8 fast facts about Sonic the Hedgehog

Before he was a hedgehog, game designers originally considered making Sonic an armadillo or a porcupine.

Other animals that were considered include a dog and a rabbit. They also considered making the character a Theodore Roosevelt lookalike, but that character later developed into Dr. Robotnik.

In the original games, Dr. Robotnik was named Dr. Eggman.

Get it, because he's round and bald! This name mix-up started as a miscommunication between the Sega teams in Japan and the United States. This happens sometimes when a video game or show goes through translation, but the American team renamed the character Robotnik, and that became the more popular name for the character.

Throughout the franchise, this miscommunication has been settled by having Dr. Robotnik as Dr. Eggman's secret identity, with Eggman as the normal public-facing name and Robotnik being the evil mad scientist name.

Sonic was created to compete with Mario.

Sega Genesis needed a flagship character like Nintendo had with Mario. At the time, Sega was mostly known for arcade games, so they held an internal contest to choose a flagship game targeted at American audiences. 

Why is Sonic blue?

Real hedgehogs are obviously not blue, but Sonic was designed to match the cobalt blue in the Sega logo. Fun fact, Sonic's red and white shoes were inspired by the cover of Michael Jackson's album Bad.

He-Man led to the Sonic cartoon.

Sega saw how successful the cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had been in launching the toy line, and they wanted to see if creating a cartoon would lead to an increase in video game sales. 

Sonic has starred in six animated series.

The first three series, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Underground, were produced by DiC for ABC and starred Jaleel White as Sonic. Then, in the early 2000s, Sonic X was an anime series produced by TMS Entertainment for TV Tokyo. Sonic Boom premiered in 2014 on Cartoon Network, this series was the first CGI Sonic series. And finally, Sonic Prime premiered in 2022 on Netflix.

"Sonic the Hedgehog" had an all-star voice cast.

In addition to Jaleel White starring as Sonic, but Sonic's friends were also voiced by animation acting legends. Princess Sally was voiced by Kath Soucie, who has also played Phil and Lil in Rugrats, Lola Bunny in Space Jam, and Linka in Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Bunnie Rabbot was voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, who has also voiced Chuckie Finster in Rugrats, Dexter in Dexter's Laboratory, and played the titular pig in Babe. Ant Depardieu was voiced by Rob Paulsen, best known for Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pinky in Pinky and the Brain, and Yakko in Animaniacs. Tails was voiced by Bradley Pierce, who also voiced Chip in Beauty and the Beast and played Peter Shepherd in the original Jumanji. Dulcy is voiced by Cree Summer, who starred in Inspector Gadget as Penny, and is also known for her roles as Susie Carmichael in Rugrats, Cleo in Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Princess Kida in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Dr. Robotnik went through multiple voice actors.

Jaleel White voiced Sonic in all three original series, but Dr. Robotnik went through several voice actors. Jim Cummings voiced Dr. Robotnik in the original pilot of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, but he was replaced by Long John Baldry. Cummings did end up voicing Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog, but then Garry Chalk took over the role in Sonic Underground.