sonic was through playing games, and ordered his team to run full speed ahead. Just before their three-day time limit expired, the team found Eggman and fought him in the Egg Albatross. It was then revealed that the Eggman they had been chasing was a fake and that their challenge letter was merely a distraction, while Dr. Eggman prepared his Egg Fleet for launch. Enraged, Sonic ran off in hot pursuit of Dr. Eggman, with Tails and Knuckles following behind.

Along the way, the team had a brief confrontation with Team Dark, where Sonic learned that Shadow was still alive, as Team Dark wanted to get to Eggman themselves. After the battle, Sonic saw Eggman and Shadow head towards Hang Castle and decided to follow suit. As they passed through the haunted grounds, the team met Eggman and his Robot Storm, but Sonic mocked the doctor by calling him a joke for trying to stop them now. After the battle, Team Sonic made it to the Egg Fleet, where they traveled to the Final Fortress and fought Eggman in the Egg Emperor, winning the battle.

After heavily destroying the Egg Fleet, Knuckles mentioned it was a close one this time, but Sonic claimed otherwise. Knuckles then tried to tease Sonic with the fact that he would not have made this on his own, but to his amazement, Sonic agreed. As Sonic thanked Tails for his help as well, however, he saw Amy coming. Not intending to be the target of Amy's affection, Sonic left Knuckles and Tails behind as he tried to escape Amy.

Shortly after that, the heroes and the other teams witnessed the return of Metal Sonic (in his Neo Metal Sonic form), who had been staging each team's adventures and impersonating Eggman so he could follow them and copy their data into a master plan to achieve world domination himself. Neo Metal Sonic then underwent a massive transformation into Metal Madness to gain the power necessary for this task. After seeing that the teams had collected all the Chaos Emeralds, the real Dr. Eggman came up with the plan of using them against Metal Sonic. Though their chances of winning were slim, Sonic volunteered to go up against Metal Sonic alone, but Tails and Knuckles insisted on going with him. The other teams then volunteered to buy them some time, to which Sonic accepted. Team Rose, Team Chaotix and Team Dark then fought Metal Madness, giving Sonic time to charge the Chaos Emeralds.

When they were ready, Metal Madness assumed his ultimate form, Metal Overlord, and took off. Sonic then transformed into Super Sonic, whilst granting Tails and Knuckles Super Shields, and they chased after Metal Overlord. Together, they defeated Metal Overlord, causing him to revert back to his original form. As Metal Sonic questioned Sonic why he could never defeat him, Sonic told his metallic counterpart that he would be ready for a rematch anytime, before heading out with his team to search for his next adventure.

Black Invaders
In Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), Sonic worked with most of the cast from Sonic Heroes and G.U.N. forces to repel the Black Arms invasion of Earth. He often appeared during Shadow's pure Hero Missions where he helped Shadow in his fight against the Black Arms and their leader, Black Doom. During some of their missions, Sonic showed concern for Shadow's amnesia and tried to help Shadow recall the events from their adventures in Sonic Adventure 2. Depending on the player's choices, Sonic becomes either an ally or opponent in the game's pre-final boss; if Shadow completes the Hero Mission in Final Haunt, Sonic will assist Shadow in his fight against Black Doom, and if Shadow completes the Dark Mission in Black Comet, GUN Fortress or Final Haunt, Sonic will team up with Diablon to stop Shadow from assisting the Black Arms, but is utterly defeated and Shadow takes the final Chaos Emerald.

In the last story, Sonic arrived with Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge and Dr. Eggman to stop Shadow from giving Black Doom the Chaos Emeralds and he told Shadow to give the emeralds to him. Black Doom however, took the emeralds himself and used an enhanced Chaos Control to transport the Black Comet to the surface, something which Sonic instantly recognized. Sonic and the others then intended to stop Black Doom, but they all soon fell prey to a nerve gas, which left them paralyzed and Black Doom unleashed the Death leeches to prey on them. Shadow however, proved to be immune to the gas and he persued Black Doom. As he left, Sonic told Shadow that he was their only hope left.

Sonic and the others eventually managed to escape the Black Comet and cheered Super Shadow on as he fought and defeated Devil Doom. He then witnessed Super Shadow sending the Black Comet back into space and blowing it to pieces with the fully charged Eclipse Cannon. With Shadow having saved the world, Sonic was left rather impressed by the black hedgehog, claiming it was "sweet", and joined the others for a laugh as an enraged Knuckles chased Eggman around.

Fighting, Friendship, and "Fatherhood"
In 2003, Sonic Battle came out for the Game Boy Advance. This time, Sonic and his friends work together to raise an ancient and all-powerful robot, and as well protect it from Dr. Eggman who wanted to use it for global domination. During the adventure, the robot, later named Emerl, would come to see Sonic as a father-figure.

While on a boring stroll, Sonic found a robot called the Gizoid lying on the beach. As Sonic examined it, it started to move. It told Sonic to show his power, and Sonic displayed some fighting moves, thus it formed a Link with him. Thinking that the robot was broken, Sonic decided to take it to Tails to get it examined, but he ran into Shadow who demanded that Sonic handed over the Gizoid, but he refused. After defeating Shadow, Shadow told Sonic to keep it from Eggman and left. As Sonic wondered about where Eggman fit in all this, Tails arrived and they took the robot to Tails’ Lab. On his way, Sonic met Rouge who wanted to team up with Sonic so that she could have the Gizoid, but Sonic made her leave after he beat her in a fight. When arriving at Tails’ Lab, Sonic encountered an E-121 Phi and defeated it. Worried that Tails could be hurt, Sonic hurried to the lab and luckily found Tails unharmed. Tails then revealed to Sonic that the Gizoid developed with each Chaos Emerald inserted into it and that it could copy fighting moves. Thrilled by these revelations, Sonic decided to train it.

After some training, Sonic and Tails decided to go see if Knuckles had a Chaos Emerald and Sonic decides to name the robot Emerl. On the way they were attacked by Chaos Gamma which Sonic mistook for Gamma, but they defeated it. When they arrived at Knuckles’, Knuckles mistook Emerl for a Phi and tried to attack him. Sonic tried to explain the situation to Knuckles, but to no avail. After Emerl defeated Knuckles, Sonic got his Chaos Emerald and they inserted it into Emerl, who thanked Sonic afterwards and called out for more battles, much to Sonic’s amazement.

Sonic continued training Emerl for a while, until Tails decided to take Emerl to Central City to fully examine him. When they return, Sonic learned from Tails and Rouge that Emerl was a weapon of mass destruction, which was the reason why Eggman wanted him, but Sonic refused to believe it. Sonic suggested they could reprogram him, and Rouge said that they could reset Emerl by inserting all seven Chaos Emeralds into him and give him an unknown keyword. Sonic questioned Rouge why she was helping them, and she answered that it was the best for the world (and herself) that Eggman did not get a hold of Emerl. Rouge then made Sonic introduce her to Emerl by making him form a Link with her, but then suddenly left.

Sonic continued Emerl's training, but it was cut short when he saw Amy coming and ran away. He later returned and learned that Rouge had stolen Emerl, due to the earlier Link he formed with her. Sonic soon after, however, found Emerl with Rouge and engaged her in battle, intending to protect Emerl and get him back. Rouge eventually surrendered Emerl to Sonic, as she thought Emerl was more trouble than he was worth.

Some time after, Sonic left Emerl for a while again, but when he returned he learned that Emerl had been training with Knuckles and that Knuckles had been tricked by Eggman again.

Later on, Sonic and Emerl was approached by Amy again, who viewed Emerl as hers and Sonic’s “baby”. As Sonic faced Amy’s wrath about how Sonic had been raising Emerl, Emerl made a bad choice of words and Sonic immediately ran off. He later returned to find Emerl with Amy, and she told Sonic that he had no excuse for marrying her now, since she had helped raising Emerl. Sonic then told Amy to close her eyes, but ran off again once she closed them.

Sonic and Tails later left Emerl in Amy's and Cream’s care, as the two of them checked out a lead on a Chaos Emerald, which later turned out to be fake. Sonic was then contacted by Eggman who said that he held Cream and Emerl hostage, but because the two of them had escaped, Sonic did not believe him. He soon after saw Eggman captured in his own trap by Emerl and Cream on-screen, and headed out to pick the pair up.

Sonic was later approached by Shadow again. Sonic thought that Shadow was here to capture Emerl, but it was not his intention. Shadow said that Emerl was close to awakening his full power, as he only needed one more Chaos Emerald and that he could bring the end of the world. Sonic, however, believed that Emerl would not do that, as Shadow was the ultimate top secret weapon of the government, and he had saved humanity at one point. As Shadow continued to brush off Sonic's arguments, however, Sonic gave up on trying to convince Shadow and let him have Emerl, who had just arrived, having been attracted by Shadow’s Chaos Emerald and Shadow restated his statement. Unshaken by this, Sonic let Emerl go with Shadow, believing he would learn who he really was with Shadow’s help.

With Shadow's help, Emerl was reset, and later came to fight Shadow. However, Sonic arrived soon after to fight Emerl along Shadow as well to test the robot's abilities to the fullest. After the fight, Emerl thanked Sonic and Shadow for all their help. Having seen that Emerl no longer needs him, Sonic told Emerl to live his life to fullest on his own, but not before he told him that his punches needed some work.

Later, Sonic witnessed Eggman revealing his newest Death Egg with its Final Egg Blaster. The heroes decided to stop him, but since only one of them could be sent to the Death Egg and stop Eggman at the time, Sonic suggested that Emerl should go, which he accepted.

Together with his friends, Sonic witnessed Emerl defeating Eggman, but then saw Eggman firing the Final Egg Blaster, destroying some stars. This great display of power caused Emerl to revert to his original programming and Eggman tried to assume control over Emerl, but he knocked Eggman away and prepared to fire the Final Egg Blaster on the Earth. In order to stop Emerl, Sonic traveled to the Death Egg with the Master Emerald, hoping to negate the Chaos Emeralds' energy inside of him, but Emerl smashed the Master Emerald upon seeing its light. Tails then told Sonic that he could reverse Emerl’s programming by inflicting enough damage on Emerl, but it would destroy him in the process. Seeing no other choice, Sonic, with a heavy heart, engaged Emerl in a high speed battle. Seeing the overwhelming strength of Ultimate Emerl, Sonic decided to fight at full strength and defeated the Gizoid.

As he began to break down, Emerl thanked Sonic and his friends for everything, but, in a rare chase of visual sadness and emotional distress, Sonic tried to assure Emerl that everything would be fine, promising the Gizoid lots of fun after this together, but to no avail and Emerl disappeared before Sonic’s eyes. Sonic then returned to the Earth and found Cream crying over Emerl’s death, but Sonic told Cream that Emerl was still with them in the Emerald Shards. As Tails wondered if they would ever see Emerl again, Sonic, after a moment of silence, assured them positively that they would.

Two Worlds Collide
Sonic appears in Sonic Rush (2005), the first Sonic game for the Nintendo DS. This time, Sonic had to face both Dr. Eggman and the new foe, Dr. Eggman Nega, as Sonic's world was brought into flux with another, because the Chaos Emeralds' counterparts in that world, the Sol Emeralds, had been stolen by Dr. Eggman, with the help from Nega.

The story began with Sonic coming across Dr. Eggman, during one of his casual runs, who claimed that he would soon possess “the ultimate power”, but Sonic assured him confidently that he would stop him. After defeating Eggman, Sonic saw that he dropped a Sol Emerald, but then suddenly he met Blaze the Cat, the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, who appeared in a burst of flames, took the emerald and left. Sonic later met up with Tails and explained about what he had just witnessed. While Tails was worried, Sonic was getting pumped up about this new challenge and the duo headed out to stop Eggman.

At the Water Palace, Sonic ran into who he believed was Dr. Eggman, but the villain revealed himself to be Dr. Eggman Nega. After defeating him, Sonic thought it was simply Dr. Eggman in a new disguise, but Tails was not so sure. The two of them then headed to Tails’ Workshop, where they learned that there was a rift in the space-time continuum that threatened reality itself. While Tails thought that Eggman Nega had something to do with, Sonic thought that Blaze might also be a part of this. As they searched for information and fought Nega, Sonic heard from Vanilla that Cream was together with Blaze and she told them where to find them. After thanking Vanilla for the info, Sonic ran off to find Blaze and get some answers.

After a lengthy search, where they met Knuckles and got some unplanned help from him clearing a path, Sonic and Tails found Blaze and Cream, and Sonic asked Blaze if she knew anything about Eggman Nega. Blaze however, despite having been told by many to seek Sonic’s help, told him that she would deal with this crisis and Eggman Nega alone. Sonic, on the other hand, told Blaze that things did not work that way around here, but she firmly insistsed and left with Cream, but Sonic and Tails followed them.

While on their way tracking Blaze, Sonic regrettably ran into Amy who thought he was looking for her. Sonic tried to ask Amy if she had seen Blaze, but Amy initially thought Sonic was looking for Blaze because he liked her, and Sonic nervously asked Tails help. Amy eventually cooled down, however, and after providing directions for where Blaze went, Sonic immediately took off.

Sonic eventually tracked Blaze to the Dead Line where they faced both Eggmen. While Sonic insisted on participating, Blaze angrily refused his help and tried to force him to leave by fighting him. While battling, Sonic tried to make Blaze stop and said that she should not carry everything on her own shoulders, but to not avail. As their fight came to a draw, Sonic saw that Blaze was still willing to protect the Sol Emeralds even when completely exhausted and understood that she must have had a rough past. He then told her not to handle too much on her own and be true to herself, and Blaze came to understand that she could rely on others. With their differences sat aside, they finally introduced themselves and became friends.

With Blaze on their side, Sonic learned that the space-time rift was due to the merging of her world and Sonic’s, and Eggman Nega was to blame. Sonic then headed out to confront Nega on behalf of Blaze to stop this, since she was not in shape to fight after their confrontation. Just before Sonic could leave, however, they noticed Cream was gone. The group learned from a letter left by Dr. Eggman, that the doctor held Cream hostage and demanded that Blaze came to Point W alone. As it was most certainly a trap, Sonic suggested that they got everyone together to help, but Blaze insisted on going alone because Cream was her friend. Sonic understood this and let Blaze go. While Tails questioned Sonic's choice, Sonic assured him by saying that believing in someone, is a part of friendship as well. Sonic himself then went to face Eggman Nega and managed to defeat him. In the aftermath of the fight, Sonic was welcomed back by his friends, but ran off when he saw Amy coming.

After collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic came to Blaze’s aid as she was defeated by Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega in the Egg Salamander and had all seven Sol Emeralds drained of their power, but the doctors left as he arrived to prepare for their coming fight. As Blaze despaired for failing her duty, Sonic told her that everything would be fine, and with him and his friends backing Blaze up, he assured her that with the friendships she had come to understand and embrace, the Sol Emeralds would never lose their power, and the Sol Emeralds recharged. Sonic and Blaze then used both sets of emeralds to become Super Sonic and Burning Blaze and together they defeated the Eggmans.

As the space-time continuum began to restore itself, Sonic and Blaze said their final goodbyes as they prepared to return to their respective worlds, but Sonic promised that they would meet again which Blaze hoped for. The two of them then shaked hands as a sign of friendship and respect as the space-time continuum pulled them apart and returned them to their own worlds. When Sonic returned home, he found Cream, who was sad over Blaze’s departure, but he cheered her up by telling her that Blaze would be back soon.

Setting Sails In New Worlds
Sonic Rush also had a sequel called Sonic Rush Adventure (2007). The story began as Sonic and Tails were out investigating an unknown energy reaction in a storm, but they got sucked into a hurricane. Having crashed, Sonic and Tails washed ashore on Southern Island where they met Marine the Raccoon, a rash girl who dreamed of adventure. As they found themselves on an unknown island, Sonic and Tails decided to explore the surrounding islands. The next day, Sonic and Tails found Marine working on her own boat, but she ended up destroying it. The duo then helped Marine constructing a new boat and the trio began exploring the surrounding islands.

On their journey across the islands, the group was attacked by several robotic enemies. Sonic also encountered Johnny, who became his rival in water bike racing. When arriving at Coral Cave, Sonic met Captain Whisker and his pirate crew, who were the ones behind the attacks. Suddenly, Sonic saw someone who attacked the pirates and was surprised to see that it was Blaze the Cat. Despite this surprise meeting, Sonic gladly teamed up with Blaze to fight off Whiskers’ henchmen.

After the fight, the pirates escaped with the Jeweled Scepter, a powerful treasure from Blaze’s homeland which was hidden in Coral Cave and which Blaze tried to protect. Sonic questioned Blaze why she was here and not in her own world, but realized that they must have been transported to Blaze’s world during the storm. After explaining their story to Blaze, the group saw this meeting as a sign that both their worlds might be endangered by the pirates, now that they had the Jeweled Scepter. Sonic then suggested to Blaze that they should work together to get the scepter back, and she accepted it.

The four of them then traveled the sea in their search for the pirates. Eventually, they managed to locate the pirates’ hideout in some ancient ruins. Before heading in there, however, the group decided to leave Marine behind as she may endanger the mission, but she objected. While Sonic and Tails tried to be gentle about the reason, Blaze bluntly said that she was a nuisance, and Sonic and Tails silently agreed with her, which lead to Marine running off, crying. While Tails felt it was a harsh comment, Sonic assured him that she would get over it.

At the pirates’ hideout, Sonic faced Whisker and his right-hand man, who is revealed to be Johnny, alongside Blaze. Despite beating them however, Whisker escaped and Sonic then saw that Marine was going after the pirates to prove herself, but ended up being caught by the Ghost Titan. Fortunately, Sonic came up with a plan to distract Whisker by letting Tails pretend the scepter was somewhere else on the ship while he and Blaze saved Marine. Sonic and Blaze then destroyed the Ghost Titan together and escaped, while the pirates went down with the collapsing ship. With Marine having reclaimed the Jeweled Scepter, the group headed back to Southern Island.

After collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds, Sonic and Tails planned to return home, but they then learned that the Jeweled Scepter had been stolen again. An earthquake then occured and in the wake, the thieves revealed themselves to be Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega in the Egg Wizard, and the group learned that they were the ones who created the pirates, so that they could use the Jeweled Scepters incredible power to build Eggmanland upon both worlds. Sonic and the gang headed out to confront the Eggmans but were too late as the villains tapped into the Power of the Stars with the scepter. As Eggman Nega taunted Blaze by treating to destroy her kingdom, Sonic kept Blaze calm for hers and her people’s sake. They then used the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds to become Super Sonic and Burning Blaze and they fought the Egg Wizzard. As they were about to win however, Eggman Nega tried to destroy them, along with the world, but Marine distracted them, and with Blaze’s aid, Sonic dealt the final blow and destroyed the Egg Wizard.

