Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

Sonic the Hedgehog is the flagship character for video game, arcade game (and one-time home console) company Sega, which has released a series of video games in which he either stars or plays a role.

Sonic is a blue hedgehog who lives on the planet Earth (Mobius in various American sources). He has the ability to run very fast. His blue pigmentation was explained in an issue of gaming magazine Gamepro as being the result of getting caught in an explosion involving cobalt, but this is probably not canonical. There is an alternative explanation in Stay Sonic: Official Sega Handbook, a book about Sonic the Hedgehog written by Mike Pattenden. At some point it was divulged (probably from an American source) that Sonic enjoys eating chili dogs.

The premise of the games revolves around Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik in earlier American releases) trying to take over the world by turning the animals into robots called Badniks. Sonic is charged with saving them. In later games he is joined by Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, Cream the Rabbit and a host of others.

In SATAM and Archie Comics, Sonic is in love with Princess Sally.

Interestingly, one of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes after the name given to the first member of this class discovered, has been named sonic hedgehog after this character.

Games involving Sonic the Hedgehog

For the Sega Megadrive (Sega Genesis):

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic Spinball
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• Sonic and Knuckles
• Sonic 3D Blast
• Sonic Classics (contains Sonic, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic 2)

For Sega Mega-CD (Sega CD):

• Sonic the Hedgehog CD aka Sonic CD

For the Sega Master System (Sega Mark III):

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic Chaos)
• Sonic Spinball
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
• Sonic Blast (Port of the Sega Game Gear title of the same name)

For the Sega Game Gear:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Port of the Sega Master System title with a few revisions)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Port of the Sega Master System title with a few revisions)
• Sonic & Tails (also Sonic Chaos)
• Sonic Spinball (Port of the Sega Master System title with a few revisions)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Port of the Sega Master System title with a few revisions)
• Sonic Drift
• Sonic & Tails 2 (also Sonic Triple Trouble)
• Sonic Drift 2
• Tails' Adventure (also Tails' Adventures) (Cameo as Weapon)
• Sonic 2 In 1 (contains Sonic 2 and Sonic Spinball (Game Gear))
• Sonic Labryinth
• Sonic Blast (also G-Sonic)

For the Sega Pico:

• Sonic's Gameworld
• Tails And The Music Maker

For the Sega Super 32X (Sega 32X):

• Chaotix (aka Knuckles' Chaotix) (Cameo in Good Ending)

For the Sega Saturn:

• Sonic Jam
• Sonic R
• Sonic 3D Blast (improved version of the Genesis one)

For the Sega Dreamcast:

• Sonic Adventure
• Sonic Adventure 2
• Sonic Shuffle

For the PC:

• Sonic the Hedgehog CD aka Sonic CD
• Sonic Schoolhouse
• Sonic 3D Blast (identical to Genesis version)
• Sonic & Knuckles Collection (a combination of Sonic 3, S&K and S3&K)
• Sonic R

For SNK Neo Geo Pocket:

• Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure

For Nintendo Game Boy Advance:

• Sonic Advance
• Sonic Advance 2
• Sonic Pinball Party (Coming Soon)
• Sonic Battle (Coming Soon)

For Nintendo Gamecube:

• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
• Sonic Mega Collection
• Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
• Sonic Heroes (Coming Soon)

For Sony Playstation 2:

• Sonic Heroes (Coming Soon)

For X-Box:

• Sonic Heroes (Coming Soon)

For Arcade:

• Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car
• Sega Sonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol
• SegaSonic The Hedgehog
• Sonic the Fighters aka Sonic Championship

Sonic-related game the character himself is not in

• Tails' Skypatrol, for the Sega Game Gear

Games Sonic Characters have cameoed in:

• Phantasy Star Online (Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails have cameoed online numerous times.)
• Donkey Kong Country 2 (At the end of the game, Diddy gets rated as a video game hero according to how many of the DK Coins you collect. On the screen is a trash can labeled "No Hopes" with Sonic's shoes next to it)
• Fighters Megamix (Bark the Polarbear and Bean the Dynamite Dux are unlockable fighters)
• Christmas NiGHTS (One of the presents is to play as Sonic in the Spring Valley Time Attack)
• Shenmue (Sonic character dolls are available)
• Virtua Striker 3 (A hidden team has Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Dr. Eggman, and a Chao as players, with Yuji Naka as the coach)

Television Shows

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (AOSTH, US)
• Saturday Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (SATAM, US)
• Sonic Underground (SU, France)
• Sonic Anime (Japan)
• Sonic X (Japan)

Comic Books

• Archie Sonic Comic (US)
• Sonic the Comic (Fleetway, UK)

Sonic Manga and Sonic Doujinshi have also been released in Japan.