Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is a video game character and the protagonist of the video game series released by Sega, as well as numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released on June 23, 1991 in order to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario. Since then, Sonic has become one of the world's best-known video game characters, with his series having sold 45 million copies. In 2005, Sonic was one of the first game character inductees into the Walk of Game, alongside Mario and Link.

Artist Naoto Ōshima, designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka are generally credited with the creation of the character, a blue 15-year-old anthropomorphic hedgehog, who has the ability to run faster than Mach 1. This is a major part of the gameplay of the series.

Sonic has blue fur and spines, vibrant green eyes, peach muzzle, inner ears, arms/hands and stomach/chest, large spiky hair locks, eight blue long and big spines on his his body; six elongated, contoured quills on back of his head and two smaller arching quills on his back, triangular perked ears, long shiny black nose, and small slightly arched tail. He wears red shoes with a large white stripe around the middle, golden buckles, and gray, special resin soles with an light weight, hyper friction resistant tolerance, silver underside heels, white gloves and socks.

Conception and creation
Sega wanted a game capable of selling over one million copies and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research & development department, including an armadillo (which then developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Eggman's design), and a rabbit (intended to use its extendible ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar). Eventually, Naoto Ōshima's spiky blue hedgehog, initially codenamed "Mr Needlemouse", was chosen as the new mascot. Sonic's blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's blue logo. 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. Sonic's appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonic's original design by Oshima was quite short and round, with short quills, white sparkling teeth, a round body and no visible irises (see artwork at left). Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog, and most subsequent Sonic video games featured similar designs.

When Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Megadrive appeared, Sonic's proportions changed. The original 1:2 head to height ratio became 1:2.5.

Beginning with Sonic Adventure in 1998, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a taller character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping spines, perfect white teeth, and 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.

Actor portrayal
A number of different actors have provided the voice for Sonic in his game appearances. Sonic's first voice actor was Takeshi Kusao for SegaSonic the Hedgehog, with Junichi Kanemaru continually voicing the role beginning with the release of Sonic Adventure.[citation needed] Sonic's first English game voice was provided by Ryan Drummond beginning with Sonic Adventure, a role he continued until 2004, when he was replaced by Jason Griffith, who previously voiced the character in the American dub of the anime series Sonic X.

Games
Sonic's first appearance in the video game world was in the platform game Sonic the Hedgehog (sometimes referred to simply as Sonic 1) for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which also introduced his nemesis Dr. Ivo Robotnik (named Dr. Eggman in Japan, and, since Sonic Adventure, also in the West). His two-tailed fox friend Miles "Tails" Prower joined him in the game's 1992 sequel Sonic 2. Sonic CD, released in 1993, introduced Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose and his robotic doppelgänger Metal Sonic (not to be confused with Mecha Sonic an alternate model made later by Dr. Robotnik) as Sonic traveled through time to ensure a good future for the world. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and its direct sequel Sonic & Knuckles, both released in 1994, saw Sonic and Tails battle Dr. Robotnik again, with the additional threat of Knuckles the Echidna, tricked by Robotnik into thinking Sonic was a threat to his home.

Other two-dimensional platformers starring Sonic include Sonic Chaos (1993), Sonic Triple Trouble (1994), Sonic Blast (1996), and Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (1999). Sonic Advance in (2001), Sonic Advance 2 (2002), Sonic Advance 3 (2004), Sonic Rush (2005) and Sonic Rush Adventure (2007).

Sonic Adventure (1998/1999) was Sonic Team's return to the character for a major game. It featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new, very powerful foe named Chaos, under the control of Dr. Robotnik. This was also the first Sonic game to have a complete voice-over. Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) placed Sonic on-the-run from the military (G.U.N) after being mistaken for a new enemy, Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form. Sonic Heroes (2004) has Sonic teaming up with Tails and Knuckles (along with other characters) against the newly rebuilt Metal Sonic, who had betrayed his master. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) features Sonic in the city of water, "Soleanna", where he must rescue Princess Elise from Dr. Robotnik while trying to avoid a new threat to his own life, Silver the Hedgehog. Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) features Sonic in a story book world of the "Arabian Nights" where he must help a ring genie regain the seven World Rings in order to defeat the evil genie.

