Sonic Christmas Blast

Sonic Christmas Blast was a Christmas television special for the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series produced by DiC Entertainment, who also produced the Saturday morning cartoon series that had run alongside it. It aired on the USA Network in 1996, nearly three years after the original series had been canceled. When Toon Disney aired the Adventures series, Sonic Christmas Blast was regularly shown in their annual Christmas marathons.

The special was advertised in issue #41 of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book as An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas. This suggests the special was intended to promote the Sega Saturn game Sonic X-Treme, which was unfortunately delayed (and later cancelled). As a result, the special was changed to be named after the Sonic game that did come out in time for Christmas, Sonic 3D Blast.

Synopsis
Christmas Eve has come to Robotropolis (erroneously pronounced with two "T"s in this special), and everyone in town is gathered around the Jumbotron in the middle of the square so they can see Santa Claus make a very important announcement - he's retiring, and for some reason, he has picked Dr. Robotnik, alias Robotnik Claus, as his replacement! Of course, being the greedy porker he is, Robotnik demands that the children give him presents for Christmas instead of the other way around. Meanwhile, Sonic recruits Tails to help him find some Christmas presents for Princess Sally. (It should be noted that in the special, Sally is colored in her pink-fur color scheme from the Saturday morning cartoon's pilot episode and the first, even though she is drawn the way she usually looks) This confuses Tails, because Sonic just agreed with Sally that they wouldn't get each other anything this year. It turns out that every year they make this agreement, Sally ends up getting Sonic a bunch of cool stuff (such as a ring on his finger she gave him last year that becomes important later on), while Sonic usually takes the agreement seriously and doesn't get her anything. This year, however, Sonic's decided to actually get Sally a bunch of presents.

The duo arrives at Robotropolis only to find that all the stores in the local mall are empty. A nearby kid shows and alerts Sonic (and Tails) about Santa's retirement and Robotnik taking over the chore. Just then, Scratch and Grounder show up with an animatronic Santa robot who was actually giving the retirement announcement earlier and try to kill them, but of course, they fail miserably. Sonic, disguised as a garbageman, then tricks the henchbots into telling him where the real Santa is.

In spite of attacks by some SWATbots (who look nothing like those seen in the Saturday morning cartoon), Sonic manages to free Santa, but it doesn't change the fact that Robotnik still has all the presents. Just then, Santa recognizes the squiggle on the ring that Sally gave Sonic last year as being the same as a squiggle on an ancient cave painting that reveals the secret of achieving ultimate velocity. Apparently, the one who wears the ring (Sonic) must pass three tests of skills.

Sonic passes the tests easily, in spite of Scratch and Grounder's attempts to stop him, and then he uses his new super speed to steal back the presents Robotnik has taken (as well as the doctor's clothes) and redistribute the presents all over Mobius. After the hedgehog delivers Sally's presents, Santa, impressed with the job, decides to retire after all and turns his job over to Sonic.

Trivia

 * This was the final episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Therefore, in that universe, Sonic is now permanently Santa Claus.
 * Princess Sally makes her only appearance in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in this special, after being Sonic's main co-star for two seasons of Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM). With the exception of a couple of gasps, she has no speaking lines. Her color is pinker like the pilot episode of SatAM and early Archie Comics, although she still has red hair and is similar to her current design.
 * Sonic talks to a bird (possibly a Flicky) in a tree in one scene. This was most likely tacked in to help promote the concept of Sonic 3D Blast.
 * Tails is not voiced by Christopher Evan Welch like he is in all the other episodes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Instead he is voiced by Chris Turner. Sonic is still voiced by Jaleel White, however.
 * Robotnik has robot helpers that look similar to Heavy from Knuckles' Chaotix and Humpty from Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.
 * This is the only time Santa appeared in the series.
 * This episode is well noted on the internet for the meme, "PINESS". The way Dr. Robotnik said "Happiness" is like he's saying "penis". This was similar to the Pingas meme.