The next morning, Tails constructed a vessel for him and Sonic to return home in. As Sonic prepared to leave, Blaze suggested to him that the Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds were responsible for bringing them together again. Sonic was initially confused by her statement, but then said positively that they could never know for sure. As they were about to leave, Sonic said goodbye to Blaze and they shaked hands once more, signifying their growing friendship and respect. Just as they were about to take off, however, Sonic and Tails saw Marine comming in her new boat to say goodbye. While she was sad that they had to leave, Sonic and Tails promised her that they would meet again someday. With these final goodbyes Sonic and Tails headed back to their own world.

Fast Flyers
In Sonic Riders (2006), Team Sonic found themselves in Future City, as they searched for a Chaos Emerald, but suddenly a group of thieves on Extreme Gear, called the Babylon Rogues, revealed themselves. Tails read that the emerald was in their possession and Sonic ran off to intercept them. After Knuckles managed to knock Storm off his Extreme Gear, Sonic grabed his Extreme Gear and decided to give chase to the Rogues by riding Storm’s Extreme Gear himself. With some trouble, Sonic quickly grasped the control of the Extreme Gear, and went after their leader, Jet the Hawk. After exchanging some blows, Sonic passed by Jet, but was then quickly blown off the Extreme Gear by Jet, and the Babylon Rogues escaped. Sonic however, was thrilled to have found someone who could give him a challenge.

The next day, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles saw Dr. Eggman on the local monitors, announcing the EX World Grand Prix and that the price was the Chaos Emeralds, which served as an entry fee. Sonic was initially suspicious about Eggman’s motives, but when he saw that the participants Dr. Eggman had rounded up were the Babylon Rogues, Sonic decided to enter.

After the qualifications rounds, Sonic openly admitted to his team hat he was not worried about Eggman unknown plans. Suddenly, however, Sonic ran into Amy who had also signed up for the tournament, much to his own dismay. Sonic then listened to Tails explaining the legends of the Babylon Rogues after having seen the mark on Storm's Extreme Gear, how they lost their home island, Babylon Garden, and its treasure. That is, until Wave the Swallow came by and mocked the Extreme Gear Tails had created (and places a bomb on it), leaving Sonic disgusted by it.

After some races, Sonic was practicing his Extreme Gear techniques, but was interrupted by Jet who mocked his attempts at mastering Extreme Gear before leaving. While Sonic was angered by this, he could see that Jet was a good Extreme Gear rider and that it was not a good idea to underestimate him. Tails began to doubt the Extreme Gear he had made for Sonic, but Sonic faithfully told him not to worry.

At the final race, Sonic headed up to the podium with Jet and their Chaos Emeralds. After receiving some final taunts from Jet, Sonic promised him that he would not lose and headed out to the race. After a difficult race, Sonic was about to win, but Wave detonated the bomb under Sonic’s Extreme Gear, causing him to lose. Lying dazed on the ground, Jet walked up to Sonic and told him that the dirt suited him, making Sonic outraged at the outcome.

Sonic was left witnessing Jet using the seven Chaos Emeralds in tandem with the Key to Babylon Garden to reveal Babylon Garden itself, with the intention to claim its great treasure. Eggman however, stole the key so that he could take the treasure for himself, believing it to be technology that he could use to conquer the world and Sonic and the gang headed out to stop him. When they arrived at Babylon Garden, Sonic was given a a new Extreme Gear by Tails and headed out catch Eggman, but was then locked in a race with Jet who was after Eggman too. Seeing this as a rematch, Sonic told Jet that he would show him what true speed really is.

Sonic eventually beat Jet and cornered Dr. Eggman, but stopped when Dr. Eggman revealed that he held Amy hostage. Sonic, however, pulled out the same move Jet used on him earlier and blew Eggman (and Amy) away, before handing the key to Jet, who viewed this as an act of pity. As the Rogues headed in to claim the treasure, Sonic decided it is time to leave, but then faced Amy, who was angry at him for endangering her with the moved he used on Eggman. After the Rogues headed into Babylon Garden, however, Sonic heard a roar and decided to check it out. As he and the others arrived inside the Babylon Garden, Sonic saw they had awoken the Babylon Guardian and was forced to fight it.

After beating the Babylon Guardian, Sonic and Jet found the Treasure of Babylon, which was revealed to be a Magic Carpet, much to the disappointment of Eggman, who had just arrived to steal it. With the whole ordeal over and with their rivalry more friendly, Sonic asked Jet if the Rogues were leaving, to which Jet agreed on, since there were more treasure out there to find. Sonic then promised Jet that he would be ready to race him the next time they met.

Defying Gravity
In the sequel, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008), Sonic was driving with Tails and Knuckles through Monopole, and was fumbling with an mysterious meteorite Tails had found. On their way to Megalo Station, Sonic and the others were attacked by SCR-HD and a group of SCR-GP, a part of a currently global robot rampage who were after the meteorite. In the insuring chase, the group crashed and Sonic nearly fell to his death, but was saved by the meteorite, which Sonic discovered could manipulate gravity.

As they hid for the robots, Sonic was taken by surprise as Amy snuck up on him. Sonic questioned Amy what she was doing here and learned that she was being chased by the robots too, because she had a meteorite similar to Sonic’s. Sonic then decided to head to creator of the robots, MeteorTech, to get some answers. Once at MeteoTech, Sonic and the gang were discovered by security, but suddenly the Babylon Rogues arrived, much to Sonic’s surprise, and Jet repeled the security robots with another meteorite. Jet revealed he was after the meteorites, called the Ark of the Cosmos, and that he wanted to challenge Sonic. Sonic was initially eager to face Jet’s challenge, but decided to postpone it as the alarm sounded and more robots showed up.

As Sonic raced Jet to the control room, Sonic was surprised to find Dr. Eggman, who was the owner of MeteoTech. Sonic immediately suspected that Eggman was behind the robot rampage, but he claimed that he had no part in it. However, once Eggman recognized the Ark of the Cosmos on Sonic’s wrist, Sonic saw that he was holding something back and demanded that he revealed everything. Eggman revealed that MeteoTech’s computer was powered by one of the Arks of the Cosmos and that the robot leader, SCR-HD, which also happened to have an Ark of the Cosmos, sought them out for reasons unknown. The group then noticed that Amy was being chased by SCR-HD, and Sonic headed out to save her, leaving the Babylon Rogues behind.

Once arriving there, Sonic found Amy unharmed, and learned that SCR-HD had suddenly blown up and that Storm had taken its Ark of the Cosmos. Tails deduced that to stop the robots, they had to remove the Ark in MeteoTech’s computer. Following a lead Storm had muttered, Sonic and the rest headed to the Gigan Rocks, a place no one had returned from alive, which naturally left Sonic thrilled to check out.

Once there, the group learned from the ruins that the Arks of the Cosmos were power units for an ancient spaceship, which Sonic understood was Babylon Garden. Sonic then saw Jet chasing Eggman and learned from that and the ruins, the location of Eggman’s Ark of the Cosmos and MeteoTech’s computer. At this location, they found the Crimson Tower, and the Babylon Rogues, who revealed that Eggman had stolen their Arks of the Cosmos. Tails concluded that Eggman planned to use them to control all the world’s robots, and Sonic understood that this was his newest plan to conquer the world. Sonic was about to head out, but Jet intercepted him and demanded the race Sonic had postponed and Sonic gladly agreed to it. Jet then bet that whoever reached Eggman first got all the Arks of the Cosmos and the title of the fastest in the universe. Sonic agreed on the terms, thinking it sounded like fun.

The race eventually came to a draw, as both Sonic and Jet stopped Eggman at the same time. Sonic then gave his Ark of the Cosmos to Jet as he no longer needed it and took his leave. Jet however, accused Sonic for running away, since their race did not have a winner, but Sonic told him that they would settle the score at the next World Grand Prix. Suddenly, however, SCR-HD appeared and took all five Arks of the Cosmos to Babylon Garden. This resulted in Babylon Garden transforming into Astral Babylon and to form a black hole that threatened to consume the planet. Sonic then went ahead with Tails, Knuckles and the Babylon Rogues behind him, to Astral Babylon to disconnect the engine. There they found SCR-HD, which had transformed into Master Core: ABIS and merged with the black hole. However, by using its own power against it, Sonic and the others stopped Master Core: ABIS and saved the world.

Sonic later returned to the city and learned from Tails that the Arks of the Cosmos had a program which caused the robots to go amok and to collect them when they were hit by their influence. Sonic then heard Jet calling out his name and saw him fly by, and Sonic saw that he challenged him to a new race. Sonic enthusiastically accepted this and raced Jet throughout the city.

Racing Rivals in Rematches
In Sonic Free Riders (2010), Sonic and the rest of Team Sonic entered the newest World Grand Prix, which was once again hosted by Dr. Eggman (under the poor alias as King Doc) as Team Heroes. Sonic and the team however, simply participated for the sake of the competition, rather than the large cash price. When they introduced themselves to the viewers of the races, Sonic expressed his excitement and readiness to compete in the tournament, but Tails thought that the races seemed fishy, and Sonic expected that Eggman was planning something.

In their first race, Team Heroes saw that their first opponents were Team Rose and Sonic was openly disappointed and confident that they could beat them. As their team won one challenge after another, Sonic was berated by Amy for not going easy on her, but Sonic insisted on taking this competition seriously. Eventually, Team Heroes claimed victory over Team Rose, but Sonic was left to face Amy who demanded a date with him to make it up for him beating her, and he questioned her why he owed her a date for winning.

For their next race, Sonic and Team Heroes went up against Team Dark. During the race, Knuckles suspected Team Dark’s member, E-10000B for foul play, but Sonic thought that he was just imaging it.

In the end, Sonic and the team defeated Team Dark and advanced to the finals. There they met the Babylon Rogues, and Sonic said that he was not surprised that Jet and his team had made it to the finals. At first, Team Heroes seemly beat Team Babylon, but when Sonic learned that they had mechanical troubles, Sonic called for a rematch. Jet questioned Sonic why he would risk their victory in a rematch, but Sonic open-heartedly assured him that they deserved a rematch. Jet then accepted it, but warned Sonic that he would regret it, but Sonic was as confident as ever, and the two of them engaged in a heated on-on-one rival race, where Sonic emerged victorious.

After the race, Sonic learned from Omochao that Team Babylon was about to leave, but before they could, Sonic thanked Jet for the race and told him that he looked forward to their future rematch.

As the tournament progressed, Sonic and Team Heroes received their own fair share of losses, but despite this, Sonic continuously displayed good sportsmanship and enjoyed participating. At the end of the tournament, all teams came down with an equal amount of victories and losses, and Sonic and the other teams headed out to collect the price, but Eggman (as King Doc) declared that they have one, final race against his Gear-Jockeys. Sonic told Eggman to drop the act, but Eggman made them race anyway and Sonic sensed something was up.

After the first round, Eggman decided to drop his disguise and revealed that he hosted the World Grand Prix so that he could collect the rider’s racing data with his E-10000 robots in order to create the ultimate Extreme Gear which he could use for his own agenda, but Sonic thought that his plan was just lame.

Eggman, in retaliation, challenged Sonic and the others to a race, but lost. Sonic then noticed that E-10000B was acting funny and saw Metal Sonic emerging from it, and heard that Metal Sonic had stolen Eggman’s data and had given him fake data, so that he could take it for his own. Sonic then noticed that Metal Sonic was challenging him to a one-on-one race and despite being told that Metal Sonic could not be beaten on a Extreme Gear, Sonic gladly accepted the challenge, thus giving Metal Sonic the rematch he had promised him long ago.

Despite possessing the data of the best Extreme Gear riders in the world, Sonic defeated Metal Sonic, and Metal Sonic ran away. As Eggman cursed Metal Sonic for ruining his plan, Sonic taunted Eggman for letting him ruin his own plan and that it made his job as a hero easier. The other teams then began to leave as the price was a lie, but Sonic told them that they had a great time at the World Grand Prix nonetheless.

Transcending Time and Space
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which celebrated the 15th anniversary of the series, was released in 2006 and featured the first appearance of Blaze the Cat on a home console game and a new character and rival to Sonic, Silver the Hedgehog, who possesses powerful psychic abilities.

In this game, Sonic visited Soleanna, the City of Water. Here, in the nick of time, Sonic arrived to save their monarch, Princess Elise, from Dr. Eggman, who had come after the Flames of Disaster, known as Iblis, to help him control time and rule the world, which was sealed inside Elise. Over the course of their adventures, the two of them would come to develop a strong relationship.

After destroying Eggman's initial forces, Sonic ran off with Elise to escape Eggman. While escaping, Elise asked Sonic why he helped her, but he just said he had "no special reason". Soon after, Sonic ran into some more robots, forcing him to put Elise down while he destroyed them. This proved however to be a distraction, and Eggman kidnapped Elise and escaped, but not before Sonic received her Chaos Emerald. With the Chaos Emerald in hand, Sonic promised Elise that he would save her. The next day, Sonic met up with Tails and let him help him in his mission to save Elise. The duo managed to locate Eggman’s ship, the Egg Carrier, at Wave Ocean and tried to catch it, but failed.

After returning to the city, Sonic and Tails learned that Eggman had been seen in Dusty Desert. The duo traveled to his base there, where they found Elise, who was happy to see Sonic. Their reunion was cut short, however, as Eggman appeared and tried to stop them with the Egg Cerberus. After Sonic managed to defeat it, the group tried to escape, but were pursued by Eggman's forces. Fortunately, Sonic and Elise managed to escape them by letting Tails create a diversion. As they escaped, Sonic took Elise over some plains, where he was thanked by Elise for his help. As she saw that Sonic was hurt, he told her it was nothing, but was nevertheless treated by her. While treating him, Elise apologized for Sonic’s injury, but Sonic merely told her to smile, which was all the reward he needed. Sonic was then filled in on the history of the Flames of Disaster and Solaris (the sun god honored by Soleanna) by Elise, who worried what could happen if Eggman unleashed Solaris’ wrath. Trying to cheer Elise up, Sonic grabbed her hand and made her run with him through the plains. After cheering her up from their run, Sonic gave Elise some advice to go by and took her back to Soleanna.

As Sonic and Elise returned to the town, however, Sonic was attacked by Silver the Hedgehog, who called him the "Iblis Trigger" and claimed that Sonic’s actions would destroy his world. Sonic initially had the upper hand in their fight, but Silver managed to catch Sonic off-guard and psychokinetically threw him into a building, incapacitating him. While lying dazed on the ground, Sonic saw Eggman kidnapping Elise again and tried to run after the escaping Eggman, but Silver kept him from leaving. Luckily, Sonic was saved by Amy, who prevented Silver from killing him. After thanking Amy for saving him, Sonic resumed his chase after Eggman.

Sonic later met up with Tails and Knuckles, who gave him a holographic message from Eggman. The message demanded Sonic’s Chaos Emerald in exchange for Elise. While Tails and Knuckles were positive it was a trap, Sonic decided to go anyway, intending to "thank" Eggman for telling him of Elise’s whereabouts. After arriving at Eggman's base, Sonic gave Eggman the Chaos Emerald, but was tricked and sent to the future by Eggman's newest machine along with Tails and Knuckles. There, Team Sonic met Shadow and Rouge, who had been sent there by Mephiles (Solaris’ mind and conscience). After finding out from Shadow and Rouge where they were and how to return home, Sonic understood that they planned to use Chaos Control to create a space-time rift, and saw that the circumstances required them to work together to find the Chaos Emeralds needed for the travel.

While searching for the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles saw Silver and Blaze talking with Mephiles, who told them that Sonic was responsible for the devastation of this future and took them back in time to kill Sonic. After they left, Sonic learned from their database that Elise would die in the Egg Carrier's crash landing three days after he met her, leaving Sonic more determined than ever to save her.

Sonic and the gang later met up with Rouge and Shadow after learning the location of a Chaos Emerald in Flame Core, and they managed to retrieve it from an enraged Iblis. With two Chaos Emeralds in their possession, Sonic and Shadow performed Chaos Control, thus creating a rift in time, and Sonic, Tails and Knuckles returned to the present. Though Shadow and Rouge did not return with them, Sonic assured his friends that they could take care of themselves.

With little time to spare, Sonic ran off on his own and saved Elise from Eggman's train, but he was attacked by Silver again. As he was caught by Silver, Sonic saw Elise being kidnapped by Eggman, who escaped once more. Fortunately, Shadow arrived and fought Silver, allowing Sonic to pursue Eggman. As Sonic gave chase, he managed to rescued Elise from a lethal fall, before confronting and destroying the Egg Genesis. As they escaped Eggman’s forces, Sonic took Elise to a beautiful location with Cherry Blossom trees and a lake to cheer her up. There, Sonic told Elise that he would leave once he defeated Eggman, but Elise nevertheless thanked Sonic for this adventure, and Sonic promised her that he would remember this place. While Elise nearly cried because Sonic had to leave, he comforted her and told her to keep smiling.

Sonic returned Elise to the castle soon after, but unfortunately, Eggman kidnapped Elise once again after he threatened to destroy Soleanna. Sonic soon caught wind of the news and ran off to save Elise again. On his way, Sonic was attacked by Eggman's robots, but was assisted by Silver who was now willing to help Sonic save Elise. Though initially confused, Sonic gladly accepted his help. Unfortunately, Sonic was too late and saw Eggman’s ship crash and explode with Elise inside as predicted. As Sonic despaired at the loss of Elise, Silver came up with a plan to send Sonic back in time to save Elise. Using Chaos Control and two Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and Silver created a space-time rift, but before he left, Sonic told Silver that he would change his future too by saving Elise, and thanked Silver for his help. Sonic managed to arrive at the day before the crash, and bordered the Egg Carrier as it launched. He then went and defeated Eggman in the Egg Wyvern onboard the ship and narrowly escaped the exploding Egg Carrier with Elise.

As Sonic and Elise returned to the city, Sonic was distracted by Mephiles' Chaos Emerald. Mephiles himself then appeared behind Sonic, who impaled him through the back with an energy beam, killing him instantly. As Elise realized that Sonic was dead, she broke into tears, thus releasing Iblis from within her. Mephiles then merged with Iblis and Solaris was reborn. Solaris then proceeded to create a time rift for him to consume time itself. There, the game's main cast saw Sonic’s dead body in Elise’s arms, each showing sadness at his death. As they learned about Solaris’ intentions, Silver came up with a plan to destroy Solaris, but Shadow stated that with Sonic gone, they stood no chance of defeating Solaris.