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 three platform games. Sonic has also appeared in the "2.5D" isometric platformers Sonic Labyrinth (1995) and Sonic 3D Blast (1996), the racing games Sonic Drift (1994), Sonic Drift 2 (1995), Sonic R (1997), Sonic Riders (2006), Sonic Rivals (2006), Sonic Rivals 2 (2007) and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008), the fighting games Sonic the Fighters (1996), Sonic Battle (2003), the mobile game Sonic Jump (2005) and has made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008). Sonic will be appearing in his first console role-playing game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (2008). He will also appear in the upcoming game Sonic Unleashed (2008). A Nintendo Power cover scan was released spoiling a new Sonic game titled Sonic and the Black Knight. Soon after, Sega confirmed that it was, in fact, real, and was going to be the second title in the Sonic Storybook spinoff series, making Sonic and the Secret Rings the first.

Video games such as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (1993), Knuckles Chaotix (1995), Tails' Skypatrol (1995), Tails Adventure (1995), and Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) starred supporting characters of the Sonic series, although Sonic himself generally cameos in most of these titles.

Non-Sonic appearances
Sonic has made many different cameo appearances in different games. Most notable are the Sega games he's made appearances in, such as being a power-up in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, and walking around the main hallway in Phantasy Star Universe on his 16th birthday. Sonic has proved to be popular to other publishers as well, and he cameos in games like Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Art Alive, Shining Force II, Crusader of Centy, Rad Mobile, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Television series
There have been several animated television series featuring Sonic. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the first and featured Sonic, voiced by Jaleel White, and Robotnik, voiced by Long John Baldry. It had a very comical take on Sonic and Tails' adventures and battles with Robotnik.

Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), originally broadcast on Saturdays on ABC, was broadcast concurrently with the syndicated Adventures series in the United States. Sonic was voiced by Jaleel White, and Robotnik was voiced by Jim Cummings. The Archie Comics continuity was based heavily on this series; it was far more dark and brooding than Adventures showing Robotnik as a fearsome dictator controlling Mobius and Sonic and his Freedom Fighter friends battle to take back their planet.

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 respectivley. White returned to voice Sonic, with Samuel Vincent providing his singing voice, while Robotnik was voiced by Gary Chalk It showed Sonic and his siblings as royality but they have to battle to take back their thrones from the evil dictator..

Additionally, there was a Sonic the Hedgehog OAV Anime OAV in Japan which featured Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and Metal Sonic. Sonic was voiced by Masami Kikuchi in Japan, and Martin Burke in the United States where the OVA was marketed as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

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

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 Dr. Ovi Kintobor into the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Numerous British publications, including "Sega handbook" Stay Sonic (1993), four novels published by Virgin Books (1993–1994) and the comic book Sonic the Comic (1993–2002) used this premise as their basis.

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

In Japan, Sonic manga have been published, and there is currently another one being published based on Sonic Unleashed featuring a new chracter named Chip (Chippu).

Reception and Legacy
As Sega's mascot and one of the key reason's 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 one 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.

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.

Sonic CD featured brief dialogue.

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

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

Starting with the 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 series and Sonic Heroes voice cast.

Personality
According to various official materials from Sega, Sonic is described as a character who is "like the wind": a drifter who lives as he wants, and makes life a series of events and adventures. This often leads to feuds with Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic hates oppression and staunchly defends freedom.[ Although he is mostly easy-going[22] he has a short temper and is often impatient with slower things. Sonic is a habitual daredevil who is honest, loyal to friends, keeps his promises and dislikes tears. He took the young Tails under his wing like a little brother, but is uninterested in the marital proposals from Amy Rose. In times of crisis, he focuses intensely on the challenge as if his personality had undergone an astonishing change. A SEGA art book described Sonic as having a "charming and saucy nature."

