Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

Sonic the Hedgehog
'Sonic the Hedgehog' character
File:Sonicrun 2006.png Sonic the Hedgehog has been Sega's mascot for over fifteen years.
First game	Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Created by	Naoto Ohshima Yuji Naka

This article is about the video game character. For the Archie comic version, see Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character).

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a video game character and the protagonist of a series of video games released by Sega, as well as numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released in 1991 in order to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario. Since then, Sonic has become one of the world's best-known video game characters, with his series having sold over 44 million copies.

Artist Naoto Ohshima, designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka are generally credited with the creation of the character, a blue, male, anthropomorphic hedgehog, whose ability to run faster than the speed of sound is a major part of the gameplay of the series. He is 15 years old, and, as a hedgehog, is significantly shorter and lighter than humans his age, being about 100 centimeters (3 ft 3 in) tall and weighing 35 kilograms (77 lb).

History

In April 1990, Sega requested a game capable of selling over one million copies and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research & development department, including an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, an over-sized Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman's design), and a rabbit (intended to use its extendable ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar). Eventually, Naoto Ohshima's spiky hedgehog, initially codenamed "Mr Needlemouse", was chosen as the new mascot. A group of fifteen started working on Sonic the Hedgehog, 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.

File:Sonics.PNG

At left is official Sonic artwork from the original design of Sonic the Hedgehog game (artwork by Akira Watanabe) and at right is an artwork in the style of the upcoming new generation Sonic games.

Sonic's precise age, weight, height and other physical characteristics vary depending on the continuity in which he appears and the style in which he is drawn. In the videogames, Sonic's original design by Naoto Ohshima was quite short and childlike, 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, and most subsequent Sonic videogames featured similar designs. Beginning with Sonic Adventure in 1998, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a taller character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping spikes, and green-colored eyes. Further subtle changes to the character's design have been made in subsequent games. Spin-off media such as comics and cartoons have featured variations on all these videogame designs, with restrictions set by the standardised model sheets.[1]

His cobalt blue pigmentation has never been explained in the games; however, explanations were offered as the character was transferred to other media. One origin story was provided in a promotional comic for the original game featured in Disney Adventures, Garfield Magazine, and other children's periodicals, which was later elaborated upon in Mike Pattenden's Stay Sonic, a book about the character published in the UK. This explanation, in which the shockwaves Sonic experienced when he first ran at supersonic speed turned him blue and streamlined his spikes, later became the basic origin for many subsequent UK publications such as Egmont Fleetway's Sonic the Comic.

Appearances

Games

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog series

File:Sonic1.png

Title screen of the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game.

Sonic started his battle against his nemesis Doctor Eggman in the 1991 platform game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System and Game Gear. His sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower joined him in the game's 1992 sequel Sonic 2, which also introduced Sonic's Super Sonic form and signature "spin-dash" move.

Sonic was solo once again for Sonic CD (1993), in which he used his unrivaled speed to travel through time to defeat Eggman and ensure a good future for the world, and which also introduced Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose, and his robotic doppelgänger Metal Sonic. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles (both 1994) saw Sonic and Tails battle Eggman yet again, with the additional threat of Knuckles the Echidna, tricked by Eggman into fighting Sonic. Other 2D platformers starring Sonic include Sonic Chaos (1993), Sonic Triple Trouble (1994), Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (1999), the Sonic Advance series (2001—2004) and Sonic Rush (2005).

The first Sonic platform game in true 3D, Sonic Adventure (1998) was the original developer Sonic Team's return to the character for a major game. It featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new, powerful foe named Chaos, under the control of Doctor Eggman. It introduced Sonic's homing attack as a standard move, included power-ups that awarded him extra abilities for the rest of the game, and featured interaction with non-playable characters and objects in 3D "Adventure" sequences, where the game world could be freely explored. In addition to Sonic, who was given a full voice-over for the first time, five other major characters were playable, plus Super Sonic. Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) introduced a new rival, Shadow the Hedgehog, and several other new characters, and involved Sonic on-the-run from the military after being framed for a robbery he didn't commit. A third 3D action game, Sonic Heroes, featured four different teams made up by three characters in each, and marked the return of supporting characters Team Chaotix and Metal Sonic. Two other 3D platformers, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic and the Secret Rings, are currently in development, though the first game has already been released on the Xbox 360.

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Sonic uses an airboard to reach high speeds in Sonic Riders— in other games he can do this by running.

Sonic has also been featured in games of many genres other than 2D and 3D platform games. The first of these was a pinball game, Sonic Spinball (1993), which expanded upon the pinball sequences in the first two platform games. Sonic has also appeared in "2.5D" isometric platformers (Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic 3D Blast), racing games (Sonic Drift, Sonic R, Sonic Riders, and Sonic Rivals) and fighting games (Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Battle). A sequel to Sonic Riders is currently in development.

