Sonic\u2019s creators explain how the speedy scamp has kept on running through generations as an enduring avatar of \u2018attitude in the face of adversity\u2019<\/p>\n
One day in the early 1990s, I came home from university for the weekend and discovered that my dad had bought himself a Sega Mega Drive, bundled with a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I knew about Sega\u2019s mascot of course. The launch of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game in 1991 was a landmark moment for the company, massively boosting the sales of its 16bit console in the west, ripping market share from the dominant Super Nintendo. While Mario was the family favourite, Sonic with his speed, attitude and brash visual energy encapsulated the edgy spirit of the early 1990s MTV culture. That weekend, Dad and I did little else but team up for daylong Sonic sessions, the game\u2019s two-player mode letting us play cooperatively as we zoomed through those dense, beautiful play zones.<\/p>\n
Thirty-five years later, I am still a Sonic fan. There have been plenty of rough times (Sonic 06, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Free Riders \u2013 sorry, I can\u2019t go on), but there have been plenty of good ones too. (Rush, Mania and Colors, and I have a soft spot for Sonic R, a racer developed by Traveller\u2019s Tales, which went on to make the Lego games). Few people know this rollercoaster better than Takashi Iizuka, who worked on Sonic 3 as a designer and has been series producer for almost 20 years. When he joined Sega in 1992 he wanted to work for the company\u2019s arcade division, but after playing the original Sonic \u2013 especially Sonic 2 \u2013 he was seduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is one of the best of the classic series, and the introduction of two-player gaming helped make it so special,\u201d he says. \u201cThe team had been thinking about a two-player mode for Sonic the Hedgehog that we weren\u2019t able to incorporate at the time, so achieving this in the sequel was vitally important. It was a challenge, because the development time for Sonic 2 was very tight; but Sega is always willing to try something new and take a risk, and it really paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1993, Iizuka transferred to the Sega Technical Institute in California, the studio set up by industry veteran Mark Cerny (who would go on to design the PlayStation 4 and 5). Here he would begin the next phase of Sonic\u2019s lifespan, working first on Sonic 3. \u201cI knew almost nothing about countries outside Japan,\u201d he says. \u201cI still vividly remember being amazed by Sonic\u2019s popularity when I arrived in the US. At the time, the TV animated series was airing, comic books were being published and the franchise was regularly covered in newspaper articles. It was in that moment that I truly grasped the reality that a game created in Japan had captured the hearts of players around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivo Gerscovich, chief business and brand officer for Sonic the Hedgehog, sees this transmedia presence as vitally important. \u201cWhat\u2019s perhaps most telling of Sonic\u2019s cultural staying power is what we\u2019ve accomplished beyond gaming,\u201d he says. \u201cThe Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise has been extraordinary, collectively grossing more than $1bn at the global box office and introducing Sonic to an entirely new generation of fans [\u2026] Partnerships like our ongoing collaboration with McLaren Racing speak to the breadth of audiences that Sonic can connect with.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was too old to connect with the cartoons at the time, but when my sons were five and seven, they managed to find re-runs of the classic Sonic Underground cartoon on TV and were hooked \u2013 mostly by its crazed, over-dramatic pop punk theme tune. I took the opportunity to set up my dad\u2019s Mega Drive so they could play Sonic 2 together. The fact that this happened 10 years after my dad\u2019s death added a strange, sad poetry to the moment. It was my first real understanding of the fact that we pass our heroes down to our children, sometimes inadvertently, sometimes with forceful intention.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult now to convey what an impact Sonic had on the industry in the 90s. The game\u2019s idiosyncratic design, powered by Naoto Ohshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara and programming genius Yuji Naka, emphasised speed and impatience; Sonic was a semi-antagonistic presence who would fold his arms and tap his feet when the player wasn\u2019t moving fast enough. It was Sonic 2sday on 24 November 1992, that perfected the concept of the global simultaneous video game launch \u2013 an idea repeated a year later with Mortal Monday for the console release of Mortal Kombat. Both Sonic and Mortal Kombat resonated with a teen audience brought up on Animaniacs, WWE and Green Day.<\/p>\n
Gerscovich agrees that retaining Sonic\u2019s spiky and defiant persona has been vital. \u201cAt the heart of it is his strong personality-driven identity, which has always been bigger than any individual game or story,\u201d he says. \u201cSonic has always represented freedom and an unmistakable attitude in the face of adversity that resonates across generations and that core DNA has remained consistent even as we\u2019ve evolved the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the late 90s, Iizuka took creative lead on what may be the most important title in the modernisation of the Sonic brand: the brilliant, flawed and ambitious Dreamcast open-world platformer Sonic Adventure. \u201cImmediately following the completion of Nights into Dreams, \u2018Sonic RPG\u2019 began taking shape in my mind,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe concept was envisioned as a 3D action RPG in which players would traverse the world on foot, uncovering items and hidden passages along the way. While that vision ultimately never materialised, it laid the groundwork for what would become Sonic Adventure. While the transition to 3D was necessary, the biggest challenge was creating a system that would allow players to comfortably run around within a 3D space, as they did in the original Sonic games. I don\u2019t think Sonic would have gone on to achieve the success it did if we hadn\u2019t been able to bring Sonic\u2019s 3D game to life back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
His favourite part of the experience? Introducing the game\u2019s dark antagonist Shadow the Hedgehog. \u201cI love seeing fans connect to Shadow and his more emotional backstory,\u201d he says. \u201cHe is essentially the opposite of Sonic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past 20 years, Sonic developers have juggled the need to respect the legacy of the original games with exploring new trends and technologies \u2013 to varied effect. Iizuka loves Sonic Colors, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces; Gerscovich namechecks Sonic Frontiers (\u201cit introduced an open-zone gameplay experience that demonstrated Sonic\u2019s ability to evolve and meet modern gamers where they are\u201d). What I\u2019ve loved is the sometimes experimental approach that Sega has taken, which harks back to the company\u2019s defiant underdog status: Sonic Mania was created by a small team of independent developers, with wonderful results, while The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was a visual novel inspired by Agatha Christie and released in 2023 as an April Fools\u2019 Day joke. I can\u2019t really see Nintendo temporarily killing off Mario for a bit of a laugh.<\/p>\n
Sonic, I think, is the ultimate gamers\u2019 mascot \u2013 at least he was for my generation. When I worked in games magazines in the 90s, he was such a natural cover star, with his bright colours and wry smile, throwing a thumbs up at the camera. He inspired the edgy feel of the dedicated Sega mags at the time \u2013 Sega Power, Mean Machines Sega, Sega Pro, and the design of the games \u2013 how twisty, demanding and uncompromising they were \u2013 provided clearer inspiration to modern indie developers than Super Mario, especially in the \u201cmasocore\u201d genre of platformers.<\/p>\n
But I would say that, because I grew up with Sonic, I rooted for the games through fair and foul weather. Iizuka knows what I mean \u2013 I\u2019ll leave the last words to him. \u201cI\u2019ve spent so much time with Sonic, and it has been incredible to see the franchise grow and expand,\u201d he says. \u201cSeeing Shadow arrive in movie theatres in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was a full circle moment \u2013 I have such fond memories of working on Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow\u2019s introduction. I have been very lucky to continue working and creating for the franchise. I\u2019m looking forward to the next 35 years!\u201d<\/p>\n