It turned out, however, that Sonic’s soul had yet to pass on at this point and Elise sensed his presence. Realizing that it was not too late, Tails, Omega, Knuckles, Silver, Rouge, Amy, and Shadow gathered all the Chaos Emeralds to restore Sonic to life, and with Elise's kiss, Sonic was revived as Super Sonic, who thanked her for bringing him back. He proceeded to turn Shadow and Silver into Super Shadow and Super Silver and they fought Solaris. After they defeated him, Sonic and Elise were sent back in time to where Solaris was just a flame in a candle. If Elise blew out the candle it would destroy Solaris forever, but with Solaris gone, the events of the adventure would be negated and Elise would never meet Sonic. Elise initially chose Sonic over the world, but Sonic told Elise to smile and to accept things as they were, and she extinguished the candle. Time was reverted, but Sonic still traveled to Soleanna. There, Sonic saw Elise coming, and ran by her so fast that the wind created from his speed caused Elise's memory to momentarily trigger. As the festival proceeded, Sonic watched happily and satisfied as one of Elise's feathers floated skyward, hinting that he and Elise remember this adventure.

Hunting for Cards
Sonic Rivals was the first Sonic game for the PSP (Playstation Portable). Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver battle each other as they go after Doctor Eggman (actually Eggman Nega in disguise).

In Sonic Rivals, the mysterious Onyx Island had appeared out of nowhere at sea. Once he heard these news, Sonic headed out with Tails to investigate this island, as Sonic had a hunch it was another of Dr. Eggman's schemes. As soon as they arrived, Sonic spotted who he believed to be Dr. Eggman, but was Eggman Nega disguised as Dr. Eggman (Sonic however, does not realize this throughout the game). Wasting no time, Sonic confronted the doctor, but Eggman Nega pulled out a card, which left Sonic shocked to see depicted Amy Rose. Eggman Nega explained he had turned Amy into a card with a special camera, but Sonic brushed off the doctor's explanation, saying he did not believe it. However, as Sonic heard Tails stating his opinion, a flash from Eggman Nega's camera blinded him, and when he regained his sight, Tails was gone. Sonic asked Eggman Nega what he had done, and the doctor revealed that he now not only had turned Amy, but also tails, into cards. Suddenly Knuckles appeared and wanted to face Eggman Nega, who he believed had stolen the Master Emerald. As Eggman Nega told them that to get the cards back, they had to catch him, Sonic raced Knuckles to see who got to face Eggman Nega first.

After the race, the two found Eggman Nega and they teamed up to fend off one of his creations, but Eggman Nega escaped. As Sonic gave chase to him, however, he ran into Silver for the first time (since the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) were negated), who had come to bring Eggman Nega back to the future. As Silver insisted on getting to Eggman Nega first, Sonic gladly accepted the challenge, and the two of them raced after Eggman Nega. As Sonic reached Eggman Nega, he demanded the cards back, but Silver still insisted on going first. Sonic started to get annoyed by Silver’s attitude and it broke down to a fight between them and Eggman Nega's Egg Falcon.

Despite defeating the Egg Falcon, Sonic and Silver continued to fight. As Sonic gained the upper hand in their fight, however, Silver teleported him to another location. Surprised, Sonic started to look around and found Shadow. He saw that Shadow was after Eggman Nega as well and Sonic challenged him to a race to see who got to Eggman Nega first. Sonic eventually outraced Shadow, much to his own pride, and found Eggman Nega, and demanded to know what he was up to. Eggman Nega however, retaliated by unleashing Metal Sonic on Sonic, who was surprised to see his old rival again. After Sonic defeated Metal Sonic, he thought about Eggman Nega’s plan, but then ran into Silver again, who was surprised to see him so soon. Sonic then told Silver that he would share his information with Silver, if he beat him in a race to Eggman Nega, and the pair gave chase to the doctor again.

Sonic and Silver eventually cornered Eggman Nega and Sonic demanded Tails’ card back, but Eggman Nega still intended to defeat Sonic. Sonic however, told him that he would never win, and he and Silver began fighting Eggman Nega’s newest robot. Eventually they defeated it and Sonic reclaimed Tails’ card, while Eggman Nega escaped. Sonic freed Tails from his card and assured him that he would stop Eggman Nega, but then Knuckles reappeared and Sonic was challenge by him to race to see who got to Eggman Nega first.

Sonic eventually reached Eggman Nega first and faced both him and an upgraded Metal Sonic, but still won. Frustrated at his constant defeats, Eggman Nega told Sonic that he now planned to turn the world into a card that he could control as he wished and escaped, much to Sonic’s frustration. Tails however, appeared in the Tornado and Sonic was taken to Eggman Nega’s base. As Sonic ventured to and through Eggman Nega’s base, Knuckles, Shadow and Silver and teamed up with him to stop Eggman Nega as they put aside their differences, and Sonic accepted each of their help.

At the center of the base, Sonic and the others found a large spaceship with Eggman Nega’s special camera equipped on that he planned to use to turn the world into a card. Sonic then saw that Eggman Nega planned to fuel the device with Amy’s card (which Sonic had forgot about) and some other cards he had taken, but the four rivals headed into battle and destroyed the spaceship as it took off, thus foiling Eggman Nega’s plan for good.

After the battle, Sonic freed Amy from her card, who believed this meant Sonic wanted to marry her. Sonic on the other hand, came up with an excuse by telling her that he had to find the remaining captives in Eggman Nega’s cards and immediately ran off.

Save the Chao and Race with Rivals
Sonic Rivals also had a sequel called Sonic Rivals 2. While on his own, Sonic received a call from Tails, telling him to meet him on an island. Once arriving there, Sonic heard from Tails that a bunch of Chao have gone missing. After also hearing from him that Eggman had been seen on the island, Sonic teamed up with Tails to find Eggman and get some answers. As they were about to head out however, Sonic saw Knuckles with Rouge and teased him by asking if they were on a date. While annoyed, Knuckles said he had to find Eggman first, and Sonic asked why. Knuckles reluctantly answered that the Master Emerald had been stolen, but Sonic was not surprised. Sonic however insisted on finding Dr. Eggman first, and the two faced off in a race to find him.

The two eventually found Dr. Eggman, who really was Eggman Nega masquerading as him once more (and again, Sonic does not realize this throughout the game). Sonic demanded to know what he had done with the missing Chao, but Eggman Nega claimed he had nothing to do with it. Sonic however did not buy it, and Eggman Nega attacked Sonic and Knuckles in his newest robot. After the fight, Sonic and Tails followed the escaping Eggman Nega through a forest, and they began finding pages dropped by him which described a creature called the Ifrit, which Sonic and Tails began to think had something to do with the Chao. Soon after, Sonic ran into Silver the Hedgehog and Espio the Chameleon and guessed that they were after Eggman Nega too. Seeing that Silver was determined as ever not let Sonic get in his way, Sonic challenged Silver to a number of fights to see who got to face Eggman Nega first.

The group eventually found Eggman Nega, and Sonic questioned him why he was running away if he was not involved with the missing Chao, but Eggman Nega defiantly attacked them in a new robot. After the fight, Sonic and Tails followed Eggman Nega to a city, but suddenly, Sonic saw Shadow with Metal Sonic. Suspicious at why Metal Sonic was involved, Sonic and Tails decided to follow the pair, with Sonic following Shadow. After catching up with Shadow, Sonic began questioning Shadow, but he refused to give an answer, and they began to fight. Suddenly however, Eggman Nega attacked them, but the two hedgehogs managed to fend him off.

Sonic and Tails then followed Eggman Nega to a wasteland, where they met Knuckles and Rouge again. They revealed they were searching for the Master Emerald with an Emerald Detector, but they needed rings to fuel it, and Sonic volunteered to search for rings. After Sonic had gathered enough rings however, Espio appeared and took his rings, as he and Silver needed them to find Eggman Nega, but Sonic pursued him. On the way, Sonic ran into Eggman Nega again, demanding to know his plan, and the doctor said that if Sonic could beat his Egg Bull, he would tell him. Despite the untimely interference of Silver and Espio, Sonic and Tails managed to win. Sonic told Eggman Nega to keep his promise and he revealed his plan to release the Ifrit into the world from a portal within a haunted mansion and Sonic and Tails headed there to stop the Ifrit.

Once arriving at the mansion, Sonic and Tails split up. While searching, Sonic ran into a shape-shifting ghost and engaged it victoriously in battle. Once reunited with Tails, they found Eggman Nega with their ghost counterparts, but Sonic saw that he was acting weird, and contributed it to ghostly possession. After fighting Eggman Nega, Tails found the missing Chao, which Eggman Nega had planned to feed to the Ifrit to make it invincible, and Sonic told Tails to bring the Chao to safety while he searched for Eggman Nega.

Sonic and Tails eventually found the portal to the Ifrit's dimension, which was about to close (due to Shadow’s and Metal Sonic’s actions) and they headed inside to find Eggman Nega before it was too late. As Sonic and Tails ventured through the Ifrit’s dimension, they faced the Ifrit itself, who took control of Tails. Seeing no choice, Sonic faced both Tails and the Ifrit to stop it from destroying the world. Despite Sonic occasionally falling prey to the creature's mind control himself, the two friends managed to defeat the Ifrit, thus preventing it from leaving its world, and escaped before the portal closed. With the Ifrit stopped, the world safe and the Chao rescued, Sonic saw no reason to find Eggman Nega, and he and Tails headed to the Chao Garden to get some rest.

The Legendary Blue Hedgehog
In 2007, Sonic and the Secret Rings was released. After waking up from his nap, Sonic encountered the genie of the ring, Shahra from the world of the Arabian Nights. She revealed that an evil genie called Erazor Djinn was absorbing her world, the very power of the book itself and if he was not stopped, he would enter Sonic's world too. She also revealed that Sonic was the "Legendary Blue Hedgehog" foretold in legend, who could stop him. More than willing to help, Sonic agreed to help Shahra and she lead him into her world. While entering the Arabian Nights, Sonic encountered Erazor, who demanded that Shahra gathered the seven World Rings, but she refused. Trying to punish her with a curse, Sonic took the blow for Shahra and was shot in the chest with a flaming arrow. Erazor then demanded before he left that Sonic gathered all the World Rings for him before the arrow burned out, or he would die. Sonic then head into the Arabian Nights, with Shahra at his side, intending to stop Erazor before it was too late.

On his adventures through the Arabian Nights, while stopping Erazor's plans along the way, Sonic collected all the World Rings and learned about a past relationship between Shahra and the Erazor Djinn. With the help of King Solomon, Sonic eventually faced the Erazor Djinn in his stronghold and defeated him, who then retreated under a sealed door in there. Using the Seven World Rings, Sonic opened it and found Erazor waiting for him. Sonic then told Erazor to remove the curse, but he did not keep his word. Instead, Erazor took the World Rings by manipulating Shahra and tried to sacrifice Sonic to gain control of the rings, but Shahra saved Sonic at the cost of her own life. Erazor then used the seven World Rings, hoping to gain total control over the Arabian Nights, but ended up transforming into the incomplete Alf-Layla-wa-Layla. Three of the World Rings was then absorbed by Sonic who transforms into Darkspine Sonic, which broke the curse, and he defeated Alf-Layla-wa-Layla.

With Erazor defeated, Sonic decided to use Erazor's lamp, given to him by Shahra earlier, to make him grant three wishes: Revive Shahra, restore the Arabian Nights and seal Erazor himself away in his lamp forever. Having no choice, Erazor granted all of Sonic's wishes and the Arabian Nights were saved. Though Shahra cried over the fate of Erazor, Sonic wished forth a mountain of handkerchiefs, allowing her to cry as much as she needed to.

Becoming A Knight
The sequel, Sonic and the Black Knight, came out in 2009. This time, Sonic was suddenly called into battle in the world of Camelot by Merlina the Wizard, in order to defeat King Arthur, who had become the evil and tyrannical Black Knight after being corrupted by the power of the Scabbard of Excalibur, which made him immortal. After a brief retreat from King Arthur, Merlina lead Sonic to the Sacred Sword Caliburn, a sentient sword who would become Sonic's teacher in knighthood, hoping to give Sonic a better fighting chance. Sonic's relationship with Caliburn came off to a rocky start, however, due to their conflicting personalities.

After another brief confrontation with King Arthur (who left because he did not think Sonic was a threat), Sonic and Caliburn sought out Nimue, Lady of the Lake who knew how to stop the Scabbard of Excalibur. During their search, Sonic came across Sir Lancelot who was sent to kill him, but Sonic managed to defeat him and took his sacred sword Arondight.

Sonic and Caliburn eventually found Nimue, who Sonic was initially scared to face because he though she was Amy. Nimue told Sonic, however, that she would only give out the secrets about the Scabbard to him, if he passed a test of true knighthood, and tasked him to free King Arthur's innocent prisoners, offer help to people in need and defeat King Arthur's minions within three days time. Confident, Sonic told the concerned Caliburn that he would be a knight before long.

Sonic then headed out with Caliburn to complete the tasks. As soon as they had completed the first task however, Sonic met a young villager whose family and village were kidnapped by a dragon. After he learned from the child where to find the dragon, Sonic decided to help the child. Caliburn, however protested against this as they would risk running out of time, but Sonic, though aware of the risks, said that he follows his own rules and took off. On their way to the dragon, Sonic met Sir Gawain, who had come to kill him, and fought him in battle. Sonic eventually managed to beat Gawain, and prevented him from commiting suicide after feeling he had failed his king. Sonic then asked him if there was more to being a knight than serving a king, before leaving with Gawain's Galatine to save the villagers.

Sonic eventually managed to save the villagers, though at the cost of running out of his three day time limit. When Sonic met the child from earlier, however, she revealed herself to be Nimue in disguise, and told him that by helping her, Sonic had passed her test and proven himself as a true knight. Keeping her end of the bargin, Sonic learned from Nimue that he had to collect all of the Sacred Swords and that their united power would negate the Scabbard's power. Having already gathered two of them from his fights with the Knights of the Round Table along the way, Sonic went to get the last one from Sir Percival. After not only defeating Percival, but also saving her life, Sonic finally gained Caliburn's respect and was knighted "Sir Sonic, Knight of the Wind".

With all four Sacred Swords, Sonic faced King Arthur and defeated him, but was left confused as he saw him vanish as one of his minions. As Sonic returned with the Scabbard of Excalibur to Merlina, she revealed that she had used Sonic all along so that she could use the scabbard for herself to prevent the grim fate that awaited the kingdom, though at the cost of many lives.

Sonic regrouped with the Knights of the Round Table after Merlina's initial assault, and managed to unite them against Merlina. With Nimue's advice, Sonic and the Knights of the Round Table tried to contain Merlina's influence with a magical barrier. Once the barrier was set up, Sonic went and faced Merlina himself. In the heart of her castle, Sonic confronted Merlina, now the Dark Queen, who told him the fate that awaited the kingom to make him understand her sadness. Sonic, however, turned a deaf ear to Merlina and tried to attack her, but received a massive beating from her and got Caliburn cut in half. Nevertheless, Sonic refused to give up, which brought forth the power of all the Sacred Swords, transforming himself into Excalibur-Sonic and Caliburn into Excalibur.

Together, Sonic and Caliburn defeated Merlina and Sonic convinced Merlina to let go of her driving sadness and to live her life to the fullest, despite her world's fate. As the Knights of the Round Table thought about disbanding now that they do not have a king, Caliburn revealed to them that he chooses the king, which meant that Sonic was the true King Arthur of this world, much to Sonic's surprise. Depite this new title, Sonic returned home, only to face Amy who claimed that his story was just an excuse for forgetting their date.

Rise of the Brotherhood
In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood Sonic assumes the leadership of a group of heroes in their fight against a group of evil echidnas called the Nocturnus Clan. In the game, Sonic has low damage power and armor, but he will almost always attack first in a round and he gets three attack per round due to his speed.

The story began with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy facing Dr. Eggman onboard the Egg Carrier. Together, they succeeded in making the Egg Carrier crash into Metropolis and Eggman was presumed dead.

With Eggman and his forces gone and no need for him to be a hero anymore, Sonic went on a long vacation alone, spending his time exploring the world. One day however, Sonic received a call from Tails who said that the Chaos Emeralds had been stolen and that Knuckles had been kidnapped by a group dubbed the Marauders. Tails told Sonic that they needed his help to save Knuckles and Sonic gladly agreed to help. As the adventure progressed, Sonic managed to gather many of his friends and allies in the fight against the Marauders.

With some help from G.U.N., Sonic and his friends managed to locate and free Knuckles from the Marauders, but then discovered that Angel Island had been hijacked. Sonic suspected that Eggman was behind this, due to the Marauders using Eggman’s robots, and the group managed to locate him in Green Hill. Upon finding him however, Eggman claimed that he was against the Marauders as well, and had as well reformed. Eggman also said that he was willing to join Sonic in his fight against the Marauders as he could lead them into Metropolis where the real hijackers, the Marauders, had drawn Angel Island to with the Chaos Emeralds. While Sonic was distrusting Eggman's motives, he let the doctor join.

On the way there, through Blue Ridge Zone, the team came across Shadow. Not interested in telling them what he was doing, Shadow fought Sonic's team and tried to escape, but Sonic caught up with Shadow and defeated him in a fierce battle. After the fight, Shadow revealed that he was looking for Omega as he thought the Marauders had caught him. Sonic convinced Shadow to join them as they had a common enemy.

Later, Sonic and the others met one of the soldiers from the Marauders, called Shade who revealed that the Marauders were a group of echidnas called the Nocturnus Clan, exiled to the Twilight Cage in ancient times, much to Knuckles surprise. Despite defeating her, Shade blocked their way to Metropolis, but Sonic and the others managed to find a way around it. In the meanwhile, Sonic tried to support Knuckles, who had found others of his kind, but was forced to fight them. Once in Metropolis, they divided into two teams with Sonic and Knuckles going to Angel Island to prevent the Nocturnus Clan from stealing the Master Emerald, while Tails and Eggman prepared a weapon against the Nocturnus Clan.

By hijacking on one of the Nocturnus Clan's airships and with some help from Tails' team, Sonic, Knuckles and their group made it to Angel Island. There, the pair met the Nocturnus Clan’s leader, Imperator Pir'Oth Ix, who stated his plan to rule the world, which shocked his servant Shade, who just wanted to leave the Twilight Cage. Ix's then unleashed his soldiers upon the group, which overwhelmed them, but Sonic continued to stand his ground until Tails and Eggman had the weapon ready. Eventually, Tails and Eggman deployed the weapon, which dispatched the soldiers, thus saving Sonic and Knuckles. With their full team ready, Sonic and Knuckles fought Ix, but despite their best efforts, they were unable to stop Ix from stealing the Master Emerald. Ix then used the Master Emerald to create a wormhole into Sonic’s dimension so that they could conquer it, and Angel Island fell from the sky. With the Nocturnus Clan possessing all the emeralds, everyone began to despair, but Sonic refused to give up and assured them that they would stop Ix. The team then came up with the plan of going after Ix into the Twilight Cage and reclaim the emeralds, and Shade joined Sonic’s team to stop Ix’s plan.

