Misplaced Pages

#162837

143-442: Sonic Team's head, Takashi Iizuka , wanted to modernize Sonic 's traditional side-scrolling formula so it could continue independently from the 3D games. After plans for another collaboration with the developers of Sonic Mania (2017) fell through, Iizuka began discussing a collaboration with Arzest, a studio founded by Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima . Development on Superstars , which marked Ohshima's first contribution to

286-473: A Lego Sonic the Hedgehog -themed Eggman skin. A Lego Sonic skin is also available as free DLC. "Digital Deluxe" DLC includes additional Lego skins, the rabbit skin, an additional Metal Fighter skin for the multiplayer mode, an artbook, a soundtrack, and menu wallpapers . Sega released a promotional animated short, Trio of Trouble , on September 20. On February 15, 2024, a costume based on the character Shadow

429-531: A Sonic game in time for the 1993 holiday shopping season , Sega commissioned the American team to make a new game, the spin-off Sonic Spinball . While Spinball received mixed reviews, it sold well and helped build the reputation of its developers. A number of Sonic games were developed for Sega's 8-bit consoles, the Master System and the handheld Game Gear . The first, an 8-bit version of

572-579: A Sonic game since Sonic Adventure (1998), began in 2021. Arzest sought to replicate the Genesis Sonic gameplay while innovating with new game mechanics , with the Chaos Emerald powers introduced to encourage players to seek all seven. Sonic Superstars was released for Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Windows , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X/S on October 17, 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics, who felt it

715-421: A boss that the player must defeat while dodging attacks. In between levels, the player explores a 2D hub world where they can select a zone and change or customize their character. The campaign takes four hours to complete as a single character, and about 15 hours as every character. Unlike previous 2D Sonic games, Superstars does not feature lives , so the player will never receive a game over . Completing

858-453: A sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix . Naka's prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube. Sega management accepted the duo's project, and they were joined by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara . After Yasuhara joined Naka and Ohshima, their focus shifted to the protagonist, who Sega hoped could become its mascot. The protagonist

1001-424: A sungazer lizard . Iizuka wanted Trip to add story depth, and he worked closely with Ohshima to define her character and appearance. Iizuka sought to distinguish Trip from previous games' powerful villains, such as Infinite from Sonic Forces (2017), with a backstory and characterization "that people can kind of relate to and empathize with and enjoy... because [she] mean[s] something to the world". Jun Senoue led

1144-654: A swan song for the system. Since Sonic Team was preoccupied with Nights , 3D Blast was outsourced to the British studio Traveller's Tales . While 3D Blast sold well, it was criticized for its gameplay, controls, and slow pace. Meanwhile, in America, STI worked on Sonic X-treme , a 3D Sonic game for the Saturn intended for the 1996 holiday shopping season. Development was hindered by disputes between Sega of America and Japan, Naka's reported refusal to let STI use

1287-513: A Western localization of Puyo Puyo . Sega replaced the Puyo Puyo characters with Sonic characters because it feared Puyo Puyo would not be popular with a Western audience. In 1995, Sega released the Knuckles spinoff Knuckles' Chaotix for the 32X, and two Tails spin-offs for Game Gear: Tails' Skypatrol (a scrolling shooter ) and Tails Adventure (a Metroidvania game). Shadow

1430-456: A brand, and began to work on a new intellectual property, Nights into Dreams (1996), for Sega's 32-bit Saturn console. In 1996, towards the end of the Genesis's lifecycle, Sega released Sonic 3D Blast , an isometric game based on the original Sonic 3 concept, as the system still had a large install base. It was the final Sonic game produced for the Genesis, and was developed as

1573-437: A broad audience. Whitehead said that Sonic Team and Evening Star "agreed early on that we should try to make something fresh", such as using a new art style like traditional animation or 2.5D graphics and not reusing content from prior Sonic games. Evening Star created a 2.5D prototype that experimented with depth using its in-development Star Engine . However, Sonic Team and Evening Star eventually decided against developing

SECTION 10

#1732776716163

1716-460: A cat from an alternate dimension; and Silver , a telekinetic hedgehog from the future. The Chao creatures function as digital pets and minor gameplay elements, and Wisp creatures function as power-ups . Flicky, the blue bird from Sega's 1984 arcade game , appears in several Sonic games, particularly 3D Blast . Some Sonic characters have featured in spin-off games. Eggman is the featured character of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine ,

1859-537: A different and fresh, almost unpredictable, way of thinking" and got along well with him from the very start. Sonic the Hedgehog#Gameplay Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka , Naoto Ohshima , and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega . The franchise follows Sonic , an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles

2002-579: A foothold in the video game console market with its 16-bit console , the Sega Genesis . Sega's efforts had been stymied by the dominance of Nintendo ; the Genesis did not have a large install base and Nintendo did not take Sega seriously as a competitor. Sega of America CEO Michael Katz attempted to challenge Nintendo with the " Genesis does what Nintendon't " marketing campaign and by collaborating with athletes and celebrities to create games. These efforts did not break Nintendo's dominance, and Katz

2145-616: A fox who can fly using his two tails. Sonic CD introduced Amy Rose , a pink hedgehog and Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend, and Metal Sonic , a robotic doppelgänger of Sonic created by Eggman. Sonic 3 introduced Sonic's rival Knuckles, a red echidna and the guardian of the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald, introduced in Sonic & Knuckles , controls the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles' Chaotix introduced

2288-463: A mechanic that immediately propels Sonic forward at top speed when activated. While boosting, Sonic can smash through objects, destroy enemies instantly, or access different level paths. This requires players to react to forthcoming obstacles quickly; Sonic Unleashed introduced side-stepping and drifting maneuvers to allow players to maintain speed. Boosting is limited by a gauge that the player can fill with rings or Wisps. In most Sonic games,

2431-512: A mix of internal Sega staff and external contributors to compose the Superstars soundtrack. Contributors included Takahiro Kai, Tee Lopes , Hidenori Shoji , and Rintaro Soma. Iizuka said the Superstars team sought to remain faithful to the Genesis games' pop style. Sega announced Sonic Superstars at Summer Game Fest on June 8, 2023, followed by promotion at Gamescom in August. It

2574-463: A new 2D Sonic game and began discussing a collaboration. Although Ohshima left Sega in 1999 and had not contributed to a Sonic game since Sonic Adventure (1998), he remained a fan and had enjoyed games such as Sonic Colors (2010), Sonic Generations (2011), Mania , and Sonic Frontiers (2022). Additionally, he noticed many of his followers on social media were Sonic fans and wanted to show his appreciation for them. Although Evening Star

