Sonic the Hedgehog Trivia | 100 facts about the video game franchise

“Sonic the Hedgehog” is a video game series and media franchise created and owned by Sega. It is one of the bestselling video game franchises.

Let’s find out some trivia and facts about this video game franchise.

Sonic the Hedgehog[a] is a Japanese video game series and media franchise
It is created and owned by Sega
The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist
The main Sonic the Hedgehog games are platformers mostly developed by Sonic Team
Other games, developed by various studios, include spin-offs in the racing, fighting, party and sports genres
The franchise also incorporates printed media, animations, feature films, and merchandise
Sega developed the first Sonic game, released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis, to compete with Nintendo’s mascot Mario
Its success helped Sega become one of the leading video game companies during the fourth generation of video game consoles in the early 1990s
Sega Technical Institute developed the next three Sonic games, plus the spin-off Sonic Spinball (1993)
After a hiatus during the unsuccessful Saturn era, the first major 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, was released in 1998 for the Dreamcast
Sega exited the console market and shifted to third-party development in 2001
Continuing the series on Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation systems
While Sonic games often have unique game mechanics and stories, they feature recurring elements such as the ring-based health system, level locales, and fast-paced gameplay
Games typically feature Sonic setting out to stop Eggman’s schemes for world domination
The player navigates levels that include springs, slopes, bottomless pits, and vertical loops
Later games added a large cast of characters
Some, such as Miles “Tails” Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, and Shadow the Hedgehog, have starred in spin-offs
The franchise has crossed over with other video game franchises in games such as Mario & Sonic, Sega All-Stars, and Super Smash Bros.
Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega’s flagship franchise and one of the bestselling video game franchises
Selling over 140 million units by 2016
It has grossed over $6 billion as of 2020
Series sales and free-to-play mobile game downloads totaled 1.14 billion as of 2020
The Genesis Sonic games have been described as representative of the culture of the 1990s
It is listed among the greatest of all time
Although later games, notably the 2006 series reboot, have been criticized for a perceived decline in quality
Sonic is influential in the video game industry
It is frequently referenced in popular culture
The franchise is known for its fandom that produces unofficial media, such as fan art and fangames
By 1990, Japanese video game company Sega wanted a foothold in the video game console market with its 16-bit console, the Sega Genesis
Sega’s efforts had been stymied by the dominance of Nintendo
The Genesis did not have a large install base and Nintendo did not take Sega seriously as a competitor
Sega of America CEO Michael Katz attempted to challenge Nintendo with the “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” marketing campaign and by collaborating with athletes and celebrities to create games
These efforts did not break Nintendo’s dominance, and Katz was replaced by Tom Kalinske, formerly of Mattel
Sega president Hayao Nakayama decided Sega needed a flagship series and mascot to compete with Nintendo’s Mario franchise
Nintendo had recently released Super Mario Bros. 3, at the time the bestselling video game ever
Sega’s strategy had been based on porting its successful arcade games to the Genesis
However, Nakayama recognized that Sega needed a star character in a game that could demonstrate the power of the Genesis’s hardware
An internal contest was held to determine a flagship game, with a focus on the American audience
Among the teams working on proposals were artist Naoto Ohshima and programmer Yuji Naka
The gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) originated with a tech demo created by Naka
Naka had developed an algorithm that allowed a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix
Naka’s prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube
Sega management accepted the duo’s project and they were joined by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara
After Yasuhara joined Naka and Ohshima, their focus shifted to the protagonist, who Sega hoped could become its mascot
The protagonist was initially a rabbit able to grasp objects with prehensile ears, but the concept proved too complex for the hardware
The team moved on to animals that could roll into a ball, and eventually settled on Sonic
This was a teal hedgehog created by Ohshima
Naka’s prototype was fleshed out with Ohshima’s character design and levels conceived by Yasuhara
Sonic’s color was chosen to match Sega’s cobalt blue logo, and his red and white shoes were inspired by the cover of Michael Jackson’s 1987 album Bad
His personality was based on Bill Clinton’s “can-do” attitude
