Sonic the Hedgehog marks 25th birthday

Photo by: Jonathan Clede/ Flickr.

2016 marks the 25th birthday of one of gaming’s biggest icons: Sonic the Hedgehog

On the July 23, 1991 the world was introduced to a true legend among gaming icons: Sonic the Hedgehog and 2016 marks the “blue blur’s” 25th birthday.

The original Sonic the Hedgehog for the SEGA Mega Drive was released back in 1991, which in turn spawned one of the most successful rivals to Nintendo and Mario since the third console generation began back in 1985.

The plot of the first game was relatively simplistic. A mad scientist named Dr Ivo Robotnik – later known as Dr Eggman – began kidnapping forest animals and converting them into his robot servants in an effort to conquer the world and uncover gems known as Chaos Emeralds. Sonic was one of few to escape Robotnik’s clutches and with his intense super speed he took on the challenge to rescue the animals Robotnik had enslaved and restore peace to the world.

As the series went on the world where Sonic lived expanded, and now with its own definitive lore, Sonic is no longer facing Eggman alone. He has Miles Prower also known as Tails due to the fact he possessed a second tail. Knuckles the Echidna is the current guardian of the Master Emerald and Amy Rose is a young pink girl hedgehog wields a hammer. The three Defective Detectives are Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee. There is also the princess of an alternate dimension, Blaze the Cat.

Sonic and his allies constantly battle against Dr Eggman and his army of robots but more often than not a greater threat than Eggman may arise and when that happens, Sonic will always be on hand with a few allies to protect those who need it.

2001’s Sonic Adventure 2 changed the series quite rapidly by giving the players the option to play as Eggman himself in a non spin-off Sonic game. The game also introduced one of the greatest anti-heroes in video games, Shadow the Hedgehog who serves as both a friend and a foe to Sonic.

Since then the Sonic series has evolved quite a bit, and Sonic himself became the first video game character to have a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade held annually in New York. In addition, Sonic holds the world record for longest running comic book series based on a video game. The Sonic Archie comics have spanned a total of 285 issues and are still going strong. Also the protein gene SHH was named after Sonic, and this was the first time a game character had a gene or body part named after them and Sonic only shares this feat with one other gaming icon that being Pikachu.

Sonic’s popularity and reputation is undeniable which is why fans will rejoice this year to mark 25 years since the birth of such an icon.

Happy 25th birthday Sonic!