Seven things you didn’t know about Sonic the Hedgehog
5th March 2016
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Here’s 7 of Sonic’s lesser known aspects and facts of the series.
As many would say; Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the worlds most famous video game characters but a good number of people and especially some fans are a little unaware of some parts of the series.
These are the 7 facts that people may not know about Sonic:
1. In Shadow the Hedgehog, after completing the Hero Mission for Westopolis at the end of a cutscene, Sonic will say “Guess that means, welcome to the next level”, this was him quoting SEGA’s catchphrase from 1991 and the main marketing tag line for the SEGA Mega drive in the US.
2. In the Japanese strategy guide for Sonic Adventure 2 it mentions that Maria Robotnik, the cousin of Eggman, had a fictional disease called Neuro Immune Deficiency Syndrome or N.I.D.S which is described as incurable. This disease also references the real world disease A.I.D.S or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Though never referenced in game in the Archie Comics, it is referenced that Shadow was created to be a living cure.
3. Three games were used as sagas for the Sonic X anime. After the episode Countdown To Chaos, the events of the first Sonic Adventure are played out but acted differently with Chaos gaining two Chaos Emeralds in his debut episode. Starting with the episode Project: Shadow, the events of Sonic Adventure 2 are played out. However, due to the continuity of Sonic X being different, some events are slightly altered; such as Rouge and Agent Topaz stealing the Master Emerald late into the saga. The Advance games are used as a template from episode 42 to episode 46 mainly the end of Sonic Advance 3 and the events of Sonic Battle.
4. The English manual for Sonic Heroes lists the character’s age with the exception of Shadow and Omega. It is revealed that Sonic is 15, Tails is 8, while Cream and Charmy are both 6. Rouge is 17, Knuckles and Espio are both 16 with Big being 18. The character Vector is the oldest at 20.
5. The 2005 game Shadow the Hedgehog has had some controversy surrounding it. The level Central City, due to the dark mission being to detonate a bomb within a city centre and the fact that the game was released after the London attacks led to many claiming that the level was a re-enactment of the events. The level Air Fleet also had some controversy as the dark mission had Shadow attempt to assassinate the President of the United Federation. This sparked controversy due to an attempted assassination of the US President that same year. In addition, if one fails, the hero mission on Lethal Highway then Sonic will say “Damn they got away! Leave it to me I’ll chase ’em down.” This marks the first and only time Sonic swore on screen in the series.
6. On the race track Race Of Ages in Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, if the player is in 1st place then there is a chance to see a man with a SEGA Saturn on his back while riding a rocket. This is a reference to Segata Sanshiro who was the main mascot for the Japanese advertisement campaign for the SEGA Saturn. Also on the same track, there are a number of references to SEGA’s past, such as a statue of Mobo and Robo from Bonanza Bros and the character AGES himself having three forms a stock car from Daytona USA. An F-14 Tomcat from After Burner and a SEGA Dreamcast controller and the Driver is a Dreamcast VMU (Visual Memory Unit) and AGES is SEGA spelled backwards so Race Of AGES becomes Race Of SEGA.
7. The Sonic series has a number of allusions to other games made by SEGA. For example in Shadow The Hedgehog, the level “Circus Park” is a reference to a level of the same name in Billy Hatcher and the giant egg. Billy Hatcher returns the favour by having Sonic make a Cameo appearance in the game. In the same game, one of the Weapons Shadow uses is called the Vacuum Egg which is modelled after Billy Hatcher. In Sonic Colours, after beating the third boss Sonic will say “Nobody said there’d be math.” A reference to the Nintendo Wii title Madworld, also made by SEGA. In addition, the writers for Sonic Colours also worked on Madworld and Happy Tree Friends.
Another allusion to Sonic occurs in the Wonderful 101, where Wonder Blue, says: “Hey can we save the Meet and Greet for later, we got a pain in the butt hedgehog to get rid of.” A reference to the fact that Wonder Blue and Sonic share the same voice actor.
Sonic also makes multiple cameo appearances in the movie Wreck It Ralph. Firstly, when he’s warning about the dangers of leaving your game, the second being when Ralph arrives at the party and he’s seen amongst the attendees. He also appears in two scenes in Game Central Station when Ralph goes through to Sugar Rush and when Calhoun explains what a Cybug is. Finally, at the end of the movie, during the wedding between Calhoun and Felix. To return the favour for these cameos, Ralph was a guest character for Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed.
