Sonic was originally created for the Sega Master System back in the
80's, after Sega had ceased video game console production, Sonic has
now found himself on all the hottest new consoles on the market, and
even found his way to the flash games online market.
Sonic the Hedgehog was originally a game character and hero in many
games created by Sega for the Sega Genesis. Artist Naoto Ōshima, designer
Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka are credited with the creation
of Sonic, the blue anthropomorphic hedgehog, who can run faster than
the speed of sound. That is one of the major factors of the games,
in case you didn’t know.
Sonic was created when the time came for
Sega to get a new mascot, as Alex Kidd, a monkey boy with over-sized
ears, was getting a little old. At first, Sonic, or “Mr. Needlemouse”,
as he was known in concept stage, wasn’t the only character to be
considered as the new mascot, but obviously he won out.
He had competition
for the mascot position from the likes of Mighty the Armadillo and
Ristar, which you probably haven’t heard of, which shows just how
much more popular Sonic became than those games. The color of Sonic
the Hedgehog was chosen to coincide with Sega’s cobalt blue logo.
Upon the first inception of Sonic, a team comprised of fifteen people
worked on it, with the soundtrack being composed by Masato Nakamura
from the band Dreams Come True. In a joint venture, Sega went on to
sponsor one of the band’s tours. In return for this, Sega was allowed
to paint Sonic on the band’s bus, and hand out flyers and other promotional
media before concerts, as well as play game footage on the stage before
concerts.
Throughout the years, Sonic has remained the same character, but has
a different look and feel to him depending on the designers and artists
on the “Sonic Team”, as they call themselves, at the time. Sonic’s
original presentation, designed by Ohshima, was very short, childlike,
had short quills, and had a round body. Artwork using Ohshima’s design
was drawn by Akira Wantabe and was used on the package artwork for
Sonic the Hedgehog.
Many games following this original game also used
similar designs. Starting with Sonic Adventure in 1998, Sonic was
redesigned by Yuji Uekawa and now appeared as a taller hedgehog with
longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping spikes,
and green-colored eyes. More, but less noticeable changes to Sonic’s
design have been made in many of the following games.
Spin-off media
such as cartoons, flash games, and the like all use the basic designs
that were used by the “Sonic Team” designers, but they also have their
own unique look and feel to them.
Sonic’s debut came in 1991 with the release of the platform game
Sonic the Hedgehog, which is also referred to as Sonic 1, for the
Sega Genesis. This game also featured Sonic’s nemesis, Dr. Robotnik,
who was renamed Dr. Eggman after a while. Next in the long line of
Sonic games, came Sonic 2, which introduced Sonic’s Super Sonic form
and his soon to be signature Spin Dash. Sonic’s sidekick, the lovable
character known as Tails, was also introduced in this game. Sonic
2 was released in 1992. A year later, came Sonic CD, which introduced
Amy Rose, Sonic’s girlfriend, and Metal Sonic, Sonic’s future counterpart.
This installment of the Sonic series invlovled Sonic travelling through
time in order to save the world. Both Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and its
sequel Sonic & Knuckles, were both released the following year
in 1994. In Sonic 3, Sonic and Tails once again had to fight the evil
Dr. Robotnik, and in Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic had to battle against
Knuckles the Echidna, who had been tricked by Dr. Robotnik into fighting
Sonic in the first place.
Next came many minor games which seem to
foretell the end of the Sonic era, with releases such as Sonic Chaos,
Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic Blast, and Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure.
Next, though, the “Sonic Team” got back in the saddle and produced
another major Sonic game, this one being Sonic Adventure, which was
release in 1998.
This is the first game that had a full voice over
for Sonic, and was also the first time in the western releases that
Dr. Robotnik was called Dr. Eggman. The next game didn’t come until
2001, and it was Sonic Adventure 2. In Sonic Adventure 2, you play
as Sonic who has been mistaken for a new military enemy called Shadow,
who incidentally, does look a lot like Sonic, except for the color.
It’s probably because the fact that they are both hedgehogs, but I
could be wrong, though.
After this game, Sonic made his move to the
Nintendo handheld devices with the releases of Sonic Advance in 2001,
and Sonic Advance 2 in 2002. After this, game Sonic Heroes for the
GameCube, which had Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and other characters teaming
up to fight against a new Metal Sonic, whom has betrayed his master.
After Sonic Heroes, we see the little blue hedgehog return the Game
Boys with the releases of Sonic Advance 3 in 2004, and Sonic Rush
in 2005. 2006 found Sonic in the underwater city of Soleanna, where
he has to rescue Princess Elise from Dr. Eggman while avoiding Silver
the Hedgehog, his newest nemesis.
In the next year, we got another
installment of Sonic in Game Boy with Sonic Rush Adventure, we also
got a more of an RPG look at Sonic with Sonic and the Secret Rings,
where he helped a ring genie to collect the seven world rings and
defeat the evil Erazor Djinn.
