There aren’t many video game characters that are able to achieve cult status
and stay relevant across multiple generations.
But, when it comes to one blue hedgehog,
he’s been able to capture hearts,
raise eyebrows
and evoke feelings of nostalgia like no other.
He’s been in the public eye for more than 30 years now, but
how much do you really know about Sega’s speedy mascot?
From his initial design and early influences to his egg-shaped enemy
and his transformation from home console hero to big-screen superstar...
This is the evolution of Sonic the Hedgehog!
In the early 1990s, Sega was pushing for a game that would surpass 1 million units in sales.
To achieve this, the team knew they needed to replace their then-mascot, Alex Kidd,
with someone more exciting to compete with the hugely popular Super Mario.
Sega’s research and development team soon got to work and presented numerous options.
Among these were a wolf,
a bulldog,
a short mustached man in pajamas,
and a rabbit who collected objects using its extendable ears.
While some of these blueprints would later be used for other characters,
an anthropomorphic hedgehog was chosen to be the face of the new franchise.
Originally drawn with short spikes, a round body, and no visible irises,
the hedgehog’s look has gone through many changes over the years.
His body color was changed to dark blue very early on, partly to match Sega’s logo,
while his red and white shoes are said to have been inspired by Santa Claus…
and modeled on those worn by Michael Jackson.
Codenamed “Mr. Hedgehog,” which was mistranslated as “Mr. Needlemouse” by English-speaking fans,
the brainchild of artist Naoto Ohshima might have been named "Raisupi" or "LS,"
which stood for ‘Light Speed,’ had those suggestions stuck.
But, eventually, the creators settled on ‘Sonikku za Hejjihoggu,’
aka ‘Sonic the Hedgehog,’ with the name Sonic meaning faster than the speed of sound.
As for Sonic’s relaxed yet confident personality,
that was influenced by none other than former US President Bill Clinton,
who was still just a politician at the time and wouldn’t actually become President until 1993!
Ohshima felt that Clinton had a "get it done" attitude and a sense of wanting to conquer injustice straightaway.
Fittingly, Sonic has gone on to save the world on many occasions, overcoming evil in its various forms,
although often that form takes on the shape of a wickedly-mustached man with an egg-shaped torso...
more on him later, though.
With Sonic now conceptualized,
a group of fifteen began the task of developing the very first Sonic the Hedgehog game.
Headed by lead programmer Yuji Naka, the crew would come to be known as Team Sonic.
As well as giving Sonic super speed,
the cocky protagonist was designed with a unique ability to roll up into a ball to attack his enemies,
a trait reminiscent of an actual hedgehog’s defense system.
Interestingly, early Sonic concepts saw him as part of a band and having a human girlfriend called Madonna.
However, Sega of America hated this notion,
and after a heated debate with Sonic Team in Japan, the idea was dropped.
Music would remain a key part of Sonic’s success, though,
with the original game’s soundtrack composed by Masato Nakamura of the band ‘Dreams Come True’.
Sega even sponsored the band's "Wonder 3" tour,
painting Sonic on the tour bus and advertising the upcoming game using pamphlets and on-stage screens showing Sonic gameplay.
Arcade gamers in Japan could also catch a glimpse of Sonic by playing the racing game Rad Mobile,
which came out in 1990.
Technically, in Sonic’s first in-game appearance,
he could be seen dangling from the driver’s rearview mirror as a decorative item!
The inclusion was approved by Team Sonic as a way to familiarize gamers with the character
before his own premiere on the Sega Mega Drive, known in the US as the Sega Genesis.
Speaking of which, on June 23rd 1991, the game ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ hit store shelves.
A fast-paced 2D action platformer,
it set the tone that Sonic the Hedgehog games would become best known for.
It also introduced characters and themes that would become regulars in the long-running franchise.
Taking on the role of Sonic, players were tasked with traveling through the various Zones on South Island,
collecting rings, gathering Chaos Emeralds,
and freeing the island’s animals which had been captured and made into slaves by Sonic’s long-time foe, the evil Dr. Robotnik.
Remember that pajama-wearing mustache man?
Yeah, well, he ended up becoming the series’ bad guy!
For clarification, younger fans of Sonic are likely to refer to Dr. Robotnik as Dr. Eggman,
which is the name that has always been used in Japan but used widely elsewhere only since 1998.
Sega of America changed his name to "Dr. Ivo Robotnik” in the original game manuals,
allegedly without Team Sonic’s consent.
When Sonic Adventure came out in 1998, he was referred to by both names,
and it has since been clarified that "Robotnik" is the Doctor's real last name, while
"Eggman" is a "common name taken after his shape."
The Chaos Emeralds are mighty powerful gemstones
with enough power to sustain, destroy or control life on Earth, depending on how they’re used.
So it’s vital that the good-natured Sonic gets to them
before the evil Dr. Robotnik uses them for his plans of world domination.
The gameplay was fast and furious, with the aim to conquer a series of Acts in each zone in less than ten minutes.
Completing an Act with at least 50 rings granted the player access to a Special Stage.
You had to avoid the Doctor’s traps, and robots, known as ‘Badniks,’ along the way, though,
as getting hurt made you lose your rings, and if you sustained damage while on zero rings, you’d lose a life
and have to restart from a checkpoint.
At the end of each zone, Robotnik was there waiting for a boss battle!
Completion of Special Stages netted players a Chaos Emerald.
Manage to collect all 6, and you’d unlock the game’s good cinematic ending,
which involved flowers and an infuriated Doctor Robotnik.
Fail though, and Sonic would give the gamer an angry look,
and Robotnik would appear on a black screen juggling the unobtained Chaos Emeralds
with the game offering you the chance to ‘Try Again'.
