Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

While Sega was seeking a flagship series to compete with Nintendo's Mario series, several character designs were submitted by its research and development department. Many results came forth from their experiments with character design, including an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (who would later be the basis of Dr. Robotnik/Eggman's design), and a rabbit (who would use its extendable ears to collect objects, an aspect later incorporated in Ristar).[13][14] Naoto Ohshima took some of these internal designs with him on a trip to New York City and sought feedback by asking random passersby at Central Park their opinions; of the designs, the spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed "Mr. Needlemouse",[9] led this informal poll, followed by Eggman and the dog character. Ohshima felt that people selected it because it "transcends race and gender and things like that".[15] On return to Japan, Ohshima pitched this to the department, and the hedgehog was ultimately selected as the new mascot.

Sonic's character designer Naoto Ohshima (left) with level designer Hirokazu Yasuhara at the 2018 Game Developers Conference.

The detailed design of Sonic was aimed to be something that could be easily drawn by children and be familiar, as well as exhibit a "cool" attitude, representative of the United States at the time.[15] Sonic's blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, and his shoes evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson's boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by both Santa Claus and the contrast of those colors on Jackson's 1987 album Bad; his personality was based on then-presidential candidate and later President of the United States Bill Clinton's "Get it done" attitude during the 1992 presidential campaign.[13][16][17][18] To help sell the idea to Sega's higher-ups, Ohshima pitched the concept framed by a fictional fighter pilot that had earned the name "Hedgehog" due to his spiky hair, and had decorated his plane with images of Sonic. When this pilot retired, he married a children's book author, who wrote stories about the Sonic character, the first which became the plot for the first Sonic game; Ohshima stated that this influence can be seen in the logo of the game, which features Sonic in a pilot's wing emblem.[15]

The origins of Sonic can be traced farther back to a tech demo created by Yuji Naka, who had developed an algorithm that allowed a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix. Naka's original prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube, and this concept was subsequently fleshed out with Oshima's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.[19]

Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so.[20] A group of fifteen people started working on the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, 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.[21] The original concepts gave Sonic fangs and put him in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna. However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder, who calls herself "Sonic's mother",[13] "softened" the character up for an American audience by removing those elements. This sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team. Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best.[13]

Sonic's appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonic's original design by Oshima was short and round, 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.[22] Sonic's proportions would change for the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Mega Drive; Sonic's head to height ratio was changed from 1:2 to 1:2.5.[22] For the 1998 release of Sonic Adventure, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping quills, and green-colored irises. For the 2006 game, Sonic was redesigned to make him look adult-like and taller to appeal to the next generation players.[23] This was also done because Sonic would interact with humans more often and his design was supposed to fit.[24] An alternative "Werehog" form was introduced in Sonic Unleashed, placing more emphasis on Sonic's melee skills rather than speed. Although Tetsu Katano acknowledged the large negative fan response to the Werehog, he believes it could return in a future game.[25]

Bob Raffei, CEO of Sonic Boom developer Big Red Button, stated that Sonic Boom's Sonic is "very different ... both in tone and art direction".[26]

Voice portrayal

Roger Craig Smith was the voice actor for the character in English language media from 2010 to 2021.

Sonic originally had a few voice samples in Sonic CD, with designer Masato Nishimura providing the voice. Sonic's first true voice actor was Takeshi Kusao for the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, with Junichi Kanemaru continually voicing the role beginning with the release of Sonic Adventure. Kanemaru also voices Sonic in Sonic X, Sonic Boom, and the Japanese dub of the Wreck-It Ralph films. In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic was voiced by Tomokazu Seki while in Werehog form. Jaleel White voiced the character in the DiC animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM, and Sonic Underground.[27]

Starting with Sonic Adventure, Sonic was voiced in English by Ryan Drummond. Drummond was replaced by Jason Griffith starting from Sonic X, with Griffith voicing Sonic within the games starting with Shadow The Hedgehog in 2005. Griffith was replaced by Roger Craig Smith, starting with Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colors.[28] Smith announced on his Twitter account on January 29, 2021, that he would no longer voice Sonic, with his departure confirmed by Sega the same day.[29][30][31] Ben Schwartz voiced Sonic in the 2020 feature film.[7][32]

According to various official materials from Sega, Sonic is described as a character who is "like the wind":[53] a drifter who lives as he wants,[54] and makes life a series of events and adventures.[55] Sonic hates oppression and staunchly defends freedom.[56] Although he is mostly quick-witted and easygoing,[54] he has a short temper[54] and is often impatient with slower things.[53] Sonic is a habitual daredevil hedgehog who is honest, loyal to friends, keeps his promises,[55] and dislikes tears.[57] He took the young Tails under his wing like a little brother,[58] and is uninterested in marital proposals from Amy Rose.[59] In times of crisis, he focuses intensely on the challenge[53] as if his personality had undergone an astonishing change.[55]