Video games such as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Tails Adventures, Knuckles Chaotix and Shadow the Hedgehog starred supporting characters of the Sonic series; in some of them Sonic had a cameo role. The hedgehog has also made cameo appearances in numerous other Sega games such as Daytona USA and Christmas NiGHTS.

Television series

Sonic the Hedgehog opening title card.

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Sonic in the Sonic X anime.

There have been several animated television series featuring Sonic. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the first and featured Sonic, voiced by Jaleel White, and Robotnik, voiced by Long John Baldry. It had a very comical take on Sonic's adventures and battles with Robotnik. Sonic the Hedgehog, originally broadcast on Saturdays on ABC, was broadcast concurrently with the syndicated Adventures series in the United States. Sonic was voiced by Jaleel White, and Robotnik was voiced by Jim Cummings. The Archie Comics continuity was based heavily on this series; it was far more dark and brooding than Adventures.

Sonic Underground, a show in the US, UK and France, ignored the continuity of the previous series and introduced two siblings and Sonic's mother. White returned to voice Sonic, with Samuel Vincent providing his singing voice, while Robotnik was voiced by Gary Chalk.

Additionally, there was a Sonic the Hedgehog Anime OAV in Japan which featured Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and Metal Sonic. Sonic was voiced by Masami Kikuchi in Japan, and Martin Burke in the United States where the OAV was marketed as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. The series was a commercial failure in Japan and was cancelled after a two-episode run, hence its being released in the US as a movie rather than episodes of a series.

The latest animated Sonic television series, Sonic X, is an anime in which a massive Chaos Control blast results in Sonic and his friends being transported from his world to the human world (however Season 3 mainly takes place in Sonic's own world). Like the other television series, it has an original storyline not present in any of the games, although it can be viewed as an elaboration upon the Sonic Adventure games' storylines. Music from the games is used during select key moments in the series, and several animation sequences strongly resemble cutscenes from the console titles. In addition, the characters' designs are based upon the more recent Sonic games' character designs. Sonic is voiced by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in the Japanese version, and by Jason Griffith in the English version.

Books and comics

Main article: List of Sonic the Hedgehog printed media

Sonic's first comic appearance was in a promotional comic printed in Disney Adventures magazine, which established an origin for Sonic involving the transformation of kindly scientist Dr Ovi Kintobor into the evil Dr Ivo Robotnik. It also shockingly established that Sonic was originally Brown. Numerous British publications, including "Sega handbook" Stay Sonic (1993), four novels published by Virgin Books (1993–1994) and the comic book Sonic the Comic (1993–2002) used this premise as their basis.

The American comics published by Archie Comics, Sonic the Hedgehog (1993—) and Sonic X (2005—) are based on the settings established by earlier animated TV series, the ABC "SatAM" cartoon and the Sonic X anime respectively.

In Japan, Sonic manga have been published.

Cameos/popularity

For game cameos, see List of games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic has proven to be an extremely popular character. After having been around only 3 years, he had already surpassed Nintendo's Mario in popularity according to a June 1993 Q-Survey in Gameplayers magazine. As a result of this popularity, he has been referred to in various parts of culture. One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after the character.

Other references are present in television programs. In the show Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, in the episode "Camp Capers", Ami is captured by Bigfoot. Yumi pretends she is in a video game, and she runs through a 16-bit forest area, jumps on a crab (thus killing it) then goes at sound-barrier-breaking speeds and runs over a checkered loop, obviously a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone. An episode of Megas XLR spoofed Sonic with a parade balloon called Auggie the Adorable Aardvark (that also spoofs Mickey Mouse by wearing the same clothes), that was mutated and could do Sonic attacks such as the Spin Dash. In the show "15/Love", in Adena and Tannis' dorm room, there is a poster with the cover of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game in it. Sonic also made a cameo appearance in the episode of The Simpsons entitled "Marge Be Not Proud", voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He appears (along with Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and fictional pro golfer Lee Carvallo), trying to convince Bart Simpson to steal a video game. On Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Space Ghost is seen playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the guest monitor. Also, on G4's Attack of the Show Video Game Director's Cut founder Randy Solem showed a clip from his then-most recent short, Sonic the Hedgehog in Bad Bubbles.

Sonic has also made appearances in films. In the 1996 movie Jingle All The Way, in the scene where Jamie arrives at the parade, Sonic can be seen as a character marching in the parade. In the movie Hitch, on the side of an ice cream truck, there is a picture of a Sonic popsicle. Sonic has also appeared in Wayne's World.

