Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

is a video game character, protagonist of a series of games released by Sega, as well as numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released in 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 over 44 million copies.

Sonic is a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with the ability to run faster than the speed of sound; his talent for speed forms a large part of the gameplay of the series. He is 15 years old,His age is given as 15 in Sega Japan's Sonic profile and other recent sources such as the English language instruction manual for Sonic Heroes. Older products such as Sonic Jam and certain issues of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic previously stated that he is 16 years old. and is significantly shorter and lighter than full grown adults, being about 100 centimetres (3 ft 3 in) tall and weighing 35 kilograms (77 lb). His birthday is June 23, the date of his first game's release date. Sonic's creation is generally credited with his original designer, Naoto Ohshima, and the main programmer of Sonic 1, Yuji Naka.

Character

Design

In April 1990, Sega requested 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 (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, an over-sized Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman's design) and a rabbit (intended to use its extendable ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar). Eventually, Naoto Ohshima's spiky hedgehog was chosen as the new mascot. 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 and distributing pamphlets advertising the game.

Sonic's character design has been altered through the years. At left is official Sonic artwork from the original Sonic the Hedgehog and at right is an official render from the newer Shadow the Hedgehog.

Sonic's precise age, weight, height and other physical characteristics vary depending on the continuity in which he appears and the style in which he is drawn. In early artwork, Sonic had no visible irises, but with the revamp he received for Sonic Adventure, they were shown to be green, though his eyes are visibly red when he is in his "Super Sonic" form and in motion in some earlier games. It's said that the reason that Sonic's eyes are green, is because of after the first time he turned into Super Sonic, his eyes changed to the color of the Master Emerald, which is also green. As such, Sonic has had 3 main designs to date: the classic "Mickey styled" Sonic (design by Naoto Ohshima, drawn by Akira Watanabe, c. 1991-1998), the "adventure" Sonic (redesigned by Yuji Uekawa, c. 1999-2005) and the "next-gen" Sonic (c. 2006-Present). The first one is quite short and looks like a child with short quills, a round body, and no visible irises. The second is taller, looks like a teenager, has green eyes and longer quills, pointing down more than the previous one. The third is even taller (the tallest Sonic seen up to now), looks more serious than the previous designs, and has somewhat different quills: still pointing downwards, but much straighter than in the "adventure" design. The third's remaining characteristics, such as eye color, stance, etc., are the same as the adventure design.

His cobalt blue pigmentation has never been explained in the games; however, explanations were offered as the character was transferred to other media. One origin story was provided in a promotional comic for the original game featured in Disney Adventures, which was later elaborated upon in Mike Pattenden's Stay Sonic, a book about the character published in the UK. This explanation, in which the shockwaves Sonic experienced when he first ran at supersonic speed turned him blue and streamlined his spikes, later became the basic origin for many subsequent UK publications. For example, in Egmont Fleetway's publication Sonic the Comic, a slight deviation from this was that Sonic was able to transform from a brown hedgehog into his form seen circa 1991 because he exceeded the speed of sound in one of Dr. Kintobor's machines while in contact with a Chaos Emerald.

Personality

Sonic has been described as being "like the wind." He is noted for being heroic, adventurous, and free-spirited. He enjoys relaxation, but is never one to rest in the face of injustice. He is extremely benevolent, and would willingly put himself at risk for others, taking on any challenge that confronts him without hesitation. Sonic is not generally modest when it comes to his abilities. In fact, he is often portrayed as being narcissistic and self-absorbed; nevertheless, he is always shown to be caring and selfless when it comes to his actions.

The British Sonic the Comic presented him as being bossy and arrogant, and characters regularly referred to his strange sense of humor. Sonic's attitude frequently made cruel jokes at the expense of his friend Tails, behavior contrary to that seen in most of the continuities. See that article for more information.

American TV shows and comics often state Sonic's favorite food as chili dogs. While this fact is never particularly emphasized in any of the games, this is also canonical in the game universe, as it is mentioned in the official Japanese Sonic Advance 3 manual, and his Sonic Jam character profile.

Sonic had an interest in rock music and was a vocalist in his own band in the cartoon Sonic Underground. Some official character art and a commercial for Sonic Adventure suggests that he has a personal hobby as a DJ. Furthermore, it is displayed in Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS that Sonic also enjoys breakdancing as it is one of his primary ways for filling up his Rush meter. His battle moves in Sonic Battle are also based on breakdancing, as mentioned in the attack descriptions.

