Sonic the Hedgehog

Identity

Sonic was an early example of the "unusual anthropomorphic animal starring in a platform game" character archetype that was later seen in characters such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Blinx and Sly Cooper.

Related Topics:
Anthropomorphic - Crash Bandicoot - Spyro the Dragon - Blinx - Sly Cooper

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Born (Developed) In 1990 he is now 15-years-old (As of 2005). Sonic is a blue hedgehog who lives on the Pacific Ocean (some American and European cartoons, comics, books and the English game manuals state that his home is the planet Mobius). He has the ability to run at supersonic speeds, hence his name. American sources often claim that Sonic's favourite food are chili dogs. In early artwork, Sonic had no visible irises; with the revamp he received for Sonic Adventure they were shown to be green, though his eyes are visibly red when he is in his "Super Sonic" form and in motion in earlier games. (Super Sonic is actually the photonegative of his normal self, with the addition of raised spines.)

Related Topics:
Hedgehog - Pacific Ocean - Manual - Mobius - Chili dog - Sonic Adventure - Super Sonic

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His blue pigmentation has never been explained in the games. However, it was explained in an issue of gaming magazine GamePro as being the result of getting caught in an explosion involving cobalt, but this is likely not canonical. An alternative explanation was given in a promotional comic for the original game featured in Disney Adventures, which was later elaborated upon in Mike Pattenden's Stay Sonic, a book about the character published only in the UK. This later became the basic origin for all subsequent UK publications.

Related Topics:
GamePro - Cobalt - Disney Adventures - Mike Pattenden - UK

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Abilities

Sonic is best known his claim to the title of 'fastest creature on the planet' and 'the world's fastest hedgehog', although he has other abilities as well. One ability that he's had since the beginning is his rolling jump (also known as the "Kaiten Jump" or "Super Sonic Spin Attack"), which allows him to attack any enemy simply by jumping or rolling into it. The Spin-Dash introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 allows Sonic to accelerate quickly from a stopped position.

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Sonic sinks in water and will drown in a short amount of time, even as Super Sonic (but not "Hyper Sonic"). In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a water shield allows Sonic to breathe underwater. In more recent games, landing in water is the equivalent of instant death.

Related Topics:
Super Sonic - Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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In Sonic Adventure and later installments of the series, his abilities include the Homing Attack, in which he propels himself towards the nearest enemy while jumping, and the Light Dash, which allows him to run along a path of rings at light speed, even through the air. Three of his newest abilites, gained in Sonic Heroes, are the Rocket Accel, which allows Sonic to bounce off his teammates to accelerate, the Flying Kick, and the Blue Tornado, which sweeps enemies off their feet and is used to spin up poles.

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Romance

In the video games, Amy Rose (also mistakenly called Princess Sally in the American Sonic CD instruction manual) believes she is Sonic's girlfriend. Although Sonic far from dislikes Amy, he is still quite repelled by her constant advances. However, in the anime series Sonic X, he has a bit more patience for her, and at times there is a mutual fondness between the two.

Related Topics:
Amy Rose - Sonic CD - Sonic X

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In the SatAM cartoon, Sonic's love interest is Princess Sally Acorn. The Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog cartoon features a girlfriend named Breezie Hedgehog, while the Archie comics series featuring Sonic includes both Sally Acorn and Mina Mongoose and also contains Amy Rose and her repelling ways.

Related Topics:
SatAM - Princess Sally Acorn - Archie comics - Mina Mongoose - Amy Rose

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Relatives

Sonic apparently has no relatives in the games or Sonic X. In several of the other continuities, however, Sonic does have family members, ranging from his parents and his Uncle Chuck from the Archie Comics version, his mother Queen Aleena and siblings Sonia and Manic from Sonic Underground, to his Uncle Chuck from SatAM.

Related Topics:
Sonic X - Archie Comics - Sonic Underground - SatAM

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Voice

The earliest voice Sonic was given was that of teen actor Jaleel White. In 1993, DiC Entertainment cast White as Sonic in their simultaneously released shows Sonic the Hedgehog and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. White would later be cast as Sonic during DiC's 1999 show Sonic Underground.

Related Topics:
Jaleel White - 1993 - DiC Entertainment - Sonic the Hedgehog - Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - 1999 - Sonic Underground

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In 1996, when the Sonic the Hedgehog OAV was produced in Japan, Sonic was played by Masami Kikuchi. The 1999 English-language dub featured Martin Burke in Sonic's role.

Related Topics:
1996 - Sonic the Hedgehog OAV - Masami Kikuchi - 1999 - Martin Burke

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Beginning with the 1998 game Sonic Adventure, Sonic's video games featured voice acting. Sonic was played by Junichi Kanemaru, who later went on to play Sonic in the Japanese version of Sonic X. Ryan Drummond performed the role of Sonic in Sonic Adventure and continued to play the role for several games. However, 4Kids Entertainment decided not to use Drummond's voice in their US dub of Sonic X, instead choosing their own Jason Griffith. Despite this, Drummond continued to play Sonic in the games until 2005, when Sega replaced all their Sonic voice actors with their 4Kids counterparts, in order to be uniform across the games and Sonic X, effectively making Griffith the official game voice actor. This decision has angered many fans of the Sonic series.

Related Topics:
1998 - Sonic Adventure - Junichi Kanemaru - Sonic X - Ryan Drummond - 4Kids Entertainment - Jason Griffith - 2005

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