After constructing the Cyclone, Sonic and the others entered the Twilight Cage, while Eggman stayed behind to watch the entrance to the Twilight Cage. Once inside the Twilight Cage, the team crash landed on the Kron Colony. There, Sonic and the team managed to free the Kron people from the Nocturnus Clan, gained the Kron's support and reclaimed a Chaos Emerald. Later, the team arrived at the N'rrgal colony, where the N'rrgal Queen forced Sonic to retrieve the Chaos Emerald from the N'rrgal's enemies, the Zoah. On the Zoah colony, Sonic defeated their leader General Raxos and not only got their Chaos Emerald, but also gained the Zoah as alies. The team then returned to the N'rrgal Colony and received their Chaos Emerald as thanks and got their alliance as well. On the Voxai colonies, the team was pitted against the powermad Overmind, but thanks to a psychically treated Chaos Emerald, Sonic resisted their mind-control. Together, the team then defeated the Overmind, thus gaining two Chaos Emeralds. Along the way, Sonic also offered Shade to live his world once it was over, which she accepted.

As the team prepared to invade Nocturne to find the last emeralds, Sonic managed to unite the conflicting alien races in the battle against Ix, and with their help, Sonic and the others infiltrated Nocturne. Once there, they split in two teams, with Sonic and Tails leading their group and Knuckles and Shade leading the other, to find the last two emeralds, which was in the possession of Charyb and Scylla.

With some trouble, Sonic and his group found Charyb and tried to fight it, but because the battlefield was submerged in water, the Gizoid was invincible. Fortunately, Knuckles' group managed to drain the water there, allowing Sonic and his group to beat Charyb and reclaim the Chaos Emerald. After hearing that Knuckles' group had reclaimed their Chaos Emerald as well, Sonic and his group headed to Ix’s throne room to stop Ix. There Sonic saw Knuckles talking to Ix and believed that he was going to betray them, but was proven wrong as Knuckles remained loyal to his duty and attacked Ix. After Knuckles’ fight, Sonic then stepped in and stalled Ix, while Knuckles got the Master Emerald back and succeed.

After the fight, Sonic told Ix it was over, but the echidna leader refused defeat and used Nocturne’s power to become Super Ix, but Sonic retaliated by using the seven Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and defeated Ix for good. As a final act however, Ix started to close the wormhole out of the Twilight Cage, but Sonic and the others managed to get through just in time. When they returned home however, Sonic and the others saw much time had passed, thus allowing Eggman to rebuild his forces, which they faced upon exit from the Twilight Cage.

Enter the Werehog
In Sonic Unleashed, the story begins after an untold series of adventures for Sonic, as he arrived at Dr. Eggman's massive fleet in space and began blasting through his forces, before he was confronted by Eggman in a powerful mech.

As Sonic was forced on the defensive, he was captured by Eggman, but Sonic retaliated by turning into Super Sonic and he destroyed Eggman's mech, and trashed his fleet as well, as he chased the escaping Eggman. As Super Sonic chased Eggman to a space station, he believed he had cornered Eggman. Sonic soon realized, however, that he had been lured into a trap and he ended up being caught in Eggman's Chaos Energy Cannon where Super Sonic had the Chaos Emeralds painfully removed from him, returning him to normal. With the Emeralds' power, Eggman fired the cannon at the planet, breaking it apart and awoke the ancient creature called Dark Gaia, in order to harness its power. In the process, a part of Dark Gaia's energy infected Sonic and turned him into a monster version of himself. As he was released from the trap, Sonic was rejected from the station by Eggman and fell plummeting towards the planet with the powerless Chaos Emeralds.

Moments before impact, however, Sonic was saved by a green light which broke his fall, but still left him crashing into the ground. After recovering, Sonic found an unconscious imp-like creature nearby. After he awoke, they introduced each other, but Sonic realized that the creature suffered from amnesia, as he could not remember anything. Believing that he caused his memory loss by falling on him, Sonic promised to help him recover his memories, much to the creature's delight. Dawn then broke and Sonic returned to normal, much to his own surprise.

The duo soon arrived at Apotos and Sonic decided to name his new friend Chip after an ice cream he had taken a liking to. After a day's fruitless search for someone who knew Chip, night fell and Sonic turned into his werehog form again, and he realized the nature of this transformation. They soon ran into Tails who was attacked by Dark Gaia's minions, but Sonic saved him. As Tails recognized Sonic, even in his new form, Sonic explained his story to Tails, who suggested that they should talk to his friend Professor Pickle in Spagonia, who might know something about this, but they arrived only to hear that Eggman had kidnapped the professor for his knowledge about Dark Gaia.

Sonic, Tails and Chip tracked the professor down to Mazuri and they saved him from his prison in Eggman's base and reclaimed the stolen Gaia Manuscripts. They learned from the professor that Dark Gaia was the reason that the planet had broken apart, but that it had yet to be fully reborn due to its unnatural awakening. With this window of opportunity, Sonic was told by Professor Pickle that he could restore the planet and the Chaos Emeralds by placing the drained emeralds in the Gaia Temples across the world.

Sonic and Chip returned to Mazuri just in time to fight off Eggman and they located a Gaia Temple. Inside the temple, Sonic witnessed Chip's ability to activate the temple, and after placing a Chaos Emerald there, the emerald and a continent was restored. Hearing of his progress from Tails, Sonic saw this as a good opportunity to see the world.

When returning to Spagonia at night, Sonic encountered Amy, but was shocked to see that Amy did not recognized him as a werehog and became depressed as he thought that he was not same person anymore. He later found Amy caught in a group of people possesed by Dark Gaia, but with Chip's help, Sonic exorcised the people. After saving Amy, however, Sonic left before she could see him, but he eventually faced Amy with his condition.

Sonic and Chip continue their adventure across the world, healing it one piece at a time. At the time they reached the sixth temple, however, Sonic started to notice that Chip was acting scared. As the two of them restored the sixth continent, Sonic withnessed Chip regaining his memories inside the sixth temple. With his memory restored, Sonic learned that Chip's real name was Light Gaia and that he had been fighting Dark Gaia in a continuous cycle of destruction and restoration of the planet since the dawn of time. Sonic came to the conclusion that Chip was the reason he remained the same person, even when in werehog form, but Chip revealed that it was Sonic's own will and strong heart that prevented him from succumbing to the darkness inside him. After thanking Sonic for showing him the world and his help, Chip tried to leave to stop Dark Gaia on his own, but Sonic stopped him and said that he would help his friend despite these revelations, which Chip accepted.

Sonic and Chip then arrived in Eggmanland in order to find the last temple, which was located beneath it. As they placed the final emerald in the temple and the last continent moved back into place, Sonic (in his werehog form) and Chip believed it was now over, but were then suddenly attacked by Eggman in his Egg Dragoon, in order to finish Sonic for good. After Sonic defeated Eggman at the planet's core, Dark Gaia itself appeared and knocked Eggman into the distance, before engaging Sonic and Chip. As Sonic avoided Dark Gaia's attacks and stood eye to eye with the great beast, Sonic fell faint to the ground as Dark Gaia painfully sucked the last missing fragment of its power out of him, thus curing him of his werehog condition. All weak from the energy drain, Sonic told Chip to run, but Chip called upon the Gaia Temples to form the Gaia Colossus. Sonic soon after recovered from his exhaustion and together with Chip in the Gaia Colossus, they fought Dark Gaia.

During the fight however, Dark Gaia fully matured and became Perfect Dark Gaia and prepared to cast the world into darkness. Sonic was however determined not to let Perfect Dark Gaia succeed, and harnessed the Chaos Emeralds' full power and became Super Sonic once again. Together with Chip, the heroes slayed the terrifying monster, but Super Sonic was given a tough fight and he fell unconscious in his normal form after defeating the beast. He was then returned to the surface by Chip, as he got sealed inside the planet and returned to dormancy. After landing on the surface, Sonic found himself back where he met Chip and found his necklace, which he kept as a bracelet. As he heard Chip's final goodbye, Sonic paid his respect to his friend and ran off to look for new adventures, accompanied by Tails.

Episode I
Sonic returns in an episodic downloadable title called Sonic the Hedgehog 4 as the sole playable character; this game takes place after the events of Sonic & Knuckles and takes place before the events of Sonic Adventure. Unlike its chronological predecessor, Sonic still retains his green eyes and Homing Attack in it.

In Episode I, Sonic had just finished his adventure in Sonic & Knuckles and had managed to finally destroy the Death Egg. With this whole ordeal over, Sonic decided to take a much deserved break from his adventures. He then parted with Tails and Knuckles for the time being, and Sonic ventured out on his own to explore new parts of the world. Sonic's break was cut short however, as Dr. Eggman revealed himself to be alive after their last encounter, and had returned to defeat Sonic for good with a new army of Badniks.

Sonic then began chasing and fighting Dr. Eggman while collecting Chaos Emeralds through the four main zones Splash Hill Zone, Lost Labyrinth Zone, Casino Street Zone, and Mad Gear Zone (not necessarily in that order).

At the end of this, Sonic gave a final chase to Dr. Eggman, but the doctor ascended to the sky and retreated to the E.G.G. Station Zone, a hover base built by Eggman. Sonic however jumped onto a rising rocket provided by Tails and chased after the doctor in hot pursuit. Onboard the E.G.G. Station, Sonic faced all of the past boss battle machines constructed by Eggman in past zones. After the fourth machine was destroyed, Eggman ran away to a slight depression in the floor; the mad genius then rised to reveal his new creation, a rebuild Death Egg Robot. Despite its improvements, Sonic managed to defeat it, and he escaped the now exploding base, and landed in Splash Hill where the ending played and the adventure ended for now.

Episode II
In Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, Sonic teams up with Tails, as Dr. Eggman joins a formidable alliance with Metal Sonic.

After having defeated Dr. Eggman onboard the E.G.G Station, Sonic spent the next few months relaxing from his adventures. This relaxing period was cut short however when Sonic heard that Dr. Eggman had returned and was up to no good on the neighboring continent. Sonic then sought out Tails and two of them headed out together in the Tornado to investigate the continent and Dr. Eggman's newest scheme.

With everything said and done, Sonic and Tails soon arrived in Sylvania Castle Zone, and after a rough landing, the heroic duo began investigating the surrounding area. Along the way, Sonic and Tails saw in the sky that the Little Planet had made its annual return to Earth, but now was covered in machinery. After some time of searching, the heroic duo found Dr. Eggman, and learned that the mad doctor had planned to turn the Little Planet into a power source for his newest Death Egg: the Death Egg Mark II. After defeating Dr. Eggman's Egg Serpentleaf, Sonic and Tails began a mad chase after the doctor to stop him.

As the two of them continued to chase Dr. Eggman, the duo passed through White Park Zone, where Sonic found himself and Tails attacked by Metal Sonic, whose return from Little Planet was set up by Dr. Eggman during Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I. Despite finding his old rival more powerful than ever and determined to settle the score, Sonic and Tails managed to defeat Metal Sonic, and they continued chasing Dr. Eggman.

Sonic's and Tails' chase after Dr. Eggman eventually took them to the skies, where they followed the doctor in the Tornado. As they were about catch him however, Sonic and Tails were attacked by Dr. Eggman's Sky Fortress and pursuited by Metal Sonic in his Metal Carrier. After narrowly avoiding a barrage of missiles, Sonic and Tails made their way through the Sky Fortress with the Tornado, but were then attacked by Metal Sonic and his Metal Carrier. Sonic and Tails eventually managed to destroy the Metal Carrier however, after a tough aerial battle.

As the Sky Fortress was about to blow up, Sonic and Tails chased after Dr. Eggman though its interior, but the duo were then held back by Metal Sonic long enough for the doctor to escape in an rocket-powered escape pod. Seeing they did not have much time before the Sky Fortress exploded, Sonic and Tails searched for a way to escape. They soon found another escape pod, and used it to not only escape the Sky Fortress, but also chase after Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic to the Death Egg MK.II.

Once onboard the Death Egg MK.II, Sonic and Tails began looking for Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic. As they found them, the two pairs had a brief battle, which came to an end when Eggman and Metal Sonic escaped. As Sonic and Tails began chasing after them, Sonic found himself confronted by the lone Metal Sonic, who wanted a rematch with him after their last race on Stardust Speedway. Never the one to back down from a challenge, Sonic, alongside Tails, faced Metal Sonic in a clean race through the Death Egg MK.II. With Tails by his side however, Sonic once again triumphed over his metallic doppelganger, and watched as he smashed into a wall near the finish line once more.

With Metal Sonic out of the way, Sonic and Tails went to face Dr. Eggman himself. They soon found the doctor, who confronted them in the Egg Heart, but Sonic's and Tails' teamwork managed to prevail over the contraption and destroyed it. As the duo saw that the Death Egg MK.II was now beginning to crash, they managed to escape it through two escape pods. As Sonic and Tails returned home, they watched on as the Death Egg MK.II shut down and was pulled away from the Earth by the Little Planet's orbit, thus marking the end of their adventure.

A Colorful Adventure
Sonic returned as the only playable character in Sonic Colors. In this game, Dr. Eggman claimed to have developed a sense of remorse for his past misdeeds and had constructed Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, an amusement park made of several planets, to apologize for his actions. Sonic, however, did not believe that Eggman had turned over a new leaf, but that it was just another evil plot, and therefore headed to the amusement park with Tails to stop it.

Once there, Sonic was impressed by the scenic views, and Tails actually thought that Eggman had a change of heart. Sonic, however, assured him that Eggman was definitely up to something. While he was checking out the park, he found Orbot and Cubot trying to capture two aliens with nets. While Sonic was not sure on what was going on, he knew that he had to save the two. When he did, the cyan alien went inside Sonic and turned Sonic into a laser that zipped away. He later reached Tails, who was with the white alien he saved and was trying to build a translator so they could understand them. Sonic told Tails what happened, but Tails found it hard to believe. The white alien tried to tell them that Sonic was telling the truth, but the two could npt understand him. Sonic then decided to find Eggman and figure out what he planned to do with the aliens.

While Tails was busy building the translator, Sonic went out to explore the Tropical Resort and found Eggman, who was gathering aliens. Sonic taunted him for thinking nothing could stop him, but Eggman unleashed Rotatatron to destroy him. Sonic destroyed it and (unintentionally) sent a piece of it into one of the towers in the process. He returned to Tails, who had the translator ready (albeit with a few bugs left to work out), and asked the alien what was going on. They learned that his name was Yacker and that he came from an alien race called Wisps, whom Eggman had captured. He asked Sonic to save them and Sonic gladly accepted.

Sonic headed to the nearby planet to investigate and found a mysterious generator, but was then met by the giant robot guarding it. After destroying it and shutting the generator down, Sonic met Tails and Yacker and asked if Yacker had given any more information. Tails told him that Yacker said that the power Sonic was possessing from the Wisps was called Hyper-go-on power, and that Eggman, whom the Wisps called "Baldy Nosehair" (which Sonic finds hilarious), was draining them of it for an evil purpose. Sonic thanked them for the information and headed off to the next planet. As he and Tails looked for Eggman, Eggman took them by surprise and tried to brainwash them with his Mind Control Ray that ran on Hyper-go-on energy, but Sonic was saved by Tails. Unfortunately, Tails ended up brainwashed, and Eggman tried to make the two of them fight, but Sonic refused to fight his friend. Luckily, Eggman ran out of Hyper-go-on energy and Tails was freed. He warned Sonic that he would soon brainwash the entire universe and sent the local giant robot to defeat them before leaving. Sonic then boasted to Tails that he was right about Eggman and fought the robot (though half-hearted as he did not bet with Tails about Eggman).

After the battle and shutting down another generator, Sonic now knew Eggman's plan, but not how to stop it. He learned from Tails and Yacker that Eggman captured the Wisp's planets with tractor beams that held them above Sonic's world, so if Sonic could destroy their generators, the planets would be free and Eggman would be cut off from his Hyper-go-on energy source. Having already broken two of without knowing, Sonic headed out to destroy the remaining three.

When arriving at Planet Wisp, Sonic was disgusted to see how Eggman transformed the beautiful planet and how he used the Wisps as fuel and promised the inhabitants to free them. He soon found the planet's generator and the robot protecting it. After a difficult battle Sonic defeated it, but was caught talking to its remains by Tails and Sonic was left pretty embarrassed.

Sonic and Tails continued to Aquarium Park where Sonic fought Admiral Jelly and destroyed it, thus freeing another planet. The two then went to the Asteroid Coaster where they worked their way into the main center where all of the Wisps were made evil by turning them into "Nega Wisps". Upon this sight, Sonic got surprisingly serious and asked Tails to excuse him while he looked for the next generator. Sonic then fought the Frigate Skullian and broke the last generator and the factory, thus freeing all of the planets and Wisps. They all then celebrated at Tropical Resort with Sonic break-dancing, thinking it was all over.

Unfortunately for Sonic, Eggman was ready to launch his mind-control weapon on the world, but the broken robot piece from Rotatatron that was unintentionally struck there by Sonic, caused the whole cannon to explode. As the park began to collapse, Sonic and Tails headed to Eggman's space elevator to get back home. When they arrived there, Eggman showed up in the Egg Nega Wisp, determined to kill Sonic, but Sonic merely taunted him for his attempt to be threatening. Tails told Sonic that that he did not think they could beat Eggman's mech, so Sonic decided to fight Eggman alone and he pushed Tails into the elevator for his safety and launched him back home. After an intense fight, Sonic managed to defeat Eggman with the help of the Wisps and their special Final Color Blaster. Unfortunately, the destruction of the cannon created a black hole, one that even Sonic was unable to outrun. As he was caught in the explosion, Sonic saw the Wisps gathering around him and they carried him back to his planet, and as well stopping the black hole. Sonic then got up and noticed that he was back home and was met by Tails. Yacker then appeared and thanked them. but told them that he had to go home. Sonic and Tails exchanged some high-fives with Yacker, who went back to Planet Wisp, and sent the other planets back to their original place in the universe.

Déjà Blue: Having a Blast with His Past!
In Sonic Generations, which marked the 20th anniversary of the series, the Sonic of the present, named Modern Sonic, teamed up with his younger self from the past, named Classic Sonic, as a new foe called the Time Eater appeared and began interfering with Sonic's history.

In the past of Green Hill, Classic Sonic was exploring when he heard a noise. Suddenly, the Time Eater appeared in the sky and Classic Sonic noticed it as everything turned white. In the present day, a while after Sonic's battle with Dr. Eggman in Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, Modern Sonic arrived at a picnic with Tails and all his friends, and wondered what was going on. Then suddenly, they yelled "surprise" and revealed that they had made a surprise birthday party for Sonic, who was delighted by the gesture and happily joined. After talking with Tails, Tails gave him a birthday Chili Dog, which Sonic found delicious.

Suddenly, the Time Eater appeared at the party and blew everything away, including Sonic's Chili Dog, much to his dismay. It then proceeded to suck all of Sonic's friends through time holes, back into different periods in Sonic's history. Sonic tried to attack, but was easily knocked back and passed out. He later woke up in a White Space and wondered what's going on, but saw some white figures in the distance and decided to check it out.

