30 Amazing Sonic The Hedgehog Facts For Video Game Lovers

In the world of video games, Sonic the Hedgehog is a highly popular fictional character.

The first video game character of his kind, he is a 15 to 16-year-old blue hedgehog who can run faster than sound. In the Sonic game, he can curl into a ball and spin quickly to beat the bad guys.

Sonic dislikes waiting because he is super fast and can be a bit gruff, yet he cares for his friends and despises all that is evil. He has appeared in several Sega games, television shows, books, and comic book series (published in America by Archie Comic series).

Miles 'Tails' Prower, a two-tailed fox who can fly via spinning his tails very quickly, and Knuckles the Echidna are among his numerous buddies.

History Of Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic Hedgehog originally appeared on our screens 30 years ago, on June 23, 1991, for the Sega Mega Drive in western areas, and the blue blur is indeed a pop-culture classic three decades later. Let's read on as we take a trip back in time with 51 astounding facts about the much-loved hedgehog turned bona fide gaming classic, Sonic!

Sonic Team Prototype was a simple character traveling through a tube while inside a life-size ball, created by programmer Yuji Naka.

The more complicated Sonic Sega game code was created using a basic approach. 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' would, of course, wind up balling himself up to roll via tubes frequently; thus, the same concept was utilized in a better way.

Mario's game was already the focus of attention when Sonic was created. The goal was to develop a character that could contend with Nintendo, but early renditions of Sonic depicted him as a rabbit that grabbed things and fought with his ears.

Sega rapidly concluded that this wasn't a smart notion, owing to the technology involved, and shifted to the ball and rolling approach, i.e., using the body as a weapon. They ultimately arrived at a fight between a hedgehog and an armadillo, and now we're here. Despite concerns that Americans would not recognize a hedgehog, the hedgehog won over.

Although Sonic was a fantastic choice, Sega experimented with a few other names before landing on Sonic. Sega had previously tried out Mr. Needlemouse, according to designer Naoto Ohshima. However, during the development phase of 'Sonic the Hedgehog 4', Project Needlemouse was used to refer to the otherwise unrealized moniker.

Sonic, like every other iconic character, has an origin story. Although a lot was discarded before the first game was launched, it's intriguing to speculate about what might have been.

Among other members of Sonic's band were a parakeet, a crocodile, a monkey, and a rabbit. Aside from being an expert hedgehog, Sonic was also a breakdancer. More perplexingly, he had a romantic relationship with a human woman instead of a female hedgehog named Madonna.

Physical Features Of Sonic The Hedgehog

Many Sega staff were influenced by Clinton's 'get it done' mindset during his election campaign in the early stages of Sonic in 1992 and wanted to include these sentiments into Sonic's character.

Naoto Ohshima claimed in a 2009 interview that Sonic's red and white sneakers were influenced by Michael Jackson's 'Bad', as well as Santa Claus, who matches the red and white color scheme of Sonic's power sneakers.

As Yuji Naka thought hedgehogs couldn't swim in real life, so Sonic would sink in the water when appearing for the first time in the game or comic. There may come a time when Sonic can finally swim in a video game.

Sonic has several speed qualities that have been employed in several comic book stories to justify his super speed. Sonic is limited to running at 768 mph (1235.9 kph); he cannot run beyond that speed. Yes, we realize that's very fast! He has an insatiable appetite as a result of this.

Sonic needs to consume many calories because of how fast he can run. According to the game's many comic adaptations, Sonic can consume hundreds of chili dogs and rack up thousands of calories.

Sonic might come across as rude, but he cares about his friends and despises evil. In addition, Sonic hates waiting and prefers to move quickly.

Sonic's red-and-white shoes appear in every incarnation. These shoes were rebranded as Artemis Innovations 'Soap' shoes with the launch of Sonic Adventure for the Dream cast. These were real shoes that you could buy. They've put plastic underneath the arch to allow visitors to grind on the rails like Sonic in Sonic Adventure. Heelys-like, but even more hazardous!

Sonic The Hedgehog In Pop Culture

What good is a well-known figure without a well-known source of inspiration? When developing Sonic, Ohshima drew inspiration from Felix the Cat for the head plus Mickey Mouse for the physique.

His sneakers were also influenced by Michael Jackson's boots from the jacket of the 'Bad' cover album, and if you're wondering why they're red, Santa Claus was the inspiration for this because it was regarded as 'familiar'.

Everyone has to begin somewhere, and Sonic began as an air freshener. That's right; you read that correctly. In the 1991 arcade game Rad Mobile, the hedgehog makes his premiere hanging from a mirror.

A Japanese pop trio composed the soundtrack for Sonic. They performed in 'Sleepless In Seattle' and 'The Swan Princess,' among other films. While we're on the subject of music, anonymous reports claim Michael Jackson collaborated on the 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' soundtrack.