2717-410: A new experience after the release of the compilation Sonic Origins (2022), and modernize the series' classic formula. Previous side-scrolling Sonic games featured a set number of acts for each zone, so Arzest decided to use a different number for certain zones to add variety to the pacing. Ohshima created level maps as a base for the developers, and Iizuka provided input and corrections. They felt it

2860-540: A new setting. The title, Sonic Superstars , reflects the game featuring the "superstar" Sonic characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Iizuka said Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were necessary since they were playable in the Genesis games. Though Amy was introduced in Sonic CD (1993), she was never playable in any of the Genesis games, so the developers felt her being playable would please fans. A playable rabbit character based on one of Ohshima's prototype Sonic designs

3003-555: A really enjoyable side-scrolling Sonic title, but the two big ticket features—chaos emerald powers and co-op—are arguably the worst parts of it." Sonic Superstars was nominated for Best Family Game at the Game Awards 2023 , though it lost to Super Mario Bros. Wonder . Takashi Iizuka (game designer) Takashi Iizuka ( 飯塚 隆 , Iizuka Takashi ) (born March 16, 1970) is a Japanese video game director, producer, designer and screenwriter. Since 2008, Iizuka has been

SECTION 20

#1732776716163

3146-577: A sequel, Sonic and the Black Knight , set in the world of King Arthur , in 2009. Secret Rings and Black Knight form what is known as the Sonic Storybook sub-series. A Sonic Riders sequel, Zero Gravity (2008), was developed for the Wii and PlayStation 2. Dimps returned to the Sonic series with Sonic Rush Adventure , a sequel to Sonic Rush , in 2007, while BioWare developed

3289-589: A shot at developing Sonic titles ( Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2 ) under his team's supervision for the PlayStation Portable console. In 2008, Sega's American division, Sega Studio USA, was absorbed back into Sonic Team Japan, making Iizuka the producer for the Sonic series at Sonic Team and the head of the company as well. In 2016, Iizuka relocated to Los Angeles to become the VP of Product Development at Sega of America, while retaining his title as

3432-629: A similar Mario game, especially given Sonic 's popularity on the Switch. Superstars debuted at fourth place in the UK physical sales charts, behind Wonder ; 49% of Superstars ' sales were for the Switch. In Japan, it debuted at ninth place, selling 4,128 copies during its first week on sale. In November, Sega Sammy Holdings ' president Haruki Satomi said that initial sales were slightly below what Sega had hoped, which he attributed to competition from other games like Wonder . However, he said Sega

3575-409: A spin-off starring the popular Adventure 2 character Shadow . While Shadow retains most elements from previous Sonic games, it was aimed at a mature audience and introduced third-person shooting and nonlinear gameplay . Shadow the Hedgehog was panned for its controls, level design, and mature themes, but was a commercial success, selling at least 1.59 million copies. In 2006, for

3718-420: A star character in a game that could demonstrate the power of the Genesis's hardware. An internal contest was held to determine a flagship game, with a focus on the American audience. Among the teams working on proposals were artist Naoto Ohshima and programmer Yuji Naka . The gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) originated with a tech demo created by Naka, who had developed an algorithm that allowed

3861-423: A third gameplay style featuring the player's custom character . Sonic Forces received mixed reviews, with criticism for its short length. In 2019, Sega released a kart racing game , Team Sonic Racing (2019), developed by Sumo Digital . In May 2021, Sega announced several Sonic projects for the series' 30th anniversary, including a remaster of Sonic Colors , the compilation Sonic Origins , and

4004-402: A zone varies between one, two, and three. Each contains elements such as springs, vertical loops , collectible rings that serve as health , and shield power-ups . Some zones feature unique elements, such as a jungle with vines the player can grind on and a futuristic zone where they transform into a voxel creature, and some feature acts exclusive to the selected character. Each act ends with

4147-712: Is a side-scrolling platform game similar to the Sonic the Hedgehog games released for the Sega Genesis in the 1990s. The player must complete a series of levels across several zones, presented from a 2.5D perspective, to defeat Doctor Eggman , who has hired Fang the Hunter and Trip the Sungazer to capture the North Star Islands' giant animals so he can build a powerful army. There are four initial player characters , each with their own unique abilities: Sonic

4290-455: The 2020 Summer Olympics . The International Olympic Committee opted not to renew its licensing deal with Sega and Nintendo in 2020, effectively ending the series. Sonic appears as a playable character in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. crossover fighting games, beginning with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008. Alongside Solid Snake from Konami 's Metal Gear franchise, Sonic was

4433-496: The Adventure games. With Unleashed , Sonic Team sought to combine the best aspects of 2D and 3D Sonic games and address criticisms of previous 3D entries, although reviews were mixed due to the addition of a beat 'em up game mode in which Sonic transforms into a werewolf -like beast. After Nishiyama was promoted in 2010, Iizuka was installed as the head of Sonic Team and became the Sonic producer. Iizuka felt Sonic

Sonic Superstars - Misplaced Pages Continue

4576-626: The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) about producing two television series—"a syndicated show for the after-school audience" and a Saturday-morning cartoon —based on Sonic . Kalinske "had seen how instrumental the launch of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series was to the success of the toyline " during his time at Mattel and believed that success could be recreated using Sonic . The two cartoons,

4719-458: The Mania developers, who formed Evening Star Studio in 2018, began discussing another collaboration following Mania 's release. They did not want to make a Mania sequel since Iizuka felt casual audiences would dismiss it as a rehash; he wanted to abandon Mania 's pixel art style as Mania had been intended for hardcore Sonic fans, and he thought a new 2D game needed to appeal to

4862-627: The Mario franchise. The first Mario & Sonic game was released in 2007 for the Wii and in 2008 for the DS to tie in with the 2008 Summer Olympics . Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games , based on the 2010 Winter Olympics , was released in 2009 for the Wii and DS, and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games , based on the 2012 Summer Olympics , was released for

5005-561: The Master System and Game Gear . After a hiatus during the unsuccessful Saturn era, the first major 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure , was released in 1998 for the Dreamcast . Sega exited the console market and shifted to third-party development in 2001, continuing the series on Nintendo, Xbox , and PlayStation systems. Takashi Iizuka has been the series' producer since 2010. While Sonic games often have unique game mechanics and stories, they feature recurring elements such as

5148-496: The Nights game engine , and problems adapting the series to 3D. After two lead developers became ill, X-treme was canceled. Journalists and fans have speculated about the impact X-treme might have had if it was released, with producer Mike Wallis believing it "definitely would have been competitive" with the first 3D Mario game, Super Mario 64 (1996). Due to X-treme 's cancellation, Sega ported Sonic 3D Blast to