Once there, Sonic found Tails and Green Hill in a colorless, frozen state, but after passing through Green Hill, Sonic restored Tails and the area to life. Sonic wondered how Green Hill looked so familiar, but while Tails was curious about this phenomenon, Sonic was more interested in finding their friends. Sonic then quickly set off to check the colorless Chemical Plant out, but a few seconds later, Classic Sonic appeared and Tails mistook him for Modern Sonic, but simply passed through.

As Modern Sonic (with the unknown help of Classic Sonic) restores Chemical Plant, Sonic saw Tails coming and explained how Chemical Plant felt familiar. Sonic agreed and told Tails that he felt that he was experiencing déjà-vu. Both Sonics then proceeded through the White Space and restored more areas, along with more of their friends, each unaware of the other's presence.

Both Sonics later proceeded through a Boss Gate at the same time and found a glass with their counterpart at the other side of it. Both Sonics however, mistook it for a mirror, along with his younger/older form as his reflection. While looking at themself, Sonic noticed how their reflections' belly were different and got suspicious. The two then heard Dr. Eggman's voice through a door with Modern Sonic shouting his name. Classic Sonic looked at his older self through the glass and realized that it was not his reflection. While Modern Sonic was unimpressed by Dr. Eggman's threats, Classic Sonic ran towards Eggman's voice while Modern Sonic was surprised to see that his "reflection" was actually another "Sonic". Modern Sonic tried to follow Classic Sonic, but was locked out of the battle.

After Classic Sonic destroyed the Death Egg Robot, he saw the same monster that appeared at Green Hill, which kidnapped that time's Dr. Eggman. Modern Sonic later saw Classic Sonic exit the battle and wondered why there was two of him. Tails, who had also met his younger self, realized the answer and told the Sonics that they were traveling through time and space. Modern Sonic asked what could do this and the two Tails' thought the Time Eater was responsible. The two Sonics then decided to team up and stop the Time Eater.

The two Sonics continued through the White Space, restoring the areas and their friends, one by one. After a while, the Sonics learned from the Tails' that the Time Eater's actions ripped space and time apart, and damaged the world, by sending damaged areas from different times to the White Space. The Sonics also realized that their speed was the key to restoring the space and the timeline.

After Modern Sonic defeated Perfect Chaos, they witnessed the Time Eater being repelled by a Chaos Emerald and they decided to collect all seven emeralds by restoring more space. Despite the tasks lying ahead of them, both Sonics were thrilled by the adventure. As they finished restoring the areas and their friends, one of the Chaos Emeralds appeared, and both Sonics race after it. Modern Sonic however, due to being more experienced, got the emerald first by using a Sonic Boost, and Classic Sonic was amazed by that move. After Modern Sonic beat the Egg Dragoon with Eggman inside, Sonic taunted Eggman, who was sure to win this time, and told his past self how he always defeated him. However, the Time Eater strangely came by again and kidnapped Dr. Eggman once more, leaving the group more confused.

The Sonics eventually obtained all seven Chaos Emeralds and confronted the Time Eater in the Center of Time. As Modern Sonic told it to give up, Dr. Eggman revealed himself as the one controling the Time Eater, much to Modern Sonic's disappointment. Suddenly Dr. Eggman past self, Classic Eggman, revealed himself as being in league with Modern Eggman, and Modern Eggman explained that he planned to use the Time Eater to erase Sonic from the timeline so that he would be victorious in the present. Modern Sonic however, remained unconcerned as he always beat Eggman and now had another of himself to support him. The two Sonics then tried to fight them, but they got knocked out by the Time Eater. As the Sonics were passed out, they got support from all of their friends, allowing the Chaos Emeralds to activate. The two Sonics then awoke, determined to put the fight to an end and transformed into their super forms. The two then defeated the Eggmans, their robot and their plan, and returned back with their friends to where Modern Sonic's birthday party left off.

During the party, Modern Sonic thanked Classic Sonic for his help and hoped that he learned a few tricks, and Classic Sonic replied by demonstrating one of Sonic's newer abilities, the Sonic Boost, but slightly failed to keep up. Sonic clapped for his younger self, saying that he would get better. As Classic Sonic and Classic Tails headed back to their time, they shared a few high fives and Modern Sonic said to Classic Sonic "Hey Sonic! Enjoy your future. It's going to be great!".

Other Game Appearances
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, Sonic Battle and Sonic 3D Blast), racing games (Sonic Drift, Sonic Drift 2, Sonic R, Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sonic Free Riders, and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.) and fighting games (Sonic the Fighters, Sonic Battle, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl). He also teamed up with his video game rival, Mario, for the first time in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. They would also get together again in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Cameos
Video games such as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Tails Adventure, 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.

Personality
Sonic has been described as being "like the wind"; he is always on the move and is noted for being free-spirited and adventurous. He values freedom above all else and lives his life according to his own rules and enjoys nothing more than traveling across the endless boundaries of the world while searching for adventure. With a strong passion for enjoying life, Sonic is never dwelling in one place for too long and is always moving forward to look for new experiences, while enjoying his freedom.

He mainly prefers to simply be called by his name and not any fancy title; in his encounters with Princess Elise and Cream the Rabbit (both called him "Mr. Sonic"), Shahra the Ring Genie (who called him "Master"), Caliburn the Sword (who called him "Knave", though Sonic was especially annoyed by this), and Erazor Djinn (who kept calling him "Filthy rat", though it might just be an insult), he insisted that they merely call him "Sonic".

Sonic is mostly laid-back, cool and enjoys relaxation and firmly stands for freedom, but he is never one to rest in the face of injustice or oppression. He hates evil in all its forms and can easily be riled up about it; if he witnesses someone being opressed, are suffering from injustice or are simply depressed or despairs due to others' actions he will not show a moment of hesitation and will instantly step in to help those in need, even if it means that his actions will be met with contempt, as stated in Sonic and the Black Knight.

Sonic is extremely benevolent though he has been described as quick-tempered occasionally. Despite this, he always remains loyal to his friends, always keeps his word and he willingly puts himself at risk to help others, taking on any challenge that confronts him without hesitation, though he usually sees his heroics and fighting evil as an opportunity to have fun, making him somewhat of a thrill-seeker. However, in times of crisis, he focuses entirely on the task at hand and sees it as truly serious with no real fun involved. Despite this, Sonic's cocky, upbeat demeanor will remain unchanged, being foregone in only the most dire of situations. Sonic is shown to have a remarkable capacity to forgive, as seen in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), when he quickly forgave Silver and accepted his help in saving Elise in their third encounter, despite that Silver tried to kill him, twice.

Following his free-spirited, adventurous and speedy nature, Sonic never dwells on the past, or whatever sad or hurtful things that has occurred on his adventures for too long and always takes them in stride, never allowing them to weight him down. Such instances is when Emerl died, the disappearance of Shadow or when he had to say goodbye to Chip who had to be sealed in the planets core; each time Sonic merely remains calm while paying his respects and response with a positive attitude afterwards. Instead, he choses to live in the present and always looks forward to his next adventure, while holding no regrets for whatever has transpired, as long as it turned out well.

As shown several times, Sonic is very confident in himself and has a big attitude with a just as large ego to match it, making him sassy, cocky and quick-witted. He often jokes around to light the mood of a situation, but will also glady take any opportunity to tease and mock his opponents in battle and takes many of the lesser situations and opponents he faces lighthearted. This trait is most prominent in Sonic Colors where Sonic remains cool and laid-back, not behaving seriously in any of the scenes. He is usually seen around cracking up jokes and talking to himself. Sonic shows a lot of sarcastic attitude through his gestures but then enjoys any challenge that passes him. He likes to talk to robots (the boss-fights in the games) usually teasing them and even acting like a waiter to one of the robots even though he knows that they can't talk. Talking to robots is something that has not been shown in any game and he can even talk to them if they are completely broken. He was also embarrassed when Tails found out that he talks to broken robots that "can't actually hear him".

Sonic is not generally modest when it comes to his abilities and is regarded as being very proud and a world renowned showoff. On the other hand, he can also be quite the gentleman and he has been known to show some form of modesty when taking compliments. This is shown in Sonic and the Secret Rings where Sonic prefers not to be called "Master", and where he is referred to as the "Legendary Hedgehog" ("Me? Legendary? You've gotta be kidding! You're gonna make me blush!").

Sonic's taunts and confidence easily portray that he is smug. He is also very stubborn, as shown in the end of Team Sonic's story in Sonic Heroes. After narrowly escaping Eggman's exploding ship, Knuckles exclaims, "Boy, talk about cutting close!" to which Sonic replies, "Not really..." this implies Sonic is too stubborn to admit a task is difficult for him, but after being teased by Knuckles, Sonic admits he needed Knuckles' and Tails' help, to Knuckles' obvious great surprise. In contrast however, Sonic can sometimes be overconfident in his abilities; for example, when Merlina stops him from attacking the Black Knight, he is irked and asked why she did so, positive that he could have defeated him.

Sonic is also known for indomitable will (which no doubt goes hand in hand with stubbornness), his absolute confidence, never-waving faith in himself and his will to keep on fighting surpasses his actual ability to keep on fighting. An example of this can be seen in Sonic and the Black Knight, where Sonic continues to try to fight Merlina despite being unable to reach her through her force field shield, being hit repeated times so he is badly hurt and exhausted, and having his sword broken as he attempted to parry Merlina's attack. Sonic's friends plead him to give up, but he refuses ("It was never about chivalry for me. I've just gotta do what I gotta do, that's all...").

A very noticeable trait of Sonic is for his fondness for the beauty of nature. Ever since the first Sonic game in 1991, Sonic has been shown to be a protector of nature. In several games like Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic 06, Sonic Colors shows Sonic appreciating scenic views. His love for nature is defined in Sonic Colors where Sonic appreciated Dr. Eggman for making Tropical Resort a beautiful view, and when Sonic reached Planet Wisp when Sonic showed an emotion of anger and rage when he found out that Eggman was polluting the planet which was filled with beautiful plants, this also marks the only time in which Sonic was shown serious and angry in Sonic Colors. His anger for Planet Wisp being polluted was put further when he said, "That's pretty low, even for a sleazeball like Eggman!" meaning that he thinks that Eggman polluting a scenic planet is even more evil than Eggman himself. In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic is shown to have a fondness for locations that are filled with flowers, trees and other kinds of plants. Sonic appears to be an introvert; after spending time with his friends, he seeks some alone time and relaxation and then gets back to his friends.

Sonic Unleashed's booklet states that his personality is "A juxtaposition of kindness and ferocity, as, on one hand, he does all he can to snuff out evil, but he can't look away when someone is in trouble." Sonic Unleashed also has sidequests in which Sonic the Werehog is trying to convince the Elder Gregorios in Apotos that he is Sonic the Hedgehog. To prove it, Sonic undergoes a test of speed, which involves him getting a pair of glasses for the Elder in a certain time limit; a test of courage, by protecting the Elder from minions of Dark Gaia; and a test of selflessness and kindness, which involves Sonic obtaining a book for the Elder out of kindness.

It has also been shown that Sonic will try to hide pain, fear - unless Amy gets angry, during which Sonic will show obvious nervousness or even fear- or exhaustion. It is also shown that Sonic faints after some adventures (an example of this is in Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors). It has been revealed that Sonic loves and takes great pride in his speed, and that he takes insults towards his speed rather personally.

It is to note that regardless of the countless foes he has fought throughout the series, he bears no noticeable ill will to any of them, but rather he admires how powerful some of them are and how much fun they have given to him. An example of this is seen when Metal Sonic is defeated and Sonic tells him that he is open for a rematch. Most notable towards Dr. Eggman, whom has constantly tried to destroy him to complete his schemes, however Sonic is satisfied with merely stopping him, also in occasions where Eggman helps Sonic and co. to save the world (although for his own interests, mainly because he couldn't take over the world, if it's destroyed) he never rejects his help.

Despite his thrill-seeking, hyperactive, and smug demeanor, Sonic has shown many times to be much more insightful than he usually lets on. In the earliest display of this insight would be in Sonic Adventure, where Sonic was able to understand how simply resealing Chaos in the Master Emerald while Chaos was still suffering from all of its rage would solve nothing in the end. Other instances include in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), in which Sonic was able to give Elise valuable and comforting advice, and in the end of Sonic and the Black Knight, where he was able to give Merlina similar words of encouragement and comfort. This insight, combined with a charismatic personality, allows Sonic to get along with virtually anyone he meets, even if at one point they were his enemies.

The Japanese version of Sonic Advance 3 strategy guide, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic and the Black Knight states that, Sonic's favorite food is chili dogs. He enjoys music, but seems to have an special interest in rock music. Some official character art and a television commercial for Sonic Adventure suggests that he has a personal hobby as a Disc Jockey. Furthermore, it is displayed in Sonic Rush that Sonic also enjoys break dancing as it is one of his primary ways for filling up his Rush meter. His battle moves in Sonic Battle are also based on break dancing, as mentioned in the attack descriptions. He also breakdances in Sonic Advance 3 if he finishes a level in a short-enough time. Lastly, one of his taunts in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is him break dancing and saying, "C'mon, step it up!" (or just "come on" in the Japanese version). He will also breakdance if he gets first place in the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

Appearances in Other Media
Sonic has appeared in several different media (such as TV series and comics) outside of his mainstream games series. These series often take place in their own unique continuities, which differ greatly from the games in terms of plot, setting, and even Sonic's characterization. Some versions of Sonic from these alternate continuities are listed here.

Television series and Movie
There have been several animated series featuring Sonic.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the first cartoon to featured Sonic and had a very comical take on Sonic's adventures. In this media, Sonic is a world roaming Freedom Fighter with a lifestyle similar to a tramp, who fiercely defends the citizens of Mobius from the evil schemes of Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his lackeys Scratch and Grounder. One day, he came across a young orphan named Miles "Tails" Prower who he decided to adopt as his younger brother, as the young fox had none to live with and they became as close as a real family. While Sonic has his trademark atttude in this media, he also tries his best to stand out as a responsible role model for the innocent Tails, especially during the Sonic Sez segments.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), originally broadcast on Saturdays on ABC, was broadcast concurrently with the syndicated Adventures series in the United States. The Archie Comics continuity was based heavily on this series and features a similar background for Sonic. In this media, Sonic lived in Mobotropolis with Princess Sally Acorn and the future Freedom Fighters during their childhood until Dr. Ivo Robotnik invaded the kingdom, enslaved the people with the Roboticization technology and took control of Mobius.

Sonic and his friends however managed to escape the tyrant by fleeing into the Great Forest where they built a village named Knothole to hide from Robotnik. There Sonic, Sally and the others then formed the Freedom Fighters and began a ten year long battle with Dr. Robotnik to take back their planet, with Sonic being one of the main leaders and their primary agent.

Sonic Underground
Sonic Underground, a show in the US, United Kingdom and France, ignored the continuity of the previous series and games and instead introduced two siblings and Sonic's mother, named Sonia, Manic, and Queen Aleena respectively. In this media, Sonic was born as the heir to the throne of Mobius, along with his siblings, Manic and Sonia. Shortly after their birth however, their mother Queen Aleena was dethroned by Dr. Ivo Robotnik and they became wanted, but the Oracle of Delphius prophecized that Aleena and her children would one day defeat Robotnik, but only if she left her children in the care of others until then.

Sonic himself was left in the care of a regular family, but during his early childhood his adopted family was captured and roboticized. He then joined his Uncle Chuck and the Freedom Fighters in the battle against Robotnik over many years. One day however, Sonic was approached by the Oracle who revealed his origin and family. Sonic soon after reunited with his siblings and together they formed the band Sonic Underground where they fought Robotnik while searching for their mother.

In this media, Sonic possess a medalion that transforms into an electric guitar/laser rifle.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
Additionally, there was an OVA movie that featured Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik and Hyper Metal Sonic. In this movie. Sonic and Tails lived on Planet Freedom, but were one day called by Doctor Robotnik to battle an evil robot named Metal Robotnik and save their planet from destruction. This was however a trick on Robotnik's behalf so the evil doctor could copy Sonic's data into his Hyper Metal Sonic robot. After the doctor succeded in his plan, Sonic and his friends tried to stop this metallic copy from destroying the world.

Sonic X
The latest animated Sonic television series is the anime Sonic X. In this media, Sonic originally lived on a parallel version of Earth in another dimension. During one of his battles with Dr. Eggman however, a massive Chaos Control blast occurred and Sonic, his friends and Dr. Eggman were transported to the human world. Shortly after arriving, Sonic nearly drowned in a pool, but was saved by Chris Thorndyke, who Sonic became friends with. Over time, Chris came to have a strong bond with Sonic as he lived a lonely life.

Sonic eventually settled down on this new world with his friends and became a famous hero among the human population as he and his friends protected the world from Dr. Eggman as the doctor attempted to rebuild his Eggman Empire in this new world. Like the other television series, the show had an original storyline not present in any of the games, although it can be viewed as an elaboration upon the Sonic Adventure games' storylines. Eventually, Sonic and everyone from his world were forced to return home as their presence threatened to freeze time. Before Sonic could return home however, he was kidnapped by Chris who did not want him to leave, but Sonic eventually made Chris come to terms with his feelings and Sonic returned home.

In season 3, Sonic teamed up with his friends and Chris, who had just arrived in Sonic's dimension, to fight the Metarex, an alien race of cyborgs that was a threat to the safety of the entire galaxy. With everyone's aid, Sonic managed to defeat the Metarex and their leader Dark Oak and saved the galaxy. Upon returning to his home planet, Sonic had his goodbye with Chris who returned to his world and Sonic himself went back to his normal battles with Dr. Eggman once more.

Books and comics
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 Doctor 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—present), Sonic X (comics) (2005—2009) and Sonic Universe (2009-present) are based on the settings established by earlier animated TV series, the ABC Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) cartoon and the Sonic X anime respectively.

In Japan, various Sonic manga have been published.

Shogakukan manga
In the manga series by Shogakukan, Sonic is the heroic alter ego of a young, timid hedgehog boy named Nicky. Nicky transforms into Sonic whenever he wishes he had the strength to overcome a dangerous or stressful situation, but nobody (even Nicky) is aware of this transformation.

Nicky's girlfriend Amy (a prototype of Amy Rose) also has a crush on Sonic, and Nicky's father Paulie, a pilot, claims that Sonic once saved his life long before Nicky was even born.

Archie Comics
In the Archie comics, Sonic is a Freedom Fighterand is the most famous hero on Mobius. He is best known for his defeat of Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his heroic actions preventing the Xorda from destroying Mobius and its solar system. Raised in Mobotropolis before Ivo Robotnik's coup, Sonic was an average child except for his abnormal speed. Sonic lost his parents to the roboticizer and was taken in by his [[Uncle Chuck until he too was roboticized. During Robotnik's Coup d'état, Sonic and a few others were herded to Knothole Village by the Original Freedom Fighters. It was from them that Sonic got the inspiration that would one day make him a hero.

