Sonic the Hedgehog (universe)

Sonic the Hedgehog
File:Sonic the Hedgehog logo.jpg File:SonicSymbol.png
Developer(s)	Sega Sonic Team Dimps Traveller's Tales SIMS Co. Ltd. Backbone Entertainment BioWare Sumo Digital Big Red Button Entertainment Sanzaru Games
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Yuji Naka
Genre(s)	Platformer Racing Puzzle Sports Party
Console/platform of origin	Sega Genesis
First installment	Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Latest installment	Sonic Boom (2014)
Article on Wikipedia	Sonic the Hedgehog

The Sonic universe refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from the world famous media franchise owned by Sega and centered on its company mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. This had been easily the most anticipated new franchise for inclusion in the Nintendo-based fighting game series and is considered the biggest "rival" franchise to Mario. Its logo is a silhouette of Sonic's head, similar to the logo of Sonic Team.

Franchise description

By 1990, Sega had released its 16-bit successor to the Sega Master System, the Mega Drive, worldwide, and it was renamed the "Genesis" for its North American release (literally because Sega had been unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in North America). Nintendo's Mario franchise was at the height of its worldwide commercial success, with the recent release of Super Mario Bros. 3, and both the 1991 release of Nintendo's own 16-bit system, the Super Nintendo, and the launch title Super Mario World were coming up fast. Sega made a conscious effort to compete against Nintendo's powerful brand with a reliance on a new mascot for both the console and the company itself, one that would help sell systems, and began development of its own platformer in April 1990. The game placed an emphasis on horizontally-lengthy levels that could be navigated with a player-character that could run, roll, and bounce through at a high velocity, with movements that were dictated by elements of momentum-based physics. The screen famously scrolled as fast as it needed to keep up; it was a very technically difficult process to create the game's graphics engine so that it could allow this speed without sacrificing graphical clarity. The end result was the worldwide debut of the eponymous character Sonic the Hedgehog, whose game was released in mid-1991.

The game Sonic the Hedgehog was both a critical and commercial success, and greatly increased the popularity of the Sega Genesis in North America, especially when it replaced Altered Beast as the game bundled with the console. It was to the point that the Genesis outsold the Super Nintendo nearly two-to-one during the 1991 holiday season. The game - which would eventually sell 15 million copies and become the best-selling Genesis game in its lifespan - is credited as single-handedly changing the course of the 16-bit generation of video game consoles and providing a legitimate alternative to Mario in the eyes of many consumers, as well as influencing the development of various 2D video games in the following years (many of which were centered on their own mascots). For the first time since 1985, Nintendo was briefly overtaken as the leader in the console market. This subsequently gave way to one of the most endearing video game rivalries in the industry's history, the "Console Wars" of Nintendo's SNES versus Sega's Genesis, which were symbolized to some degree by the image of Mario versus Sonic. The stiff competition between the two 16-bit consoles arguably stimulated both companies' stables of video game franchises, and also spawned some famous historical pieces of marketing; the SNES was technically superior in every way except processing speed, and Sega capitalized on this by advertising how "Genesis does what Nintendon't" by having faster speeds in its games, but in place of reciting this technical difference in commercials, Sega marketed the Genesis' faster processing speed as "Blast Processing".

As would be expected, Sonic starred in many high-profile followups, not just on Genesis, but on each of Sega's follow-up consoles and handhelds, in a similar pattern to Nintendo customarily releasing a game centered on or involving Mario at or near the launch of each of its own consoles or handhelds. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was received as a marked improvement over its predecessor and is regarded as one of the best games on the Genesis, while Sonic & Knuckles became the only Genesis game that could have another Genesis cartridge inserted onto the top of it (marketed as "Lock-On Technology"), and this was used to turn the game into a physical expansion of the previous game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 when that was inserted. Following the Genesis, however, Sega's fortunes as a competitor in the console market began to buckle in as the company began to make a series of questionable decisions for its future hardware plans - two expensive, separate add-ons for the Genesis, the Sega CD and 32x, failed to attain their own significant libraries and stretched the company's resources thin, and what was intended to be the appropriate next-generation followup, the Sega Saturn, was infamously released four months earlier than anyone anticipated, including other game developers, in an attempt to gain an "edge" over Sony and its recent PlayStation console. Despite Sonic continuing to star in games intended to sell these consoles - Sonic CD for the Sega CD is debated to be one of the best Sonic games in the series' history - Sega had soured many on its own company brand.