5291-526: The PlayStation Portable , Sonic Rivals (2006) and Sonic Rivals 2 (2007). The first Sonic game for the Wii, Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007), takes place in the world of Arabian Nights and was released instead of a port of Sonic '06 . Citing lengthy development times, Sega switched plans and conceived a game that would use the motion detection of the Wii Remote . Sega released

5434-417: The Sega Genesis , to provide Sega with a mascot to compete with Nintendo 's Mario . Its success helped Sega become one of the leading video game companies during the fourth generation of video game consoles in the early 1990s. Sega Technical Institute developed the next three Sonic games, plus the spin-off Sonic Spinball (1993). A number of Sonic games were also developed for Sega's 8-bit consoles,

5577-545: The Sonic brand, while retaining the modern Sonic design. Iizuka and most of Sonic Team relocated to Burbank, California to oversee the franchise with a new team. At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016, Sega announced two Sonic games to coincide with the series' 25th anniversary: Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces . Both were released for the PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch , and Windows in 2017. Sonic Mania

5720-430: The Sonic the Hedgehog 3 score, including Sega sound staff and independent contractors recruited to finish the game on schedule. According to conflicting sources, American pop musician Michael Jackson , a Sonic fan, composed music for Sonic 3 . Ohshima and Hector said Jackson's involvement was terminated and his music removed following the first allegations of sexual abuse against him , but composers involved with

5863-463: The United States to work on the game's level design. Later, he helped supervise Traveller's Tales with the development of Sonic R . He was also the lead designer for Nights into Dreams , and director for Sonic Adventure . In 1999, he and a small part of Sonic Team moved to San Francisco to establish Sonic Team USA (later renamed Sega Studio USA ), in order to gain feedback from

Sonic Superstars - Misplaced Pages Continue

6006-787: The crunch conditions . Sonic Team ported Sonic Adventure with additional content to the GameCube in 2003 and Windows in 2004, to mixed reviews. Sega continued to release 2D Sonic games. In 1999, it collaborated with SNK to produce Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure , an adaptation of Sonic 2 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color . Some SNK staff formed Dimps the following year, and developed original 2D Sonic games— Sonic Advance (2001), Sonic Advance 2 (2002), and Sonic Advance 3 (2004)—for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (GBA). Sonic Advance

6149-407: The culture of the 1990s and listed among the greatest of all time . Although later games, such as the 2006 game , received poorer reviews, Sonic is influential in the video game industry and is frequently referenced in popular culture. The franchise is known for its fandom that produces unofficial media , such as fan art and fangames . By 1990, the Japanese video game company Sega wanted

6292-417: The party game Sonic Shuffle (2000), the pinball game Sonic Pinball Party (2003) and the fighting game Sonic Battle (2003). Sonic Team USA was renamed Sega Studios USA after completing Sonic Heroes . Sega and Sonic Team leadership entered flux while they experimented with diverging from the Sonic formula. Sega Studios USA's first post- Heroes project was Shadow the Hedgehog (2005),

6435-461: The physics engine before working on the level design and ensuring they meshed. Superstars was developed from scratch using the Unity game engine , though the physics code was translated from the Mania version of Whitehead's Retro Engine . Replicating the physics proved difficult, and the developers ran the original games while they worked on Superstars so they could cross-reference. To ensure

6578-415: The 2022 game Sonic Frontiers . Frontiers was the first Sonic game to feature open-world design, and Iizuka expressed hope that it would inform future games in a similar way to Sonic Adventure . Frontiers received moderately positive reviews, with critics and fans considering it a flawed but solid new direction for the series, and sold well. 2023 Sonic releases included The Murder of Sonic

6721-554: The Chaos Emeralds—seven gems with mystical powers. The Emeralds can turn thoughts into power, warp time and space with a technique called Chaos Control, give energy to living things, and be used to create nuclear or laser-based weaponry. They typically act as MacGuffins in the stories. Eggman seeks the Emeralds in his quest to conquer the world, and traps animals in aggressive robots and prison capsules. Because Sonic Team

6864-863: The Chaotix, a group comprising Vector the Crocodile , Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee . Three characters introduced during this period, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Fang the Sniper from Sonic Triple Trouble (1994), faded into obscurity, but became prominent characters again in Sonic Mania and Superstars . During Sonic Adventure 's development, Sonic Team discovered that

7007-432: The Emeralds are collected automatically as the story progresses. By collecting the Emeralds, players are rewarded with their characters' "Super" form and can activate it by collecting 50 rings in a stage. The Super transformations grant the player character more speed, a farther jump, and invincibility, but their ring count drains by the second; the transformation lasts until all the rings have been used. Some games require

7150-518: The Flying Squirrel appeared in Sonic Mania , so Arzest decided to bring back a similarly obscure character in Superstars . They chose Fang, an antagonist from the Game Gear Sonic games. Of the characters they considered, Sonic Team and Arzest thought Fang was the most well-known and that his characterization and design fit the direction of Superstars . Additionally, Ohshima designed a new character, Trip, whose armored appearance he based on

7293-523: The Genesis era. These efforts were better received, especially in comparison to Sonic '06 and Unleashed . In May 2013, Nintendo announced it was collaborating with Sega to produce Sonic games for its Wii U and 3DS platforms. The first game in the partnership, 2013's Sonic Lost World , was also the first Sonic game for eighth-generation hardware. Sonic Lost World was designed to be streamlined and fluid in movement and design, borrowing elements from Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy games and

SECTION 50

#1732776716163

7436-488: The Genesis games, such as the characters moving between the foreground and background. The opening cutscene, which uses 2D animation, was produced by Telecom Animation Film and directed by Toshihiko Masuda, who previously worked on the Sonic anime Sonic X (2003–2006). After working on the physics and level design, the developers began exploring new game mechanics , as Iizuka felt it was important that Superstars be "new, interesting, and innovative". He hoped to provide

7579-426: The Genesis games. Iizuka handled marketing so Ohshima could manage development, though Iizuka noted he was more involved than he normally is with Sonic games. Iizuka wanted Superstars to be a faithful sequel to the Genesis games, and described the goal as blending familiar gameplay with modern high-definition graphics . The designers sought to closely replicate the Genesis gameplay; they first focused on perfecting

7722-537: The Hedgehog (1993), Sonic X (2003–2006), and Sonic Prime (2022–2024); a live-action film series produced by Paramount Pictures , and toys, including Lego construction sets. Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega's flagship franchise and one of the bestselling video game franchises , selling over 140 million copiess by 2016 and grossing over $ 5 billion as of 2014 . Series sales and free-to-play mobile game downloads totaled 1.77 billion as of 2024 . The Genesis Sonic games have been described as representative of