As Sonic developed his incredible speed, his attitude became legendary. Irreverent, confident, impatient, and energetic, Sonic fought constantly to overthrow Robotnik Prime and continues the fight against his successor, Robo-Robotnik (later renamed Dr. Eggman).

After the Xorda attack, Sonic was teleported into space, where he spent a couple months trying to return to Mobius. But when he returned, a whole year had passed, and things were very different. Since returning to Mobius, Sonic has fought off the newest incarnation of Enerjak, overcome the destruction of Knothole, dethroned his evil counterpart Scourge the Hedgehog from his tyrannic rule over Moebius, briefly ending the Second Robotnik War, defeated the Iron Dominion and stopped Operation: Clean Sweep from destroying reality, all while facing complex problems between him and his friends, and political troubles in the Kingdom of Acorn/Republic of Acorn on the homefront. Following the disbandment of the Knothole Freedom Fighters and a series of losses on his behalf, Sonic has since assumed leadership of Team Fighters to continue the fight against Dr. Eggman.

In addition to his uncanny speed, Sonic has the ability to absorb Chaos Energy. Absorbing a great amount of this energy causes him to transform into Super Sonic. As Super Sonic, all of his natural abilities are enhanced and he gains the ability to fly, among other strange powers. His skin and eye colors change to yellow and red respectively, and he takes on an aura of yellow energy. It has happened also that Sonic has transformed even further into Ultra Sonic. Ultra Sonic is even more powerful and has the ability to adapt to his surroundings by taking on new forms.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, Sonic was once an ordinary brown (though still fast) hedgehog on the planet Mobius. He encountered a kindly scientist named Doctor Ovi Kintobor, who performed experiments on his speed. An explosion resulted in his spines fusing together and turning blue. A later experiment, involving Kintobor's attempts to rid Mobius of evil, transformed the good doctor into Ivo Robotnik. After several unsuccessful attempts to take over the world (as depicted in the first two Sonic games), Robotnik finally managed to conquer the planet by sending Sonic six months into the future. On his return, Sonic took it upon himself to form a group of Freedom Fighters to depose Robotnik, which they finally managed to do in the series' landmark 100th issue.

As in other continuities, Sonic is aided in his adventures by his loyal sidekick Tails, as well as Amy Rose and original characters Porker Lewis, Johnny Lightfoot, Tekno the Canary and others. He has a friendly, though still quite intense, rivalry with Knuckles the Echidna, who frequently accuses Sonic of bringing trouble onto his Floating Island.

Sonic can turn into Super Sonic in this continuity without exposure to the Chaos Emeralds (because of a dose of radiation he received when the Emeralds were first brought together), but in this form he is out-of-control, bordering on psychotic, and he attacks friends and enemies alike. The two were separated for an extended run, but re-united in the series' final story arc.

Reception and legacy
As Sega's mascot and one of the key reasons for the company's success during the 16-bit era of consoles, Sonic is one of the most recognizable video game characters in the world. In 1996, Sonic was the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade. Sonic is also the first of two video game characters to have a balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (the other being Pikachu).

Sonic was one of the three game characters inducted on the inaugural Walk of Game class in 2005, along with rival Mario and Link. One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after the character.

As Sega's mascot, Sonic has also been used as a symbol for the company's various sponsorships. Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team, during which period Sonic appeared in the team's uniform. During the 1993 Formula One championship, Sega sponsored the Williams Grand Prix team, which won the Constructors' Championship that year, as well as the team's lead driver, Alain Prost, winning the Drivers' Championship. 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, and the race's trophy was in the shape of a hedgehog. Sonic also appears on some versions of the willow video store logo. Sonic is more recognizable for people than Mickey Mouse according to a poll.

On the 21st October 2008, Sonic was voted the most popular video game character in the UK with a 24% vote. His old rival Mario came second with 21% of the vote.

Cameos/popularity
Sonic has proven to be an extremely popular character. After the first game, Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) came out, Sonic became a well-known and very familiar character, even at a time beating Mickey Mouse. After having been around only 2 years, he had already surpassed Nintendo's Mario in popularity according to a June 1993 Q-Survey in Gameplayers magazine. As a result of this popularity, he has been referred to in various parts of culture.

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 Sonic CD, Sonic actually had a few voice clips, who was voiced by Keiko Utoku at the time, in which he would say, among other things, "I'm outta here!" if the player stood still for 3 minutes, and "Yes!" if the player obtained a 1-up. This was also the first and only time Sonic had been voiced by a female actor.

The original American voice actor was Jaleel White, in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series (SatAM as known to fans). In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic's voice was played by Martin Burke.

Starting with the 1998 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. Information taken from the credits of both Sonic Adventure games, the Sonic Advance series, and Sonic Heroes. 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 voice cast.

As from 2010, SEGA had announced that they have changed the whole cast of the active characters of the franchise (sans Eggman), replacing Griffith with Roger Craig Smith.

Speed
Sonic is known best for his speed, with the ability to run at speeds greater than Mach 1, which is at the blistering speed of 768 miles per hour. This is evident in many games, where Sonic is recorded to run at speeds faster than 765 mph. In Sonic Unleashed, the checkpoint posts (Star Posts) also act as radars that clock Sonic's speed when he passes them. Due to the fact that his speed increases the longer he's boosting, it's possible for the checkpoint posts to show Sonic's max speed in-game, being able to clock him going at over 2,500 mph. It is also stated in the Sonic Adventure DX manual that "He's the world's fastest, hypersonic hedgehog" which is at a staggering speed ranging from 3,840 mph to 7,680 mph. He is occasionally referred to as "the fastest thing alive," and can run backwards at full speed just as well as forwards, as shown in the Team Sonic opening cut-scene of Sonic Heroes. Due to such speed, he is able to scale right up the walls of buildings, or similar structures, and can also run right over water.

It is unknown how much faster Sonic can run beyond Mach 1, although it is variously assumed that he can. In Sonic Battle, it is stated that he can move several times the speed of sound and in Emerl's story, Sonic takes on and defeats the Gizoid in under 30 seconds, before the Final Egg Blaster fires in that time. It is also believed that Sonic can move faster while in spinball form than running, possibly even reaching the speed of light due to the various proofs, such as in Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, where he could use the Light Speed Attack which, stated by Tikal, attacks enemies at light speed. He can likewise achieve light speed movements with his Light Speed Dash.

His speed does not seem to have certain weaknesses in that recklessness (the possibility of crashing into unintended targets) and "straight-line only" concepts are invoked, which implies that Sonic relies on his animal instincts to control the line of his running paths (and possibly for his Homing Attacks as well), and he may as well have already adjusted to controlling himself at such a speed in constant moments. Sonic is also shown to be able to run in full tight circles, thus is not exposed to the weakness of only being able to run fast in straight lines (usually shown in cutscences and animation; controlling his speed in 3D games can be a task for inexperienced players). Should he be running at fast uncontrollable speeds, he can use the Sonic Drift to properly control his momentum, and even crash into foes with it.

Physical Abilities
In line with his speed, Sonic has displayed amazing feats of movement and has the reaction time to match. He possesses great acrobatic skills and agility, alongside astonishing reflexes, making him able to avoid large and small obstacles with precise jumps and delicate movements, such as his Quick Step, despite the speed they are approaching at. When launched into the air, he can perform several tricks before finally landing on ground. He has also shown on several occasions that he can jump incredibly long distances, up to several hundred meters, possibly by applying speed to his jumps.

In terms of physical strength prowess, Sonic has often been noted for lacking overall physical strength in comparison to other characters in the series. However, it is possible that Sonic might actually possess a degree of superhuman strength (though nothing in comparison to Knuckles' strength). Sonic's Spin Dash and other spin forms are strong enough to cut through enemies (though not all shields), burrow through the ground, smash through surfaces by stomping, or break down walls. However, it is debatable whether the attack's main power comes from his supersonic speed or his superhuman strength, or a combination of both. A lot of moves that Sonic performs in fighting games involve his feet and legs more than his hands, which suggests that Sonic's legs are more powerful than his arms. This does not mean that Sonic's arms are not powerful as well, as he has been shown being able to tear parts from robots' bodies with brute force alone.

Several times, Sonic has been shown to have great resilience to physical damage. He can survive getting caught in the crossfire from all angles by Eggman's robots, and is only knocked out briefly by it. He can smash several robots with his fist without showing any sign of pain or injury. It is also worth noting that, for nearly all the battles Sonic has endured, he has never been crippled, nor has he displayed any serious injuries. It is also shown in various games that Sonic can survive free-falls from extreme heights, bordering at the edge of space. In Sonic Adventure, he fell face-first from a high point in the atmosphere twice, merely shaking it off after landing, and additionally in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Unleashed (as the Werehog), Sonic is able to survive atmospheric reentry unharmed.

Sonic also possesses an indomitable force of will; even in situations where most others would give up and resign themselves to defeat or imprisonment, and in situations where he is severely outnumbered and outgunned, he always forges on, never loses faith in himself and never quits or submits. This character trait is most noticeable in Sonic Unleashed, wherein, thanks to his will, he is one of the few people on the planet who is immune to the influence of Dark Gaia. This is also shown in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, where the Voxai Overmind attempts to use mind control on Sonic, and he resists when all other characters fail to do so, though he possessed some protection against it by having a Chaos Emerald filled with the Overmind's power. It appears once more in Sonic and the Black Knight, where he continues to fight Merlina despite having Caliburn broken in half and beaten to the point where he could barely stand. The only time his will didn't work was in Sonic Rivals 2, when he was possessed by the Ifrit in Tails' story scenario. It is safe to assume that if he does get possessed, he does all he can to regain control.

Sonic has also demonstrated the ability to harness the power of the Chaos Emerald for his own use. With one Chaos Emerald, Sonic can warp time and space with Chaos Control, and occasionally gains a boost in power.

It is safe to say that Sonic is far stronger, faster, and more skillful than he lets on. Only in truly bleak situations does he reveal his true power - his fight with Ultimate Emerl, who had the abilities of every character, all seven Chaos Emeralds and the power of the Final Egg Blaster (therefore being superior to him in almost every way possible), is a prime example of this, as Sonic was able to defeat him. Sonic may be able to defeat practically any enemy if he was to fight seriously from the beginning. It would appear that his cockiness, overconfidence and reluctance to fight at full power stop him from truly being considered the most powerful character in the series. Also, Sonic is often reluctant to use his Chaos Powers, and relies on his speed more.

Combat Skills
Despite not having received any known training in martial arts, the many years of battles Sonic has been through has made him a skilled fighter and a skilled user of hand-to-hand combat, and he is able to go up against others who have spent most of their lives training for battles.

Techniques and Moves
Many of Sonic's fighting moves are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection. Since his introduction in the first Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's primary offensive maneuver is the basic Spin Attack. As Sonic jumps or runs, he curls up and spins into a spiky ball when in motion that can damage, destroy, mow down, or burrow through many obstacles or foes. Later games in the series expanded on this basic attack. Two of these enhancements are now basic moves: the Spin Dash was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and involves Sonic spinning on the spot before blasting off at full speed, and the Homing Attack, officially introduced in Sonic Adventure, although unnamed variations of it appeared in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic 3D Blast, in which Sonic dashes in midair toward a target (can be implied to be guided by his instincts so that Sonic won't miss). Since AoSTH and SatAM, Sonic can also execute a ‘triple spin’, where he curls up into a ball and spins around quickly, like a buzz saw, and can burrow through the ground or a wall, depending on what it’s made from.

The Super Peel Out, or Figure 8 Dash, made its debut in Sonic CD, but since has only had minor recurrences in the Archie Comic series and anime. In the Figure 8 Dash, Sonic stays pivoted in one place and his legs move fast enough to create the illusion of an infinity symbol (more correctly a Möbius strip) beneath him in red. He holds this and then blasts forward.

Another technique, the Blue Tornado or Sonic Wind is when Sonic jumps into the air, and creates a whirlwind by circling a particular spot at high speeds which can throw his opponents into the air or blow away armor and weapons.

One of Sonic's newest signature moves is the Sonic Boost, a technique where he can increase his speed further and turn himself into a projectile by moving at such high speeds that he destroys any enemy caught in his path. He does not even need to have contact with the ground in order to execute the move as seen in Sonic Generations, and can use it to practically fly immense distances through midair. Similar to his healing ability in Sonic Battle, Sonic seems to be able to displace almost anything with his supersonic attributes. Also in Sonic Generations, he can even make objects accelerate faster with no need to expend power, as on Planet Wisp he can land on moving coal carriers and make them carry at a higher speed.

Fighting Style
In many of the fighting games where Sonic has been playable, it is shown Sonic mainly tend to use his legs and fast footwork to attack his opponents as his greatest strengths lies in his legs, though his is also shown to use his arms in battle as well. When fighting opponents hand-to-hand, Sonic makes use of his greater speed to deliver fast strikes to his opponents, which either allows him to deliver several strikes in a spilt second, or to increase the force behind his strikes in order to compensate for his lack of physical strength. For stronger physical strikes, he tends to perform Spin Attacks, Spin Dashes and Homing Attacks to knock his opponents back and to deal more damage.

Sonic's Back-Grab in Super Smash Bros. Brawl has him backflip backwards (while holding the opponent), land on the ground, and kick the opponent at a decent knockback. His forward smash consists of Sonic swinging his arm around for a short time and then releasing a charged punch (which might resemble his buzzsaw type attacks, and resembles his wind-up punch from Sonic the Fighters). This attack is one of his most powerful smash attacks in terms of knockback. Also as a nod to his footwork, Sonic also at times like in Sonic Battle, applies breakdancing to his combative footwork, especially in his Sonic Flare attack.

Even though he does not prefer to use weapons in combat (mainly dissing firearms as said in Shadow the Hedgehog), Sonic is shown to greatly excel in swordsmanship as seen in Sonic and the Black Knight. Even after having just picked up a sword, Sonic was able to slay a dragon using a sword alone and after receiving formal training from Caliburn, Sonic becomes capable of going up against and defeating the best knights in the world of King Arthur in duels with swords, such as Lancelot, Percival and even King Arthur himself. By using his speed and moves in line with his swordplay, Sonic can make quick and swift slashes and becomes a buzzsaw when spinning around with his sword, making him a dangerous force to be reckoned with.

Miscellaneous Skills
It is assumed that Sonic can control the strength or hardness of his quills. They appear to be extremely hard like buzzsaw blades when he is in spinball form, capable of shredding through several layers of reinforced steel to just about anything with enough speed. When he is not in ball form, they appear soft and flimsy like rubber. In Sonic Heroes, his quills (and body) are durable enough to slice through battleships without even moving at the speed of sound. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he can temporarily increase the durability of his quills to hit opponents in his Up Throw. In this move, he throws up an enemy, goes into a push-up type pose, and flares up and hardens his quills for the enemy to land on.

As shown in Sonic Battle, Sonic possesses the ability to heal himself, presumably by vibrating his molecules, and that he can launch shockwaves of air by spinning in his spinball form at high speeds.

In Sonic and the Secret Rings, during Dinosaur Jungle, Sonic mentions that his quills can sense danger, before being attacked by a dinosaur.

In the Sonic Riders series, Sonic has proven himself as a world-class Extreme Gear rider and is able to go head-to-head with the best Extreme Gear riders the world has to offer, namely Jet the Hawk. It would appear that Sonic has a natural talent for Extreme Gear riding, as he quickly grasped the controls on his first try and can perform several advanced techniques, despite being self-taught. After the events of Sonic Free Riders, Sonic can be considered the best Extreme Gear rider in the world, as he was able to beat Metal Sonic, who at that point possessed all the data and skills of the world's best Extreme Gear riders, in a race.

In Sonic Generations, Sonic is shown to transfer his speed throughout various parts of his body (which may explain why he is able to boost in midair from a stationary position, negating certain physics; he needed to learn this skill first in the 360/P23 versions of Sonic Unleashed), and on the second act of Planet Wisp, Sonic can even transfer to objects, as he can force a coal-carrying platform to speed up its movement by using his pure speed to make it go faster, and overtake other platforms (as well as crash into and break them).

POW Moves
In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood Sonic's POW moves are purely offensive attacks that involve using his speed to create wind currents that can damage the opponent or launch himself as a projectile while in spinball form. These are:


 * Axe Kick: Sonic spinballs into an enemy, then follows up with a powerful air-kick.
 * Whirlwind: Sonic performs a Tornado move, damaging everyone caught inside.
 * Blue Bomber: Tails lifts Sonic up, then throws him onto a target. Sonic then rebounds and hits the target a second time, leaving it weakened. This attack is the same as the nickname for fellow game hero Mega Man.
 * Fastball: Amy uses her hammer to hit a spinballing Sonic into a foe three times, rendering it sluggish.
 * Triple Tornado: In a variation of the aforementioned Whirlwind move, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails get propelled in the air in a Tornado move, then fall down and hit all enemies. This may leave targets Sluggish.
 * Hail Storm: Knuckles, Tails, and Amy smash a spinballing Sonic at a single target, potentially stunning the foe.

Transformations
During his adventures, Sonic has shown the ability to enter a number of different transformations (usually super transformations) to assist him in his toughest battles. This is usually done by using certain objects that possesses great power, or absorbing different varieties of energy. With these transformations, Sonic usually undergoes a physical alteration, gets his speed and strength increased and gains new abilities that match the theme of the transformation. While using these transformations, Sonic's personality and character usually remains the same, but some transformations has been known to affect his personality, giving him more darker traits.

Super Sonic
By using all seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic can initiate a super transformation called Super Sonic. This is by far Sonic's most frequently used transformation. In this state he can fly, is faster, stronger and nearly invincible. He does, however, need rings to maintain this transformation or else he will revert to normal.

Hyper Sonic
Sonic also possesses an extended and more powerful form of Super Sonic, called Hyper Sonic, which he can assume with the seven Super Emeralds. This form basically shares the same powers and traits as Super Sonic, but they are all upgraded and are more powerful than Super Sonic's.

Darkspine Sonic
In addition, by harnessing the power of three of the World Rings in Sonic and the Secret Rings, it allows Sonic to become Darkspine Sonic, a powerful form powered by his negative emotions. In this state, Sonic can fly, have greater strength, unlimited use of the Soul Gauge powers and have limited pyrokinetic abilities that gives him fire-based attacks. Because of the negative emotions formed from this transformation however, Sonic becomes slightly more sinister and violent.

Excalibur-Sonic
In Sonic and the Black Knight Sonic gains another super transformation: Excalibur-Sonic, by using the power of the Sacred Swords. This form grants him strong golden armor with a red cape, the ability to fly, greater strength and the power to wield the legendary sword Excalibur.

Sonic the Werehog
In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic unwillingly gains the power to turn into a werewolf-like version of himself at night time by accidently absorbing the energies from Dark Gaia. In this state, he loses his trademark speed, but he gains super strength, the ability to stretch his arms, and limited energy manipulation. While Sonic's strong will prevents him from going bonkers like other people affected by Dark Gaia, he does gain some minor feral behavior.

