Gotta go fast! From the idea behind the hedgehog himself to things left on the cutting room floor, here are 10 interesting facts about Sega's rival to Mario.
#10: Sonic and Eggman's designs came from a contest
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| Some characters are just too good to go unused! |
At the start of the 16-bit era, Sega held an internal contest where employees would pitch various characters to see who would be their mascot. Besides Sonic himself, some of the more interesting designs include a Jester-like creature, a Bart Simpson-like man in overalls, a rabbit that could throw things with his ears and a Theodore Roosevelt looking man in pajamas who would become Sonic's nemesis Dr. Eggman.
#9: Sonic almost had a band and a human girlfriend!
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| This would've been pretty cool to see! |
The first game had a few interesting scrapped concepts. One such concept was a band that Sonic was gonna play in alongside a rabbit named Mach, a parakeet named Sharps, a monkey named Max, and a crocodile named Vector who would later be introduced in Knuckles Khaotix. Another unused concept was Madonna, a blonde haired, red dress wearing human who would've served as a love interest to Sonic.
#8: Bugs. Bugs everywhere
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| Viewer, meet Ashura! |
While some games are worse in this regard (ie Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom), the Sonic games are known for being pretty glitchy. In fact, the manual for Sonic Three and Knuckles references these glitches, telling players to watch out for traps set by Robotnik and advising they restart the console should they fall into an area they can't escape. The first game can't even get past the title screen with out a glitch. The words "Press start to play" were supposed to appear on the start screen, but they don't because they take up the same set of memory as the "Sonic Team Presents" screen.
#7: When misinformation becomes game mechanics
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| Character better suited to the ground than the water exhibit A! |
You ever wonder why Sonic couldn't swim? This was because the game designers incorrectly thought that real world hedgehogs couldn't swim.
#6: Interesting inspiration
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| Remember when these two were rivals? |
Whilst Sonic's character design comes from classic cartoon characters like Felix the cat and Mickey Mouse and his shoe design came from Michael Jackson and Santa Claus (yes really), the inspiration for the game play ironically comes from Sonic's old rival, Mario. Specifically, it came from Yuji Naka's memories of getting through Super Mario Bros.' first level as fast as possible.
#5: Totally Different
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| Imagine if this was the route the series went with. |
The story for the first game was almost completely different. Originally, it was gonna feature Sonic travelling through a nightmare world fending off weird creatures. Before Robotnik was chosen, the antagonist was originally a ghost-like entity named Thirteen.
#4: The secrets to his speed
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| Run Sonic, run! |
According to the first game's instruction manual, Sonic's speed comes from his sneakers. Also according to Sonic's creator Yuji Naka, Sonic needs eight hours of sleep a night to maintain his speed.
#3: Very humble beginnings
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| Now that's a rad cameo! |
A few years before Sonic became one of the big names in gaming, he made a cameo appearance in Sega's own Rad Mobile. Specifically, an air freshener modeled after him is visible during game play, hanging from the car's mirror. Additionally, the skid sound he makes when stopping comes from Sega's own Outrun.
#2: Michael Jackson composed for Sonic Three
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| This was cool back then, but it's kinda creepy nowadays. |
During his lifetime, pop singer Michael Jackson was a huge fan of the Sonic series. In fact, he was allowed to compose portions of the soundtrack to Sonic's third game. However, he remains uncredited because he wasn't satisfied with the Sega Genesis' music capabilities. The child abuse allegations that occurred around that time probably didn't help either.
#1: Some speedy records
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| I bet he's thankful to get this before Mario did! |
During it's over 20 year lifetime the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise has set more than a few records. For one, he was the first video game character in history to get a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, which first appeared in 1993. Additionally, the Archie Sonic comic series is the longest running video game comic series in history, spawning 290 issues from 1992 to 2016.
You know what they say: Sega does what Nintendon't! If you know of any other interesting tidbits or think I fudged something up, please say something in the comment section. Thanks for viewing and keep on running!
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