Sonic the Hedgehog Trivia | 90 facts about the videogame character

Sonic the Hedgehog seems like he has a second round of popularity due to the premiere of his newest film.

The protagonist of the videogame of the same series is a well-known and well-liked character. So let’s find out some trivia and facts about him.

Sonic the Hedgehog is the protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series
The videogame series is published by Sega
He is also the protagonist of numerous spin-off comics, animations, and other media
Sonic is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds and curl into a ball, primarily to attack enemies
In most games, Sonic must race through levels, collecting power-up rings and avoiding obstacles and enemies
Programmer Yuji Naka and artist Naoto Ohshima are generally credited with creating Sonic
Most of the games are developed by Sonic Team
The original Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) was released to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo’s flagship character Mario
Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure (1998)
With a more mature look designed to appeal to older players
Sonic is one of the world’s best-known video game characters and a gaming icon
His series had sold more than 80 million copies by 2011
In 2005, Sonic was one of the first game character inductees into the Walk of Game alongside Mario, Link, and Master Chief
While Sega was seeking a flagship series to compete with Nintendo’s Mario series, several character designs were submitted by its research and development department
Many results came forth from their experiments with character design, including an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (who would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman’s design), and a rabbit (who would use its extendable ears to collect objects, an aspect later incorporated in Ristar)
Naoto Ohshima took some of these internal designs with him on a trip to New York City and sought feedback by asking random passersby at Central Park their opinions
Of the designs, the spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed “Mr. Hedgehog”, led this informal poll, followed by Eggman and the dog character
Ohshima felt that people selected it because it “transcends race and gender and things like that”
On return to Japan, Ohshima pitched this to the department
And the hedgehog was ultimately selected as the new mascot
The detailed design of Sonic was aimed to be something that could be easily drawn by children and be familiar, as well as exhibit a “cool” attitude, representative of the United States at the time
Sonic’s blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega’s cobalt blue logo
His shoes evolved from a design inspired by both Santa Claus and Michael Jackson’s boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by the contrast of those colors on Jackson’s 1987 album Bad
His personality was based on then-presidential candidate and later President of the United States Bill Clinton’s “Get it done” attitude during the 1992 presidential campaign
To help sell the idea to Sega’s higher-ups, Ohshima pitched the concept framed by a fictional fighter pilot that had earned the name “Hedgehog” due to his spiky hair, and had decorated his plane with images of Sonic
When this pilot retired, he married a children’s book author, who wrote stories about the Sonic character
The first of which became the plot for the first Sonic game
Ohshima stated that this influence can be seen in the logo of the game, which features Sonic in a pilot’s wing emblem
The origins of Sonic can be traced farther back to a tech demo created by Yuji 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 original prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube
This concept was subsequently fleshed out with Oshima’s character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara
Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so
A group of fifteen people started working on the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, and renamed themselves Sonic Team
The game’s soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True
Sega sponsored the group’s “Wonder 3” tour, painting Sonic on the tour bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game, and having footage of the game broadcast above stage prior to its release
The original concepts gave Sonic fangs and put him in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna
However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder, who calls herself “Sonic’s mother”, “softened” the character up for an American audience by removing those elements
This sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team
Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best
Sonic’s appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn
In the video games, Sonic’s original design by Oshima was short and round, with short quills, a round body, and no visible irises
Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic’s proportions would change for the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Mega Drive
Sonic’s head to height ratio was changed from 1:2 to 1:2.5
For the 1998 release of Sonic Adventure, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping quills, and green-colored irises
For the 2006 game, Sonic was redesigned to make him look adult-like and taller to appeal to the next generation players
This was also done because Sonic would interact with humans more often and his design was supposed to fit
An alternative “Werehog” form was introduced in Sonic Unleashed
This placed more emphasis on Sonic’s melee skills rather than speed
Although Tetsu Katano acknowledged the large negative fan response to the Werehog, he believes it could return in a future game
Bob Raffei, CEO of Sonic Boom developer Big Red Button, stated that Sonic Boom’s Sonic is “very different… both in tone and art direction”
Sonic originally had a few voice samples in Sonic CD, with designer Masato Nishimura providing the voice
Sonic’s first true voice actor was Takeshi Kusao for the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog
With Junichi Kanemaru continually voicing the role beginning with the release of Sonic Adventure
Kanemaru also voices Sonic in Sonic X, Sonic Boom, and the Japanese dub of the Wreck-It Ralph films
In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic was voiced by Tomokazu Seki while in Werehog form
Jaleel White voiced the character in the DiC animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM, and Sonic Underground
Starting with Sonic Adventure, Sonic was voiced in English by Ryan Drummond
Drummond was replaced by Jason Griffith starting from Sonic X
With Griffith voicing Sonic within the games starting with Shadow The Hedgehog in 2005
Griffith was replaced by Roger Craig Smith, starting with Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colors
Smith announced on his Twitter account on January 29, 2021, that he would no longer voice Sonic, with his departure confirmed by Sega the same day
On May 26, 2021, Smith and Sega confirmed that he was voicing Sonic once again
Ben Schwartz voiced Sonic in the 2020 feature film, and reprised his role for its 2022 sequel
According to various official materials from Sega, Sonic is described as a character who is “like the wind”
A drifter who lives as he wants and makes life a series of events and adventures
Sonic hates oppression and staunchly defends freedom
Although he is mostly quick-witted and easygoing, he has a short temper and is often impatient with slower things
Sonic is a habitual daredevil hedgehog who is honest, loyal to friends, keeps his promises, and dislikes tears
He took the young Tails under his wing like a little brother, and is uninterested in marital proposals from Amy Rose
In times of crisis, he focuses intensely on the challenge as if his personality had undergone an astonishing change
Sonic’s greatest strength is his running speed, being known in the game’s universe as the world’s fastest hedgehog
Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection with the addition of spinning his body
Since his introduction in 1991’s Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic’s primary offensive maneuver is the basic “Spin Attack” (or “Sonic Spin Attack”)
Later games in the series expanded on this basic attack and two of these enhancements have become mainstays of his
The Spin Dash which was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and involves Sonic spinning on the spot before blasting off at full speed
And the Homing Attack, officially introduced in Sonic Adventure, in which Sonic dashes toward a target in midair
Sonic’s only weakness is that he cannot swim, sinking like a rock if plunged to a deep body of water
The only exception is that he can swim in the Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks
When the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected and used, Sonic transforms into “Super Sonic”, a faster and invulnerable version of himself that can fly
In Super Sonic form, Sonic’s irises turn red and his body becomes golden
As Sega’s mascot and one of the key reasons for the company’s success during the 16-bit era of video game consoles, Sonic is one of the most famous video game characters in the world
In 1993, Sonic became the first video game character to have a balloon in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
In 1996, Sonic was also the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade
Sonic was one of the three game characters inducted on the inaugural Walk of Game class in 2005, along with former rivals Mario and Link (both from Nintendo)
One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named “sonic hedgehog” after him
Nintendo Power listed Sonic as their sixth favorite hero, stating that while he was originally Mario’s nemesis, he seems at home on Nintendo platforms
They added that he has remained as one of gaming’s greatest icons
In 2004, the character won a Golden Joystick Award for “The Sun Ultimate Gaming Hero”