7865-415: The Hedgehog (1993), an arcade game featuring isometric gameplay, and Knuckles' Chaotix (1995), a spin-off for the Genesis's 32X add-on starring Knuckles. Following Sonic & Knuckles , Naka returned to Japan, having been offered a role as a producer. He was reunited with Ohshima and brought with him Takashi Iizuka , who had worked with Naka's team at STI. Sonic Team was officially formed as

8008-506: The Hedgehog (2005) was developed in response to the Shadow character's popularity and to introduce "gun action" gameplay to the franchise. Iizuka has said that future spin-offs, such as sequels to Knuckles' Chaotix and Shadow the Hedgehog or a Big the Cat game, remain possibilities. The Sonic series is characterized by speed-based platforming gameplay. Controlling the player character ,

8151-537: The Hedgehog , a free visual novel , Sonic Dream Team , an Apple Arcade -exclusive 3D platformer, and Sonic Superstars , a 2.5D side-scrolling game featuring the classic Sonic design. Superstars was co-developed by Ohshima's studio Arzest and he designed a new character, his first contribution to the series since Sonic Adventure . Iizuka said the 2D and 3D Sonic games would continue independently going forward and Sonic Team would try to keep them as different as possible. 2024 Sonic media emphasized Shadow

8294-540: The Hedgehog as the pack-in game with the Genesis. Featuring speedy gameplay, Sonic the Hedgehog received critical acclaim. It greatly increased the popularity of the Sega Genesis in North America, credited with helping Sega gain 65% of the market share against Nintendo. Naka was dissatisfied with his treatment at Sega and felt he received little credit for his involvement in the success. He quit but

8437-494: The Hedgehog can roll into a dash after a jump; Miles "Tails" Prower can fly; Knuckles the Echidna can glide and climb; and Amy Rose can attack enemies with a hammer and double jump . Players unlock an additional character, Trip, by completing the main campaign once; her moveset combines Amy's double jump with Knuckles' climbing. The North Star Islands comprise 12 zones, which house 26 levels ("acts"). The number of acts in

8580-419: The Hedgehog was made available as free DLC. Sonic Superstars was released three days before Super Mario Bros. Wonder , a similar side-scrolling platform game for the Switch by Nintendo , which journalists found noteworthy given the rivalry between the Sonic and Super Mario franchises during the 1990s console wars . GamesIndustry.biz questioned why Sega chose to release a Sonic game so close to

8723-411: The Hedgehog , Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994). The team opted not to continue Mania 's pixel art style because they felt it would limit the appeal. They considered using hand-drawn animation, but chose 3D graphics since they could easily replicate the pixel art style. The use of 3D graphics also allowed for elements that could not be accomplished in

SECTION 60

#1732776716163

8866-469: The Hedgehog 3 (see Live-action film franchise ). The Sonic franchise is known for its large cast of characters; Sonic the Fighters (1996) producer Yu Suzuki joked that anyone who makes a Sonic game has the duty to create new characters. The first game introduced Sonic, a blue hedgehog who can run at incredible speeds, and Doctor Eggman, a rotund mad scientist. During the Genesis era, Eggman

9009-484: The Hedgehog 4 but inferior to the Genesis games and Sonic Mania . The presentation divided critics. While VG247 wished the developers had used pixel art, they thought Superstars was the best take on the classic Sonic art style in 3D. GameSpot , Push Square , and TechRadar praised the visuals as colorful, and Nintendo Life wrote Superstars "nails [ Sonic 's ] overall aesthetic and art style." Conversely, Digital Trends and Eurogamer called

9152-488: The Hedgehog as part of Sega's "Fearless: Year of Shadow" campaign. This included the release of Sonic X Shadow Generations , a short Shadow game bundled with a rerelease of Sonic Generations ; Shadow-themed events in the mobile games Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle ; music from Shadow the Hedgehog in the Sonic Symphony World Tour ; and Shadow playing a prominent role in the film Sonic

9295-663: The Last Story. In the second special stage, accessed by passing checkpoints, the player navigates a rotating maze, similar to those from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), to collect medals. The campaign supports local multiplayer for up to four players who can join or leave at any time, a first for the series. Superstars also features a player versus player component that can be played locally or online and supports cross-platform play . Players create robots to partake in competitions, which include races, battles, collection competitions, and last man standing . The medals collected in

9438-532: The OVA in North America as a 55-minute film, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie . Produced with input from Naka and Ohshima, the OVA is loosely based on Sonic CD , with elements from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3 , and recounts Sonic's efforts to stop a generator taken over by Eggman from exploding and destroying their world. Patrick Lee of The A.V. Club 's said the OVA was "the only cartoon to adapt

9581-715: The Sanrio characters Hello Kitty , Badtz-Maru , My Melody , and Chococat and the Namco game Pac-Man took place in December 2016 and February 2018. In November 2016, a Sonic expansion pack was released for the toys-to-life game Lego Dimensions (2015); the pack includes Sonic as a playable character, in addition to Sonic levels and vehicles. In September 2021, Sonic and Tails became playable characters in Cookie Run: Kingdom . In 1992, Sega approached

9724-475: The Saturn with updated graphics and bonus levels developed by Sonic Team. In 1997, Sega announced "Project Sonic", a promotional campaign aimed at increasing market awareness of and renewing excitement for the Sonic brand. The first Project Sonic release was Sonic Jam , a compilation of the main Genesis Sonic games which included a 3D overworld Sonic Team used to experiment with 3D Sonic gameplay. Sonic Team and Traveller's Tales collaborated again on

9867-591: The Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games mediocre and panned the Sonic Boom games. Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice , a Shattered Crystal sequel, was released in 2016. Sega began to release more Sonic games for mobile phones , such as iOS and Android devices. After Australian programmer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead developed a version of Sonic CD for modern consoles in 2011, he collaborated with fellow Sonic fan Simon "Stealth" Thomley to develop remakes of

10010-529: The Wii in 2011 and the 3DS in 2012. The fourth game, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013), was exclusive to the Wii U, but the following game, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016), was released on both the Wii U and 3DS. After a brief hiatus, the series returned in 2019 with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 for the Switch, based on

10153-450: The aggregator OpenCritic , the game has a "Fair" approval rating. The Guardian described the reviews as "solid appraisals", though not acclamatory. Critics felt that Superstars successfully replicated the classic Sonic gameplay from the Genesis era, but criticized its additions as unnecessary or poorly implemented. Comparisons to previous 2D Sonic games were common; critics generally regarded Superstars as an improvement over Sonic

10296-424: The art style unattractive, Eurogamer writing that zones lacked the detail and identity of those from the older games. GameSpot and IGN praised the soundtrack, which they respectively called "delightful" and "phenomenal", but Digital Trends and Eurogamer found it unremarkable. VG247 said the soundtrack was inconsistent; while some tracks were among the series' best, others were "wack". Reviewers commended