Sonic's greatest strength is his running speed, being known in the game's universe as the world's fastest hedgehog.[56] Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection with the addition of spinning his body. Since his introduction in 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's primary offensive maneuver is the basic "Spin Attack" (or "Sonic Spin Attack").[60] Later games in the series expanded on this basic attack and two of these enhancements have become mainstays of his: the Spin Dash which was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and involves Sonic spinning on the spot before blasting off at full speed,[61] and the Homing Attack, officially introduced in Sonic Adventure, in which Sonic dashes toward a target in midair.[56] Sonic's only weakness is that he cannot swim, sinking like a rock if plunged to a deep body of water.[57] The only exception is that he can swim in the Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks.[62] When the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected and used, Sonic transforms into "Super Sonic", a faster and invulnerable version of himself that can fly.[63] In Super Sonic form, Sonic's irises turn red and his body becomes golden.

A cosplayer of Sonic in 2018

As Sega's mascot and one of the key reasons for the company's success during the 16-bit era of video game consoles, Sonic is one of the most famous video game characters in the world. In 1993, Sonic became the first video game character to have a balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[9] In 1996, Sonic was also the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade. Sonic was one of the three game characters inducted on the inaugural Walk of Game class in 2005, along with former rivals Mario and Link (both from Nintendo).[12] One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after him.[64] He is also named in the song Abiura di me of the Italian rapper Caparezza.

On the other hand, Sonic's apparent romantic relationship with Princess Elise in the 2006 video game resulted in major criticism.[65][66] Sonic's characterization and relationship with Eggman in Sonic Boom earned a positive response by Patrick Lee of The A.V. Club and Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media.[67]

Sonic has also been used as a symbol for Sega's various sponsorships. Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team, during which period Sonic appeared in the team's uniform.[68] During the 1993 Formula One championship, Sega sponsored the Williams Grand Prix team, which won the Constructors' Championship that year, as well as the team's lead driver, Alain Prost, winning the Drivers' Championship.[69] Sonic was featured in the cars, helmets, and their rivals McLaren used to paint a squashed hedgehog after winning races over Williams.[70] The 1993 European Grand Prix featured a Sonic balloon and Sonic billboards. In 1992, according to Sega of America marketing director Al Nilsen, Sonic was found to be more recognizable than Mickey Mouse in the six-to eleven-year-old demographic, based on the character's respective Q Scores, although this claim could not be confirmed by Q Score developer Marketing Evaluations, Inc.[71][72]

Nintendo Power listed Sonic as their sixth favorite hero, stating that while he was originally Mario's nemesis, he seems at home on Nintendo platforms. They added that he has remained as one of gaming's greatest icons.[73] In 2004, the character won a Golden Joystick Award for "The Sun Ultimate Gaming Hero".[74] The character's popularity declined in the mid-1990s, and Sonic failed to place in Electronic Gaming Monthly's Coolest Mascot of 1996 in either the editors' or readers' picks, being beaten out by not only competitors Mario and Crash Bandicoot, but Sega's own Nights; however, in a 2008 poll of 500 people, Sonic was voted the most popular video game character in the UK with a 24% vote while his old rival Mario came second with 21% of the vote.[75][76][77] Later that year, Sonic was ranked as the most iconic video game character in an MSN rankings list.[78] In 2011, Empire ranked him as the 14th greatest video game character.[79] And he was voted 10th out of the top 50 video game characters of all time in Guinness World Records 2011 Gamers' Edition.[80] Sonic ranked ninth on GameDaily's Top 10 Smash Bros characters list.[81] GameDaily also listed his "next-generation stumble" in their list of video game characters' worst moments, using his relationship with a human female as one of the worst parts of it.[82]

Ken Balough, Sega's former associate brand manager, said that Sonic's appeal endured because the character is "a gaming legend, first and foremost" who originated "from a series of games that defined a generation in gaming history, and his iconic personality was the epitome of speed in the early ‘90s, pushing the limits of what gamers knew and expected from high-speed action and platforming games."[83]

A Japanese team developing the Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) instrumentation for the upcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft, to be launched by ESA and Airbus in 2022, was able to gain Sega's approval to use Sonic as the mascot for the device.[84]

An Internet meme called "Sanic" has been used based on a poorly drawn Sonic; typically, the meme uses one of Sonic's catchphrases but with poor grammar. Sega's official Sonic Twitter account has made numerous references to it,[85] and it appeared in official downloadable content for Sonic Forces on in-game shirts.[86] The meme also appears as a drawing in the theatrical film.

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