Sonic has also made appearances as a character in parades. In 1996, Sonic was the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade. Sonic was also in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; the only other video game character to ever be in the parade was Pikachu.

Sonic has been a mascot for various sports teams as well. Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team. During this period, Sonic appeared on the team's uniform. During the 1993 Formula One championship, Sega sponsored WilliamsF1, which won the season. Sonic was featured in the cars, helmets, and rival McLaren used to paint a squashed hedgehog after winning races over Williams. The 1993 European Grand Prix featured a Sonic balloon and Sonic billboards. The trophy was a statue of the hedgehog. He has also done quite well in the annual Character Battle contests held on GameFAQs.

Voice acting

The earliest voice of Sonic was Takeshi Kusao in the game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, a June 1993 arcade release starring Sonic the Hedgehog, Mighty the Armadillo, and Ray the Flying Squirrel.

In September 1993, DiC Entertainment cast Jaleel White, more popularly known as portraying the character of Steve Urkel, as Sonic in their simultaneously released shows Sonic the Hedgehog and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. White would later be cast as Sonic for DiC's 1999 show Sonic Underground.

In 1996, when the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA was produced in Japan, Sonic was voiced by Masami Kikuchi. The 1999 English-language dub featured Martin Burke in Sonic's role.

Starting with the 1999 game Sonic Adventure, all of Sonic's video games feature voice acting. Sonic was played by Junichi Kanemaru, who later went on to play Sonic in the Japanese version of Sonic X. Ryan Drummond performed the role of Sonic in Sonic Adventure and continued to play the role for several games. However, 4Kids Entertainment decided not to use Drummond's voice in their US/UK dub of Sonic X, instead choosing their own Jason Griffith. Despite this, Drummond continued to provide the voice of Sonic in the series until 2005, when Sega replaced all their Sonic voice actors with their 4Kids counterparts, in order to keep his voice the same in all media forms. Effectively, this meant that beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Rush, Jason Griffith became the official game voice actor for Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog (and Jet the Hawk in Sonic Riders). This has been a controversial decision among fans of the Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes voice cast.

Griffith's voice has been negatively viewed by fans of the old voice cast of the Sonic series, as his voice for Sonic had been criticized by fans of lacking the enthusiasm that Sonic's last voice actor Ryan Drummond put into the role and not being able to fit Shadow's personality as well as David Humphrey did.

More recently, however, Sega has announced that since Sonic X is over, they have no need for the 4Kids voice actors, which may lead to their firing and replacement, possibly by the original actors (except for Pollock). Ryan Drummond has sent an email to Sega about the 4kids voices (except for Mike Pollock) to see if they have left for good. If this is true, the original cast for the Sonic series (Ryan Drummond, David Humphrey, Scott Dreier, etc.) might return. However, Ryan understands that it won't be easy negotiating with Sega.[2]

Character

Personality

Sonic has been described as being "like the wind", and is noted for being free-spirited and adventurous. He enjoys relaxation, but is never one to rest in the face of injustice. He is extremely benevolent, and willingly puts himself at risk to help others, taking on any challenge that confronts him without hesitation. He is also somewhat of a pacifist, prefering not to kill his foes, and has never killed a human being. For instance, he has fought Eggman, many times and has never once attempted to take his life despite Eggman's villanous schemes. However, Sonic is not generally modest when it comes to his abilities; in fact, he is often portrayed as being narcissistic and self-absorbed. The British Sonic the Comic presented him as being bossy and arrogant, often making cruel jokes about his friend Tails, and characters regularly referred to his strange sense of humour.

Sonic's favorite food is chili dogs. He displays an interest in rock music, and in the cartoon Sonic Underground was a vocalist in his own band. Some official character art and a television commercial for Sonic Adventure suggests that he has a personal hobby as a DJ. Furthermore, it is displayed in Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS that Sonic also enjoys breakdancing as it is one of his primary ways for filling up his Rush meter. His battle moves in Sonic Battle are also based on breakdancing, as mentioned in the attack descriptions. Lastly, he breakdances in Sonic Advance 3 if he finishes a level in a short-enough time.

Destiny

In Sonic & Knuckles, a mural deep in Angel Island's Hidden Palace fortells the battle between Super Sonic and Eggman for the Master Emerald that would occur in the game's Doomsday Zone. Knuckles possibly misread the mural to mean that Eggman would protect the Master Emerald from a villainous Hedgehog, but, if this is true, he eventually realized the truth. There is also speculation that Gerald Robotnik studied Echidna culture and at some point, had seen the mural and that the lasting image played a hand in the appearance of Shadow the Hedgehog, considering that Shadow looks extremely like Super Sonic (minus the color).

A verse the player learns from Tikal the Echidna in Sonic Adventure confused some, and started a misguided theory, with the phrase being:

The servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos.
I'm still not sure what it all means. But the number 7... is the same as the number of Emeralds there are.

