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Information in this article is about real-life people, companies, and objects, which do not relate to the in-universe Sonic series. |
Logo of McDonald's.
McDonald's is a popular fast-food restaurant company that has had Happy Meal promotions with the Sonic the Hedgehog series over the years since the 90s. The logo is a yellow or golden M. It was founded in the United States in 1940, created by Roy McDonald and Richard McDonald, and was later transformed into a corporation by Ray Kroc.
Sonic serving a Happy Meal at the drive through window.
Yuji Naka's plug[]
In a Sega.com interview with Sonic creator Yuji Naka, he mentions that McDonald's is a place that Sonic and his friends like to eat at.[1]
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3[]
A display for the promotion.
In 1994, McDonald's promoted the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive by giving away Sonic the Hedgehog toys in their Happy Meals. Four characters were produced: Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Dr. Robotnik.
In America, the promotion went from February 4 to March 3 of 1994 and there was a sweepstakes where up to 10,000 participants could win a free copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Sega Genesis. For children under the age of 3, they had an alternative toy which was a yellow ball with a picture of Sonic on it and the classic "Sonic the Hedgehog" logo. Due to this toy only being advertised in small text on in-store displays, aimed towards 3-year-olds and parents having to specifically ask for it while ordering their food, the Sonic Ball was much rarer than the other toys.[2]
Despite being a Sonic the Hedgehog 3 promotion, Dr. Robotnik was designed to look like he does in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series (although the stock art on the bag for the toy depicts him as he looks in the games).
Later in 1994 the set then released at Canada and Puerto Rico. The set in Canada did not include the Tails toy. However, the design of the Sonic Ball was replaced with Tails and was not exclusively for children under 3.[2]
The original and updated Tails toys.
The set released in the United Kingdom from 27 January to 24 February in 1995, Germany and Belgium in March, and finally in June for New Zealand and Japan.[3] When the set released in these countries (except Japan), the design of the Tails toy was changed so children wouldn't get hurt by the toy when it launched from the base. The updated toy had Tails stay connected to the base with only his tails able to spin. The base resembles one of the spinning tops as seen in Marble Garden Zone.[3]
When the set released in Japan, they removed the Tails toy and replaced it oddly with a Grimace toy from a previous set of toys. The designs of the Sonic and Dr. Eggman toys were changed to resemble their Japanese designs, while Knuckles stayed the same.[2]
 Sonic |
 Tails |
 Knuckles |
 Dr. Robotnik |
 Sonic Ball |
 Tails Ball |
 Sonic (Japan) |
 Dr. Eggman (Japan) |
 Tails (updated) |
Happy Train[]
The Sonic section of the Happy Train
In 1994, McDonald's had a Happy Meal anniversary train, which consisted of 15 separate toys from different Happy Meal themes from the past ten years. All the toys were able to connect to one another to create a train.
The TV screen, animated.
One of these toys was Sonic-themed. It was a pink and purple TV with a Sega Genesis on the top. When the wheels on the toy roll, the picture on the TV scrolls from a picture of Sonic wearing a party hat, Tails wearing a party hat, and then Dr. Robotnik running and yelling (Robotnik is once again designed to look like his Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog appearance, and now Tails too).
SEGA[]
2003[]
The six games.
In May 2003, for the United States release of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, McDonald's released a set of handheld games made by Fisher-Price:
 AiAi Banana Catch |
 Knuckles Soccer |
 Shadow Grinder |
 Sonic Action Game |
 Sonic Speedway |
 Tails Skypatrol |
2004[]
Standard[]
A flyer showing most of the games.
Another set was released in 2004 after the launch of Sonic Heroes that used artwork from the game and featured every playable character except those in Team Chaotix. A game based on Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, a video game also made by Sonic Team, was also part of the set. These games had different names and designs depending on the region they were released in, and some regions did not receive these games until 2005.
Sports[]
 Amy and Rouge Tennis |
 Cream Flower Catch |
 Knuckles Baseball |
 Shadow Basketball |
 Sonic Skateboard |
 Tails Soccer |
Sonic X[]
A while after Sonic X aired in North America, McDonald's gave out toys for the series in their children's meals (Happy Meal and Mighty Kids Meal). In the Japanese version of episode 55 of Sonic X, Chris and Frances are briefly shown working at "wacbager", a parody of McDonald's.
United Kingdom and Australia set[]
In the UK and Australia, McDonald's released a set of Sonic X disk launchers. The set included Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow on the launchers and the disks themselves.
 Sonic |
 Tails |
 Knuckles |
 Shadow |
France set[]
Promotional Paper
In 2006, McDonald's of France released a set which included fighting top toys of Sonic and Shadow.
 Sonic spinning top pen |
 Shadow spinning top pen |
 Sonic pencil case |
 Sonic tape measure |
Shadow tape measure |
Sonic pencil |
Europe set[]
In 2007, McDonald's released a collection of Sonic spinning toys in Europe.
 Sonic Flying Disk |
 Sonic Spinner |
 Sonic Wheel |
 Sonic Speed Globe |
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)[]
Promo showing all ten toys.
