Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the world's most famous video game characters and the mascot of Sega Enterprises Ltd. Sonic was introduced on June 23 1991 with the launch of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. His super speed makes him one of the fastest fictional characters.

Overview
Sega's iconic mascot made his first appearance on the Sega Genesis in June 23, 1991, with the game Sonic the Hedgehog. It was Sega's second highest selling Genesis game with 4 million copies sold, second only to Sonic 2, selling 6 million copies. He went on to be featured in several games, cartoons, books, and in two ongoing comic book series. Sonic has also been featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl along with Snake, and competes head-to-head with long-time rival Mario in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and the Olympic Winer Games.

Creation
Sega's iconic mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, was first conceived by the pioneers of the Sonic Team: artist Naoto Oshima, designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka.

The first game in the franchise was released on June 23, 1991. He was created as a response to Nintendo's Mario, and to replace their current mascot, Alex Kidd.

Some early designs were an armadillo, a dog, a rabbit that could grab objects with its ears (which would later develop into Ristar) and a character resembling Theodore Roosevelt that later became Dr. Eggman. After several designs they came up with Sonic the Hedgehog although he was initially called 'Mr. Needlenose'. He was colored blue to help players better identify with Sega.

Sonic the Hedgehog series video games
The first installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog series landed the speedster in a speed driven world with a villain showing no intentions of keeping it quiet. With challenging threats disturbing his residing habitat, he takes on the sole task of preventing the newly introduced nemesis from implementing further plans for total conquest and evil domination in the universe. With the assistance gained from his twin-tailed partner Tails, he takes on a bigger threat of robotic life that has gone rouge. With a canny resemblance to a character in question, the robotic doppelganger Metal Soni concerns his anger on Sonic. Within the cannon realms of the Sonic odyssey, Sonic encounters himself facing once again against the malevolent Metal Sonic and his creator the evil Dr. Robotnik.

Sonic, en route to Angel Island, discovers himself being forced to face an additional threat that appoints Sonic as a nature enemy of the land. The unsuspecting villain seems to have gained terms with the evil nemesis, assisting as a conflicting rival determined to take down Sonic at all costs. Robotnik, while taking the reigns of the plan, delights in the naturally growing rivalry between both Sonic and Knuckles the Echidna.

Characteristics & Abilities
Sonic resides in the Emerald Hill Zone on the Planet Mobius, which he steadfastly defends. Sonic is best known for his speed; he is able to run so fast that his legs blur and he can run across the surface of water. He is allegedly faster than the speed of sound, and in Sonic CD his pace is so incredible that it facilitates time travel.

Sonic can also roll into a ball to smash through objects, defeat enemies, and crack open discarded computer monitors to obtain bonuses and items. His spin charge attack allows him to build up power and speed. This physical speed also translates to mental alacrity (as he is constantly able to thwart his foes' machinations), and impatience (as when Sonic is left idle by the player for too long he taps his foot impatiently).

When Sonic collects all 7 Chaos Emeralds he transforms into ' Super Sonic' - a faster golden Hedgehog with invulnerability and the ability to fly. Sonic can also collect golden rings which are littered around Mobius' several zones. 50 rings will allow sonic to enter the bonus level which grants him the chance to reach a Chaos Emerald. An extension of this power is his ability to become 'Hyper Sonic', a being impervious to all damage save being crushed or falling into bottomless pits. This form is accessed when Sonic collects all 7 Super Emeralds in the Sonic 3 & Knuckles game. He also gains the ability to cause the screen to flash, killing all on-screen foes. According to the Sonic the Hedgehog comic books, Sonic obtained his green eyes when he originally fought the monster Chaos. When jumping through Chaos, part of the monster was absorbed by Sonic, turning his eyes from black to green.

100 Rings grants Sonic an extra life. If Sonic is hit by an enemy he will drop all his rings, and has only a short amount of time to collect them before they fade away. If Sonic is hurt when he has no rings, he will lose a life and be dropped back to the latest checkpoint.

