Sonic the Hedgehog

Designed by Naoto Ohshima, Sonic the hyperactive, blue hedgehog—in red and white running shoes and white gloves—first appeared in American living rooms in 1991. Sonic the Hedgehog, the first game to feature Sonic, was released in the United States by Sega of America for the Sega Genesis. The game (and its iconic character) was part of an effort by Sega of America to increase its share of the home consumer market and decrease Nintendo's widespread dominance.

Designed to appeal to consumers through his speed and rebellious teenage attitude, Sonic blasted through levels with his super spin and dash attacks, collecting rings and chaos emeralds, destroying his enemies (the Badniks), and saving his animal friends from Dr. Ivo Robotnik (also known as Dr. Eggman), the mad scientist. Joined in later games by a sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower, the two-tailed fox, and a rival, Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic has been a main character in more than 40 games across multiple platforms, including arcade machines, PCs, Sega systems, and eventually, Sony and Nintendo systems. Sonic also either participates as a secondary character or makes cameo appearances in several other games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and spin-offs like Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

As Sega's new mascot, Sonic was meant to radiate an aura of cool, especially with teenagers, and make Nintendo's Mario seem slow, old, and simple. Sonic was characterized by impatience, tapping his foot and motioning the player to continue if forward progress halted. A common feature of all Sonic games is when the hedgehog collects and stores rings, which protect him from death when injured and score him points and extra lives. He also collects chaos emeralds in hopes of discovering them all and receiving their transformative power. With the emeralds, he can turn into Super Sonic, making him even faster and invulnerable to attack until his cache of rings runs out. In his fourth major game, Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic can collect seven Super Emeralds along with the Chaos Emeralds to become Hyper Sonic, further enhancing his Super Sonic powers. The ability to become Hyper Sonic was not carried on into other games, and the ability to transform into Super Sonic is only occasionally present after the games became three-dimensional.

Since his introduction in 1991, Sonic has undergone minor redesigns, especially with his shift into three dimensions. He currently sports more spikes, a toothy grin, green eyes, and longer legs. While a few Sonic games claimed to be three-dimensional prior to the 1999 release of Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast, it was his first appearance in full three-dimensional rendering.

Not only has Sonic crossed platforms, he has also crossed into other media with comic books, manga, anime, and television cartoon shows. Two Sonic cartoon series debuted in 1993—The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog. The more light-hearted Adventures cartoon show was a weekday series that lasted only three months. The darker-toned Sonic the Hedgehoghad a two-season run on Saturday mornings (it moved to Sunday mornings for season two). A third cartoon series, Sonic Underground, began its run in 1999 but was cancelled after two months.

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