Sonic is Sega's mascot, which was developed in the early '90s. Sega originally intended for Doctor Eggman to be their mascot and a good character. But, on the other hand, Sega enjoyed the fresh idea of a blue hedgehog as the mascot. So instead, Doctor Eggman was cast as the villain.

A quote from Sonic in the Sonic movie trailer has many speculating that Sonic is an alien. 'Your world needs me to defend it', Sonic says. A location manager confirms that Sonic is a character from a video game.

The plot is similar to that of 'E.T.' In the sense that a tiny village banded together to assist the sheriff in rescuing an extraterrestrial.

Comics by Archie Comics have featured Sonic as their primary character. He also appears with well-known characters such as Knuckles and Tails, and a few new ones. Some characters don't appear on the Sonic team, but others appear in the 1993 DiC animation 'Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM'.

In 1999, he starred in his made-for-video film. Jaleel White (well known to the public for his portrayal as Steve Urkel on the television sitcom 'Family Matters') contributed his voice to most cartoons from the '90s, and Jason Griffith provided his voice in later cartoons.

Sonic also appears in a new Japanese anime. It's dubbed 'Sonic X,' even though 'Sonic X' has come to an end.

The Cultural Reception Of Sonic

Before he was formed, Sega went to Central Park and polled the public on their early ideas to figure out how Sonic should appear. The blue hedgehog game came out on top, according to SEGA, because it 'transcends race and gender.'

There were some problems with the premiere of the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie trailer. The 'realistic' appearance of the titular figure infuriated fans. They complained about the teeth, eyes, the absence of gloves, and almost everything else. This persuaded the team to postpone the worldwide release and devote more time fully reanimating Sonic Sega.

The whole overhaul was expensive for the company. It was originally estimated to cost roughly $35 million.

However, this figure is excessively high, with a source telling IndieWire that the figure is closer to $5 million. The box office earnings for the 'Sonic The Hedgehog' movie have already exceeded that amount, so it is assumed they're pleased with the outcome.

The 'Sonic The Hedgehog' movie soundtrack includes the lead song, 'Speed Me Up', by Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Yachty, and Sueco The Child. In addition, Sonic characters are featured in the accompanying music video for this song. The horror maestro, John Carpenter, is a major admirer of the Sonic games.

In an interview, John even said that he liked the Sonic Unleashed game, which was critically panned.

Sonic has a star on the Walk of Game because of its importance in the gaming world. On the grounds of Sony Metreon in California, the Walk of Game was modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mario, Link, and Master Chief were among the other video game stars.

Many well-known musical talents have performed the theme track for Sonic game. Sonic 3D Blast's music was composed by Crush 40, and the 'Sonic 06' music was composed by Ali Tabatabaee and Matty Lewis of Zebrahead. But which credit is the best? The 'Sonic Forces' theme was performed by the band Hoobastank's lead singer.

Video game speedrunning is becoming increasingly popular, and you can bet that people are trying to defeat the Sonic games as quickly as possible.

Of course, these records are always changing as new techniques are discovered, but Phozon, an arcade game released in 1983, now owns the milestone for beating Sonic the Hedgehog in a blazing time of 14:59.

One of the best Sonic games to be created is Sonic Mania. Sega hired representatives of the Sonic fan game and hacker communities to create this game released in 2017. They recreated the feel and look of the classic Genesis games in Sonic Mania, but with all-new stages and characters.

Finally, after decades of lackluster 3D entries, this version was exactly what Sonic fans had been waiting for!

FAQs

What is Sonic's real name?

The creator Naoto Ohshima named our blue furry friend 'Mr. Needle Mouse,' which would be the literal Japanese version for 'hedgehog,' before naming it Sonic.

What is Sonic's favorite animal?

This information is not available yet.

What was Sonic the Hedgehog's original name?

Sonic the Hedgehog was originally called Mr. Needle Mouse.

What is Sonic's favorite color?

Red happens to be Sonic's favorite color.

How powerful is Sonic the Hedgehog?

In a one-on-one battle, he can hold his own, damage, and occasionally even beat Shadow, Silver, and Infinite, indicating that he has multiversal damage output. He's also quite quick.

Why is Sonic blue?

Sonic's signature blue color was chosen only to match the color of Sega's emblem. Sonic was chosen as Sega's mascot following an internal competition to determine who could develop the greatest concept.

What is Sonic's weakness?

Sonic's only flaw is that he can't swim and will sink like a boulder if thrown into a large body of water. There is one exception in the Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook, where he can actually swim.

How old is Sonic.EXE?

Sonic.EXE, in the game, is roughly 666 years old!

Why does Sonic wear gloves?

Sonic the Hedgehog wears white gloves as a tribute to the anthropomorphized beasts who came before Sonic, such as Mickey Mouse & Bugs Bunny, who wore gloves.

What is Sonic's power?

Sonic's greatest strength is his running speed as he is undoubtedly the world's fastest hedgehog. With the power of his seven Chaos Emeralds, he becomes Super Sonic and achieves even greater speeds.