Destiny

Throughout the games, there are various references to Sonic having a larger destiny. He seems to know far more about the Chaos Emeralds than any other character except Knuckles, Tails, Eggman, and Shadow. In Sonic & Knuckles, a mural deep in Angel Island's Hidden Palace fortells the battle between Super Sonic and Eggman for the Master Emerald that would occur in the game's Doomsday Zone. Knuckles initially misread the mural to mean that Eggman would protect the Master Emerald from a villainous powered-up Sonic but eventually realized the truth. There is also speculation that Gerald Robotnik had seen the mural during his studies of Echidna culture and that the lasting image played a hand in the appearance of Shadow the Hedgehog. Super Sonic's role in Echidna legend is expanded on in Sonic Adventure where via Tikal the Echidna the player learns that Sonic could be taken to be the 'controller' spoken of in a verse Tikal learned from her grandmother.
Later in the game, it appears that the 'controller' is also the Master Emerald, for the verse changes slightly when Tikal asks it for help in trapping Chaos inside the Emerald.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles alludes to this role when he recites the verse himself and tells Sonic only his Super form can beat Finalhazard to save the world.
Comments made by SEGA staff in regards to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game) reveal that Sonic may perhaps be the legendary entity referred to by some as the 'Iblis Trigger'; an associated trailer shows Silver the Hedgehog referring to him as such. Silver is a time traveller who has been sent back in time to stop Sonic from causing an unknown tragedy.

Home

Sonic's home planet is Earth, although the name it is referred by has varied slightly depending on minor regional differences. Sonic lives at a location known as South Island during Sonic 1, and (according to early written material from Sonic Team) was originally born on Christmas Island.

Earth: Although Sonic has always lived on Earth to players living in Japan during the 1990s 16-bit era, players elsewhere then believed that Sonic's home world was called "Mobius" because of localized information provided by some later American and European instruction manuals. This name stemmed from a mistranslation of the word "Mobius" in a 1992 Sega Visions interview with Yuji Naka; he was in fact referring to a Mobius strip used in Sonic 2. However, all games produced since 1999's Sonic Adventure have taken place on Earth, and all of them use the same story and names regardless of the language they are played in. Sonic Adventure 2 was the first game of the franchise to consistently use the term "Earth" in-game, a standard which holds true down to the present day. It, its remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and subsequent game Shadow the Hedgehog even show views of Earth from space.

Mobius: In all American and European comics, cartoons, books and some manuals published before 1999, Sonic's home is a planet called Mobius. The long-standing US Archie comic expand on the relationship between Mobius and Earth, as Mobius being Earth's future. This occurs after Xorda aliens set off a Gene Bomb, wiping out the human race. This is a possible reason why the animals talk, as everything except for the animals died in the explosion, and over time the animals mutated and evolved into the various species. The timeline in the Archie comic series is set about 1300 years in the future. The British spin-off Sonic the Comic stated that the version of Mobius in that comic is a world completely separate from Earth, and is described as the Earth's sister planet (to the point of actual humans from Earth invading it). In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground, two other Sonic cartoon series, no relationship between Earth and Mobius had been noted.

Planet Freedom: This world only appeared in the Sonic OVA (Sonic the Movie). During the course of the film, it is explained that this world is split into 2 dimensions: the Land of the Sky, which is home to Sonic and his friends and the Land of Darkness, which Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik used to reside.

Unknown: Sonic's home in the Sonic X anime series is an unknown planet in an alternate reality that shares the same space as Earth, as revealed in Episode 49. This logically suggests that the planet is indeed Earth, although this has not been explicitly confirmed.

Abilities

Sonic is known as "the fastest thing alive", with the ability to run at speeds higher than Mach 1. The source of this ability is not given in the games, although Stay Sonic (which gave his fastest recorded speed as 761mph) and later British publications explained that it was achieved through training on a treadmill. In both Stay Sonic and the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, Sonic's distinctive "Power Sneaker" shoes are used to protect his feet from the heat arising from the friction involved when running at such speeds. He is often aided by his friends, notably in Sonic Heroes where teamwork is the only way to complete the game. In the original 2D games, once Sonic had reached his top speed, he ran with his arms fixed pointing forwards. However, in the 3D titles and the Sonic Advance series, his top-speed running animation was altered so that his arms trailed behind him and that he bent over more. This animation is copied by most other super fast characters.

In the Archie Comics, Sonic stated in a response to a piece of fan mail that the fastest he ever ran was twice the speed of sound, while in his super state he can travel at the speed of light. As for how he can run so fast, he was born with the ability, Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into a tight ball for protection. His primary offensive maneuver is the spin jump or "Sonic Spin Attack"; as Sonic jumps, he curls up and spins round, damaging any enemies which come into contact with him. This ability was enhanced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with the introduction of the "Insta-Shield", which allows Sonic to momentarily surround himself with a spherical force field, giving him a split-second's worth of protection and slightly increasing his attack range while jumping.Information from the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 instruction manual. (In Sonic the Comic, he claims he achieves this effect by "vibrating the molecules of air around me at supersonic speeds".)