Wisp Transformations
In Sonic Colors, Sonic is able to harness a very powerful colorful energy called Hyper-Go-On from Wisps. When absorbing such energies, Sonic can transform into a number of different forms, such as a drill, a laser or even a fireball, depending on the type of Wisp. While in these forms, Sonic can perform different Color Powers, such as Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill, Blue Cube, Green Hover, Pink Spikes, Purple Frenzy, Violet Void, Orange Rocket or Red Burst. These transformations do only last for a few moments, however, and requires more Hyper-Go-On to be maintained.

Weaknesses
Sonic is incapable of swimming, which causes him to sink like a stone in water, probably mainly due to his great body weight for his size and narrow limbs or possibly due to his presumed hydrophobia (or he just does not know how to swim). Although, if hitting the water while running, he can dash across the water's surface, completely bypassing the hazard (an exception being in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in which all characters are able to swim, but he can only swim for a brief period of time before drowning). In most media, he is shown completely avoiding water. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, when Sonic competes in Aquatics events, he is the only character who wears a life preserver. However, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Sonic can swim without a life preserver, though he seems to be flopping like a fish when swimming, unlike the other characters. Although an exception of Sonic's poor aquatic abilities is in Sonic the Hedgehog [1991], where he is capable of swallowing bubbles for extra breathing time in water. Further 2-D games allow for underwater breathing through the use of air bubbles. In most of the 3-D games, landing in water often results in an instant death and is, alongside bottomless pits, probably the most dangerous obstacle in the newer games. An interview with Yuji Naka states that, Sonic is scared of water because previously Yuji Naka thought that hedgehogs couldn't swim, but then he saw a picture of a hedgehog swimming but he couldn't get out of the water, so the hedgehog needed a tree to get out. This explains that Sonic can go in water, but he thinks he can't get out and that no one would be able to help him, this is the reason he is scared of water.

Sonic also feels very uncofmortable and creeped out whenever Amy Rose flirts with him and tries to be romantic with him and fears Amy when she gets angry. This usually gives him a strong desire to run as far away from her and make it harder to speak to her; this fear increases when he is the one who angers Amy (this is even considering that she can do what Dr. Eggman and his robot army, ancient creatures and entities fail to do). This has happened at least two times, in Sonic Riders and in Sonic and the Black Knight (although for the latter, it wasn't his fault). Though its very likely that Sonic always escapes from Amy since Sonic is faster than Amy, she admits that she cannot run as fast as Sonic. So when Sonic successfully gets away from Amy, Amy then continues to find Sonic like she usually does. According to Amy's profile in Sonic Channel, it is translated that Sonic acts in a "cringe" when Amy shows her "Iikio", Iikio means "strong power" in Japanese.

There is also reason to believe Sonic reacts terribly to being held captive and may find it mentally and perhaps even physically painful. He seems to act absurd if he doesn't run for a long time, which might mean that he is very much addicted to running, and gets frustrated when something is slow. An interview with Yuji Naka states that if Sonic doesn't get to sleep for 8 hours during the night, it would spoil his running.

Sonic also hates to see his friends cry. It has been confirmed that he hates tears and can't bare to see anyone (except Eggman) cry, for he is sensitive about that.

Relationships
This section is for Sonic's relationships in the games continuity only. For relationships specific to versions of the character in alternate continuities, see those versions' respective pages


 * For the SatAM and Archie Comics continuities, see here
 * For the Sonic the Comic continuity, see here
 * For the Sonic X continuity, see here
 * For the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog continuity, see here
 * For the Sonic Underground continuity, see here

In the games, Sonic has encountered many people, he has many friends and foes. Sonic is well-known with his brotherly relationship with Tails, his friendly rivalry with Knuckles, and his fierce arch-rivalry with Shadow. Sonic's greatest enemy is Dr. Eggman, but Sonic comes across even greater enemies through his adventures.

Dr. Eggman
"Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time!"

- Sonic's response to Eggman when Eggman says that he should had beaten him Dr. Eggman and Sonic have been enemies, even before Sonic met Tails. Eggman always tries to conquer the world, and Sonic always thwarts his plans. It is also shown that Sonic can be more frank or taunting towards Eggman in various games, and also shows full confidence that he can spoil his plans no matter what (coming from the fact that Eggman loses to him every time, like its Sonic's job). Sonic sometimes doesn't take Eggman's plans seriously and will almost always seize the opportunity to tease him. It's unknown how they became enemies, but in a scrapped storyline, it was said they were once friends.

Dr. Eggman's real name is Ivo Robotnik, but in Sonic Adventure when Sonic finally encounters him, he teasingly says, "Hey look! A giant talking egg!" Ivo tells him to stop fooling around, then Sonic replies, "Whatever you say, Eggman!" After that, Sonic has been constantly calling him Eggman so much, even his friends started calling him Eggman. Even Ivo calls himself Eggman and doesn't bother when anybody else calls him "Ivo" anymore. It is stated by Yuji Naka that Sonic uses the nickname "Eggman" affectionately.

Sonic also seems to fall for Eggman's tricks, as shown in Sonic Unleashed, causing him to fall for the doctor's trap and transforming into a Werehog. However, Eggman's plan for turning Sonic into a Werehog was unintentional.

In Sonic's view, the worst creation Eggman has ever made is Metal Sonic, who is really devastating and causes a lot of trouble for Sonic. In Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Eggman seems to take Sonic's side to fight Biolizard or Black Doom (mainly because Black Doom is a worse threat than Sonic, as Black Doom wanted to destroy everyone on Earth and the worst that Sonic would do is humiliate him).

In Sonic Colors, Sonic often outsmarts Eggman with his jokes and sarcasm. This is shown in the scene when Eggman was constantly trying to pull off puns about his amusement park. When Eggman comes up with a clever pun before the final boss fight, Sonic embarrassed him by saying, "I know you're trying to be clever with this whole amusement park pun thing, but it's just coming off lame! Just say you're gonna destroy us and stop embarrassing yourself!"

Miles "Tails" Prower
Tails is Sonic's very best friend and sidekick. The two have been with each other since Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in which the two first meet. They both have been best friends for so long, they share a brotherly relationship.

Sonic first met Tails on Westside Island, when Sonic decided to explore the area. During one of Sonic runs, Tails saw Sonic and witnessed him running at high speeds. The young Tails was impressed by this and thought he was "cool" and such began to follow him. Sonic soon realized that the young fox was following him, but allowed him to do so since he was impressed by how Tails could keep up. Still, Sonic remained not very interested in his new follower. All this changed however, when Dr. Robotnik began his attack on West Island. After being awaken from his nap by the attack and seeing to Tails' safety, Sonic headed out to stop Robotnik, but he could not prevent Tails from joining him, who followed him all the way.

During the course of their adventure however, Tails proved to be a great assist to Sonic such as repairing his plane, the Tornado. As such Sonic came to have great respect for Tails and the two of them began to form a strong friendship. At the end of their adventure where Sonic was saved from his fall from the Death Egg by Tails, Sonic had build a strong bond with the young fox and the two became close friends.

After this adventure, Sonic and Tails were always there to help each other. Their friendship grew and grew until they had a more brotherly relationship. Tails often invents machines for Sonic and also made him three Extreme Gears. In Sonic Advance 3, they are known as the "Unbreakable Bond" when they team up. In Sonic Rivals 2 it is shown that Sonic trains Tails to learn how to run and fight in their free time. Whenever Sonic has an adventure to explore, he always comes to Tails and asks him to come along, and Tails is always ready to help.

Sonic also seems to care about Tails a lot, like in the opening of Sonic Riders. When Tails was hurt by Storm during a race, he went all the way back to help Tails even though Sonic was leading first place in the race. Tails was also very persistent in making Sonic's Extreme Gear the best Extreme Gear in the world because Wave had insulted Sonic's Blue Star.

Tails also used to depend on Sonic a lot, but later realized that he can't depend on him forever. This was displayed in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood when he says: "I guess without you around I kinda had to grow up a little." Sonic is also an idol and role-model to Tails and he just wants to be as heroic as he is.

In Sonic Unleashed, their bond seems to be closer, like when Sonic was in the form of a Werehog. Tails was the only one in the whole game to recognize him on sight.

In Sonic Colors, they are seen together throughout the whole game. It is noticeable that Sonic and Tails seem to be a lot more friendly and act like saving the day is an everyday job, which has not been seen in games for a while. Not to mention, Tails' esteem about Sonic's heroics seems to have dwindled, seeing as Tails cares more about inventing then Sonic's heroic deeds, not even noticing when Sonic does something. When Tails was mind-controlled by Dr. Eggman, Sonic refused to fight Tails and started telling him to get back to his senses. Tails has also embarrassed Sonic when he was talking to a broken robot that can't actually hear him. Sonic told him to forget about the whole thing and it was between him and the robot. In the end of the game, just for Tails' safety, he pushed him to Eggman's elevator so that he doesn't get hurt. Tails was completely unaware that Sonic was ready to push him and unwillingly went down to the planet. (However, in the DS version, Tails willingly leaves.)

Amy Rose
Amy and Sonic first met when Sonic had to save her from Metal Sonic in Sonic CD. After that Amy has been madly in love with Sonic, and chases him down wherever he goes; however, Sonic seems disturbed and annoyed her affection, and tries to run away or avoid her most of the times. However, when Amy is in trouble, Sonic is always present to save her and they are shown to be good friends. It is very common in games that whenever Amy comes to Sonic and tries to be romantic with him, Sonic feels uncomfortable and runs away from her. Sonic seems to fear Amy whenever she gets angry and runs away fearfully when she pulls out her Piko Piko Hammer.

In Sonic Adventure 2 when Sonic was in jail and asked Amy to help him get out, she jokingly replies that she'll help him if he'd marry her, to which Sonic replies "No way!" Sonic also seems to find her weird or a pain to him at times such as in Sonic Adventure when Amy wanted to go out with Sonic in Twinkle Park. Out of embarrassment and exasperation he says to himself, "I give up! She's so weird!" or "Ugh, that girl is such a pain!", though he follows after her regardless of complaint.

In Sonic Unleashed, Amy encounters Sonic in his Werehog form, but doesn't recognize him and runs off to continue searching for him. Chip then accidentally hurts Sonic's feelings by reminding him that people can't recognize him because of his scary new look. Sonic walks away downheaded as Chip tries to apologize and make him feel better. After Sonic saves her from a pack of Dark Gaia creatures who possessed a group of people to have a night party in the streets, he runs away from her. Amy took in a glimpse of him, and was left wondering if that was Sonic. When Amy asks Sonic to go out with her after he saves the world, the player can choose whether Sonic agrees or not.

In Sonic Free Riders, Sonic seems to be more annoyed with Amy when she constantly tells him that they have to go out and even tells him that he should take it easy on her in the race. When Team Sonic wins against Team Rose, Amy becomes angry at Sonic and demands he takes her on a date to make it up with her, Sonic replies "Wait, I owe you a date for winning a race?!". In the end of the Team Rose story, Amy forces Sonic to go out with her because she won, but Sonic, not wanting to go, says "Ugh!" and runs away from her.

In Sonic Generations Amy is excited to attend Sonic's birthday. However, Sonic keeps Amy away from getting too close to him by placing his hand over her face while talking to Tails. When Classic Sonic rescues Amy, Amy mistook him for Modern Sonic and questioned on how he looks so young, leaving him annoyed, whereas when Modern Sonic saves Amy, Amy tells Sonic that she was afraid that she will never "be able to flirt him again", leaving Sonic exasperated.

Metal Sonic
Sonic and Metal Sonic have a violent rival/enemy relationship. Eggman created Metal Sonic in order to defeat the real Sonic, knowing that something as powerful as Sonic would be able to succeed. Since Metal Sonic contains most of Sonic's abilities, they are almost always fighting with each other. Metal Sonic has a strong dislike towards Sonic, always trying to prove that he is better that him in every way, and even calls Sonic "My loathsome copy", as well as believing that he is the real Sonic. In Sonic Heroes, when Metal Sonic took control of Eggman's fleet, his intentions were to kill Sonic and then build a robot empire, but Sonic and his allies ended up defeating him, and afterwards Metal Sonic asked Sonic why he couldn't beat him and shut down. Also, in this game, Metal Sonic's real emotions towards Sonic were released.

Metal Sonic's hatred for Sonic went on after that, even after Eggman restored him to his robotic slave. He later broke free from Dr. Eggman's control once again in Sonic Free Riders in order to face Sonic, this time in Extreme Gear, but he was defeated once more in a one-on-one race.

Knuckles the Echidna
Another of Sonic's close friends is his relationship with Knuckles. Ever since Knuckles' introduction, there was recurring and unfinished battle between Sonic and Knuckles. Because of their differences and morals, the two are constantly getting into a crossroads, which then become outright fisticuffs. However, they finish the battle tied, or something serves to interrupt the battle before its end. The battle has appeared in the games. It occurs in many games featuring Knuckles since his debut in Sonic 3. With Sonic's speed paralleling Knuckles' strength in every way, their fights are always climactic.

It should also be noted that in various games, Sonic teases Knuckles whenever Knuckles falls for Eggman's tricks by making a pun out of his name; "Knuckle-head". In Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic says to Gawain, "Hey! You look like that Knuckle-head I know!" even without having Gawain making a mistake, and when Gawain accused him of wanting to steal the dragon's treasure, he remarked "Ugh, you SOUND just like that Knuckle-head too!", noticing the similarity between Knuckles and Gawain in personality. In Sonic Rivals 2 Sonic teases Knuckles when he sees Knuckles and Rouge together by saying, "Well look who it is... Knuckles and Rouge! You two on a date or something?" Knuckles tells him to stop fooling around and get back to what was important.

The rivalry has all but disappeared in some continuities, and in others, it is a sort of game between the two, actually serving as the plot for the game Sonic Rivals 2, when Knuckles tells Sonic that he needs to find Eggman, Sonic taunts him by saying that he'll beat Knuckles to Eggman, causing them to fight.

Overall, they are great friends and make a great team. Next to Tails, Knuckles is also Sonic's best friend.

In the DS version of Sonic Colors when Sonic heard that Rocket Wisps are easy to anger and easy to be happy, Sonic compares them to Knuckles. Later in the game, Sonic meets Knuckles at Starlight Carnival. Sonic and Knuckles still retain their rivalry but do not really argue. Instead, Sonic tries consoling Knuckles in getting angry when he was not accepting on getting tricked by Eggman, Knuckles keeps on yelling that he did not get tricked Sonic replies, "Alright! Alright! You didn't!". Tails also comment that Sonic and Knuckles are "funny" together. When Rouge tells Knuckles that the invitation was actually written by her, Knuckles becomes restless realizing that he did get tricked. Sonic tries cooling Knuckles down by saying that at least Eggman didn't trick him, but Tails doubted that would make Knuckles feel better.

In Sonic Generations, he was among the many characters that attended Sonic's birthday party. If Classic Sonic rescues him, Knuckles mistook him for Modern Sonic and asks if he gained weight. Classic Sonic would then rub his stomach with a sad look on his face. If Modern Sonic rescues him, Knuckles will thank him but rebutted that he didn't really need the help. Sonic would look at him weird, but then he gives him thumbs-up with a smile.

Shadow the Hedgehog


Shadow the Hedgehog is Sonic's arch-rival. They look almost identical (to the extent that many characters got them confused in Sonic Adventure 2), and they share almost every ability they have, including Chaos Control. Since they first met they have fought, argued, and tried to kill each other every time they cross paths. The fighting between Sonic and Shadow often turns into deathmatches quickly.

Their moral differences are as far apart as black and white, and always causes the two of them to clash. Sonic has a joyful, carefree attitude that looks for fun adventures, while Shadow has a dark, merciless edge and is known to be the most violent character in the series. Sonic has few limitations on his goals, but Shadow is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, never caring about who or what it effects. Nevertheless, they do not care what each thinks of the other's views, and seem them as yet another reason to fight each other.

Out of all the rivals and opponents Sonic faces, Shadow is the one whom he has the most time with struggling. Shown in all the clashes between the two, they are nearly equal or as strong as the other with both sides proving to be neither lacking in any category that seperates them from skill in their respective prowess. It is shown that while Sonic is becoming faster and more honed than Shadow, Shadow is getting stronger and more destructive than Sonic. This has only increased the intensity of their arch-rivalry. They have a need to showcase their growth and improvement for each and every encounter they have.

Blaze the Cat
Sonic and Blaze first met when she was searching for the Sol Emeralds in Sonic's world in Sonic Rush. At first, Blaze did not care who Sonic was as Cream and a few others told her to seek his help, but she claims that she does not need anyone to help her. Sonic was quite interested in Blaze to the point where he decided to find and help her. Though Sonic only intended to help her, Blaze started to attack him thinking he was her enemy.

Their battle ended in a draw and Blaze realizes that Sonic is not her enemy and the two became friends and combat partners. Later, when Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega team up, Blaze starts to lose faith in herself, but Sonic cheers her up, as soon as she regains faith and learns the power of true friendship she was able to use the power of the Sol Emeralds and become Burning Blaze while Sonic becomes Super Sonic and they team up to defeat them. After their battle, they say their goodbyes, where Blaze thanks Sonic and the two made a promise that they will meet again and the two shook hands as they were separated. In the ending of Sonic Rush, Blaze remembers Sonic's words about her flames, not being a curse, but an inherited gift and about her learning the power of the Sol Emeralds, then he says "And Blaze now you have that power! You know what I mean, right?", Blaze then smiles and once again says that they will meet again.

In their next meeting, Sonic ends up in Blaze's dimension, along with Tails, where they work together as allies to stop the Doctors' plans. After defeating them, Blaze tells Sonic that it is possible that the Emeralds brought him to her world as if it was destiny. Sonic, confused for a second, smiled and said "Who knows?", Blaze then brings out her hand to give Sonic the same handshake they did before and Sonic accepts, positive that will meet again and their friendship grows.

Sonic seems to be very amazed by Blaze, seeing as how she is one of the few people who is able to equally match him and possibly have the potential to defeat him in direct combat. Blaze, in turn, is very impressed with Sonic's skills and once said that she "bows before his skills". Blaze also seems to rely on Sonic the most and has a certain respect for him to the point where she considers him as her most trusted ally and friend.

In Sonic Generations Blaze attends Sonic's birthday party. This possibly proves that she cares so much about Sonic that she had apparently left her duties as the princess of her dimension and guardian of the Sol Emeralds simply to celebrate his birthday. Also when Sonic (both Classic and Modern) rescues her, Blaze says that while she is not fond about receiving help from others, she is grateful for his help.

