While covering the topic of world famous Japanese characters and video game protagonists, we forgot one that has a special relation towards Super Mario and Nintendo: they’re competing since the nineties and there are still games coming out focusing on their competition. Today’s article will be about a super fast blue little hedgehog hero: Sonic (ソニック)

Sonic the hedgehog is the title character and protagonist of the “Sonic the hedgehog” series by the Japanese game company Sega, a concurrent of Nintendo. There are numerous spin-off comics, five animated shows, and an Anime dealing with the sonic universe and its characters.
Sonic is a blue hedgehog who has the ability to run at supersonic speeds and the ability to curl into a ball, primarily to attack enemies. Throughout the course of the video games, Sonic most commonly has to race through levels, collect power up rings and survive against a host of natural obstacles and minions to achieve his goal. While many individuals at Sega had a hand in Sonic’s creation, programmer Yuji Naka and artist Naoto Oshima are generally credited with the creation of the character.

The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo’s flagship character Mario. Since then, Sonic has become one of the world’s best-known video game characters, with his series selling more than 80 million copies.
According to various official materials from Sega, Sonic is described as a character who is “like the wind”, a drifter who lives as he wants, and makes life a series of events and adventures. Sonic hates oppression and staunchly defends freedom. Although he is mostly quick-witted and easygoing, he has a short temper and is often impatient with slower things.

Have you ever played a sonic game before? What’s your earliest memory of the blue hedgehog?