If you've been following the Blue Blur since his debut in the early '90s, you probably
caught most of the Easter eggs in his feature film debut.
If you're a more casual fan, there are bound to be a couple you missed.
Just like Sonic himself, they go by pretty fast.
Before Sonic arrives on Earth, he lives in a lush green paradise modeled after the first
level of his debut video game (more on that in a moment).
Unfortunately, young Sonic's blissful existence doesn't last long.
It turns out that everybody wants Sonic's super-speed, including a tribe of animals
that chase Sonic from his home planet to ours.
Those aren't just any critters chasing Sonic during the prologue, though.
They're members of the Knuckles Clan, a tribe of echidnas that originally appeared in Archie
Comics' record-busting Sonic the Hedgehog line.
The most popular member of the clan to us is Sonic's ally Knuckles, who was named after
the tribe.
Clearly, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie's take on the Knuckles Clan is a little different
from the comics lore, but it's still cool to see them pop up.
If they lead to an appearance by Knuckles himself in the sequel?
Even better.
"What you really need is some serious muscle."
"You mean me, right?"
“Right."
Most of Sonic the Hedgehog takes place in a sleepy Montana town called Green Hills,
which was established in 1981, just a couple of years before Sega released its very first
video game console.
Nothing much happens there, at least not until the little blue alien who calls Green Hills
home gets angry and attracts the government's attention.
Green Hills is an appropriate place for Sonic's adventure to start, given that it's named
after the first level in the inaugural Sonic the Hedgehog video game.
When Genesis owners booted up Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991, Green Hill Zone was the first location
that players visited.
Since then, Green Hill Zone's grassy slopes, angular palm trees, and unstable cliffs have
gone on to become some of the franchise's most recognizable sights.
Since Sonic the Hedgehog, the Green Hill Zone has reappeared in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic
Forces, Sonic Mania, Sonic Generations, Super Smash Bros., and plenty of other games.
You can even build a papercraft version of the Green Hill Zone, if you want.
The Green Hill Zone is one of the most famous levels in all of gaming, and it's a good thing
it's in the movie.
It just wouldn't be Sonic without it.
Sonic the Hedgehog has a large and extremely dedicated fanbase that loves to express itself.
Unfortunately, fans' abilities don't always live up to their passion.
Spend a few minutes browsing DeviantArt, and you'll see what we mean.
There's an upside, though: As terrible as some Sonic fan art is, though, it's a great
source of memes, some of which have become just as famous as Sonic himself.
Even the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account has gotten in on the fun, and naturally
the movie does as well.
Early in the film, Green Hills' resident kook, Crazy Carl, shows off a crude rendering of
the "Blue Devil," a not-so-mythical creature that only Carl knows exists.
Well, if you've spent any time on the internet, you'll recognize Carl's drawing immediately.
It's a very close recreation of the infamous "Sanic Hedgehog," the star of a surreal YouTube
video who started as a nightmarish picture of Sonic and has become a character all of
his own.
Later, when Sonic wakes up from a Robotnik-induced stupor, he exclaims "Gotta go fast!" before
racing all over a suburban San Francisco home.
That's also a meme.
In 2008, an endearingly awful drawing of Sonic adorned with the phrase "Gotta go fast!",
which originated in Sonic X's title theme, appeared on the fan site Sonic Central.
Ever since, "Gotta go fast!" has been a rallying cry for fans of bad fan art, and often appears
on parodies mimicking the original drawing's weird, blobby "hedgehog."
Back in the days when Genesis did what Nintendon't, every kid knew that Sonic was way cooler than
Mario.
Just look at the evidence.
Sonic could move much faster than Nintendo's fat, lazy plumber, supposedly thanks to the
Genesis' much-hyped (and mostly bogus) "blast processing" capabilities.
Not only that, but Sonic had '90s-style attitude to spare.
When you booted up Sonic the Hedgehog, the title character greeted you with a cocky grin.
If you left him standing in one place for too long, he'd tap his foot, shoot you a dirty
look, and in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and later titles impatiently check his watch.
Sonic's irreverent idle animation has become suitably iconic, and while Ben Schwartz's
big-screen version of the character isn't as cocky as his 16-bit iteration, he's just
as impatient.
Near the end of the movie, when Sonic is facing down Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik, the manic
scientist launches a flurry of rockets at the furry hero.
Except, to someone who moves as fast as Sonic, an attack like that is no problem.
As he waits for the rockets to hit, Sonic taps his foot and checks his watch, exactly
like he does in the game, before leaping into action.
You might know him best as Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but in Japan, Sonic's archnemesis was originally
called Eggman.
In fact, as Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sega's Sonic Team, tells Game Informer, that's what
the people behind Sonic's video games still call him.
As Iizuka tells the story, Sega of America changed the character's name while localizing
Sonic the Hedgehog without consulting the character's creators first.
Unfortunately, when Sonic became popular, the name Robotnik stuck.
Eventually, frustrated by having to deal with the villain's dual identity, Sonic Team decided
to make "Ivo Robotnik" the villain's canonical name, and Eggman his nickname.
The mad scientist has been known by both monikers ever since.
"I just thought you might like a latte with steamed Austrian goat milk."
"Of course I want a latte.
I love the way you make them!"
Sonic the Hedgehog also pays tribute to Eggman's dual identity.
As the movie nears its climax, Sonic mocks Jim Carrey's Robotnik by nicknaming him Eggman,
although he comes by the name a little differently than the developers did.
In the games, Robotnik is impossibly round, giving him an egg-like appearance.
In the film, Sonic has a habit of giving people food-based nicknames just ask Tom "Donut Lord"
Wachowski if you don't believe us so when he realizes that some of Robotnik's drones
look like eggs, well, he really has no other choice.
In the video games, the main soldiers in Dr. Robotnik's mechanical army are cyborg creatures
known as Badniks.
Powered by live animals, which they use like batteries, the Badniks roam Sonic's homeworld
searching for Chaos Emeralds, building superweapons like the Death Egg, and doing everything they
can to stop Sonic and his friends.
Unfortunately, while Robotnik uses a number of technological terrors to wage war on Sonic
and Tom, the Badniks don't appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
However, they could've.
Apparently, Robotnik has already made them.
Later in the movie, when he's trying to harness the power from Sonic's supercharged quill,
Robotnik accidentally shorts out his mobile headquarters.
When he opens the fusebox to restart the device, we see a few different switches, each of which
are labelled with pieces of masking tape.
What does one of them say?
Why, "Badniks," of course.
Okay, okay.
There's only one way you missed this Easter egg: You walked out of the theater as soon
as the end credits started.
If so, shame on you.
You missed the most crowd-pleasing moment in the entire movie, not to mention the appearance
of one of the most popular Sonic characters of all time.
Yes, that's right.
After Sonic the Hedgehog's pixel art credits sequence ends, none other than Sonic's number
one sidekick and best friend (non-Tom edition), Miles "Tails" Prower, makes his theatrical
debut.
With a gust of wind, Tails appears out of what seems to be another interplanetary portal.
It turns out that Tails is searching for Sonic, and while he's happy that the hedgehog is
nearby, he's also worried.
As he soars off into the distance, Tails mutters to himself.
Has he found Sonic too late?
Too late for what?
Sadly, we don't know not yet, anyway.
If Sonic the Hedgehog is a box office success, the sequel should answer that question and
put Tails front and center.
Here's hoping.
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