SONIC SEGA Store - Official Sonic The Hedgehog Merch

In 1990, Japanese video game company Sega came up with the idea of ​​a character attractive enough to compete with the success of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. game, while demonstrating the new technology of the Sega gaming machine. New Genesis is released. Programmer Yuji Naka cherishes a game with a bunny capable of rolling in pipes and throwing objects to destroy enemies. However, the company thinks that holding objects makes the speed of the game less attractive. Some suggestions for characters roll and use their bodies as weapons. This idea led to two species of animals, the porcupine and the tatu (an insect-eating shellfish). Ultimately, Sega chose the hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog was born.

For player-friendliness, Sonic’s design was inspired by popular cultural characters. Blue fur color similar to the logo of the game company, with the purpose of building the character into the symbol of Sega. The first Sonic is influenced by the cat character Felix in the cartoon of the same name. Meanwhile, the body was borrowed from the shape of Mickey Mouse, a famous Disney character. Sonic’s shoes are inspired by Michael Jackson’s “king of pop” dance shoes, with red from Santa’s outfit. Sonic personality is inspired by the election campaign of US President Bill Clinton, often known for his attitude “can do” with anything.

According to the plot, Sonic is the fastest hedgehog creature on the planet Mobius. However, he does not have the super speed like in video games. Sonic was made by scientist Ovi Kintobor for Power Sneakers, helping him overcome the speed of sound. On the first try of the new shoe, Sonic ran too fast, causing the coat color to change from orange to navy. Super speed helps him unleash his “Sonic Spin Attack” attack, curling up while running fast, becoming a ball and flying enemies. With Dr. Ovi, Sonic began to perform missions against evil forces on the planet. Sonic’s main rival is the psychiatric scientist Robotnik (or Eggman), who builds a series of robots to even find the power from the Chaos Emeralds.

So far, the Sonic game has more than 100 versions based on the main storyline, with a variety of spin-off games (derivatives) in the genres of racing, sports, action – adventure, resistance … According to data from Sega, the Sonic brand has sold more than 800 million copies as of 2018 – is its most popular game series. Two game Sonic at the Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo is expected to launch this year.

Comic series based on the game longest maintained

Since 1992, the Sonic series has been created by Kenji Terada and artist Sango Norimoto, helping the character reach a child audience. Sonic is portrayed as stubborn as a teenager, a bit arrogant but assertive, loving righteous. In 1993, Archie Comic in the US bought the rights to Sonic and started writing comic books about the characters. In 2008, the series set a Guinness record as the longest lasting game-based comic book with 290 volumes before being re-launched in 2013 because of copyright disputes. That’s not including spin-offs like Knuckles the Echidna (from 1997-2000) or Sonic Universe (2009–2017). In the UK, the publishing house Fleetway also released 223 volumes of Sonic stories, published from 1993 to 2002.

The huge volume of comics creates a rich inventory of materials for the game and the versions based on Sonic characters. During the past 30 years, a series of new characters have been born such as the squirrel Miles Prowe – Sonic’s assistant capable of flying by tail, Amy Rose – the pink hedgehog that Sonic always claims to be his girlfriend or Metal Sonic – the evil version Sonic’s poison is made by Eggman.

Cinematic version was conceived for many years

In 2013, Sony acquired the rights to Sonic and plans to release the film in 2018. However, Paramount acquired the license in 2017 and leased all the crew that were working with Sony to continue the project.

The film revolves around the story of the hedgehog Sonic lost to earth to run away from enemies. In a new place, he has to deal with a multitude of complex problems of a new life, especially when with humans. With an aggressive nature, Sonic did not hide himself but caught the attention of becoming a soccer star. His superior speed caught the attention of the military and the Central Intelligence Service (CIA). At the same time, the mad scientist Robotnik also took Sonic to possess that mutant energy. Sonic befriends Sheriff Tom and is helped by him escape the pursuit of a series of people who want to catch him.