10439-438: The background... it was astonishing to see that just six years after his debut, Sonic was already retro." With its Sonic Jam experiments, Sonic Team began developing a 3D Sonic platformer for the Saturn. The project stemmed from a proposal by Iizuka to develop a Sonic role-playing video game (RPG) with an emphasis on storytelling. Development moved to Sega's new console, the Dreamcast , which Naka believed would allow for

10582-575: The canceled X-treme . The second was Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013) for the Wii U, the fourth Mario & Sonic game and a 2014 Winter Olympics tie-in (see Crossovers section). The deal was completed in 2014 with the release of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for the 3DS; these games were based on the Sonic Boom television series. Sonic Lost World polarized critics, while critics found Mario & Sonic at

10725-415: The character handling was accurate, Arzest recreated stages from prior Sonic games in the Superstars engine and overlayed gameplay footage for comparison. In contrast to the previous 2.5D games Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (2010) and Episode II (2012), which drew from more recent games like Sonic Advance (2001), Iizuka said Superstars was inspired by the Genesis games: the original Sonic

10868-537: The characters. Sonic Unleashed introduces the Werehog, a beat 'em up gameplay style in which Sonic transforms into a werewolf-like beast and must fight enemies using brute strength. Both the Sonic Storybook games feature unique concepts: Secret Rings is controlled exclusively using the Wii Remote's motion detection, which Black Knight incorporates hack and slash gameplay. While some games feature Sonic as

11011-399: The chosen character; the seventh provides a character-specific ability. Collecting all seven emeralds allows the player to transform into their character's super form , granting them speed and invincibility at the cost of ring depletion. The player can swap abilities from a selection wheel at any time. Players must complete both the main campaign and Trip's with all the Chaos Emeralds to unlock

11154-544: The cover of Michael Jackson 's 1987 album Bad . His personality was based on then- Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton 's "can-do" attitude. The antagonist, Doctor Eggman , was another character Ohshima had designed for the contest. The team thought the abandoned design was excellent and redesigned it as a villain. The team took the name Sonic Team for the game's release. Sonic's first appearance came in Sega AM3 's racing game Rad Mobile (1991) five months before

11297-444: The emeralds. Iizuka said that unlike Sonic Frontiers , which was aimed at gamers , Superstars was designed for children and parents alongside longtime Sonic fans. He wanted Superstars to feel as distinct from Frontiers as possible since he hoped the 2D Sonic games would continue independently from the 3D ones. Sonic Team long wanted to include four-player multiplayer in a Sonic game, but found it difficult to integrate with

11440-435: The evil Doctor Eggman , a mad scientist . The main Sonic the Hedgehog games are platformers mostly developed by Sonic Team ; other games, developed by various studios, include spin-offs in the racing , fighting , party and sports genres. The franchise also incorporates printed media , animations , feature films, and merchandise. Naka, Ohshima, and Yasuhara developed the first Sonic game , released in 1991 for

11583-497: The first Sonic RPG , Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (2008), also for the DS. Following Naka's departure, Akinori Nishiyama, who worked on the Sonic Advance and Rush games, became Sonic Team's general manager. Sonic Team began working on Sonic Unleashed (2008) in 2005. It was conceived as a sequel to Adventure 2 , but became a standalone entry after Sonic Team introduced innovations to separate it from

11726-633: The first non-Nintendo character to appear in Smash . He was considered for inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001), but the game was too close to completion so his introduction was delayed until Brawl . He returned in the sequels Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018). Shadow and Knuckles appear in Smash as non-playable characters , while Tails and Knuckles costumes are available for players' Mii avatars. A Sonic amiibo figurine

11869-479: The franchise's 15th anniversary, Sonic Team developed Sonic Riders , a GBA port of the original Sonic , and a reboot , Sonic the Hedgehog (commonly referred to as Sonic '06 ). With a darker and more realistic setting than previous entries, Sonic '06 was intended to relaunch the series for seventh-generation consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 . The development faced serious problems; Naka,

12012-468: The gameplay for its faithfulness to the Genesis games, and the accuracy of the physics received particular praise. Game Informer compared playing Superstars to "putting on an old glove", and GamesRadar+ and VG247 said that while they were not one-to-one, the physics were closer to the Genesis games than any previous 2.5D Sonic game. VG247 added the physics never caused frustration as those in Sonic 4 and Sonic Generations had. The level design

12155-422: The goal is to collect the Chaos Emeralds; the player is required to collect them all to defeat Eggman and achieve the games' good endings . Sonic games that do not feature the Chaos Emeralds, such as Sonic CD , feature different collectibles that otherwise function the same. Players find the Emeralds by entering portals, opening portals using 50 rings, or scouting them within levels themselves. Sometimes,

12298-605: The head of Sonic Team. In 2022, it was revealed that Iizuka designed a game named Devi & Pii for the Sega Genesis in 1992, but it was never released. It would finally be released on October 27, 2022, for the Sega Genesis Mini 2 , however. Game journalist from Wired described Takashi Iizuka as a difficult man to read, as he tends to slip into corporate speak especially when discussing mixed reception of Sonic games. His long time colleague and composer, Tomoko Sasaki, however described him as someone who "offered

12441-418: The last of the original Sonic development team, resigned as head of Sonic Team to form Prope , and the team split so work could begin on a Wii Sonic game. According to Iizuka, these incidents, coupled with stringent Sega deadlines and an unpolished game engine, forced Sonic Team to rush development. None of the 15th-anniversary Sonic games were successful critically, and Sonic '06 became regarded as

12584-420: The lead composer for Sonic Mania and a contributor to Team Sonic Racing . The main theme of the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog was performed by Ali Tabatabaee and Matty Lewis of the band Zebrahead , while Akon remixed " Sweet Sweet Sweet " for its soundtrack. Doug Robb, the lead singer of Hoobastank , performed the main theme of Sonic Forces . One of the ending themes of Sonic Frontiers , "Vandalize",

12727-434: The main game serve as currency to purchase parts for customization. The idea for Sonic Superstars originated with Sonic Mania (2017), a 2D game developed by Christian Whitehead , PagodaWest Games, and Headcannon . The Sonic series' producer, Sonic Team 's Takashi Iizuka , was surprised by Mania 's success and saw it as confirmation that fans were still interested in the series' "classic" style. Sonic Team and

12870-420: The main game unlocks a more difficult campaign in which Trip is the only playable character. Superstars features two kinds of special stages . In the first, accessed through giant rings hidden in each act, the player swings from bubbles in a 3D environment to obtain one of the seven Chaos Emeralds . Each emerald grants the player a power-up ability, such as the ability to swim up waterfalls or create clones of