Some misinterpret this as referring to Sonic, but it quite clearly isn't, as the Master Emerald is the one that controls the powers of the Chaos emeralds, and channels/unifies them as well.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles recites the verse himself:

The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power; power is enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the Chaos. Only you can do this; stop the Chaos Emeralds!

Some people mistake this as Knuckles talking to Sonic, but he's actually talking to the Emerald.

Comments made by SEGA staff in regards to Sonic the Hedgehog reveal that Sonic may be the legendary entity referred to by some as the 'Iblis Trigger'; an associated trailer shows Silver the Hedgehog referring to him as such. The word Iblis relates to the equivalent of the devil, or Satan, in Islamic culture. Silver is a time traveller who has been sent back in time to stop Sonic from causing an unknown tragedy.

Home

The games: Sonic's home planet is Earth (although the name has varied slightly depending on minor regional differences). He lives at a location known as South Island during Sonic 1, and (according to early written material from Sonic Team) was originally born on Christmas Island.

Although Sonic has always lived on Earth to players living in Japan during the 1990s 16-bit era, players elsewhere then believed that Sonic's home world was called "Mobius" because of localized information provided by some later American and European instruction manuals. This name stemmed from a mistranslation of the word "Mobius" in a 1992 Sega Visions interview with Yuji Naka; he was in fact referring to a Mobius strip used in Sonic 2. However, games produced since 1999's Sonic Adventure have clearly taken place on Earth, and all of them use the same story and names regardless of the language they are played in. Sonic Adventure 2 was the first game of the franchise to consistently use the term "Earth" in-game, a standard which holds true down to the present day. It, its remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and subsequent game Shadow the Hedgehog even show views of Earth from space.

Western fiction: In all American and European comics, cartoons, books and some manuals published before 1999, Sonic's home is a planet called Mobius. The long-standing US Archie comic expand on the relationship between Mobius and Earth, as Mobius is revealed to once having been Earth. After Xorda aliens set off a Gene Bomb, wiping out almost the entire human race, animals mutated and evolved into the various species what are now called 'Mobians' with alongside what little humans were left. The time line in the Archie comic series is set about 1,400 years in the future(As stated in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic issue 150). The British spin-off Sonic the Comic stated that the version of Mobius in that comic is a world completely separate from Earth, and is described as the Earth's sister planet (to the point of actual humans from Earth invading it). In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground, two other Sonic cartoon series, no relationship between Earth and Mobius had been noted.

Sonic OVA: Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie took place on a planet known as "Planet Freedom". During the course of the movie, it is explained that the world is split into two dimensions: The Land of the Sky, which is home to Sonic and his friends, and the Land of Darkness, where Dr. Eggman resides. It is heavily implied that world is in fact a future Earth.

Sonic X: Sonic's home in the Sonic X anime series is an unknown planet in an alternate reality that shares the same space as Earth, as revealed in Episode 49. This logically suggests that the planet is indeed an alternative Earth, although this has not been explicitly confirmed. This planet however appears only briefly in the show, with the majority of the action first taking place on "our" Earth, and later in outer space.

Abilities

Sonic is known as "the fastest thing alive", with the ability to run at speeds higher than Mach 1. He can run backwards just as well as forwards. In the games, his super speed has not been explained, although according to the official American Sega website,[3] he was born with this ability. A promotional comic printed in Disney Adventures magazine and other publications in 1991 established an origin story (later used in numerous British publications including Stay Sonic and Sonic the Comic) in which his running ability was achieved through training on a high-tech treadmill until he surpassed the speed of sound. Stay Sonic also gave his fastest recorded speed as 761mph, while in the Archie Comics, a response to a piece of fan mail stated that the fastest he ever ran was Mach 2, and that in his super form he can travel at the speed of light. In both Stay Sonic and the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, Sonic's distinctive "Power Sneaker" shoes are used to protect his feet from the heat arising from the friction involved when running at such speeds. Soap shoes with a similar design and colour scheme were featured in Sonic Adventure 2, which introduced Sonic's ability to grind on rails.

In the original 2D games, once Sonic had reached his top speed, he ran with his arms fixed pointing forwards. However, in the 3D titles, Sonic CD and the Sonic Advance series, his top-speed running animation was altered so that his arms trailed behind him and that he leaned forwards more. This animation is copied by most of the other, super-fast characters.

Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection. His primary offensive maneuver is the spin jump (or "Sonic Spin Attack"); as Sonic jumps, he curls up and spins round, damaging any enemies which come into contact with him. This ability was enhanced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with the introduction of the "Insta-Shield", which allows Sonic to momentarily surround himself with a spherical force field, giving him a split-second's worth of protection, and slightly increasing his attack range while jumping.