Sega's final console to be released, the Dreamcast, was released in the West on September 9th, 1999. As the first console of the sixth generation of video game hardware, it was widely hailed as ahead of its time, both technically and for its pioneering of online console gaming, and is retrospectively agreed to have been a much better-thought-out and executed system by Sega. The launch title that became the undisputed killer app for the console was Sonic Adventure, the first game in the series to feature free-roaming three-dimensional gameplay. It received glowing reviews for its successful transition of the fast Sonic style into three dimensions and became the best-selling Dreamcast game. But despite this success, Sega was in dire financial straits because of its failed hardware plans the previous years, and when the other high-profile consoles for the sixth generation were unveiled - the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube - Sega discontinued the Dreamcast in the West early March 2001, a year and a half after its launch, and withdrew from the console hardware business altogether and restructured itself as a third-party developer.

As a third-party developer, Sega was now in a position to release its titles for consoles that were formerly its competitors. The first releases of Sonic games on systems owned by Nintendo, its former arch-rival, were widely publicized; these included ports of both Sonic Adventure and its sequel on the GameCube, as well as the Sonic Advance subseries on the Game Boy Advance. The Sonic franchise settled into a more stable release schedule, and the series continually branched out into a variety of genres for all of the competing platforms, though there were several releases that were met with notably mixed or negative reception; Sonic the Hedgehog, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2006, was notorious for technical issues (resulting from it being rushed into the system's launch window), control problems, and a slant towards story and characterization that were negatively received as uncomfortably melodramatic, while Sonic Free Riders served to highlight control issues with the Kinect peripheral for Xbox 360. Nonetheless, there have also been commercially successful forays back into the series' platforming roots, such as with the episodic Sonic the Hedgehog 4 releases on modern consoles' downloadable services, as well as Sonic Generations for Nintendo 3DS and other companies' consoles, which acknowledges the classic and modern design incarnations of Sonic and his games' 2D and 3D level design styles.

The legendary scenario of former video game arch-rivals Sonic and Mario crossing over in the same game was finally realized in late 2007 with the release of a game that pit the two against each other in a very unexpected scenario: a sports party game titled Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, where selectable characters from both the Sonic and Mario franchises compete against each other in all of the sporting competitions associated with the 2008 Summer Olympics held at Beijing, China. This became a subseries - developed by Sega, published by Nintendo, and officially licensed by the International Olympics Committee - that would regularly release new installments for both Nintendo's consoles and handhelds at a biennial rate to correspond to each of the subsequent Olympic seasons - the 2010 Winter Olympics held at Vancouver, British Columbia; the 2012 Summer Olympics held at London, England; and the 2014 Winter Olympics held at Sochi, Russia. Meanwhile, Sonic was chosen as one of the first two third-party characters to co-star alongside Mario and many other Nintendo characters in the Super Smash Bros. fighting game series, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Sonic the Hedgehog games are set in an Earth-like world populated by wildly anthropomorphized, colorful animal characters, but unlike Star Fox, humans are a feature in this world as well. The main character is Sonic, a blue hedgehog with an attitude and a pair of striped shoes as his only articles of clothing, and he has the capacity to run extremely fast and curl up into a rolling sphere. In a format similar to both Mario and Mega Man, Sonic's most persistent adversary is a mad human scientist bent on world domination named Dr. Ivo Robotnik (most commonly called "Eggman"), and Sonic speeds his way through levels to defeat him in his various combat machines and free innocent animals that have been transformed into robots by Eggman. Powerful jewels called Chaos Emeralds are both what Eggman covets for his schemes and what Sonic must collect to temporarily transform into an invincible "Super" mode that can help him defeat Eggman. Over the chronology of the Sonic games, Sonic has encountered a vastly-expanded cast of side characters, allies, rivals, and enemies, and has battled even greater threats to the world than Eggman himself in narratives that have become increasingly involved. Meanwhile, Sonic has starred in several animated TV series, an upcoming movie series distributed by Columbia Pictures, and an expanded alternate universe for Sonic has been the focus of a long-running comic book continuity published by Archie Comics, which holds the Guinness World Record for being the longest-running comic book based on a video game character.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

It has been verified that nothing to do with Sonic or anything from his franchise exists in Melee at all, in spite of the infamous rumor detailed below. However when Yuji Naka was asked if Sonic had appeared in Melee in an interview with Edge Magazine, he stated that "It was very close, but time constraints did not allow us to continue with the idea." [1]

Sonic & Tails Rumor

In the April 2002 edition of the video game magazine EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), an Aprils Fool's claim was that Sonic and Tails, the two biggest mascots of the game company Sega, could be unlocked as playable characters in the game Super Smash Bros. Melee by defeating 20 or more Fighting Wire Frames in Cruel Melee.

The picture that came along with the EGM Sonic and Tails article.

