SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (Universe)

> *This article refers to the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG universe as a whole. For other uses of Sonic, please go here.*
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## SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

### Developer(s)

SegaSonic Team

Dimps

Traveller's Tales

SIMS Co. Ltd.

Backbone Entertainment

BioWare

Sumo Digital

Big Red Button Entertainment

Sanzaru Games

Christian Whitehead

Headcannon

PagodaWest Games

### Genre

PlatformerRacing

Puzzle

Sports

Party

Action

Fighting

### First Installment

Rad Mobile (cameo, 1991)Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

### Latest Installment

Sonic Forces (2017)

The ***Sonic*** (ソニック) **universe** refers to the *Super Smash Flash*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 symbol is a silhouette of Sonic's head, similar to the logo of Sonic Team.

## Franchise description

As SEGA's 16-bit console, the Genesis, was launched by 1990, SEGA decided it needed to develop a killer-app for the system that could effectively combat the 1991 launch of the Super Nintendo console and its hit pack-in game, *Super Mario World*. It put into effect "Project Million Seller", where a small team of developers, prominent among them programmer Yuji Naka, developed a side-scrolling platforming game named *Sonic The Hedgehog*. The game indeed sold millions as the pack-in title for Genesis systems, thanks in no small part to design elements that were welcomely radical and fresh for their time: lengthy-yet-timed action-based levels where the object is to get to the end before time runs out, and the main character runs and jumps very fast through these levels to bounce off of and roll through enemies and obstacles while avoiding pits and spikes and bouncing off springs. This character, the anthropomorphic blue hedgehog and 'tude-filled speed demon named Sonic, was endearingly established as SEGA's mascot and answer to Nintendo's Mario and helped ensure the Genesis' place as the primary contender to the SNES in what would be remembered as one of gaming's most memorable "console wars".

As one would expect for such a smash hit character and game franchise, sequels were in order, and a steady stream of *Sonic* sequels, spin-offs, and alternative media was released in all of the following years for all SEGA-owned systems. The "real" sequels to *Sonic the Hedgehog* were generally the most successful for expanding on both the core gameplay and the characterization and world design. *Sonic the Hedgehog 2* introduced many *Sonic s*taples, such as Sonic's Spin Dash ability to charge forward at full-throttle, Sonic's Super Transformation ability to become a faster and strong gold-colored version called Super Sonic, and a CPU-controlled sidekick to follow and assist Sonic, which in this case is the young two-tailed fox Miles "Tails" Prower. *Sonic the Hedgehog 3* thoroughly revamped the gameplay and presentation and introduced Sonic's hero rival Knuckles the Echidna , and *Sonic & Knuckles* was a direct and physical continuation that was the first and only Genesis cartridge to have another Genesis cartridge insertable onto it. Locking *Sonic 3* into *Sonic & Knuckles* created a huge *Sonic* quest where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were all separate playable characters.

Time would not be so merciful to Sonic's career and SEGA's standing in the game industry in the years afterward, though. A lot of spinoff games for Genesis and other less successful SEGA systems like the Sega Saturn took the franchise in various different directions such as isometric platforming and adventure-based racing, and also introduced more characters, but the games were not appreciated as much as the main series by fans and critics alike. *Sonic* had a magnificent resurgence on SEGA's better-handled Dreamcast console with its premiere title *Sonic Adventure*, successfully pulling off a fully 3D adventure game that physically remodeled Sonic's character design and yet felt worthy of the *Sonic* name. In spite of great hardware and software in the Dreamcast, the system and Sega itself were ultimately defeated by the competition in the form of the powerful Sony PlayStation brand (with franchises like *Metal Gear Solid*) and the phenomenal popularity of Nintendo's *Pokémon* franchise, and SEGA ultimately shifted its company focus to strictly a software publisher.

