Sonic (Universe)

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The ***Sonic*** (ソニック, *Sonikku*) universe refers to the series' collection of 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.

"*.*"

—About the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe.

## Franchise description

As Sega's 16-bit console, the Genesis, was known to have 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 of the 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* staples, 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 Tails the Fox. *Sonic the Hedgehog 3* thoroughly revamped the gameplay and presentation and introduced Sonic's hero rival Knuckles the Echidna, and *Sonic & Knuckles* was a fully 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 spin off 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 main, 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 Nintendo GameCube. Some of these games would be critically acclaimed, some viewed as mediocre, and some widely panned, and standout *Sonic* games on Nintendo systems also include the *Sonic Advance* series for the Game Boy Advance, *Sonic Rush* for DS, and *Sonic and the Secret Rings* for Wii. As a franchise, *Sonic* remains one of gaming's most recognizable, and for this reason Sonic the Hedgehog has even appeared in crossover games by popular demand. Three Wii titles are especially notable: one is *Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games*, a track-and-field-style sports title featuring characters from the Mario universe and the Sonic universe competing against each other; its sequel, *Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games*, featuring characters from many universes as playable fighters, with Sonic among those playable.

The *Sonic* game franchise is a widely ranging series of games and other media covering many genres and formats, and if the characters and world consistent among them were taken away, there would seem to be several games and sub-series unrelated to each other and to the "main" series of side-scrolling platformers left behind as a result. Sonic and related properties have appeared in games covering genres such as side-scrolling, 3D adventure, racing, party-gaming, pinball, sports, and fighting. What is generally consistent among all *Sonic* games is a sense of speed and fast pacing, and gameplay and action is generally emphasized over voluminous characterization and overwrought storytelling. A sense of "attitude" and "coolness" pervades each *Sonic* title as well.

The *Sonic* franchise comprises several separate continuities and alternative interpretations. In many cases, the games are not groupable together by "storyline". 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. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik 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.

## Known Characters

### Heroes

* Thomas Jones
* Team Sonic
	+ Sonic the Hedgehog
		- Super Sonic
		- Hyper Sonic
		- Dark Super Sonic
		- Excalibur Sonic
		- Sonic the Werehog
	+ Tails the Fox
	+ Knuckles the Echidna
		- Super Knuckles
		- Hyper Knuckles
* Team Rose
	+ Amy Rose the Hedgehog
	+ Cream the Rabbit
	+ Cheese the Chao
	+ Big the Cat
	+ Froggy
* Chaotix
	+ Vector the Crocodile
	+ Espio the Chameleon
	+ Charmy the Bee
* Team Super
	+ Mighty the Armadillo
	+ Ray the Flying Squirrel
	+ Sticks the Badger
* Team Sol
	+ Silver the Hedgehog
		- Super Silver
	+ Blaze the Cat
		- Burning Blaze

### Supportives

* Christopher Thorndyke
* Vanilla the Rabbit
* Tikal the Echidna
* Maria Robotnik
* Princess Elise the Third
* Shahra the Genie
* Professor Dillon Pickle
* Wisps
	+ Yacker

### Allies

* United Federation
* G.U.N.
	+ G.U.N. Commander Abraham Tower
	+ Amanda Tower
	+ Hope Robotnik
	+ Topaz
	+ Foxwell Fowler
	+ Dr. Julian Snively
		- C.L.I.P. Division
			* Madonna Garnet
		- Spider Troupe
			* Captain Andrews
	+ G.U.N. Soldiers
* Emerl
* Shade the Echidna
* Caliburn

### Anti-Heroes

* Team Hooligan
	+ Nack the Weasel
	+ Bean the Duck
	+ Bark the Polar Bear
* Chaos
	+ Chaos 1
	+ Chaos 2
	+ Chaos 4
	+ Chaos 6
	+ Perfect Chaos
* Knuckles Clan
	+ Pachacamac the Echidna
* Project Shadow
	+ Professor Gerald Robotnik
* Team Dark
	+ Shadow the Hedgehog
		- Super Shadow
	+ Rouge the Bat
	+ E-123 Omega
* Merlina the Wizard
	+ Dark Queen
* Babylon Rogues/Team Babylon
	+ Jet the Hawk
	+ Wave the Swallow
	+ Storm the Albatross

### Villains

* Eggman Empire
	+ Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik
	+ Decoe
	+ Bocoe
	+ Bokkun
	+ Jack Robotnik
	+ Orbot
	+ Cubot
	+ Eggman's Robots
		- Badniks
		- Metal Series
			* Team Metal
				+ Metal Sonic
					- Neo Metal Sonic
						* Metal Madness/Metal Overlord
				+ Metal Tails
				+ Metal Knuckles
			* Metal Amy
			* Metal Blaze
			* Metal Scourge
		- Mecha Sonic
			* Mecha Sonic's Super State
		- E-Series
		- Shadow Androids
* King Boom Boo
* Biolizard
	+ Finalhazard
* Metarex
	+ Dark Oak
		- Final Mova
	+ Red Pine
	+ Yellow Zelkova
	+ Pale Bayleaf
	+ Black Narcissus
* Black Arms
	+ Black Doom
		- Devil Doom
	+ Black Death
	+ Eclipse the Darkling
	+ Dark Arms
* Solaris
	+ Iblis
	+ Mephiles the Dark
* Nocturnus Clan
* Erazor Djiin
	+ Alf Layla wa-Layla
* Dark Gaia's Minions
	+ Dark Gaia
* Dr. Eggman Nega
* Metal Sonic 3.0
* Time Eater
* Deadly Six
	+ Zavok
	+ Zazz
	+ Zeena
	+ Master Zik
	+ Zomom
	+ Zor
* Lyric the Last Ancient

### Others

* Kingdom of Acorn
* New Freedom Fighters
* Chaos

## External links

* Sonic the Hedgehog *Wikipedia*
* Sonic the Hedgehog *Sonic News Network*