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| Sonic the Hedgehog | |
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| Information | |
| Game series | Sonic series |
| First appearance | Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) |
| Alias: | The Fastest Thing Alive; the Blue Blur |
| Japanese name: | ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejiihoggu |
| Species: | Hedgehog |
| Age: | 15 |
| Height: | 100 cm (3 ft 3 in) |
| Weight: | 35 kg (77 lb) |
| Gender: | Male |
| Blood type: | A |
| Birth date: | June 23, 1995 |
| Likes: | freedom, chilli hotdogs |
| Dislikes: | oppression, being fussed over by Amy, water (depending on game played and programs watched, this may be a simple dislike or a fear.) |
| Hobbies: | running |
| Home: | South Island |
| Weapon(s): | Quills. |
| Skill(s): | Supersonic Running Speed, super transformation |
| Creator(s): | Naoto Ōshima Yuji Naka Hirokazu Yasuhara |
| Voice actor(s): | Ryan Drummond (1999-2004) Jason Griffith (2005-present) Takeshi Kusao (1993-1998) Junichi Kanemaru (1998-present) |
| Trademark: | Blue quills, red running shoes. |
:If you are looking for Sonic's first game and not the character, see Sonic the Hedgehog (game)
Sonic The Hedgehog is the star mascot for the Sega Corporation, who replaced earlier failed mascots Alex Kidd and Opa-Opa (of the Fantasy Zone fame). Star of the Sonic series. Sonic the Hedgehog burst onto the gaming scene in 1991 as the system-selling video game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. He's a blue hedgehog that rolls up into a ball to attack, and is noted for his amazing running speed.
He's associated with spin off characters of the series like Tails the two-tailed fox, Knuckles, the sharp-knuckled echidna, and about 300 other characters introduced later. Several of them are doppelganger like rival hedgehogs (Though many of his enemies seem to become allies at some point) such as Shadow the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic and more recently, Silver the Hedgehog.
Origin
Sonic art
Sonic's origins, however, date farther back than 1991, all the way back to 1990. Back then, Sega was struggling to gain a foothold in the gaming market. After Sega Master System's near world-wide defeat to rival Nintendo's Famicom, Sega fought in the new 16 bit market and faced heavy opposition from the then-massive PC Engine. The PC Engine had already gained a stronghold in Japan, and was racing neck-and-neck against the Genesis in the US. Sega of Japan's president at the time, Hayao Nakayama, decided that the only way Sega could gain a strong portion of the gaming market was with a character that could not only stand up to video game super star Mario, but beat him at his own game. And thus, a massive campaign began to find Sega's Mario killer.
To find the image for Sega's new character, a contest was held internally that allowed employees to submit their own ideas of what the character should be. Failed submissions include a wolf, and Teddy Roosevelt (who would later be reimaged into arch villain Dr. Robotnik), but the design that ended up winning was a small blue hedgehog drawn by Naoto Ohshima. Ohshima claims the idea came from a blending of Mickey Mouse and Felix the cat.
With Sonic's image defined, a dream team of then upcoming Sega programmers and directors was assembled to handle the ambitious project. Included in the project was Hirokazu Yasuhara, Yuji Naka (who had already achieved critical acclaim for his smash hit Phantasy Star), Takayuki Nakamura, Hiroshi Kubota, Jina Ishiwatari, Reiko Kodama, and Naoto Ohshima. In addition, Masato Nakamura, the guitarist for Dreams Come True, an insanely popular Japanese band, was signed on to do exclusive music for the game. Dreams Come True eventually became the lead promoters for Sonic in Japan, displaying flyers for the then-unannounced game on their touring bus with the ad slogan "for a little guy, he sure is tough" sprawled across.
The team that was assembled was charged with the task of transforming Ohshima's character into a super star, and thus, Sonic Team was born. The team decided to tackle the Sonic project from a standpoint that they wouldn't try to beat Mario at his own game, but rather, they'd design Sonic to be everything Mario wasn't. Originally, the idea was to have a normal speed Hedgehog who picked up and threw rings at enemies to defeat them. The team decided that the idea was too Mario like, and shelved it, although it'd later resurface under the name "Ristar" and again in "Sonic Adventure 2."
Yuji Naka came up with the idea of sonic using his sharp quills to damage enemies by rolling into a ball. From there, they expanded the idea to be that of a Pachinko-like game, with Sonic rolling all around. To give the sense of rolling and pinball a greater degree of realism, the team decided to add insane speeds never before attempted in a video game. And thus, the Sonic the Hedgehog we know came to be.
By June 1991, Sonic's ad campaign world-wide was massive as his debut game received the final touches. In Japan, Dreams Come True stepped up its cross-promotion campaign with the release of their "Million Kisses" album - the song "Kusuriyubi no Kesshin" directly inspired the BGM for one of the game's levels - Starlight Zone, and Dreams Come True made this very public. In America, Sega began their massively popular "Genesis Does what Nintendon't" and "Don't Blink!" ad campaigns to announce Sonic's arrival. On June 23, 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog made his world wide debut in America. The game would launch a week later in Europe, and Japan would have to wait till July.
Sonic The Hedgehog became an instant success.