Players have proven this rumor false both in premise and in practice. It would be highly unlikely that Sega (which, during Melee's development, was not yet a full-fledged third party company, and thus was in competition with Nintendo) would sell its characters for use in a Nintendo game. There are no provisions to include Sonic and Tails in Melee's All-Star Mode (which showcases every playable character in the game), and an in-game message also indicates that Mr. Game & Watch is the last unlockable character (or whoever the player unlocks last). In addition, another message tells the player that they have unlocked every trophy. As beating single-player modes with Sonic and Tails would yield new trophies, this is impossible. Along with all of this, hacking the game reveals absolutely no data of Sonic or Tails existing in the game.

Additionally, during an interview with someone at the head of SEGA claimed that they had talked to Sakurai about Sonic appearing in Melee, but had ultimately decided not to put him in the game because the game was near complete in development and Sonic had no existing games on any Nintendo system at the current time, although Sonic Adventure 2: Battle was currently in development.

Additionally, Cruel Melee strategies showed very quickly that Sonic and Tails did not appear after obtaining 20 kills - in particular, a video of a Japanese player KO'ing 565 Wire Frames with Pikachu, along with an older video of a Danish player getting 10,000 kills with Samus disproved the rumor spectacularly. They can be seen here and here.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Sonic franchise makes a sensational debut in the Smash Bros. series in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Character

• 
  Sonic: The eponymous star of the franchise was the most anticipated and requested third-party character for Brawl. Seemingly as expected, he is a character who emphasizes speed, and has been compared to Fox and Falco in Melee. His Final Smash is Super Sonic which utilizes the seven Chaos Emeralds to transform him and fly around the stage, ramming into opponents at high speeds.

On the final character select screen (after all characters are unlocked), Sonic occupies the ninth column (miscellaneous characters) along with Mr. Game & Watch, Snake, and the random option.

Assist Trophy

• Shadow the Hedgehog: Shadow uses Chaos Control on the battlefield, which causes the movement of opponents to slow down in a more extreme way than the Timer, but it lasts shorter.

Stage

• 
  Green Hill Zone: Based on the first level of the first game. The stage is based almost entirely around a huge crater like formation at the center. The bottom areas of the dip are destructible and break away in squares. A checkpoint Star Post appears at certain places in random intervals which can be struck to make it spin, damaging enemies who touch it, other than the one that attacked it, unless it's a team battle, then it applies for all teammates. Also, Tails, Silver, and Knuckles make a cameo in the background of this stage.

Music

• Green Hill Zone - Original Sega Genesis version of Sonic The Hedgehog from the actual level. It is the theme for the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Angel Island Zone: The theme of Angel Island Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 completely redone by Jun Senoue, the composer of the music for the Sonic Adventure titles. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage. This is the only Sonic the Hedgehog remix made for Brawl.
• Scrap Brain Zone - Taken directly from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, this was the theme to the game's last area. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Emerald Hill Zone - Original Sega Genesis version from the 1st level of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Sonic Boom - The main theme of the American version of Sonic CD which played during the opening movie, this song is taken directly from said game. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Super Sonic Racing - Background music and main theme taken directly from the lesser known Sonic racing game Sonic R. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Open Your Heart - The main theme of Sonic Adventure, this is a looped version of the very same song from said game. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Live & Learn - The popular main theme of Sonic Adventure 2, it was performed by Crush 40, the same people who performed Open Your Heart. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Sonic Heroes - Also performed by the same band as the above two songs, this was the main theme of the game of the same name. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• Right There, Ride On - Taken directly from the first Sonic DS title known as Sonic Rush, this was the background music to the Leaf Storm levels. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage.
• HIS WORLD (Instrumental) - An instrumental version of Sonic's theme from the next generation Sonic the Hedgehog title for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage. It is unlocked by playing on the Green Hill Zone stage 10 times.
• Seven Rings in Hand - Taken directly from Sonic's first Wii title Sonic & The Secret Rings, this was the main theme to that game. It is used on the Green Hill Zone stage. This song also plays during Sonic's Classic Mode credits.
• Sonic's victory theme - The victory fanfare of Sonic is an orchestration of "Mission Complete" from various Sonic the Hedgehog titles, with it originating in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This version is taken directly from the next generation Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, making it the only victory music directly imported from another game.