Silver the Hedgehog
Sonic and Silver first met during the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). The two were enemies at first because Silver had traveled though time and was intending to kill Sonic believing that he was responsible for destroying his time by releasing Iblis onto the world and was bent on saving the future. But Silver befriended Sonic when he discovered that Sonic was not the Iblis trigger and that Mephiles the Dark had lied to him. The two worked together to save Princess Elise and when Sonic was killed by Mephiles, Silver realized that they could save Sonic with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Afterwards Silver teamed up with Sonic and Shadow to defeat Solaris. But since the events of the game were erased from history, Sonic and Silver never met. They don't actually meet until Sonic Rivals where Silver has traveled to the past to bring Eggman Nega back to the future, but Silver seems to be more competitive to Sonic as they raced each other see who would get to Eggman Nega first but later they teamed up with each other at the end to defeat Eggman Nega and also in Sonic Rivals 2 to defeat the Ifrit. It appears that Sonic and Silver don't remember each other from their past adventure since the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) were erased.

Silver seems to have a bit of a disliking towards Sonic mostly because he thinks that he is cheeky and foolish, much the same how Shadow thinks of Sonic at times. Silver's attitude tends to annoy Sonic at times as well as seen in Sonic Rivals when he says "Yo Silver, you've got an attitude". But they will work together and lay aside their differences whenever the time is right. An example is in Sonic Colors after Silver challenges Sonic to a mission, he asks if Sonic if he needs any help. Silver is one of the characters that Sonic would like to challenge as seen in Sonic Rivals, when Silver said to him that he had to get to Eggman Nega first before Sonic did, Sonic said "Okay Silver, bring it on, I like a challenge!". Their relationship is very similar to Sonic and Knuckles.

Himself
The Sonics of the Modern and Classic eras meet each other after being thrown back in time in Sonic Generations. At first none of them recognize each other as they both mistake the see through glass for a mirror until Classic (Past) Sonic runs towards the door leading to Eggman while Modern (Present) Sonic realizes it was another Sonic and gets shut out of the battle. At the White Space, the Sonics team up and race through time to fix space and save the world. Their teamwork is unparalled as they act in perfect sync and share the same gestures simultaneously in every scene; this is due to them being the same person.

To Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic is sort of like an awesome younger brother to him, someone who is hyped up on simply running and rolling around just simply enjoying life to the fullest. He enjoys seeing what he used to be like, being limited to the few tricks he had but made the most of them as he has experienced and developed them before when he was him before.

To Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic is somewhat like a cool older brother to him, someone who is stronger and faster than him, able to pull off the impossible and acts as a role model. He's very eager to learn what he will be like, gaining more experince and mastering all of the new tricks that he will develop when he becomes him, such as at the end of Sonic Generations where he attempts to do a Sonic Boost/Homing Attack but failed as it was his first attempt at the move.

Friends/Allies

 * Miles "Tails" Prower (Best Friend, Close as Brothers)
 * Knuckles the Echidna (Best Friend and Rival)
 * Amy Rose (Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend)
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (Look-a-like and Arch-Rival)
 * Blaze the Cat (Close Friend and Partner in Combat)
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Silver the Hedgehog (Friendly Rival)
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese the Chao
 * Vanilla the Rabbit
 * Big the Cat
 * E-123 Omega
 * Shade the Echidna
 * Chip (Great Friend)
 * Yacker
 * Wisps

Rivals

 * Shadow the Hedgehog (Arch-rival)
 * Knuckles the Echidna (Old Rival)
 * Silver the Hedgehog (Initially)
 * Jet the Hawk
 * Metal Sonic
 * Mario (Friendly Rival)
 * Rouge the Bat (Friendly Rival)

Enemies

 * Doctor Eggman (Arch-Enemy)
 * Metal Sonic (Robotic Doppelganger)
 * Dr. Eggman Nega
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (Sometimes)
 * Silver Sonic
 * Mecha Sonic
 * Pir'Oth Ix
 * Shade the Echidna (Former)
 * Chaos (Former)
 * Dark Gaia
 * King Arthur
 * Dark Queen
 * Erazor Djinn

Trivia

 * There is a genome named Sonic hedgehog.
 * In 1993, Sonic was the first video game character to appear in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (the second was Pikachu from the Pokémon franchise in 2001). Sonic reappeared in 2011 as the lead of the parade, commemorating his 20th anniversary.
 * If left alone for too long in the first Sonic game, Sonic will become impatient and tap his foot on the ground until the player continues.
 * In Sonic CD, after standing still for three minutes, he will say "I'm outta here" and jump off the screen, after which the "GAME OVER" screen will appear.
 * Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Unleashed (while in Werehog form) are the only games in which Sonic wears different shoes.
 * Sonic's first appearance in a game was not in Sonic the Hedgehog, but in Rad Mobile.
 * When Sonic closes his eyes in every classic Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and all three Sonic Advance games, his eyelids are the same color as his arms and muzzle. After that, his eyelids were changed to blue. However, in one commercial, his eyelids were not blue, and in a Japanese commercial for a game, he had no eyelids at all (he blinks twice in the commercial, but his eyes are still open). This is alluded to in Sonic Generations, as Modern Sonic has blue eyelids while Classic Sonic has flesh-colored eyelids.
 * Sonic has made a playable cameo appearance in the Christmas NiGHTS bonus event, "Sonic the Hedgehog into Dreams". This was also Sonic's first true 3D appearance.
 * Sonic's favorite food is Chili dogs.
 * According to an interview on Sonic Central, Sonic does not know the whereabouts of Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear or Bean the Dynamite.
 * In Sonic Rush, if Sonic is tapped with the stylus during gameplay, he will clap, jump back and forth and continuously swing his arm clockwise as if he is exercising.
 * Originally, Sonic was intended to have visible fangs in his Japanese artwork, though they were removed when he was given a more Americanized design for his US artwork in order to "soften him up" slightly. Even though he still possesses fangs, they are only visible when he opens his mouth (this is mainly noticeable in Dreamcast titles such as Sonic Adventure and Sonic Shuffle, but became less obvious after Sonic Adventure 2). Previously, his fangs were supposed to be visible even when his mouth was closed.
 * In some drawings, such as the official artwork for SegaWorld Sydney and a few animation cels, his arms are erroneously colored blue.
 * In the game Little Big Planet, one can customize the sackboy with a Sonic the Hedgehog design, as well as other costumes including Knuckles, Tails, Eggman and Sonic the Werehog.
 * Sonic's age has always been difficult to pinpoint. A mistranslation in the original Japanese﻿ manual states that he is 10 years old. According to the Sonic Technical Files, he is 18, "but it's kinda hard to tell". Once Sonic Jam was released, his age appeared to be solidified at 16, but Sonic Channel had finalized it as 15. As of Sonic Generations, the ages of Sonic and the rest of the cast have been elevated by one year.
 * In the Japanese versions of the games, Sonic proves that he knows more English than any of the other characters, as he is the only one who speaks English many times in the games. This may be due to the fact that the English language is considered "cool" in Japan, and it therefore makes sense to have the "coolest" character speak many English lines, as well as his Japanese voice actor wanting him to.
 * Sonic is the first character to utilize the Chaos Emeralds, transforming into Super Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * In the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamers Edition, Sonic placed 10th in the "Top 50 Video Game Characters Of All Time". His rival, Mario, placed first, and Shadow placed 25th.
 * Every time Sonic appears in a band, he is the guitarist.
 * It is possible that Sonic is able to move faster than the speed of light. This is implied in the DS version of Sonic Colors after Sonic scores an S rank on Omega's mission. When Omega collects data from Sonic, he says "At this rate, light speed will be exceeded", to which Sonic replies that light speed is slow and not a challenge. However, this may simply be a joke.
 * Sonic has been chased by something numerous times in 3D games: a whale in Sonic Adventure, a G.U.N. truck in Sonic Adventure 2, three large spiked wheels and a giant alligator in Sonic Heroes, a fire tornado and another whale in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), a group of triceratops in Sonic and the Secret Rings, a black hole in the Wii version of Sonic Colors, and a helicopter and a truck in Sonic Generations. The black hole was the only thing that Sonic was not able to outrun.
 * Sonic is notorious for breaking the fourth wall.
 * Apparently, Sonic and his friends are able to breathe in space (as seen in several games and Sonic X), although he cannot breathe underwater without the support of bubbles.
 * All of the cars that Sonic has driven have been sports convertibles, similar to how Amy has only ever driven old-fashioned cars.
 * In 1996, Sonic was the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade.
 * The NBA team "The Seattle SuperSonics" is often nicknamed "the Hedgehogs" as a reference to this character.
 * Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team. During this period, Sonic appeared on the team's uniform.
 * Sonic makes a cameo appearance in the Disney film Wreck-It Ralph, in which he is voiced by Roger Craig Smith. Eggman also makes an appearance in the film, thus marking the big screen debut for the two characters. Much like Eggman, Sonic's design seems unchanged from his current design in the games.
 * Whenever Sonic grinds, sparks fly, implying that his shoes (or at least their soles) could be made of metal.
 * In some games, Sonic's quills move as he moves.
 * In modern Sonic games, whenever Sonic spins, a blue aura surrounds him.
 * The rock band "A Day To Remember" made a song named after Sonic and Tails. The song is called "You Be Tails, I'll Be Sonic".
 * Sonic was originally supposed to be colored teal, as shown in some of his concept art. He was changed to a darker blue because the teal kept blending in with the sea in the background of Green Hill Zone.
 * This may also explain why Classic Sonic is teal/light blue in Sonic Generations.
 * In Capcom, when the game MegaMan: The Wily Wars was announced, a promotional piece of artwork was released, displaying Mega Man shaking hands with Sonic.
 * Sonic makes a cameo in a commercial for Progressive Insurance

Memorable Quotes

 * "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." - Sonic introducing himself.
 * "Long time no see!" - Sonic greeting people in a few games.
 * "I'm outta here!" - Sonic when the player waits for too long in Sonic CD.
 * "Aw, yeah! This is happenin'!" - Sonic enjoying a run on building rooftops in his intro of Sonic Adventure.
 * "It won't change how he feels inside, will it? His heart will still remain in turmoil and his anger just won't vanish!" - Sonic claiming that sealing Chaos in the Master Emerald will not change anything, in Sonic Adventure.
 * "Yeah, not bad!" - Sonic after beating a mission in Sonic Adventure.
 * "Hey, pump it up!" - Sonic after missing a mission in Sonic Adventure.
 * "NO!!" - Sonic when he loses a life when hit with no rings (also when he falls off a ledge) in Sonic Adventure (also in Sonic Adventure 2, but only when hit without rings).
 * "Kuu-!" - Sonic when he loses a life when he falls off a ledge in Sonic Adventure 2
 * "Hey, I'll play with you some other time!" - Sonic in Sonic Adventure after defeating a boss.
 * "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies? I'm outta here! I like running better." - During the intro to the Hero Story in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Say something! You fake hedgehog!" - To Shadow when first encountering him Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Too easy. Piece of cake!" - Sonic getting a B Rank in Sonic Adventure 2 and winning a match in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * "You've turned into a big time villain, doctor!" Sonic to Eggman when passing the fake Emerald in the ARK in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Let's head back to the planet that's as cool and blue as me!" - After defeating the Finalhazard and talking with Amy in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Let's blast through with Sonic speed!" - Selecting Team Sonic in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Marriage? No way!"- In Sonic Heroes after defeating Team Rose in response to Amy's marriage proposals.
 * "Time to crack that Eggman wide open... Yeah, let's party." - Sonic in the Team Sonic intro from Sonic Heroes.
 * "Shoot! Not my day..." - Sonic getting an E-Rank in Sonic Heroes or getting a 1-Star rank in Sonic and the Black Knight.
 * "Ready anytime!" - When Sonic gets a Team Blast for Team Sonic in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Alright. Let's get ready to do this. We'll show that creep the real super power of teamwork!" - Sonic and friends about to confront Metal Madness in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Anytime you want a rematch, just let me know! I'll be waiting!" - Sonic challenging Metal Sonic to a future match in Sonic Heroes, later to be done in Sonic Free Riders.
 * "Let's do it!" - Sonic in the beginning of the levels in Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure.
 * "You need to be true to yourself!" - Sonic talking to Blaze in Sonic Rush.
 * "Looks like the party's getting started! Time to rock and roll!" - Sonic about to go to a stage with Shadow in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * "You up for this Shadow?" - Sonic asking if Shadow's up to fight a massive army of Black Arms when they were going up to the Space Colony ARK in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * "Don't you remember Shadow? We raced here once." - Sonic asking Shadow if he remembers their race from Sonic Adventure 2 in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * "My... That's a pretty snazzy performance there."- Sonic in his opening cutscene for Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * "Nothing starts until you take action. If you've got time to worry, run!" - Sonic talking to Elise in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * "You're too slow!" - A very famous quote when taunting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * "Sonic's the name, speed's my game!" - After winning a match in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * "Come on, step it up!" - Sonic taunting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * "Finally! Something interesting!" - Sonic in the teaser trailer for Sonic and the Secret Rings.
 * "And enough of that 'rat' stuff! Seriously! I'm a hedgehog! HEDGE-HOG!" - After Erazor Djinn calls Sonic a rat in Sonic and the Secret Rings.
 * "I told you, I'm not a rat! I'm a hedgehog!" - Sonic when Erazor "fulfils" Sonic's final wish of trapping Erazor in his lamp forever in Sonic and the Secret Rings.
 * "Yeah, this is the real me. Pretty cool huh?" - Sonic telling Chip that this is what he usually looks like in Sonic Unleashed.
 * "Yo, Eggman. Thanks for that little skydiving adventure the other day!" - Sonic after saving the people of the village in Mazuri.
 * "Do I need a reason to want to help out a friend?" - Sonic after discovering that Chip is actually Light Gaia, who believes that defeating Dark Gaia is not Sonic's responsibility.
 * "Time for the big finale!" - Sonic in the final battle against Dark Gaia in Sonic Unleashed.
 * "Eh. Can't win em all..." - Sonic when getting a C rank in Sonic Unleashed.
 * "Yeah, I'm good!" - Sonic after getting an A rank in Sonic Unleashed.
 * "Beautiful!" - When Sonic gets an S rank in Sonic Unleashed.
 * "Hey! Hold up a minute. Girls hate guys who rush them, Jet." - Sonic coming to Amy's aid after Jet accuses her of stealing an Ark of the Cosmos in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
 * "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I have no master, except the wind that blows free." - Sonic introducing himself to Sir Percival in Sonic and the Black Knight.
 * "Let's just say that whim is my other master." - Sonic after saving Sir Percival, following their fight in Sonic and the Black Knight.
 * "A knight... never... flees his foe... right?" - Sonic restating Caliburn's words to the knights of the round table, when he refuses to run away from Merlina during their fight in Sonic and the Black Knight.
 * "It was... never about chivalry for me... I just gotta do what I gotta do, that's all!" - Sonic when badly beaten by the Dark Queen in Sonic and the Black Knight.
 * "Here we go!" - Sonic when you select him in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
 * "It's all about speed!" - Sonic if he comes in first place in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
 * "Aw man, I could've done better..." - Sonic if he comes in 4th place or lower in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
 * "Yeah! That was sweet!" - Sonic in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games when he receives a new world record.
 * "No way..." - Sonic when getting a 'foul' in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
 * "Phew! Just made it!" - Sonic when coming in 2nd or below in a circuit in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
 * "Faster than the speed of sound!" - Sonic before starting an event in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
 * "Wait, we're going up against them? Seriously?" - Sonic after he found out he had to go up against Team Rose in Sonic Free Riders.
 * "Because Eggman plus secretly built amusement park equals evil plot for us to foil." - Sonic talking to Tails at the beginning of the story in Sonic Colors.
 * "I did a little shopping, grabbed a bite to eat, and trashed a giant killer robot." - When Tails was wondering where Sonic was in Sonic Colors.
 * "BALDY NOSEHAIR!? That is the best thing I've heard all day! I gotta remember that one!" - Sonic laughing when Tails told him that the Wisps call Eggman "Baldy Nosehair" in Sonic Colors.
 * "No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!" - Sonic before fighting the boss on Planet Wisp in Sonic Colors.
 * "A hedgehog's gotta do what a hedgehog's gotta do." - Sonic tells Tails he did what he had to in order to defeat Eggman and outrun the black hole that enveloped the theme park in Sonic Colors.
 * "Thanks. But I had a little help on the last part..." - Sonic telling Tails about how the Wisps saved his life at the end of Sonic Colors.
 * "Well, I can jog around the planet again if you want." - Sonic to Tails after knowing about his suprise birthday party in the 3DS version of Sonic Generations.
 * "Hey! Not cool!" - To the Time Eater at their first meeting in Sonic Generations.
 * "An adventure's no fun if it's too easy" - To Classic Tails when Tails says they have their work cut out for them in Sonic Generations.
 * "Destroy me? You and what mustache? I beat you all the time by myself, and now there's two of me!" - to both Dr. Eggman and Dr. Robotnik before the first half of the boss fight with the Time Eater in Sonic Generations; he's referring to the fact there's both Modern and Classic Sonic.
 * "Hey Sonic! Enjoy your future. It's going to be great!" - Sonic's farewell to his Classic self when he is going to return to his original timeline, at the ending of Sonic Generations.

Solo Themes

 * In Sonic CD, Sonic's theme is "Sonic Boom." In the Japanese version, his theme is "Sonic - You Can Do Anything."
 * In Sonic Adventure, Sonic's theme is "It Doesn't Matter."
 * Also, in Sonic Adventure 2, the City Escape stage has lyrics to the music, which refer to Sonic in the line "Rollin' around at the speed of sound".
 * In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic's theme is a a faster-paced, alternative rock remix of "It Doesn't Matter."
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) the main theme "His World" is possibly a Sonic theme because the Zebrahead version has lyrics like "and straps on his shoes" a reference to Sonic because of his iconic shoes and "cause' he's the best there ever was, haven't ya heard the news" because he is often referred to as a savior to mankind and he is known by many in his world.
 * In Sonic and the Black Knight the main theme "Knight of the Wind" is probably referring to Sonic, for Caliburn eventually calls him so.
 * In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic's theme is "Endless Possibility," which describes life from his point of view.
 * In Sonic Colors, his theme is "Reach For The Stars" describing from his point of view on his new adventure.

Shared Themes

 * In Sonic Adventure 2, he shares the theme "Live and Learn" with Shadow.
 * In Sonic Heroes, Team Sonic's theme is "We Can," and refers to Sonic in the lines "Look out down below, Sonic is on the go" and "Sonic's in the lead, giving us greater speed!"
 * In Sonic Riders, Sonic's team theme, shared with Tails and Knuckles, is an instrumental called "High Flying Groove."
 * In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Team Sonic's theme song is "Un-Gravitify."
 * In Sonic Free Riders, Free could have some connection with both Sonic and his Extreme Gear rival Jet.

Gallery

 * For a full gallery of images of Sonic, including sprites and screenshots, see Sonic the Hedgehog (character)/Artwork Gallery.