He can also curl into a ball while running, allowing his momentum to carry him along in an equally dangerous attack. Although well-protected, in this position he cannot maintain his top speed, and curling up limits the amount of control he (and the player) has over his movements. The "Spin-Dash", introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, allows Sonic to quickly accelerate into this roll from a stationary position. The "Super Peel-Out" introduced in Sonic CD (also known as the "Figure Eight" move in the comics, so called due to the shape his feet take when he does this) accelerates him in a similar manner, but allows him to remain running in an upright position and the camera sticks to Sonic when in maximun speed.

In the upcoming game Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic can trigger a speed boost in which he is surrounded in flames and is invulnerable. His super move in Sonic Rivals has a similar effect, but it may not be the same power.

Another of Sonic's moves is the homing attack, introduced in Sonic Adventure. Sonic performs the homing attack in midair during a jump, speeding towards a target in his ball form to damage or destroy it. Sonic can perform multiple homing attacks in rapid succession; as he bounces off of one target, he can aim for another one and attack it. Alternatively, Sonic can use the homing attack to hit a single target multiple times. Sonic can run or bounce across the surface of water, but he cannot swim. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a water shield allows Sonic to breathe underwater, but in the 3D Sonic games, landing in water is usually the equivalent of instant death. In the Fleetway comic book Sonic the Comic, his inability to swim was one of his major weaknesses for a long time. Sonic's fear of water is often alluded to in the animated series Sonic X and Sonic Underground, though in Episode 9 of Sonic X, Sonic is seen to be able to swim when he rescues Amy from drowning he gained this strength because he is devoted to help those in need espessily his friends.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic is able to use Chaos Control like Shadow the Hedgehog, and is also shown using the ability even without a real Chaos Emerald.

Also, Sonic has shown an incredible degree of strength in one episode of Sonic X. This would suggest that Sonic may have super strength, but this does not apply to the actual Sonic storyline.

In Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic is given abilities such as the Homing Attack (farther range and straight), Bounce Attack, and Spin Dash and is given new attacks such as Slide Attack (Anti-Gravity) and Sliding Kick. Gems give Sonic differant abilities such as Mach Speed (Blue Gem) wich allows him to go at top speed, Slow Time (Red Gem) which slows down time, Tornado Slide Kick (Green Gem) which creates a tornado when using a Sliding Kick, Shrink (Purple Gem) which shrinks Sonic, giving him infinit jumps and camera zoom-out, G.U.N. Drive (Sky Blue Gem) which causes him to fallow the gem as he throws it when even airborn, Homing Attack Stabalise (White Gem) which leaves Sonic airborn when preparing a homing attack, and Infinit Thunder Shield (Yellow Gem).

Transformations

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Super Sonic in the television show Sonic X.

Main article: Super Sonic

Since the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic has had the ability to transform into an incredibly powerful form known as Super Sonic. The transformation is triggered by collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds, and at least fifty rings. As Super Sonic, he is even faster than normal, can jump higher, can fly, and is invincible to most attacks and obstacles. Sonic's appearance also changes; his body becomes yellowish-gold, his quills rise into a wilder arrangement, his eyes turn red, and he physically resembles Shadow. A slight continuity error in the Super Sonic levels is that Sonic can breath in space, obviously not needing oxygen, yet he can drown underwater.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles introduced the even more powerful Hyper Sonic. Hyper Sonic glows with the colors of the Chaos Emeralds, is surrounded by glowing sparks, and leaves afterimages in his wake. Unlike Super Sonic, he cannot drown underwater. He also wields the devastating "lightning flash" attack which can be used to "double-jump" in any direction; when it is performed, it destroys all enemies on-screen with a bright flash. Hyper Sonic was only available in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, which featured seven Chaos Emeralds and seven Super Emeralds, instead of seven Chaos Emeralds.

In the games, Sonic always has full control in his Super and Hyper Sonic forms. However, in Sonic the Comic, Super Sonic was portrayed as a psychopath bent on causing destruction, attacking friends just as readily as enemies. In STC, it was also possible for the hedgehog to tranform into Super Sonic even when away from the Chaos Emeralds, during times of great stress or anger, similiar to the Marvel Comics character the Hulk. In addition, issue #66 of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic introduced an Ultra Sonic form.

Episode 67 of the television series Sonic X also featured Dark Super Sonic. Triggered by a combination of artificial Chaos Emeralds created by the Metarex, anger, grief, and fear for Cosmo and Chris, this form turns Sonic's body black and surrounds him with a black smoky effect. An ascended form of Sonic gone out of control from grief and stress, this character had a personality similar to Fleetway's Super Sonic. However, it only appeared for a few minutes, until Dr. Eggman arrived and calmed Sonic down.