He can also curl into a ball while running, allowing his momentum to carry him along in an equally dangerous attack. Although well-protected, in this position he cannot maintain his top speed, and curling up limits the amount of control he (and the player) has over his movements. The "Spin-Dash", introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, allows Sonic to quickly accelerate into this roll from a stationary position. The "Super Peelout" introduced in Sonic CD (also known as the "Figure Eight" move in the comics, so called due to the shape his feet take when he does this) accelerates him in a similar manner, but allows him to remain running in an upright position.

Sonic can run or bounce across the surface of water, but he can't actually swim. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a water shield allows Sonic to breathe underwater, but in the 3D Sonic games, landing in water is usually the equivalent of instant death. In the Fleetway comic book Sonic the Comic, his inability to swim was one of his major weaknesses for a long time. Sonic's fear of water is often alluded to in the animated series Sonic X and Sonic Underground, though in Episode 9 of Sonic X, Sonic is seen to be able to swim when he rescues Amy from drowning and in Sonic R Sonic is swimming.

In Episode 13 of the most recent series, Sonic X, Sonic displays a superior degree of strength compared to other characters. This might prove that he has some power in his arms like Knuckles, but, more than likely, not as much.Sonic might be equal to Shadow. However, because Sonic X is widely accepted as non-canon, he may not truly have super strength, also, Sonic is considered superior to Shadow due to his ability to use Chaos Control without a real Chaos Emerald. But it has been noted that Shadow can use Chaos Control along with many other chaos abilities without an emerald, and the emerald is simply used to amplify his chaos strength.

Transformations

Super Sonic in the television show Sonic X.

Since the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic has had the ability to transform into an incredibly powerful form known as Super Sonic. The transformation is triggered by collecting all of the 7 Chaos Emeralds and at least 50 rings. As Super Sonic he is even faster than normal, can jump higher, can fly, and is invincible to most attacks and obstacles. Sonic's appearance also changes; his body becomes yellowish gold, he becomes a bit taller, his quills rise and get wilder, his eyes turn red, and he physically looks exactly like Shadow. This is similar to the Super Saiyan transformation of Dragon Ball Z fame.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles introduced the even more powerful Hyper Sonic. Hyper Sonic glows with the colors of the Chaos Emeralds, is surrounded by glowing sparks, and leaves afterimages in his wake. Unlike Super Sonic, he cannot drown underwater and wields the devastating "lightning flash" attack (called Sonic Boom by fans) which can be used to "double-jump" in any direction, and when performed, destroys all enemies on-screen with a bright flash. Hyper Sonic was only available in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

The absence of Hyper Sonic and the Super Emeralds in all other games except Sonic & Knuckles suggests that this ascended form of Super Sonic is not completely canon, but is just closer to what Super Sonic is really like. Newer games show that Chaos Emeralds grow larger when on the Master Emerald altar, almost appearing like the Super Emeralds did. Of course, we can see in parts of Sonic Adventure 2, the Master Emerald itself changes size. In one part, it is big enough to stand on, while in another, Knuckles can hold it in his hand. This may hint that the size differences on the alters are just art-related. Also, Super Sonic leaves afterimages in the Sonic Advance series, something which only Hyper Sonic of Sonic 3 was known for. On the other hand, 14 emeralds appear on a mural at the end of the Lost World stage in Sonic Adventure, so while there is substantial evidence to suggest that Chaos Emeralds and the Super Emeralds are one and the same, this distinction is at best subjective, and at worst nothing more than an imaginary object of the mind. The mural may also be a reference to the point where Chaos separates the Chaos Emeralds from their glowing light, which is built back after a few moments, leaving 14 glows. Although in the Gamecube version of the game(Sonic Adventure DX:Director's Cut), the mural was slightly changed and now only has 7 emeralds to correct the confusion.

In Episode 67 of the television series Sonic X, Sonic turns into what is known as Dark Sonic. He triggers this by drawing on the power of artificial Chaos Emeralds created by the Metarex. His body turns black and he has a black smokey effect. An ascended form of Sonic gone out of control from grief and stress, this transformation allows him to have extreme speed and attacking power. This is similar to Super Sonic in Sonic the Comic, who was brash, psychotic and powerful beyond comprehension. A modern equivalent of Hyper Sonic, Dark Sonic has no interpersonal barriers and surpasses Super Sonic in every ability that they both use. However, this form only appeared for a few minutes, until Dr Eggman arrived and calmed Sonic down by telling him that he did not want to see Sonic listen to his hate and anger. Super Sonic spends more time toying with his opponent and making comments about their fighting skill, while Dark Sonic just destroys his enemies. However, since Dark Sonic does not appear in any games, he probably does not officially exist in the Sonic Universe.

Relationships

Friends

Sonic's best friend is considered by some to be a young fox called Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails idolizes Sonic and sees him as a mentor, while Sonic views Tails as a little brother. This is particularly prevalent in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog TV series, in which Sonic takes in Tails, an orphan unaware of who his parents are. This weakness of Tails is used a few times by Doctor Eggman to lure and capture him so that he can use Tails as bait to capture Sonic. Sonic and Tails are rarely without each other - they often go emerald searching, as seen in Sonic Adventure, or stop Eggman's plans together. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are picked together, they are described as an "Unbreakable Bond."

Sonic the Hedgehog with Amy Rose.

In the video games, Amy Rose is a young girl who acts the part of Sonic's Girlfriend. Contrary to popular belief, Sonic does not dislike Amy, and although he is still quite repelled by her constant advances to marry him, the two have been fast friends since Sonic CD. Whenever Amy is kidnapped he often goes out of his way to save her, as seen in Sonic CD, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Riders. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are picked together, they are described as a "Lovely Couple."

Another friend of Sonic is Knuckles the Echidna. They first met as enemies in Sonic 3, and although they are now allies, it's usual to find them fighting. Knuckles and Sonic are both good friends, yet also rivals and equally powerful, which explains why there never was a final victorious ending in their fights. Although he is envious of Sonic's adventurous lifestyle, Knuckles still dislikes Sonic's carefree nature. On the other hand, Sonic sees Knuckles as being far too serious and perhaps even a bit thickheaded, on occasion referring to him as 'Knucklehead'. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are picked together, they are described as "Fighting Buddies." It should be noted that while Sonic is Tails's best friend, Sonic is also friends with Cream the Rabbit, a 6 year old girl. Sonic doesn't converse with her very much, as they don't seem to share many interests. He is very impressed by her manners, though, as seen in Sonic Advance 2. The two of them also make the biggest connection to Blaze the Cat.

A unique character that has only appeared in two games is Emerl, who had, more or less, a father-son relationship with Sonic. They became close friends, with Sonic helping Emerl "grow up". At the end of Sonic Battle, when Emerl was near death, Sonic was in obvious emotional turmoil, though he never expressed sadness, rather distress.

Blaze the Cat is a princess brought to Sonic's world from another dimension. At first, the other characters suggest she should seek Sonic's help - Blaze denies this and wonders why they are so dependent on him. However, through working with Sonic in order to save the universe from Eggman and Eggman Nega, Blaze learns the value of friendship, and before she goes back to her own dimension, she promises to meet him again. Similar to Sonic's transformation with the Chaos Emeralds, she has the ability to transform into Burning Blaze using the Sol Emeralds from her world.

The three comical detectives known as 'Team Chaotix' don't seem to know Sonic very well - although Vector the Crocodile, the group's leader, was originally conceived as Sonic's bandmate in the very first Sonic-game. For more information, see their article.

Mighty the Armadillo is a character who debuted in SegaSonic the Hedgehog. He has the ability to mount walls (but not stay and climb) for a short period of time. For more information, see those articles.

Enemies and rivals

Sonic's eternal enemy is Dr. Eggman, also known as Doctor Robotnik. Eggman is a brilliant scientist who uses his numerous machines to attempt to conquer the world, but Sonic has always intervened. Sonic originally fought Dr. Eggman because he was turning his animal friends into robotic slaves known as Badniks. Sonic freed his friends, then stopped Eggman multiple times from conquering Earth using the Chaos Emeralds, Time Stones and Master Emerald. However in the recent games Dr. Eggman has taken a different approach, using warships and even a nuclear missile to conquer the world.

Sonic's arch-rival is Shadow the Hedgehog, the "Ultimate Life Form". They became enemies in Sonic Adventure 2, and they have fought and argued with each other whenever they meet in every game since. They fight for different reasons, yet have similar opinions about each other despite their differences; when they were enemies in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic found Shadow to be violent, humorless, and arrogant, while Shadow found Sonic to be foolhardy, irritating and arrogant. However, this situation did not last forever: near the end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow willingly fought the Biolizard to allow Sonic to go with Knuckles to stop the Chaos Emeralds; in Sonic Heroes they joined forces in the battle against Metal Sonic. Hence, while these two do not enjoy being in each other's company, they will work together when the situation warrants it. However, in Shadow The Hedgehog, when Shadow first meets up with Sonic, Sonic seems to greet him like a friend, making the rivalry a bit more like Sonic and Knuckles, but more fierce.

Before Shadow's introduction, Metal Sonic was one of Sonic's fiercest adversaries. During the older days, Eggman tried to beat Sonic at his own game by creating numerous Sonic robots to destroy his nemesis. Though they all tried and failed, Metal Sonic was by far Eggman's most successful creation, having the same capabilities as his counterpart. Even with Shadow in the spotlight now, Metal Sonic still remains a serious threat, as the storyline in Sonic Heroes demonstrated. Some fans debate over whether Metal Sonic is truly replaced by Shadow the Hedgehog in his role. While Shadow is a very popular character, Metal Sonic's popularity is still one an equal if not slightly higher level among fans. Some say Metal Sonic is still Sonic's true rival, as Shadow is acting a bit more like a friend than a rival. Metal Sonic's current location is unknown to everyone, except possibly Omega and Shadow, who were seen with his crumpled frame at the end of Sonic Heroes. Although it is speculated that Metal Sonic was destroyed, this is unlikely; Metal Sonic might come back again in future games, as it is hinted in Heroes that Sonic and Metal Sonic are still rivals to the end, when the two make a mutual vow to battle again.

Another one of Sonic's rivals is Jet the Hawk from Sonic Riders. Jet mocks him for being inexperienced with Extreme Gear (an air powered hovercraft that comes in the form of skate boards, motorcycles & roller blades) and doesn't consider Sonic to be the "fastest thing alive", sparking a rivalry between them. Later, after Sonic beats Jet in a race, they become more friendly, but are still competitive as racing rivals. Jet finally admits that Sonic is the fastest, but warns him to be ready the next time they meet. Some fans like to compare Sonic's rivalry with Jet to Lighting McQueen's rivalry with Chick Hicks.

Black Doom is also one of Sonic's enemies along with the Black Arms aliens who tried to invade Earth in search of the Chaos Emeralds. While Black Doom is primarily Shadow the Hedgehog's main enemy, (or ally, depending on the route the player takes) Black Doom is still considered one of Sonic's enemies due to his actions against innocent people. Sonic can battle Black Doom along with Shadow in one of the game's boss battles against him.

In Sonic The Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a new character with vast psychic abilities by the name Silver the Hedgehog will make his first appearance. He has a mysterious past, just like Shadow. He knows he has to save someone, but he doesn't know who. Interviews with Sega staff and promotional material indicates that Silver is from the future and is trying to prevent the 'Iblis Trigger' from causing a great disaster.

In the Anime Sonic X, Dark Oak is Sonic's main enemy during Series 3. Ruthless and cold-hearted, Dark Oak wishes all animal life dead so that plants can rule. He belongs to the same species of alien as Cosmo and the other Metarex commanders. Dark Oak, although fairly small compared to others of his kind, possesses great power, enough to even fight Super Sonic toe-to-toe. He is eventually destroyed by a blast from the Sonic Driver, the Blue Typhoon's main weapon.

In the UK series Sonic the Comic, Sonic had a rival for several issues named Commander Brutus, a highly advanced Badnik Trooper programmed with a copy of Doctor Robotnik's brain patterns. In armour constructed from the indestructible metal alloy 'Megatel' that granted him near-invulnerability and immense physical strength and endurance, and a built in anti-gravity device that allowed him to fly, Brutus easily matched and defeated Sonic in battle. Transforming into Super Sonic, Sonic was able to shatter Brutus' right hand and drive him off. They clashed several more times until Brutus led a rebellion against Dr Robotnik and was defeated and destroyed by the dictator.

Love life in other media

Sonic X: Sonic's relationship with Amy Rose is further developed in Sonic X than in the games. In this version the two share a more mutual friendship and work together far more often. Sonic even promises Amy a date at one time (however, this is only in the English dub), and numerous times the two are more intimate.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The cartoon featured a beautiful, robotic (unbeknownst to Sonic) girlfriend named Breezie Hedgehog. Breezie abused Sonic, asking him for impossible things, exhausting his infatuation with her to capture and trap him by order of Robotnik. Breezie realized she was wrong and set Sonic free, this time being sincere with Sonic. As time passed, she would later end up having a relationship with Robotnik Jr.

SatAM: In the Saturday morning cartoon, Sonic's love interest is Princess Sally Acorn. The two share a co-leadership role of the Freedom Fighters and parent/sibling/aunt type roles over Tails. Sonic and Sally are the same age and often do missions together against Robotnik. Although the two have obvious crushes for each other, they had opposite personalities that conflict, because of which they had a hard time admitting their affections. Sally finds Sonic to be too carefree and an airhead, while Sonic finds her to be serious and prissy. However, in the final episode, the two kiss.

American Sonic Comics: The main American Sonic comic (Archie Comics) has by far the most complex love triangles of all Sonic related media. Love interests within the series include Sally Acorn, Amy Rose, Mina Mongoose and Fiona Fox. For more details on this topic, see Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character).

British Sonic Comics: In the UK, Fleetway's Sonic the Comic mirrored the games by introduced Amy Rose, who was so enamoured with Sonic that she openly lied about being his girlfriend, leading to her captured by Robotnik's force for consorting with an outlaw. Rescued, she joined Sonic's Freedom Fighters and repeatedly teased & pestered Sonic with her affections, with writer Nigel Kitching's intent being to make it ambiguous as to whether she really doted over Sonic, was just winding him up for fun, or both. However, this would be played down and finally dropped entirely as time went on - largely as a result of the "Girl Power" phenomenon sweeping the United Kingdom -, and Amy quickly went from a lovesick hanger-on into a capable, intelligent hero in her own right. (This was intended from the start but disrupted by, due mainly to the Sonic CD adaptation, Amy being captured on four consecutive occasions over her first three stories)

Family

While Sonic has no relatives in the games, he has family members in spinoffs.

Archie Comics *Grandfather: Olgilive Hedgehog *Mother: Bernadette Hedgehog *Father: Jules Hedgehog *Uncle: Sir Charles Hedgehog (Chuck) *Dog: Muttski Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM *Uncle: Uncle Chuck *Dog: Muttski Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog *Ancestor: MAsonic *Ancestor: PenlopeSonic Underground *Uncle: Uncle Chuck *Mother: Queen Aleena *Sister: Sonia *Brother: Manic *Father: Zokar (not in series) Sonic Manga *Mother: Brenda *Father: Paulie *Sister: Anita

In the UK comic series, no relatives of Sonic are mentioned. In issue 51, a brown hedgehog appeared claiming to be his brother, Tonic the Hedgehog. However, this turned out to be the evil shape-shifter Metamorphia sent by Dr Robotnik. In issue 107, Sonic describes one of his ancestors, 'Bravehog' (a parody of Braveheart) who liberated Mobius from the tyrannical rule of the villainous hyena King Leer.

Alternate versions

The Archie Sonic Comic features Sonic with alternate dimensional versions of himself. Many of these versions are similar in personality to the classic Sonic, being heroic and carefree. However, other versions are drastically different. Archie's Sonic comic recently bore witness to an evolution of one such form, wherein a being formerly known as Evil Sonic charged himself on Master Emerald energy to evolve into Scourge the Hedgehog. Other such splits have happened in the past, such as Sonic the Comic's separation of Super Sonic as his own entity. In the Archie comics, Sonic's real name is revealed to be Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog. He tries desperately to protect that information, possibly out of embarrassment. This name is not canon (official), however, and he is simply known as Sonic the Hedgehog in the games. It is unknown why his name was changed in the comics.

In Sonic The Comic, Sonic encounters an alternate reality where he became evil and not Kintobor. King Sonic and his Badniks ruled this alternate Mobius until Sonic got him so stressed he turned into Super Sonic, who in this reality was a mellow hippy.

Voices

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.

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 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 1999 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. However, 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, Griffith became the official game voice actor for Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as Jet the Hawk in Sonic Riders, a controversial decision among fans of the Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes voice cast.

Appearances

Games

Title screen of the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game.

Sonic started his battle against his nemesis Doctor Eggman in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive/Genesis. After venturing out on his own in the first game, he was given a sidekick in Miles "Tails" Prower for the sequel Sonic 2 who would run behind Sonic as he sped through each zone as they continued the fight against Eggman. The sequel was also the first game to feature Sonic's Super Sonic form. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles would see Sonic and Tails battle Eggman yet again, with the additional threat of Sonic's newfound nemesis, the misguided Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic would eventually team up with Knuckles to defeat the Eggman once again.

Sonic would be solo once again for Sonic CD, in which Sonic would use his unrivaled speed to travel through time to defeat Eggman and ensure a good future for the world. Sonic CD also introduced Amy Rose, Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend who only played minor roles in several Sonic-themed spinoff games until Sonic Adventure. It also introduced Metal Sonic, who wouldn't have another major role until Knuckles Chaotix. Sonic 3D Blast, the first Sonic game to feature 3D pre-rendered graphics was a diversion for Sonic as he rescued birds called Flickies on an island.

Sonic Adventure featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new powerful foe named Chaos, under the control of Doctor Eggman. The game was the first true 3D Sonic game and was the debut of Sonic's homing attack (although it could be used in Sonic 3D after acquiring a power-up, Sonic Adventure was the first title to feature it as a standard move). In addition, Sonic was also able to collect power-ups that gave him extra abilities. The game also featured Sonic interacting with non-playable characters and objects in 3D "Adventure" sequences, where the game world could be freely explored. Sonic Adventure was the first video game title that featured a voice-over for Sonic.

Sonic Adventure 2/Battle involved Sonic being framed for a robbery he didn't commit and on-the-run from the military. He also faces a new rival, Shadow the Hedgehog. However, the two put their differences aside and save the world from destruction. Super Sonic makes another reapearence, and it's also the first appearance of Super Shadow.

Sonic's third 3D action game was Sonic Heroes, which featured four different teams made up by three characters in each. This game marked the return of the group of characters known as Team Chaotix, as well as Metal Sonic.

Sonic in Sonic Riders

In addition to these games, Sonic has been featured in a variety of 8-bit console and handheld games as well. Sonic Triple Trouble saw Sonic and Tails face off against Fang the Sniper for the first time. Sonic Advance and Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure for the Game Boy Advance and the Neo Geo Pocket respectively were the first games to feature Sonic on a non-Sega game platform. Two sequels to Sonic Advance were released and Sonic has continued his appearances on Nintendo handheld game units with Sonic Rush for Nintendo DS.

Sonic has also been a featured character in several spin-off titles. The arcade SegaSonic the Hedgehog had Sonic as one of three playable characters. Sonic has also been featured in some pinball games including Sonic Spinball. He is also a selectable character in Sonic R, Sonic Riders and the Sonic Drift racing games. Sonic is a selectable fighter in both Sonic Battle and Sonic Championship. He also appears as a Hero Side mission partner in the game Shadow the Hedgehog.

Screenshots and some newly released information has revealed that a brand new Sonic game is in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Naka has claimed that Sonic Team is going back to their origins, nearly fifteen years ago, to recreate Sonic's personality and attitude, as well as the gameplay style, to make the title feel more like the original games. Another Sonic title is in development for Nintendo's upcoming Wii console: Sonic Wild Fire, which is, from sources, reported as an entirely different game than the one being released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and will utilize the new functions of the Wii console. Sonic is confirmed to be in his first PSP game Sonic Rivals. It is going to be a game where you race against other characters to the end of a level. A sequel to Sonic Riders for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was also mentioned by Takashi Yuda, (creator of the original Sonic Riders game, as well as the original designer of Knuckles) but no official announcements have been made by Sega as of yet .

Television series

Sonic in the Sonic X anime.

Sonic in the Sonic X anime.

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's adventures and battles with Robotnik. It is also interesting to note that in every Sonic series, Sonic has three spines. Sonic the Hedgehog, 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 series was based heavily on the Archie Comics continuity, making it far more dark and brooding than Adventures and gaining a devoted following.

Sonic Underground, a show in the US, UK and France, ignored the continuity of the previous series and introduced two siblings and Sonic's mother. White returned to voice Sonic, while Robotnik was voiced by Gary Chalk.

Additionally, there was a Sonic the Hedgehog 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 OAV was marketed as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

The latest animated Sonic television series, Sonic X, is an anime that features Sonic being transported from his world to the human world. Like the other television series, it has an original storyline not present in any of the games, however it does at some points adapt the storylines from the Sonic Adventure games. In fact, they have the modern sonic games character desgins as well. Sonic is voiced by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in the Japanese version, and by Jason Griffith in the English language version.

Books

Comic books

Several comic books have also been released, each establishing a different storyline about Sonic.
* Sonic the Hedgehog (Shogakukan, Japan)
* Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics, US)
* Sonic X (Archie Comics, US)
* Sonic the Comic (Fleetway, UK)

Sonic fan-made dōjinshi made by a variety of artists (including Rikdo Koshi) have also been released in Japan.

Gamebooks

A series of six Sonic Adventures gamebooks were published in the UK between 1993 and 1996 by Puffin under the Fantail label.
* Book 1 - Metal City Mayhem, James Wallis (ISBN 0140903917)
* Book 2 - Zone Rangers, James Wallis (ISBN 0140903925)
* Book 3 - Sonic v Zonik, Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland (ISBN 0140904069)
* Book 4 - The Zone Zapper, Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland (ISBN 0140904077)
* Book 5 - Theme Park Panic, Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green (ISBN 0140378472)
* Book 6 - Stormin' Sonic, Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green (ISBN 0140378480)

Novels

Stay Sonic by Mike Pattenden developed the "Kintobor origin", first introduced in the Disney Adventures comic book, in much greater detail. This background was used as the basis of most subsequent UK Sonic stories.