13013-462: The more action-oriented Sonic Adventure 2 (2001). Between the releases, Ohshima left Sega to form Artoon . While both Adventure games were well received and the first sold over two million copies, consumer interest in the Dreamcast quickly faded, and Sega's attempts to spur sales through lower prices and cash rebates caused escalating financial losses. In January 2001, Sega announced it

13156-430: The only playable character, others feature multiple, who have alternate movesets and storylines. For instance, in Sonic & Knuckles , Knuckles goes through the same levels as Sonic, but his story is different, he explores different parts of the levels, and certain areas are more difficult. Many Sonic games contain multiplayer and cooperative gameplay , beginning with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 . In some games, if

13299-458: The original Sonic , was developed by Ancient to promote the Game Gear and released in December 1991. Aspect Co. developed most of the subsequent 8-bit Sonic games, beginning with a version of Sonic 2 . Other Sonic games released during this period include Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (1993), a Western localization of the Japanese puzzle game Puyo Puyo (1991), SegaSonic

13442-534: The original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for iOS and Android, which were released in 2013. The remasters were developed using Whitehead's Retro Engine , an engine tailored for 2D projects, and received praise. Sonic Dash (2013), a Temple Run -style endless runner , was developed by Hardlight and downloaded over 350 million times by 2020 and received a Sonic Boom -themed sequel in 2015. Sonic Team released Sonic Runners , its first game for mobile devices, in 2015. Sonic Runners

13585-408: The playable character. Games since Sonic Unleashed have blended 2D and 3D gameplay, with the camera shifting between side-scrolling and third-person perspectives. One distinctive game mechanic of Sonic games are collectible golden rings spread throughout levels, which act as a form of health . Players possessing rings can survive upon sustaining damage, but the rings are scattered and

13728-416: The player at high speeds in a particular direction. Players' progress in levels is saved through passing checkpoints . Checkpoints serve other uses in various games, such as entering bonus stages. Some settings, particularly Green Hill Zone , recur throughout the series. The series contains numerous power-ups, which are held in boxes that appear throughout levels. An icon indicates what it contains, and

13871-541: The player chooses to control Sonic and Tails together, a second player can join at any time and control Tails separately. Sonic games also feature a split-screen competitive mode in which two players race to the end of the stage. For the original Sonic the Hedgehog , Sega commissioned Masato Nakamura , bassist and songwriter of the J-pop band Dreams Come True , to compose the soundtrack. Nakamura returned to compose Sonic 2 's soundtrack. Dreams Come True owns

14014-620: The player has a short amount of time to re-collect some of them before they disappear. Collecting 100 rings usually rewards the player an extra life . Rings have other uses in certain games, such as currency in Sonic '06 , restoring health bars in Sonic Unleashed , or improving statistics in Sonic Riders . Levels in Sonic games feature elements such as slopes, bottomless pits, and vertical loops . Springs, springboards, and dash panels are scattered throughout and catapult

14157-539: The player navigates a series of levels at high speeds while jumping between platforms, fighting enemies and bosses , and avoiding obstacles. The series contains both 2D and 3D games. 2D entries generally feature simple, pinball-like gameplay —with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button —and branching level paths that require memorization to maintain speed. Meanwhile, 3D entries tend to be more linear in design, feature various level objectives, different movesets, and allow players to upgrade and customize

14300-529: The player releases the item by destroying the box. Common items in boxes include rings, a shield, invincibility, high speed, and extra lives. Sonic Colors introduces the Wisps, a race of extraterrestrial creatures that act as power-ups. Each Wisp has its own special ability corresponding to its color; for instance, yellow Wisps allow players to drill underground and find otherwise inaccessible areas. Since Sonic Rush , most Sonic games have featured "boosting",

14443-425: The player to collect all the Chaos Emeralds to reach the final boss. Sonic games often share basic gameplay, but some have game mechanics that distinguish them from others. For instance, Knuckles' Chaotix is similar to previous entries in the series, but introduces a partner system whereby the player is connected to another character via a tether; the tether behaves like a rubber band and must be used to maneuver

14586-486: The power of music to fight Eggman and reunite with their mother. In all three DiC series, Sonic is voiced by Family Matters star Jaleel White . In Japan, Sega and Sonic Team collaborated with Studio Pierrot to produce a two-part original video animation (OVA), Sonic the Hedgehog , released direct-to-video in Japan in 1996. To coincide with Sonic Adventure 's Western release in 1999, ADV Films released

14729-446: The project said his contributions remained. Sonic 3 was the first Sonic game composer Jun Senoue worked on. Senoue has composed the music for many Sonic games since Sonic 3D Blast , often with his band Crush 40 , which he formed with Hardline vocalist Johnny Gioeli . While the Genesis Sonic soundtracks were characterized by electropop , Senoue's scores typically feature funk and rock music . Tomoya Ohtani has been

14872-460: The project was split in two: the first half, Sonic 3 , was released in February 1994, and the second, Sonic & Knuckles , a few months later. The Sonic & Knuckles cartridge contains an adapter that allows players to connect it to Sonic 3 , creating a combined game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles . Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles , as with their predecessors, were acclaimed. To release

15015-417: The prototype into a full product, and Evening Star moved on to develop Penny's Big Breakaway (2024). Whitehead denied rumors that the decision was caused by creative differences and said that Evening Star's relationship with Sega remained friendly. During a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Iizuka and Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima held a drinking party over Zoom for fun. They expressed mutual interest in

15158-492: The relatively simple character designs did not suit a 3D environment. The art style was modernized to alter the characters' proportions and make them appeal to Western audiences. Since Sonic Adventure , the series' cast has expanded. Notable characters include Big , a large cat who fishes for his pet frog Froggy; the E-100 Series of robots; Shadow, a brooding black hedgehog; Rouge , a treasure-hunting bat; Blaze ,

15301-539: The release of Sonic the Hedgehog , as an ornament hanging from the driver's rearview mirror. The Sonic developers let AM3 use Sonic because they were interested in making him visible to the public. According to Mark Cerny , who worked in Tokyo as an intermediary between the Japanese and American Sega offices, the American staff felt that Sonic had no appeal. Although Katz was certain that Sonic would not be popular with American children, Kalinske arranged to place Sonic

15444-558: The rights to Nakamura's score, which created problems when the Sonic Spinball team used his Sonic theme music without permission. For Sonic CD , two soundtracks were composed; the original, featured in the Japanese and European releases, was composed by Naofumi Hataya and Masafumi Ogata, while the North American score was composed by Spencer Nilsen , David Young , and Mark Crew. A number of composers contributed to