Relationships

Friends

Sonic's best friend is a golden-red young fox called Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails idolizes Sonic and sees him as a mentor, while Sonic views Tails as a little brother. This is particularly prevalent in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog TV series, in which Sonic takes in Tails, an orphan unaware of who his parents are. This weakness of Tails is used a few times by Doctor Eggman to lure and capture him so that he can use Tails as bait to capture Sonic. Sonic and Tails are rarely without each other - they often go emerald searching, as seen in Sonic Adventure, or stop Eggman's plans together. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are chosen as a team, they are described as the "Unbreakable Bond".

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Sonic the Hedgehog with Amy Rose.

In the video games, Amy Rose is a young girl who acts the part of Sonic's girlfriend. Although Sonic is quite repelled by her constant advances to marry him, the two have been good friends since Sonic CD. Whenever Amy is kidnapped he comes to her rescue, as seen in Sonic CD, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Riders. In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are chosen as a team, they are described as a "Lovely Couple", however while Amy links arms with Sonic, delighted, Sonic sweatdrops and looks like he does not enjoy being partnered with her.

Another friend of Sonic is Knuckles the Echidna. They first met as enemies in Sonic 3, and although they are now allies, they can usually be found fighting. Knuckles and Sonic are both good friends, yet also rivals and equally powerful (or, rather, Sonic's speed is equally balanced with Knuckles's power), which explains why there never was a final victorious ending in their fights. Although he is envious of Sonic's adventurous lifestyle, Knuckles still dislikes Sonic's carefree nature. On the other hand, Sonic sees Knuckles as being far too serious and perhaps even a bit thickheaded, on occasion referring to him as "Knucklehead". In Sonic Advance 3, when the two are chosen as a team, they are described as "Fighting Buddies".

Sonic is also friends with Cream the Rabbit, a six year old girl. Sonic does not converse with her very much, as they do not seem to share many interests. As is seen in Sonic Advance 2, he is very impressed by her manners. In addition, the two of them seemed to make the biggest connection to Blaze the Cat in Sonic Rush.

Blaze the Cat is a princess brought to Sonic's world from another dimension. At first, the other characters suggest she should seek Sonic's help - Blaze denies this and wonders why they are so dependent on him. However, through working with Sonic in order to save the universe from Eggman and Eggman Nega, Blaze learns the value of friendship, and before she goes back to her own dimension, she promises to meet him again. Similar to Sonic's transformation with the Chaos Emeralds, she has the ability to transform into Burning Blaze using the Sol Emeralds from her world.

Emerl had a sort of father-son relationship with Sonic. The two became close friends, with Sonic helping Emerl "grow up". At the end of Sonic Battle, when Emerl was near death, Sonic was in obvious emotional turmoil, though he never expressed sadness, rather distress.

The three comical detectives known as Team Chaotix do not seem to know Sonic very well, despite the fact that Vector the Crocodile, the group's leader, was originally conceived as Sonic's bandmate in the very first Sonic game. They do however seem to have a friendly relationship and they were able to work together to defeat Metal Sonic without a problem.

Princess Elise is the princess of Soleanna, and vessel of the Flames of Disastear. They first meet in Sonic 2006, when Sonic saves her from getting kidnapped by Dr. Eggman. As they are together, Sonic's company makes Elise truly happy ever since her father dies. When Sonic dies, she even brings him back to life with a kiss, also turning him into Super Sonic. This is the first time Sonic's ever been this close to a female character emotionally (while with Amy Rose, it seemed to be a running gag), and even Sonic himself seems to return the feelings. Whether or not something may develop between them in the future, or if Sonic and Elise actually have "love" for each other, is still uncertain.

Enemies and rivals

Sonic's eternal enemy is Dr. Eggman, also known as Doctor Robotnik. Eggman is a brilliant scientist who uses his numerous machines to attempt to conquer the world, but Sonic has always intervened. Sonic originally fought Dr. Eggman because he was turning his animal friends into robotic slaves, known as Badniks in the West. The oppostion between Sonic and Eggman symbolises the conflict between technology and nature. After that, Eggman tried multiple times to conquer the Earth by using the Chaos Emeralds, Time Stones and Master Emerald. Often, these would be used to power Robotnik's huge Mech suits, gigantic and incredibly powerful images of himself. However, in the recent games, Dr. Eggman has taken a different approach, using warships and even a nuclear missile in his bid to conquer the world.