James Wallis, Marc Gascoigne, and Carl Sargent wrote four Sonic the Hedgehog novels based on his origin established in Stay Sonic. They were published in the UK by Virgin Publishing.
* Book 1 - Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory
* Book 2 - Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension
* Book 3 - Sonic the Hedgehog and the Silicon Warriors
* Book 4 - Sonic the Hedgehog in Castle Robotnik

Michael Teitelbaum has also written a series of Sonic novels:
* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik's Revenge
* Sonic the Hedgehog: Fortress of Fear
* Sonic the Hedgehog: Friend or Foe?
* Sonic & Knuckles
* Sonic X-Treme

Two novels have been written based on the episodes "Meteor Shower Messenger" and "Spaceship Blue Typhoon" from the third season of Sonic X.

Others

* Where's Sonic? Using a similar idea to the Where's Wally?/Where's Waldo? books, each page presented the reader with a different puzzle, each one inspired by a different level from Sonic 2 on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Published by Ladybird Books Ltd.
* Look and Find Sonic the Hedgehog Another book similar to Where's Waldo; each page is a puzzle with hiddlen objects and characters from the SatAM storyline, but in locations from Sonic games on the Genesis. (ISBN 0785311394)
* Where's Sonic Now?
* A series of other children's books were written by Ladybird. These include two puzzle books, a coloring book and the picture books Robotnik's Oil and The Invisible Robotnik. Sonic the Story was a book explaining Sonic's transformation from brown to blue.

Cameos/Popularity

For game cameos, see List of games featuring Sonic the HedgehogSonic has proven to be an extremely popular character. After having been around only 3 years, he had already surpassed Nintendo's Mario in popularity according to a June 1993 Q-Survey in Gameplayers magazine. In the October 1996 issue of Ultra Gameplayers, Sonic the Hedgehog's world-wide popularity was claimed to have surpassed even that of Disney's Mickey Mouse, just as Mario had done by the end of 1990. As a result of this popularity, he has been referred to in various parts of culture due to his popularity. One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after the character.

Other references are present in television programs. In the show Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, in the episode "Camp Capers", Ami is captured by Bigfoot. Yumi pretends she is in a video game, and she runs through a 16-bit forest area, jumps on a crab (thus killing it) then goes at sound-barrier-breaking speeds and runs over a checkered loop, obviously a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone. An episode of Megas XLR spoofed Sonic with a parade balloon called Auggie the Adorable Aardvark (that also spoofs Mickey Mouse by wearing the same clothes), that was mutated and could do Sonic attacks such as the Spin Dash. In the show "15/Love", in Adena and Tannis' dorm room, there is a poster with the cover of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game in it. Sonic also made a cameo appearance in The Simpsons's episode "Marge Be Not Proud", voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He appears (along with Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and fictional pro golfer Lee Carvallo), trying to convince Bart Simpson to steal a video game.On Space Ghost Coast to Coast Space Ghost is seen playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the guest monitor.

Sonic has also made appearances in films. In the 1996 movie Jingle All The Way, in the scene where Jamie arrives at the parade, Sonic can be seen as a character marching in the parade. In the movie Hitch, on the side of an ice cream truck, there is a picture of a Sonic popsicle. Sonic has also appeared in Wayne's World. The background of the Noah's Arcade commercial is the Starlight Zone from the original game.

He has also been referred to in other video games. In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Moneybags threatens to turn Spyro into a blue hedgehog if he replies that he won't pay him to continue through Crystal Islands. In April 2002, EGM made a hoax that Sonic and Tails were the last two secret characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Some players even tried the "cheats" published, before the magazine revealed it was an April Fool's joke. Many people think that Sonic will be one of the third-party characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Sonic has also made appearances as a character in parades. In 1996, Sonic was the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade. Sonic was also in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the only other video game character to ever be in the parade was Pikachu.

Sonic has been a mascot for various sport teams as well. Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team. During this period, Sonic appeared on the team's uniform. During the 1993 Formula One championship, Sega sponsored WilliamsF1, which won the season. 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. The trophy was a statue of the hedgehog.

See also

*Anthropomorphic Superheroes
*Kemono
*Funny Animal

References

In addition to information taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog games themselves, the instruction booklets of the US and Japanese versions of the games were also used as references for this article.

External links

Official sites
*Sonic Central - Official Sonic the Hedgehog microsite at Sega.com
* Sonic Channel - Official Japanese website
*Sonic City - Official European Sonic the Hedgehog websiteFan sites

* Sonic Ultimate - Containing information mostly about Sonic from the comic book
* Concept-Mobius Research-based character profile (fan site)
* Sonic NetWorld - Very big Sonic encyclopedia, there are many images, multimedia, fan works and Sonic talk bot.