Relatives
Sonic has a deep rooted bond with his pal and closest friend Miles Prowler aka Tails as a younger brother. Sonic is consequently joined by Tails in many of his adventures subsequent from Sonic 2. Tails has the ability of flight, and in Sonic 3 Tails can lift Sonic for short periods of time to access hard to reach areas.

Close Friends
As the female counterpart, a pink colored hedgehog by the name of Amy Rose was the solution for Sonic, He is constantly being chased Amy, who had no secret in hiding her admiration for him, professing her profound love with a devotion to marry him off as her wedded husband.

Friendly Rivalry
Despite getting off to a rocky start (having been tricked easily of the stolen Chaos Emeralds' captors), Knuckles the Echidna has earned the title as a close friend and is consistently a friendly rival to Sonic.

Villains
Sonic's nemesis is Dr. Ivo Robotnik (aka Dr. Eggman), an evil scientist who seeks to enslave the inhabitants of Mobius. Though clever as Robotnik may be, he is time after time thwarted by Sonic's interference with plans carried out throughout Sonic's adventures.

There are rare occasions in which Robotnik is akin sides with Sonic to unite their force against a larger threat stand between his own efforts. Such is the case when Robotnik takes heed of Biolizard's presence as an apocalyptic threat to the entire Earth when the creature takes on a crash land collision course towards the planet.

In Sonic Adventure, Sonic ridiculed and teased Robotnik of his round shape, taunting him with the name " Eggman". It began when Sonic had placed name on him for being a "Giant Egg", in which case Robotnik counter-responded that his full name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Neglecting the recent claims of Robotnik, Sonic goes on to reply, " Whatever, Eggman!", and so his name since that encounter has been been left as Eggman, rather than an alias.

Animation

 * Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog - A lighthearted series of adventures where Sonic and Tails are aided by a mad professor to battle Dr. Robotnik and his clumsy sidekicks Scratch and Grounder - a mechanical Rooster and Mole respectively. Sonic was voiced here by Jaleel White (most famous for portraying Steve Urkel in Family Matters).
 * Sonic The Hedgehog - An edgier series in which Sonic forms a band of freedom fighters to battle Dr Eggman on Planet Mobius.
 * Sonic Underground - A spin-off where Sonic and his two siblings Sonia and Manic form a rock band and battle Dr. Robotnik using magical instruments. Sonic plays guitar, Manic is on drums, Sonia plays the keyboard. The Sonic family are destined to rule the Planet Mobius with their mother Queen Aleena and must battle Dr Robotnik to do so.
 * Sonic X - An anime series in which Sonic is teleported to earth using the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
 * Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie (Sonic OVA) - takes place on Mobius as Sonic faces up against Metal Sonic.

Comics

 * Sonic The Comic (UK) (1993-2001)
 * Sonic The Hedgehog (1993-present) - Nearly the longest running licensed comic in American Comic Book history, second only to Conan
 * Sonic X (2005 - 2008)
 * Sonic Universe (2009-present) - A companion series to Sonic The Hedgehog, featuring multiple-issue side stories to the main series

Manga

 * Sonic The Hedgehog
 * Dash & Spin / Super Fast Sonic!!

Trivia

 * Sonic cannot swim due to mistaken assumption taken by Yuji Naka that the hedgehog is naturally unable to do so by its own will.
 * In 1996 Sonic became the first video game character to feature in a Rose Parade.
 * The Anime TV show Sonic X is heavily edited in the US to make the show more child friendly.The episodes were edited to be shorter, removing all of the music and other material presumed to be offensive to its younger age group.
 * Sonic became one of the first video game characters to feature as a balloon in a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
 * Sonic was featured in the inaugural "Walk Of Game" class in 2005.
 * In October 2008 Sonic was voted the most popular Video Game character in the UK with 24% of the votes. (Mario only got 21%)
 * There is a Gene discovered in fruit files that deals with the proper growth of digits on limbs as well as brain formation called the Sonic Hedgehog gene.