The antagonist, Doctor Eggman, was another character Ohshima had designed for the contest
The team thought the abandoned design was excellent and retooled the character into a villain
The team took the name Sonic Team for the game’s release
Sonic’s first appearance came in Sega AM3’s racing game Rad Mobile (1991) five months before the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, as an ornament hanging from the driver’s rearview mirror
The Sonic developers let AM3 use Sonic because they were interested in making the character visible to the public
The Sonic franchise is known for its large cast of characters
Much of the supporting cast was introduced in the succeeding games for the Genesis and its add-ons
Sonic 2 introduced Sonic’s sidekick Miles “Tails” Prower, a fox who can fly using his two tails
Sonic CD introduced Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog and Sonic’s self-proclaimed girlfriend, and Metal Sonic, a robotic doppelgänger of Sonic created by Eggman
Sonic 3 introduced Sonic’s rival Knuckles, a red echidna and the guardian of the Master Emerald.
The Master Emerald, introduced in Sonic & Knuckles, controls the power of the Chaos Emeralds
Knuckles’ Chaotix introduced the Chaotix, a group comprising Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy Bee
A number of characters introduced during this period, such as Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Fang the Sniper from Sonic Triple Trouble (1994), faded into obscurity
Τhey sometimes reappear
The Sonic series is characterized by speed-based platforming gameplay
Controlling the player character, the player navigates a series of levels at high speeds while jumping between platforms, fighting enemies and bosses, and avoiding obstacles
The series contains both 2D and 3D games
2D entries generally feature simple, pinball-like gameplay with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button
And branching level paths that require memorization to maintain speed
Meanwhile, 3D entries tend to be more linear in design
They feature various level objectives, different movesets
They allow the players to upgrade and customize the playable character
Games since Sonic Unleashed have blended 2D and 3D gameplay
With the camera shifting between side-scrolling and third-person perspectives
One distinctive game mechanic of Sonic games are collectible golden rings spread throughout levels, which act as a form of health
The series contains numerous power-ups, which are held in boxes that appear throughout levels
Many Sonic games contain multiplayer and cooperative gameplay, beginning with Sonic the Hedgehog 2
In some games, if the player chooses to control Sonic and Tails together, a second player can join at any time and control Tails separately
Sonic games also feature a split-screen competitive mode in which two players race to the end of the stage
Licensed Sonic merchandise includes books, clothing, soundtracks, board games, and toys such as figures and plushes
By 2004, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had generated more than $1 billion in licensed merchandise sales
Sega and McDonald’s collaborated for Sonic-themed Happy Meal promotions in 1994 for Sonic 3 and in 2004 for Sonic Heroes
Sonic was the first video game franchise to receive a McDonald’s promotion, and over 50 million Sonic Happy Meal toys were sold worldwide
A million Sonic trousers had also been sold by 1996
In 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the Sonic film rights
In June 2014 announced it would produce a Sonic film as a joint venture with Sega’s Marza Animation Planet
Paramount originally scheduled Sonic the Hedgehog for a November 8, 2019 release, but delayed it to February 14, 2020, to accommodate the redesign
With an estimated budget of $81–95 million, the film grossed over $310 million worldwide
Thus becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2020
In March, it became the highest-grossing film based on a video game in US box office history
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was announced in May 2020
The second film was released on April 2, 2022
In February 2022, Paramount and Sega announced that they were working on a Sonic cinematic universe
With Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and a Knuckles streaming television series for Paramount+ in development
The Sonic platformers released during the 1990s were acclaimed and have been listed among the greatest video games of all time
Sonic was touted as a faster, cooler alternative to Nintendo’s contemporary Mario game, Super Mario World (1990)
In 1996, Next Generation described the Genesis games as “the zeitgeist of the 16-bit era”
The Sonic the Hedgehog video games grossed over $5 billion in sales by 2014, and over $6 billion as of 2020
Series sales and free-to-play mobile game downloads totaled 920 million units by 2019, and over 1.14 billion units by 2020
In 1993, Sonic was tied with Mario as the highest-earning entertainment personalities of the year, each generating $500 million ($900 million adjusted for inflation) in digital game sales that year