15587-759: The ring-based health system, level locales, and fast-paced gameplay. Games typically feature Sonic setting out to stop Eggman's schemes for world domination, and the player navigates levels that include springs, slopes, bottomless pits, and vertical loops . Later games added a large cast of characters ; some, such as Miles "Tails" Prower , Knuckles the Echidna , and Shadow the Hedgehog , have starred in spin-offs. The franchise has crossed over with other video game franchises in games such as Mario & Sonic , Sega All-Stars , and Super Smash Bros. Outside of video games, Sonic includes comic books published by Archie Comics , Fleetway Publications , and IDW Publishing ; animated series such as The Adventures of Sonic

15730-531: The second Project Sonic game, Sonic R , a 3D racing game and the only original Sonic game for the Saturn. Yasuhara moved to London to assist Sonic R 's development. Sonic Jam was well received, while Sonic R 's reviews were more divided. The cancellation of Sonic X-treme , as well as the Saturn's general lack of Sonic games, are considered important factors in the Saturn's commercial failure . According to Nick Thorpe of Retro Gamer , "By mid-1997 Sonic had essentially been shuffled into

15873-575: The series' gameplay. Iizuka said Sonic Team had abandoned the idea, but Ohshima encouraged him to make it work. Levels were designed so they could be played in both single-player and multiplayer, and Sonic Team played several platformers with cooperative gameplay, such as the New Super Mario Bros. series, for inspiration. Implementation proved challenging due to Sonic 's speed. Arzest did not include online cooperative multiplayer to avoid lag ruining players' experience. Iizuka wrote

16016-616: The series' sound director since Sonic the Hedgehog in 2006, and was the lead composer for that game, Sonic Unleashed , Sonic Colors , Sonic Lost World , Sonic Runners , and Sonic Forces . Ohtani said he attempts to "express through music the greatest features each game has", citing the diverse and energetic score of Sonic Unleashed and the more science fiction -style score of Sonic Colors as examples . Other composers who have contributed to Sonic games include Richard Jacques and Hideki Naganuma . Tee Lopes —known for releasing unofficial remixes of Sonic tracks on YouTube —was

16159-422: The story, which, like the Genesis games, is told through character interactions between levels rather than through voice acting and text. Superstars chronologically takes place between Sonic Mania and Sonic Adventure . Unlike contemporary Sonic games, Superstars does not reuse any levels from previous games, such as Green Hill Zone . Iizuka described this as a story-based decision, as Superstars features

16302-486: The syndicated Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) and ABC's Sonic the Hedgehog (1993–1994), were produced by DIC Entertainment . DIC also produced a Sonic Christmas special in 1996, and Sonic Underground in 1999, to promote Sonic Adventure . DIC's Sonic adaptations are generally not held in high regard. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog comprises 65 episodes overseen by Ren & Stimpy director Kent Butterworth and features slapstick humor in

16445-407: The ultimate Sonic game. Sonic Adventure , directed by Iizuka and released in 1998, was one of the first sixth-generation video games. It introduced elements that became series staples, such as artist Yuji Uekawa 's new character designs influenced by comics and animation. In 1999, Iizuka and 11 other Sonic Team members relocated to San Francisco and established Sonic Team USA to develop

16588-421: The vein of Looney Tunes . The 26-episode Sonic the Hedgehog (commonly called Sonic SatAM ) features a bleak setting in which Eggman has conquered the world, while Sonic is a member of a resistance force that opposes him. The series was canceled after two seasons. Sonic Underground was planned to last 65 episodes, but only 40 were produced. The series follows Sonic and his siblings Manic and Sonia, who use

16731-499: The vice president of product development for the Sonic the Hedgehog series at Sega , as well as the head of Sonic Team , although he has been working on games in the Sonic series since 1992. When he joined Sega in 1992, Iizuka assisted in debugging Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as part of his job training. Afterwards, Iizuka's boss at the time asked him if he would like to work on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 . Iizuka agreed and relocated to

16874-564: The well received aspects of Unleashed and introduced the Wisp power-ups. For the series' 20th anniversary in 2011, Sega released Sonic Generations for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows; a separate version was developed by Dimps for the Nintendo 3DS . Sonic Generations featured reimagined versions of levels from previous Sonic games and reintroduced the "classic" Sonic design from

17017-434: The western market. Over in the U.S. his team worked on the international release of Sonic Adventure . Afterward, his team started to develop their own games, where he was the director and lead designer for Sonic Adventure 2 , Sonic Heroes , Shadow the Hedgehog , and Nights: Journey of Dreams . In an effort to further broaden Sonic's appeal to western markets, Iizuka gave western developer, Backbone Entertainment ,

17160-427: The worst game in the series, panned for its bugs, camera, controls, and story. Brian Shea of Game Informer wrote that it "[became] synonymous with the struggles the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had faced in recent years. Sonic [ ' 06 ] was meant to be a return to the series' roots, but it ended up damning the franchise in the eyes of many." Backbone Entertainment developed two Sonic games exclusive to

17303-473: Was a major success, but its development suffered from the language barrier and cultural differences between the Japanese and American developers. While STI developed Sonic 2 , Ohshima led a team in Japan to create Sonic CD for the Genesis's CD-ROM accessory, the Sega CD ; it began as a port of the first game but evolved into a separate project. Once development on Sonic 2 concluded, Cerny departed and

17446-430: Was a natural fit due to their experience developing 2D games for Nintendo . He compared Ohshima's return to a family reunion and said that he had retained his design sensibilities from the Genesis era. Several Sonic Team members, including Iizuka, flew from Burbank, California to Yokohama , Japan to assist. Only four team members—Iizuka, Ohshima, character supervisor Kazuyuki Hoshino , and composer Jun Senoue —worked on

17589-501: Was also an endless runner, but was unsuccessful and was discontinued a year after release. Gameloft released a sequel, Sonic Runners Adventure , in 2017 to generally positive reviews. In a 2015 interview with Polygon , Iizuka acknowledged that contemporary Sonic games had been disappointing. He hoped, from then on, that the Sonic Team logo would stand as a "mark of quality"; he planned to release quality games and expand

17732-524: Was designed for a broad audience, and Sonic Team revived elements not seen since the Genesis era, such as special stages and the Chaotix characters. Reviews for Sonic Heroes were mixed; while its graphics and gameplay were praised, critics felt it failed to address criticisms of previous Sonic games, such as the camera . Iizuka, who directed Heroes , later said it was the most stressful experience of his career; he lost 22 pounds (10 kg) due to

