Sonic the Hedgehog (Japanese:ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is the flagship character for video game, arcade game (and one-time home game console) company Sega, which has released a series of video games in which he either stars or plays a role. Sonic was competeing head-to-head with Nintendo's mascot Mario for over a decade until Sega went out of the home console market. He now lives on in various Nintendo and other consoles.

Sonic replaced Alex Kidd, who was Sega's mascot prior to 1990. Naoto Oshima designed the character while Yuji Naka was the main programmer. He would later become head of the Sonic Team division.

Sonic is a blue hedgehog who lives on the planet Earth (Mobius in various American sources which is simply the name of Earth in the future). He has the ability to run at supersonic speeds, hence his name.

He is always running all over the world, rarely stopping for anything. He's carefree and relaxed, however, he's also very intolerant of injustice, and he'll do anything he can to help those in need. He's also got a quick wit, short temper, and a fairly large ego...

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 Doctor Eggman (Doctor Ivo Robotnik in the earlier releases in North America and Europe) 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.

Sonic also has a far bigger and more daunting opponent whom he cannot seem to defeat- water. Sonic's swimming skills are comparable to that of a 2000-ton lead weight's.

In SatAM Sonic's love interest is Princess Sally Acorn; in the video games and Sonic X ( A modern day Sonic anime) Amy Rose thinks she's Sonic's girlfriend (Sonic, however, is quite repelled by Amy's constant advances); Breezie hedgehog in Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog cartoon; and both Sally Acorn and Mina Mongoose in Sonic's Archie comics.

Sonic has faced several other adversaries in the games, such as Fang the Sniper (Nack the Weasel in America), Shadow the Hedgehog, and Rouge the Bat.

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

Key

• J = Japan
• N = North America
• E = PAL (Europe, Asia, Australia, Brazil)
• X = PAL excluding Brazil
• B = Brazil ONLY

For the Sega Megadrive/Sega Genesis:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (NEJ)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (JNE)
• Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball (also Sonic Spinball) (NEJ)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (NE)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (NEJ)
• Sonic & Knuckles (JNE)
• Sonic 3D Blast (aka Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island) (EN)
• Sonic Classics (contains Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic 2) (N)

For the Sega Master System:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (B)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (B)
• Sonic Chaos (B)
• Sonic Spinball (B)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (B)
• Sonic Blast (B)

For Sega Mega-CD/Sega CD:

• Sonic the Hedgehog CD (aka Sonic CD) (JEN)

For the Sega Game Gear:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (JNX)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (XNJ)
• Sonic Chaos (aka Sonic & Tails) (JNX)
• Sonic Spinball (XN)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (NX)
• Sonic Drift (J)
• Sonic Triple Trouble (aka Sonic & Tails 2) (JNE)
• Sonic Drift 2 (JEN)
• Tails' Adventures (JEN)
• Sonic 2 In 1 (contains Sonic 2 and Sonic Spinball (Game Gear version)) (N)
• Sonic Labryinth (EJN)
• Tails' Skypatrol (J)
• Sonic Blast (aka G-Sonic) (NXJ)

For the Sega Pico:

• Sonic's Gameworld (JN)
• Tails And The Music Maker (NJ)

For the Sega Meganet Modem:

• Sonic Eraser (J)

For the Sega 32X:

• Knuckles' Chaotix (aka Chaotix) (NJE)

For the Sega Saturn:

• Sonic Jam (JNE)
• Sonic R (NEJ)
• Sonic 3D Blast (aka Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island) (NEJ)

For the Sega Dreamcast:

• Sonic Adventure (J)
• Sonic Adventure International (NJE)
• Sonic Shuffle (NJE)
• Sonic Adventure 2 (NJE)

For the PC:

• Sonic Schoolhouse (N)
• Sonic 3D Blast (EN)
• Sonic the Hedgehog CD (aka Sonic CD) (JNE)
• Sonic & Knuckles Collection (a combination of Sonic 3, S&K and S3&K) (JNE)
• Sonic R (NEJ)

For SNK Neo Geo Pocket:

• Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (EN)

For Nintendo Game Boy Advance:

• Sonic Advance (JNE)
• Sonic Advance 2 (JNE)
• Sonic Pinball Party (JNE)
• Sonic Battle (JNE)

For Nintendo Gamecube:

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

For Sony Playstation 2:

• Sonic Heroes (JNE)

For Xbox:

• Sonic Heroes (JNE)

For Arcade:

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

Leaked prototypes

• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 beta
• Sonic Spinball beta
• Sonic Crackers/Sonic Stadium

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)
• Beach Spikers (A giant inflatable Sonic floats above one of the volleyball courts)

Pirated games which are not from above starring Sonic the Hedgehog

• Somari, a pirated version of Sonic the Hedgehog that was ported to the Famicom and instead stars Somari, n altered Mario; the game is from Hong Kong
• Sonic-Boy in Monsterland, pirated version of Wonder Boy in Monster Land for the Sega Master System
• Sonic-Boy in Monsterland 2 - Eggman's Trap, pirated version of Wonder Boy in Monster Land 3 for the Sega Master System - pirated by Brazilian outfit Yuski
• Sonic-Boy in Monsterland 3 - Eggman's Room, pirated version of Geraldinho, a Teddy Boy clone for the Sega Master System
• Sonic-Boy in Monsterland 4 - a pirated version of Wonder Boy in Monster World
• Sonic vs. Os. Mauniks, pirated version of Psycho Fox for the Sega Master System - the game is from Brazil
• Sonic Jam 6, a pirated version of a pirated version of Super Mario Collection; the game is from China
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (actually a Speedy Gonzalez game for the Super Nintendo)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 6 (another Speedy Gonzalez game for the Game Boy)

Public domain

• Sonic the Hedgehog for the Gameboy - a demonstration program

Television Series

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (AoStH, US)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM, US)
• Sonic Underground (SU, France)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Anime, Japan)
• Sonic X (Anime, Japan)

Comic Books

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

Sonic Manga and Sonic Doujinshi have also been released in Japan

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