From April to May in 2022, in partnership with Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film was promoted with McDonald's Happy Meals. In most regions, the promotion had a line of plastic toys; Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, the Giant Eggman Robot, and a surprise toy which was later revealed to be Super Sonic. Most of the characters have white shoes, but stickers are included to make them more accurate. There are a total of ten toys in the line, however, the cloud toy of Knuckles and lightning toy of Tails were not released in the US. In some regions, only a line of cardboard mazes was available.[4][5]
- Plastic toys
 Sonic (Super Peel Out) |
 Sonic (lightning) |
 Super Sonic (cloud) |
 Tails (snowboarding) |
 Tails (lightning) |
 Tails (cloud) |
 Knuckles (snowboarding) |
 Knuckles (lightning) |
 Knuckles (cloud) |
 Giant Eggman Robot |
- Cardboard mazes
 Sonic |
 Sonic (circle) |
 Sonic (flip) |
 Sonic race |
 Tails |
 Tails (circle) |
 Tails (flip) |
 Team |
 Knuckles |
 Knuckles (circle) |
 Knuckles (flip) |
 Team (circle) |
Sonic the Hedgehog (2023)[]
Europe set[]
In 2023, McDonald's launched a series of toy racers for their Happy Meals in Europe.[6] It was first released in Greece on November 18, 2023.[7] The racer designs are based on Extreme Gear and have to be assembled with printed card cutouts, plastic wheels and stickers.
Splash screen for the maze game.
Each Happy Meal box contains a QR code which provides access to a mobile maze game based on Sonic Superstars.[7]
 Sonic Speedster A |
 Sonic Speedster B |
 Sonic Trike |
 Sonic Hoverboard |
 Tails Speedster A |
 Tails Speedster B |
 Tails Trike |
 Tails Hoverboard |
 Amy Speedster A |
 Amy Speedster B |
 Amy Trike |
 Amy Hoverboard |
 Knuckles Speedster |
 Knuckles Trike |
 Shadow Speedster |
United Kingdom and Asia set[]
Toy promo (SG)
In addition to the Hoverboard set, new toy lines were launched in the UK and Asia, first released in Singapore on December 28, 2023.[8]
Commercials[]
- Sonic 3
- Happy Birthday Happy Meal
- Sega Mini Video Games 1
- Sega Mini Video Games 2
- Sonic X
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2023)
Trivia[]
- Sonic appeared alongside Ronald McDonald and Barbie in a Happy Meal commercial for the Happy Train. In this commercial, Sonic spoke with an extremely high voice and did not move his mouth.
- There have also been Sonic kids' meal toys released at other fast food restaurants such as Jack in the Box, Carl's Jr. and Burger King.
- In 1993, Sega published a McDonald's video game developed by Treasure and released only on the Genesis called McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure, which is another sign of Sega's long relationship with McDonald's restaurants.
- In Asian countries such as Pakistan, India and China, McDonald's gave away Sonic X spinning tops, school kits and card shooters.
Storyboard for the French and Italian commercial.
- In 2006, Sonic, Cream the Rabbit and Big the Cat appeared in a McDonald's commercial, which aired in France and Italy.
- In 2004, McDonald's Pakistan company known for poorly-made licensed advertisements released a commercial to advertise new Sonic toys promoting Sonic Heroes. The commercial has become infamous for its inaccurate character models (notably Rouge the Bat), questionable voice-over (with notable mishearings like "gamesime" and "Cream Buttflubber Catch"), and cheap animation.
- Additionally, five other commercials from Pakistan were also made. The commercials are as followed:[9]
- A commercial with Tails, piloting a rocket, promoting Tails Sky Adventure.
- A commercial with Big, promoting Big's Fishing.
- A commercial with a red Shadow (presumably supposed to be Knuckles), promoting Knuckles Treasure Hunt.
- A commercial with Sonic the Hedgehog, who has blue arms, promoting Sonic the Hedgehog Extreme Boarding.
- A commercial with Cream the Rabbit, promoting Cream Flower Catch again.
- Additionally, five other commercials from Pakistan were also made. The commercials are as followed:[9]
- In 2008, to promote the launch of Sonic Unleashed, McDonald's Australia distributed Sonic X Happy Meal toys. Again, theses were the same set of toy already distributed in others regions.[10]
- Most of the 2023 artwork for Classic Sonic are based on other artwork of Modern Sonic from the 2010s; one from Sonic Generations, and two more.
References[]
- ↑ http://www2.sega.com/sonic/globalsonic/post_sonicteam.php?article=nakainterview
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jlegXsszkA
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/2011/01/mcdonalds-collectibles-book-sonic-set.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220510220906/https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/family-hub/happy-meal.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220513082243/https://www.mcdonalds.com.mt/book-or-toy/
- ↑ Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. . Retrieved on January 4, 2024.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 McDonald’s Starts Sonic the Hedgehog Promotion in Europe – Check out What Comes With Every Happy Meal!. Sonic City (November 25, 2023). Retrieved on November 26, 2023.
- ↑ McDonald's (Singapore) on Facebook (December 28, 2023). Retrieved on December 29, 2023.
- ↑ TV Commercials and Animation work of Agha Haider Ali Lahore Pakistan. YouTube. Munawar Ahmed (11 May 2009). Retrieved on 3 September 2024.
- ↑ Deadknux (17 November 2008). AUSTRALIAN MCDONALD’S ARE TOO SLOW. The Sonic Stadium. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved on 20 June 2021.
External links[]
- Official website
- McDonald's at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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