In addition to Sonic, his arch-nemesis, and the chaos emeralds,
seven animal friends were introduced in the original game that would later re-appear in Sonic cartoons,
comics, games, and merchandise.
In Western Sonic lore, these animals are even believed to have taught Sonic some of his abilities.
While other animals have been added over time, the original seven are
Cucky,
Pecky,
Picky,
Pocky,
Ricky,
Rocky,
and Flicky.
Flicky had her own video arcade game in 1984, preceding Sonic by seven years!
Sonic the Hedgehog turned out to be a huge commercial success,
selling well above Sega’s desired 1 million units, selling over 24 million copies in total!
Besides becoming one of the best-selling video games,
it is also considered one of the greatest video games of all time.
The game picked up ‘Overall Game of the Year’ at the Golden Joystick Awards
and was awarded the title ‘Best Game of the Year’ by Electronic Gaming Monthly.
More importantly, though, Sega had created the icon they were after and emerged as a worthy rival to Nintendo and Super Mario.
The rapid speed with which players could zip through levels offered a thrill like no other.
In fact, while play-testing the original version,
creator Yuji Naka reportedly suffered from motion sickness because of the game’s high speed.
As a result, the final game had to be slowed down!
Why did Sega want such a speedy start in the first place?
In an issue of Nintendo Power, Naka revealed that he always tried to get through the level as fast as he could,
referring to the World 1-1 level on Super Mario Bros.
This inspired the initial concept for Sonic.
The arrival of Sonic also coincided with the competition between Sega’s Genesis console and Nintendo’s SNES system.
Sega was actively promoting the faster “blast processing” of its Genesis,
and Sonic was the perfect game to show just what it could do,
famously claiming that “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.”
“Genesis does what Nintendon’t.”
A slowed-down version of Sonic the Hedgehog, with some unique levels, was released in November 1991
for the less-capable 8-bit Sega Master System, which focused more on exploration than speed.
Sales of the 8-bit version topped 9 million units.
Fun Fact
The first underwater Sonic stage appeared in the Labyrinth Zone and clearly established the fact that Sonic can’t swim.
The decision was based on a mistaken belief by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs couldn’t swim.
In reality, hedgehogs are generally strong swimmers
and have been observed swimming over half a mile in nature.
The hotly anticipated sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, came out in November 1992,
one year after the original smash hit.
Fearing a potentially disappointing follow-up,
Sonic Team went all out to improve upon their original formula.
As well as improving gameplay qualities,
the developers created a “book-length report” to flesh out the game’s story, characters, and levels.
The setting this time around was West Side Island,
and the race was once again on for the Chaos Emeralds, of which there were now 7 to collect instead of 6.
Dr. Robotnik intended to use them to power his Death Egg,
a huge space station not so subtly based on the Death Star from Star Wars.
10 zones and 23 acts awaited Sonic this time,
with the act at the end of each zone culminating in a boss battle with Dr. Robotnik.
Sonic did have a new move in his arsenal this time around to help him; the Spin Dash.
It meant that he no longer needed to backtrack in order to gain momentum,
something which had been viewed as a weakness in the first game.
Sonic’s speed cap was also lifted,
meaning that the game's pace was even faster than the first.
Early on, Team Sonic entertained the idea of Sonic receiving damage if he ran into walls at full speed,
but that idea was dropped.
The most significant change was the introduction of a new character, Miles Prower.
Better known as "Tails," he is a fox with two tails who was once bullied but found courage in watching Sonic’s heroics.
The two became best friends, and Tails has since offered his pilot and mechanic skills to our lovable hedgehog on regular occasions.
In-game, the player can control either Sonic or Tails or both.
They can also play as either character while the other is controlled by a second player or by the game’s AI.
Sonic and Tails have the same abilities,
though the fox is several pixels smaller than Sonic and therefore may not need to duck in certain situations.
As well as playing co-op, the sequel also allowed 2 players to play in a competitive mode for the first time.
It involved a split-screen race across three levels,
and players were ranked by their time, score, number of rings at the end of a level,
total rings collected, and number of item boxes smashed.
Players could also face off in special stages to collect the most rings.
After the success of the first Sonic game,
Masato Nakamura returned to provide some kick-ass tunes for the sequel.
Apparently, he demanded a much higher salary this time around, which almost cost him the gig,
as Sega of America ended up testing out an in-house soundtrack to avoid Nakamura’s higher fees.
Team Sonic felt the in-house tracks were “awful,” though, and made sure Nakamura was hired no matter the cost.
For all of Team Sonic’s hard work, they were rewarded with financial gains and critical acclaim.
The game broke multiple sales records,
selling 1 million copies and grossing $50,000,000 in a single day in the United States!
2.2 million units were sold before the game was even released,
and total sales surpassed 7.5 million copies.
Oddly, only 400,000 of those were sold in Japan.
Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded it ‘Best Game of the Year for the Sega Mega Drive,’
calling it "the best Genesis cart to come along in a long time!"
A ‘Best Action/Adventure Game’ award followed from Game Informer,
who praised it for keeping "the same look and feel of the original Sonic the Hedgehog
while adding a two-player mode, longer levels, new moves, and better animation.”
Again, an 8-bit version of the game was made to be playable on the Sega Master System,
but it varied drastically from the 16-bit version.
It was designed to be ported to the Sega Game Gear, which is why it is also known as ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2 GG’.
Combined sales of this version totaled around 3 million units.
Fun Fact
The Level Select cheat in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 can be accessed by putting the following code into the game’s Sound Test:
19, 65, 9, 17.
These numbers represent the former head of the Sonic Team, Yuji Naka’s, birthday;
September 17th, 1965.
With over 30 years of Sonic content to cover,
there’s much more on the way!
So get ready for part 2...
Subtitles done by Emir Kahvecioglu