Abilities


Sonic is known as the world's fastest hedgehog. Sonic's greatest strength is his running speed in high excess of 760 miles per hour, which is faster than the speed of sound. Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection with the addition of spinning his body. Since his introduction in 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's primary offensive maneuver is the basic "Spin Attack" (or "Sonic Spin Attack"). Later games in the series expanded on this basic attack and two of these enhancements have become mainstays of his: the Spin Dash which 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, in which Sonic dashes in midair toward a target. However, Sonic's weakness is that he can't swim.

When seven Chaos Emeralds are collected in most Sonic games, Sonic can initiate a super transformation into Super Sonic, a faster and invulnerable version of himself that can fly. In the 2D games, he enters Super Sonic mode after collecting an additional 50 Rings; in the 3D games where Super Sonic is playable, he starts off in the form with additional 50 Rings. While transformed, Sonic loses a Ring for each second he is in the form and returns to normal when all Rings are used up; the player can collect more Rings during this time to keep him as Super Sonic.

Friends

 * Miles "Tails" Prower (Best-Friend)
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Christopher Thorndyke
 * Sally Acorn
 * Ray the Flying Squirrel
 * Mighty the Armadillo
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Charmy Bee
 * Bunnie Rabbot
 * Rotor the Walrus
 * Dulcy the Dragon
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Big the Cat
 * Cosmo the Seedrian
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Marine the Raccoon
 * Citizen One
 * Doctor Bob Bobble
 * Doctor Sorders
 * Johnny Lightfoot
 * Omni-Viewer
 * Porker Lewis
 * Professor Kintobor
 * Silver the Hedgehog

Rivals

 * Metal Sonic
 * Knuckles the Echidna (formerly)
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Jet the Hawk
 * Mario (business rival)
 * Ash Mongoose

Foes

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Chaos (Formerly)
 * Metal Sonic
 * Scourge the Hedgehog
 * The Zoah
 * Fang the Sniper
 * Metal Knuckles
 * Tails Doll
 * Eggrobo
 * Scratch and Grounder
 * Coconuts
 * Papa Robotnik
 * Mama Robotnik
 * Dr. Warpnik
 * Mammoth Mogul
 * Megatox
 * Silver Sonic
 * Abominable Rex

Trivia

 * According to the Archie comics, Sonic's middle name is Maurice. His full real name is revealed to be Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog.
 * There is a hedgehog genome named Sonic hedgehog.
 * He does not appear in the game Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, though he is the main character in almost every other game (hence why they are named after him).
 * Sonic has fought many of his friends at some points throughout the media, them being Knuckles (Sonic 3, Sonic Adventure), Shadow (Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Battle, Sonic Heroes) , Amy Rose (Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle), Rouge (Sonic Battle, Sonic Heroes), Silver (Sonic '06, Sonic Rivals, Sonic Rivals 2), Tails (Sonic Pinball Party), Blaze (Sonic Rush), Vector (Sonic X), Cream the Rabbit & Cheese (Sonic Heroes, E-123 Omega (Sonic Heroes), Jet the Hawk (Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity), Big the Cat (Sonic Heroes), and Espio the Chameleon (Sonic Rivals 2, Sonic the Fighters).
 * Only his English Sonic CD voice is discredited.
 * Although he has fought many of his friends, he so far has never battled these characters; Marine the Raccoon, Charmy Bee, and Tikal the Echidna.
 * Even though Sonic has visited dream dimensions in Sonic Shuffle and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, there has been no saying of ever actually meeting NiGHTS or Mario there respectively.(This information doesn't count NiGHTS' SA DX appearance, sonic flies in front of him in a casino game.)
 * Sonic has a few things in common with Silver & Shadow 1: they're all hedgehogs. 2: All their names start with "S" 3: They all have Super Forms. 4: They all have the same height and weight.
 * In Shadow the Hedgehog Sonic says he would never be caught dead holding or using a gun but in Super Smash Bros Brawl he uses the Ray Gun & Super Scope