Sonic's first friendly rival was Knuckles, who fought to deter the Hedgehog's progress in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It has also taken place in the Archie Comics, Fleetway Comics, Sonic X and in Sonic Underground. This rivalry sparked many battles, both in the video games and the TV Series. In all continuities, this stems from a misunderstanding, usually prompted by Knuckles falling victim to deception from various villains. Virtually every video game in which Knuckles appeared in featured at least one battle between the two, the tradition ending in Sonic Adventure 2. In later games, Sonic and Knuckles' rivalry becomes more friendly, even developing into a sort of competition, which serves as a side plot for the game Sonic Rivals.

One of Sonic's major rivals is Shadow the Hedgehog, the "Ultimate Life Form". They became rivals in Sonic Adventure 2, and they have fought and argued with each other whenever they meet in every game since. They fight for different reasons, yet have similar opinions about each other. Sonic finds Shadow to be violent, humorless, and arrogant, while Shadow finds Sonic to be foolhardy, irritating, and arrogant. However, near the end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow willingly fought the Biolizard to allow Sonic to go with Knuckles to stop the Chaos Emeralds. In Sonic Heroes, they joined forces in the battle against Metal Sonic.

Before Shadow's introduction, Metal Sonic was one of Sonic's fiercest adversaries. During the older days, Eggman tried to beat Sonic at his own game by creating numerous Sonic robots to destroy his nemesis. Though they all tried and failed, Metal Sonic was by far Eggman's most successful creation, having the same capabilities as his counterpart. Even with Shadow in the spotlight now, Metal Sonic still remains a serious threat, as the storyline in Sonic Heroes demonstrated. In the game, Metal Sonic became so powerful that only three Super forms could defeat him. Sonic later vows to battle him again in the final cutscene.

Another one of Sonic's rivals is Jet the Hawk from Sonic Riders. Jet mocks him for being inexperienced with Extreme Gear (an air powered hovercraft that comes in the form of skateboards, motorcycles & rollerblades) and does not respect Sonic's title of "fastest thing alive", sparking a rivalry between them. Later, after Sonic beats Jet in a race, they become more friendly, but are still competitive as racing rivals.

Black Doom is also one of Sonic's enemies, along with the Black Arms aliens who try to invade Earth in search of the Chaos Emeralds. While Black Doom is primarily Shadow the Hedgehog's main enemy, (or ally, depending on the route the player takes) Black Doom is still considered one of Sonic's enemies due to his actions against innocent people. (It should be noted that Black Doom sees humanity as being far from innocent; however, this is likely little more than justification for Black Doom's plan to use humans as a food source for the Black Arms.) Sonic can battle Black Doom along with Shadow in one of the game's boss battles against him.

In Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a new character with vast psychic abilities by the name Silver the Hedgehog will make his first appearance. Interviews with Sega staff and promotional material indicate that Silver is from the future and is trying to prevent Sonic (as Silver said; "The Iblis Trigger") from causing a great disaster.

In other media

The SatAM cartoon series features Sonic's usual rivalry with Dr. Robotnik, as well as with Robotnik's nephew Snively Kintobor. Another of his foes, who only appeared in one episode, was the wizard Ixis Naugus, who also appears in the Archie Comics. Sonic Underground continues the Robotnik/Sonic rivalry, and also features the bounty hunters Sleet and Dingo.

In the anime Sonic X, Dark Oak is Sonic's main enemy during Series 3. Ruthless and cold-hearted, Dark Oak wishes all animal life dead so that plants can rule. He belongs to the same species of alien as Cosmo and the other Metarex commanders. Dark Oak, although fairly small compared to others of his kind, possesses great power, enough to even fight Super Sonic toe-to-toe. He is eventually destroyed by a blast from the Sonic Driver, the Blue Typhoon's main weapon.

In the UK series Sonic the Comic, Sonic had a rival for several issues named Commander Brutus. A highly advanced Badnik Trooper programmed with a copy of Doctor Robotnik's brain patterns, Brutus was the only villain that Sonic could never truly defeat. In armour constructed from the indestructible metal alloy 'Megatel' that granted him near-invulnerability and immense physical strength and endurance, and a built in anti-gravity device that allowed him to fly, Brutus easily matched and defeated Sonic in battle. Transforming into Super Sonic, Sonic was able to shatter Brutus' right hand and drive him off. They clashed several more times until Brutus led a rebellion against Dr Robotnik and was defeated and destroyed by the dictator.

The Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics feature a number of other enemies. Aside from various versions of Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic, and a number of villains from both the games and SatAM, he also faces the powerful Mammoth Mogul, the cyborg Echidna organization known as the Dark Legion led by the nefarious Dimitri and his successor Lien-Da, and an evil counterpart of himself named Scourge the Hedgehog. Sonic must also contend with a number of mechanical enemies.