Trophy

• Amy Rose
• Blaze the Cat
• Chao
• Cream the Rabbit
• Dr. Eggman
• Jet the Hawk
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Silver the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Super Sonic
• Miles "Tails" Prower

Stickers

• Amy Rose
• Big the Cat
• Blaze the Cat
• Charmy Bee
• Chaos
• Chao
• Classic Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog JP Ver.)
• Classic Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog US Ver.)
• Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao
• Dr. Eggman
• Emerl
• Erazor Djiin
• Espio the Chameleon
• Gamma (E-102)
• Jet the Hawk
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Metal Sonic
• Omega (E-123)
• Rouge the Bat
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Shahra the Genie
• Silver the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Storm the Albatross
• Super Sonic
• Tails
• Tikal the Echidna
• Vector the Crocodile
• Wave the Swallow

Note-With the exception of the Classic Sonic stickers, Sharhra the Genie and Erazor Djiin stickers, all the sticker art is character artwork that originates from Sonic Channel, the official Japanese website for the Sonic franchise.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

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The Sonic series returns for Super Smash Bros. 4, bringing the same character and a new stage. This makes it the first third party franchise to appear in multiple installments of the Super Smash Bros. series.

Character

• 
  Sonic: Sonic returns in Smash 4, using the same special moves from Brawl.

Common Enemies

• Eggrobo: Eggrobos appear as enemies in Smash Run in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. They act similar to how they did in their original appearance in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Assist Trophy

• Shadow: Shadow the Hedgehog returns as an Assist Trophy in SSB4, and his action remains unchanged from Brawl.

Trophies

These are all of the known trophies from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• Sonic
• Tails
• Knuckles
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Silver the Hedgehog
• Big the Cat
• Vector the Crocodile
• Espio the Chameleon
• Charmy Bee
• Amy Rose
• Cream the Rabbit
• Blaze the Cat
• Metal Sonic
• Rouge the Bat
• Eggrobo
• Chao
• Omega

Stage

• Green Hill Zone: Green Hill Zone returns as a stage exclusive to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
• Windy Hill Zone: The first level of Sonic Lost World, Windy Hill, appears as a stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. It boasts many platforms, and slanted surfaces. Seven members of the Animal Friends (Flicky, Pecky, Picky, Pocky, Cucky, Ricky, and Rocky) also make an appearance on this stage.

Music

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• Live & Learn - Can play in Smash Run and Green Hill Zone.
• Green Hill Zone - Plays in Green Hill Zone.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

• Wonder World - Plays in Windy Hill Zone.
• Windy Hill - Zone 1 - Plays in Windy Hill Zone.
• Sonic Heroes - Plays in Windy Hill Zone. Additionally, this track played in Sonic's reveal trailer.
• Open Your Heart - Plays in Windy Hill Zone.
• Reach For The Stars - Sonic Colors theme song performed by Cash Cash, plays in Windy Hill Zone.

Games with elements from or in Super Smash Bros.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Green Hill Zone and its respective music appears, as well as Sonic himself.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Tails, who originated in this title, can be seen in the background of the stage, Green Hill Zone. In addition, the music for the Emerald Hill Zone can be heard, unaltered, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Plus, Super Sonic, Sonic's Final Smash, made its first appearance here.

Sonic the Fighters

Many elements from this game are used for Sonic in Super Smash Bros Brawl.

• Sonic's A attacks are based on the "punch, punch, kick" (or "PPK" as Sakurai called it) move he used in this game.
• Sonic's Dash attack is based on a similar move from this game in which the player has to run and attack.
• All of Sonic's tilts are based on moves he used in this game.
• Sonic's Neutral, Forward, and Down air attacks are based on moves he used in this game.
• Sonic's Forward Smash is based on a move he used in this game.
• Sonic's Down throw is based on a move he used in this game.
• Sonic first wall-jumped in this game; thus, that ability is given to him in Brawl.

Sonic Lost World

The first level in the game Windy Hill Zone appears as a stage for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Other games

Sonic and other characters use artwork from newer Sonic games, like Sonic Adventure, Sonic Advance, and Sonic Rush. Respective stickers and trophies also appear. The SSBB version of "Angel Island Zone" was included in a compilation album titled True Blue: The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog. This version also appears in Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In addition, a statue of Sonic in the former game uses Sonic's pose from Brawl.

Trivia

• Brawl refers to the Sonic the Hedgehog universe completely in capital letters, for example, naming the musical category SONIC THE HEDGEHOG in the Sound Test. This is likely a reference to most Sonic the Hedgehog games being capitalized in full.
• Shortly prior to the confirmation of both Sonic and Mega Man in Super Smash Bros. 4, Archie Comics crossed over both its Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comic book continuities in a 12-part crossover storyline titled Sonic & Mega Man: When Worlds Collide, which was the first official crossover between the two franchises prior to Smash Bros.
• Shortly prior to Sonic's confirmation in Brawl, Sonic competed with Mario in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games which had three sequels between his Super Smash Bros. appearances.
• Sumo Digital wanted to include Mario as a Wii-exclusive guest character in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing but Sega decided against it, not wanting the two characters to crossover outside the Olympics, despite the fact that Sonic had already appeared in Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4.