Animals

Sonic's animal friends are the small creatures that are used to power Badniks in the early Sonic games. In later Sonic games (Sonic Adventure onwards), the animal friends appeared to be scrapped in favor of a wider variety of small animals. However, in most recent Sonic games, the concept of using animals to power robots is less frequent.

Although only a small number of animal friends are named (that is, one character per depicted species), numerous animals appeared as captives, either in Badnik shells or in capsules. Certain drafts of the Sega of America Sonic Bible explained that Sonic's animal friends all have large families, and that it is the family members who must be rescued. This was never depicted in any Sonic publication, however.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Three animal friends appear in the episode "Momma Robotnik's Birthday": Pocky, Ricky, and a Mouse.

SatAM / Archie comics
The Knothole Freedom Fighters are based on the original animal friends from the first Sonic game. The most obvious is Princess Sally Acorn, who shares her name with the corresponding animal friend. Rotor Walrus is based on Joe Sushi, while Bunnie Rabbot is based on Johnny Lightfoot.

Flickies have made a few appearances in the Archie comics, most notably in the Sonic Blast 48 page special. Powerful, yellow Flickies were also seen helping Hyper Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog #66 (similar to the Flickies that help Super Tails in Sonic 3 & Knuckles), and another Flicky appears as a travel companion for Amy in the Sonic Adventure storyline.

Sonic the Comic
Many of the early animal friends have made appearances in the British publication, Sonic the Comic. The most notable ones are Porker Lewis and Johnny Lightfoot, who are valued members of the Freedom Fighters.

Sonic X
Three Flickies, Sally Acorn, Porker Lewis, and Joe Sushi are shown on the news in Defective Detectives after they are teleported to Earth through Chaos Control. In Mean Machines, Chirps, Tux and Ricky all appear in a local park. In Running Out of Time, when Sonic's friends return to their dimension, Pocky, Tux, Ricky and two Flickies are seen being transported back.

Sonic X Comic Series
In the Archie Sonic X Comics, many of the original animal friends make cameos on the cover and in the story of issue 11.

Trivia

 * If the player hits a Caterkiller on any part of its body other than its head, an animal friend will not be freed.