Love life

Sonic X: Sonic's relationship with Amy Rose is further developed in Sonic X than in the games. In this version the two share a more mutual friendship and work together far more often. Sonic even promises Amy a date at one time (however, this is only in the English dub), and numerous times the two are more intimate.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The cartoon featured a beautiful, robotic (unbeknownst to Sonic) girlfriend named Breezie Hedgehog. Breezie abused Sonic, asking him for impossible things, exhausting his infatuation with her to capture and trap him by order of Robotnik. Breezie realized she was wrong and set Sonic free, this time being sincere with Sonic. As time passed, she would later end up having a relationship with Robotnik Jr.

SatAM: In the Saturday morning cartoon, Sonic's love interest is Princess Sally Acorn. The two share a co-leadership role of the Freedom Fighters and parent/sibling/aunt type roles over Tails. Sonic and Sally are the same age and often do missions together against Robotnik. Although the two have obvious crushes for each other, they had opposite personalities that conflict, because of which they had a hard time admitting their affections. Sally finds Sonic to be too carefree and an airhead, while Sonic finds her to be serious and prissy. However, in the final episode, the two kiss.

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic: The main American Sonic comic (Archie Comics) has by far the most complex love triangles of all Sonic related media. Love interests within the series include Sally Acorn, Amy Rose, Mina Mongoose and Fiona Fox. For more details on this topic, see Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character).

Fleetway's Sonic the Comic: Early appearances of Amy Rose in the UK comic portray her as being so enamored with Sonic that she openly lies about being his girlfriend, leading to her being captured by Robotnik's forces for consorting with an outlaw. After being rescued, she joins Sonic's Freedom Fighters and repeatedly teases and pesters Sonic with her affections. Writer Nigel Kitching intended to create an air of ambiguity as to whether or not she really doted over Sonic, was just winding him up for fun, or both. However, this was played down and finally dropped entirely as time went on – largely as a result of the "Girl Power" phenomenon sweeping the United Kingdom – and Amy transitioned from being a lovesick hanger-on into a capable, intelligent hero in her own right.

Alternate versions

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie character)

Archie's Sonic comic features Sonic with alternate dimensional versions of himself. One such version is known as Evil Sonic who hails from Anti-Mobius in a parallel dimension. He is as brash and arrogant as Sonic, but is self-important, ruthless, and sadistic with a desire for mayhem, truly making him Sonic's opposite or "Anti-Sonic." Archie's Sonic comic recently bore witness to an evolution of Evil Sonic when he tried to siphon off energy from the Master Emerald, evolving into what he now calls himself, Scourge the Hedgehog.

Another version of Sonic that has happened is Sonic's temporary separation of Super Sonic as his own entity. When Sonic was lost in the vastness of space, he came across a an alien planet that had six red Chaos Emeralds. Unlike the original green Chaos Emeralds on his homeworld, these split him in two with Super Sonic becoming is own entity obsessed with power and destruction, and Sonic himself trying to stop the new menace that he unleashed. But like the original Chaos Emeralds, the effects were only temporary, thus the seperate entity vanished.

In the Archie comics, Sonic's real name is revealed to be Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog. He tries desperately to protect that information, possibly out of embarrassment. This name is not canon (official) in the game continuity, however, and he is simply known as Sonic the Hedgehog in the games. It is unknown why his name was changed in the comics.

In Sonic the Comic, Sonic encounters an alternate reality where he became evil instead of Kintobor. King Sonic and his Badniks ruled this alternate Mobius until Sonic forced him to turn into Super Sonic, who (in his reality) was a mellow hippie.

Theme Songs

In the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series, the opening theme, which was mostly about Sonic, was called Fastest Thing Alive, though in the shows he was often accompanied by music similar to the main theme from Back to the Future, ironic since Sonic often left flame trails behind him in the cartoon similar to those of the time machine in the aforementioned film.

• Sonic Adventure: "It Doesn't Matter" - Tony Harnell.
• Sonic Adventure 2: "It Doesn't Matter"(remake) - Tony Harnell.
• Sonic Heroes: "We Can" - Tony Harnell, Ted Poley. This was a team theme shared with Tails and Knuckles.
• Sonic Riders: "High Flying Groove" - Tomonori Sawada. This was also a team theme shared with Tails and Knuckles.
• Sonic the Hedgehog: "His World" - Zebrahead

See also

• Anthropomorphic Superheroes
• Kemono
• Sonic hedgehog, a protein named for the video game character

References

In addition to information taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog games themselves, the instruction manuals of the US and Japanese versions of the games were also used as references for this article.

External links

Official sites

• Sonic Central - Official Sonic the Hedgehog microsite at Sega.com
• Sonic Channel - Official Japanese website
• Sonic City - Official European Sonic the Hedgehog website
• Sonic Fansite - Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega site