Sonic the Hedgehog/Miscellaneous

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, 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 in several comical adventures.

One day, Sonic came across a young orphan named Miles Prower and was persuaded to adopt him as his younger brother, as the young fox had no one to live with. Naming him new brother "Tails", they two of them became as close as a real family. While Sonic has his trademark attitude, he also tries his best to stand out as a responsible role model for the innocent Tails.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)
In the Sonic the Hedgehog television series, Sonic lived in Mobotropolis with Princess Sally and the future Freedom Fighters during their childhood until Dr. Robotnik invaded the kingdom, enslaved the people with the roboticization technology and took control of the planet.

Sonic and his friends managed to escape the tyrant by fleeing to Knothole in the Great Forest. There Sonic, Sally, and the others 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
In Sonic Underground, 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. Robotnik and they became wanted fugitives, but the Oracle of Delphius prophecized that Aleena and her children would one day defeat Robotnik together, 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. During his early childhood, however, his adopted family was captured and roboticized. He then joined his Uncle Chuck and the Freedom Fighters in the battle against Robotnik over the next many years. One day however, Sonic was approached by the Oracle who revealed to him 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 medallion that transforms into an electric guitar/laser rifle.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic lives on Planet Freedom and is one of the defenders of the Land of the Sky, alongside Tails, who protects it from the evil Dr. Robotnik and his forces. He lives with Tails on their own private island.

One day, Sonic and Tails were called by Dr. 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 succeeded with his plan, Sonic worked together with his friends and allies to stop his metallic copy from destroying the world.

Sonic X
In the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics, Sonic originally lived on a parallel version of earth in another dimension. During one of his battles with Dr. Eggman, a massive Chaos Control blast occurred and Sonic, his friends and Dr. Eggman were transported to Earth. Shortly after arriving, Sonic nearly drowned in a pool, but was saved by Christopher Thorndyke, who Sonic became friends with and lived with. In time, Chris came to have a strong bond with Sonic as he lived a lonely life since his parents were always busy.

Sonic eventually settled down on this new world with his friends and became a famous hero to the human population as he and his friends protected the world from Dr. Eggman and his continuous attempts to conquer earth. 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, Chris, who did not want him to leave, ran off with him. However, Sonic eventually made Chris come to terms with his feelings and returned home.

Six months after coming back home, 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 went home, and Sonic himself went back to his normal battles with Dr. Eggman.

Sonic Boom
In the Sonic Boom franchise, Sonic is the leader of Team Sonic, a group of heroes who protect Bygone Island and the earth at large from Dr. Eggman and his legion of robots. Though initially kind of a loner, the many trials Sonic faced during his battles against Lyric taught him the importance of teamwork, and he has since grown into a capable and admirable team-mate and leader.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Shogakukan)
In the serialized manga series published by Shogakukan between 1992 and 1994, Sonic is the heroic alter ego of a young, timid hedgehog boy named Nikki. Nikki transforms into Sonic whenever he wishes he had the strength to overcome a dangerous or stressful situation, but nobody (even Nikki) is aware of this transformation.

Nikki's girlfriend Eimi also has a crush on Sonic, and Nikki's father Paulie, a pilot, claims that Sonic once saved his life long before Nikki was even born.

Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Sonic is a Freedom Fighter and the gratest and most famous hero on his world. Sonic was born during the Great War to Jules and Bernadette Hedgehog and was originally named after his grandfathers (he later legally changed his named to "Sonic" with no offense to his forebears). While very young, he lost his parents to the first clandestine roboticization experiments. He was taken in by his uncle, Sir Charles Hedgehog, where he briefly played delivery boy for his uncle's chilidog stand while spending time in Knothole. Aside from his abnormal speed, Sonic was an average child.

Tragedy struck when Uncle Chuck was captured Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his forces following the doctor's takeover and roboticizied. Sonic and a few others were herded to Knothole by the Original Freedom Fighters who gave Sonic the inspiration that would make him a hero. From there, Sonic threw his full support behind the Knothole Freedom Fighters and fought to liberate the kingdom. Sonic playfully took on Dr. Robotnik's first few generations of badniks, growing in skill until, by his mid-teens, he was a true threat to Robotnik's forces and became a beacon of hope for the world.

As Sonic developed his incredible speed, his attitude became legendary. Irreverent, confident, impatient and energetic, Sonic fought constantly and eventually succeeded in overthrowing Dr. Robotnik, and continues the fight against his successor, Dr. Eggman. During his adventures, he has traveled the globe, and even traversed outer space, alternate dimensions, and time itself. He has been named the chosen hero of the multiverse, having throughout his endeavors faced down mad scientists, evil wizards, warmongering aliens and even gods. Following Operation: Clean Sweep though, Sonic met several loses that lead to the disbandment of the Freedom Fighters, making him assume leadership of Team Fighters to continue the fight. When the second Genesis Wave was unleashed, Sonic teamed up with Mega Man to bring their universes back to normal, though the timeline of Sonic's universe was forever altered in the process.

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.