Now a developer for companies once considered its rivals, SEGA resumed developing a steady stream of *Sonic*titles and releasing them for all three main competing hardware publishers - Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, though it started exclusively for Nintendo with *Sonic Adventure 2: Battle* being the first *Sonic* game for the GameCube. Some of these games would be critically acclaimed, some viewed as mediocre, and some widely panned, and standout *Sonic* games on Nintendo systems include the *Sonic Advance* series for Game Boy Advance, *Sonic Rush* for DS, and *Sonic and the Secret Rings* for Wii. The commemorative *Sonic the Hedgehog*, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2006 was critically panned, while *Sonic Free Riders* served to highlight control issues with the Kinect peripheral for Xbox 360. The series had a commercially successful forays back into the series' platforming roots, with the episodic *Sonic the Hedgehog 4*, as well as *Sonic Generations* for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. SEGA's partnership with Nintendo would lead to the launch for games exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, starting with *Sonic Lost World* in 2013, followed by *Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games* by the end of the year. *Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric* for the Wii U, and *Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal* for the 3DS, based on the new *Sonic Boom* franchise, together formed the final installments in the exclusivity agreement. A throwback to the original 2D games for the SEGA Genesis was released in the form of *Sonic Mania*, which was made available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. It was developed in conjuction by indie developers PagodaWest Games and Headcannon, with SEGA publishing the title itself. A new entry was released on November 2017, to be available on the same platforms *Sonic Mania* was released, with the name of *Sonic Forces*.

Sonic crossing over with Mario in the same game was finally realized in late 2007 with the release of 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 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, Canada; the 2012 Summer Olympics held at London, England; the 2014 Winter Olympics held at Sochi, Russia (as seen above as part of the partnership between SEGA and Nintendo); and coming soon the 2016 Summer Olympics held at Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. 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 later reprised his role as a fighter in both installments of *Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS* and *Wii U*.

The *Sonic* franchise comprises several separate continuities and alternative interpretations, such as with a long-running comic-book series published by Archie Comics and several animated TV series separate from the games themselves, and in many cases the games are not groupable together by "storyline". But in general the franchise depicts a world where characters are wildly anthropomorphic and colorful animals who speak and interact just like normal people (similar to the *Star Fox* universe). "Normal humans" also exist in the *Sonic* world, however, and the primary antagonist of the series is a "mad scientist"-style human named Dr. Robotnik (or Dr. Eggman) who repeatedly attempts to take over the world with an army of robots and a Death Star-inspired super-weapon named the Death Egg, and his nemesis Sonic must thwart his schemes time and time again, collecting power-ups like Gold Rings and powerful artifacts called the Chaos Emeralds along the way. Recent *Sonic* games have explored different and more involved styles of storytelling and added new characters of good and evil affinities, much like recent *Mario* games.

## In *Super Smash Bros. For Nintendo Switch*

The *Sonic* universe returns to Super Smash Bros. Switch as one of the most highly represented franchises, having a big jump compared to the other characters. It's the highest represented third party series in the game, having 9 characters. It currently holds the biggest increase in third party representation in Smash Bros. history.

### Characters

* **Sonic The Hedgehog**: Sonic returns for the 3rd time as a veteran. He was one of the "Starting 25"    characters to be revealed during the game's reveal trailer. His moveset is roughly similar to Smash Wii/3DS, however, with some new attacks added in. He also recieves a new Side Special, Boost. His Final Smash is Super Sonic, where Sonic powers up. He also is one of the main characters in the game's story mode.
* **Miles "Tails" Prower**: Sonic's sidekick joins as a newcomer to Switch. Tails is a character who focuses on speed and spacing, compared to Sonic's rushdown playstyle. Most of his moveset is inspired by his appearances in Sonic Battle, Sonic The Fighters, Sonic Boom, and Sonic Advance, with him having a    Spin Dash of his own. He is also able to fly, having one of the best recoveries in the game. His Final Smash, Tails Cyclone, has him jumping into his Cyclone from Sonic Adventure 2.
* **Knuckles The Echidna**: A red echidna who first appeared in Sonic 3. He's also a newcomer, being announced at the SWSX event on March 2018. Knuckles can be considered a "psuedo" rushdown character, as he holds traits of a heavyweight as well. His moveset, like   with many other characters in his series, has his moveset based off of Sonic The Fighters and Sonic Battle. His Final Smash is the Maximum Heat Attack, where he glides towards every enemy on screen.