Sonic has been acknowledged as, undoubtedly, the most recognizable and famous character in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise according to an official popularity poll. 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 21 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. After having been around only two 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. Notably, Sonic recently made a number of cameo appearances in the Disney animated feature, Wreck-It Ralph.

Solo themes

 * In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Sonic's theme in the American version is "Sonic Boom." In the Japanese and Europe versions, his theme is "Sonic - You Can Do Anything."
 * In Sonic Adventure, Sonic's theme is "It Doesn't Matter."
 * In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic's theme is a faster-paced, alternative rock remix of "It Doesn't Matter."
 * Also, in Sonic Adventure 2, "Escape from the City" has lyrics to the music, which refers to some of Sonic's traits.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the main theme "His World" relates to Sonic with lyrics like "and straps on his shoes" that refer 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 (Sonic, Tails and Knuckles) 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 Rush, Sonic and Blaze's theme "Raisin' Me Up" is about how Sonic helped Blaze in her time of need and taught her value of friendship which is played after they defeated the final boss.
 * 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 Unleashed, Sonic, Chip, and possibly Tails' shared theme "Dear My Friend" is played during the credits of the game.
 * In Sonic Free Riders, the theme "Free" could have some connection with both Sonic and his Extreme Gear rival Jet.

Trivia

 * There is a genome named Sonic hedgehog.
 * According to Yuji Naka, Sonic will not ever get married as he cannot picture Sonic in a marriage and with children.
 * Sonic's favorite thing to do in his free time is run.
 * 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 had reappeared in 2011 as the lead of the parade, commemorating his 20th anniversary. He continues to be in the parade to this day.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, after standing still for three minutes, Sonic will say "I'm outta here" and jump off the screen, after which the "GAME OVER" screen will appear, regardless of numbers of lives the player have.
 * In Sonic Adventure (after finding the Light Speed Shoes), Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Unleashed (while in Werehog form), Sonic wears different shoes.
 * When Sonic closes his eyes in every classic Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, all three Sonic Advance games, and Sonic Battle, his eyelids are colored peach, the same color as his arms and muzzle. After that, his eyelids were changed to his blue fur color. 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 in Sonic Generations, as Modern Sonic has blue eyelids while Classic Sonic has peach eyelids.
 * 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.
 * Sonic's age has always been difficult to pinpoint. 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. In Sonic Generations, Sonic's birthday was held, suggesting he has aged a year, but nothing official has been said.
 * In the Japanese versions of the games, Sonic 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 moonlighting as an English teacher.
 * Sonic is the first character shown 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 had placed 25th.
 * Sonic has also been nominated by the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition and won as the fastest video-gaming character of all time as well.
 * Every time Sonic appears in a band he is the guitarist.
 * Sonic has been chased by something numerous times in 3D games: a whale and a boulder 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 (the Nega-Wisp Armor in the Nintendo DS version), and a helicopter and a truck in Sonic Generations. The black hole was the only thing that Sonic was not able to outrun.
 * Apparently, Sonic is able to breathe in space (as seen in several games), although he cannot breathe underwater without the support of bubbles.
 * All of the cars 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 former 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, along with Knuckles are the only characters who has retained their Japanese voice actor voicing him in all of the Sonic games since Sonic Adventure.
 * 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 both characters. Much like Eggman, Sonic's design seems unchanged from his current design in the game series.
 * Sonic was originally supposed to be colored teal, as shown in some of his concept art. He was changed to a darker blue color because the teal kept blending in with the sea in the background of Green Hill Zone.
 * In Sega's other game Jet Set Radio, one of the characters, Garam, wears a necklace with a skull on it. In an GamesTM interview with the art director of that game, Ryuta Ueda, he stated that it is Sonic's skull, in which Ryuta hinted that it's a skull of "another famous Sega character."
 * Miku Hatsune, a Vocaloid, who is the star of another popular Sega video game series, has an unlockable Sonic costume to use in gameplay to celebrate Sonic's 20th anniversary.
 * The costume was even designed by Yuji Uekawa, who is the artist of Sonic's current design.
 * She also sang a cover of "Live and Learn" on a special pre-order album of her game Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- Extend to also celebrate his 20th anniversary.
 * At one point in Sonic Unleashed, Eggman called Sonic a "hedge-pig". This may be a reference to the fact that "pig" can be synonymous with "hog" and "hedgepig" means "hedgehog" in Shakesperean language.
 * Sonic appears to be able to juggle, as it was shown in Sonic Unleashed when Sonic was juggling the drained Chaos Emeralds.
 * Sonic is the inspiration for the character Gear from the anime Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de, which is a reimagining of the "Console Wars" between Sega and Nintendo, with many other parodies of popular Sega and Nintendo characters appearing alongside Gears.
 * While initially thought to have no true "home", it is shown in Sonic and the Secret Rings that Sonic lives in a house. It is also stated in Sonic Battle that Sonic lives in Emerald Town.
 * In Sonic Unleashed, the checkpoints, which give players points based on their speed (SPD) in-game, can give the player over 2,886 SPD points; in comparison, using the Light Speed Dash whilst traveling through a checkpoint awards the player with 396 SPD points. If this can be considered an accurate measurement for speed, it means that Sonic can move at speeds far greater than the speed of light.