17875-441: Was developed by the independent game developers PagodaWest Games and Headcannon with a staff comprising members of the Sonic fandom; Whitehead conceived the project and served as director. The game, which emulates the gameplay and visuals of the Genesis entries, received the best reviews for a Sonic game in 15 years. Meanwhile, Sonic Team developed Sonic Forces , which revives the dual gameplay of Sonic Generations along with

18018-465: Was discontinuing the Dreamcast to become a third-party developer ; following this, Yasuhara left to join Naughty Dog . The following December, Sega released an expanded port of Sonic Adventure 2 for Nintendo's GameCube . Afterward, Sonic Team USA developed the first multi-platform Sonic game, Sonic Heroes (2003), for the GameCube, Microsoft 's Xbox , and Sony 's PlayStation 2 . It

18161-532: Was generally praised for having multiple routes, though some critics found difficult-to-avoid obstacles annoying. IGN wrote that Superstars focused more on exploration, which "create[d] a unique dynamic to each level" but failed to provide the speed they expected from Sonic . Critics generally disliked the campaign's local multiplayer. They felt cooperative play did not mesh well with Sonic 's design, which emphasizes speed and branching level paths. Push Square summarized Superstars as "[f]undamentally...

18304-550: Was hired by Cerny to work at the US-based Sega Technical Institute (STI), with a higher salary and more creative freedom. Yasuhara also moved to STI. STI began work on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) in November 1991. Level artist Yasushi Yamaguchi designed Sonic's new sidekick, Tails , a flying two-tailed fox inspired by the mythological kitsune . Like its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog 2

18447-548: Was important to pass their knowledge to younger developers. The developers introduced the Chaos Emerald power-ups to motivate players to seek all seven, drawing inspiration from the Wisps in Sonic Colors . They made the power-ups optional to avoid interfering with the classic Sonic gameplay, and included visual indicators to signal when they would be useful. The developers limited themselves to seven power-ups to correlate with

18590-409: Was included as a skin for Sonic. The developers animated the rabbit based on Ohshima's memories of his movements in prototypes of Sonic the Hedgehog , and Ohshima described the skin as essentially a new playable character. For the battle mode, Ohshima designed robot versions of Amy and Tails. Sonic Team was surprised by how excited fans were when the obscure characters Mighty the Armadillo and Ray

18733-453: Was initially a rabbit able to grasp objects with prehensile ears, but the concept proved too complex for the hardware. The team moved on to animals that could roll into a ball, and eventually settled on Sonic , a teal hedgehog created by Ohshima. Naka's prototype was expanded with Ohshima's character design and levels conceived by Yasuhara. Sonic's color was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, and his red and white shoes were inspired by

18876-406: Was inspired by the culture of the 1990s , Sonic features environmental themes. Sonic represents "nature", while Eggman represents "machinery" and "development"—a play on the then-growing debate between environmentalists and developers. Much of the supporting cast was introduced in the succeeding games for the Genesis and its add-ons. Sonic 2 introduced Sonic's sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower,

19019-496: Was no longer involved, many of the ideas Iizuka had discussed with Whitehead heavily influenced those he developed with Ohshima; Evening Star received a "special thanks" credit in Superstars . Development on Superstars began in early 2021 and lasted two-and-a-half years. Ohshima's studio Arzest primarily handled development, with Sonic Team providing support. Shunsuke Kawaraduka directed Superstars , with Iizuka, Ohshima, and Yasuyuki Tsuzuki serving as producers. Iizuka felt Arzest

19162-971: Was performed by the Japanese rock band One Ok Rock . Outside the Sonic series, Sonic appears in other Sonic Team games as a playable character in Christmas Nights (1996), a power-up in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg (2003), and in a cameo in the 2008 Wii version of Samba de Amigo (1999). Sonic characters also feature in the Sega All-Stars series, which includes Sega Superstars (2004), Sega Superstars Tennis (2008), and Sumo Digital's kart racing games Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010) and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012). From 2007 to 2020, Sega collaborated with Nintendo to produce Mario & Sonic , an Olympic Games -themed crossover with

19305-566: Was referred to as Doctor Ivo Robotnik in Western territories. Sega of America's Dean Sitton made the change without consulting the Japanese developers, who did not want a single character to have two different names. Since Sonic Adventure , the character has been referred to as Eggman in all territories, although the Robotnik name is still acknowledged. Sonic games traditionally follow Sonic's efforts to stop Eggman, who schemes to obtain

19448-546: Was released for the Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Windows , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X/S on October 17, 2023. Players who signed up for a Sega newsletter prior to January 31, 2024 received a downloadable content (DLC) code that unlocks Amy's modern outfit seen in Sonic Adventure onward, while those who pre-ordered the game received a reversible cover, an acrylic display stand, and

19591-584: Was released for the Smash games, and is also compatible with Mario Kart 8 (2014), Super Mario Maker (2015), and Yoshi's Woolly World (2015). In June 2015, characters from the Angry Birds RPG Angry Birds Epic (2014) appeared as playable characters in Sonic Dash during a three-week promotion, while Sonic was added to Angry Birds Epic as a playable character the following September. Similar crossovers with

19734-423: Was replaced by Tom Kalinske , formerly of Mattel . Sega president Hayao Nakayama decided Sega needed a flagship series and mascot to compete with Nintendo's Mario franchise . Nintendo had recently released Super Mario Bros. 3 , at the time the bestselling video game ever. Sega's strategy had been based on porting its successful arcade games to the Genesis; however, Nakayama recognized that Sega needed

19877-592: Was replaced by Roger Hector. STI divided into two teams: the Japanese developers led by Naka, and the American developers. The Japanese began work on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 . It was initially developed as an isometric game using the Sega Virtua Processor chip, but was restarted as a more conventional side-scrolling game after the chip was delayed. It introduced Sonic's rival Knuckles , created by artist Takashi Thomas Yuda. Due to an impending promotion with McDonald's and cartridges size constraints,

20020-623: Was spending 90% of the marketing budget during the Christmas and holiday shopping season and anticipated it would ultimately sell on par with Frontiers . Sega reported in June 2024 that Superstars had sold well. According to the review aggregate website Metacritic , the Switch and PlayStation 5 versions of Sonic Superstars received "mixed or average reviews", while the Xbox Series X/S version received "generally favorable reviews". On

20163-427: Was struggling because it lacked unified direction, so Sonic Team refocused on more traditional side-scrolling elements and fast-paced gameplay. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 , a side-scrolling episodic sequel to Sonic & Knuckles co-developed by Sonic Team and Dimps, began with Episode I in 2010, followed by Episode II in 2012. Later in 2010, Sega released Sonic Colors for the Wii and DS, which expanded on

20306-555: Was superior to the previous 2D games Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (2010) and Episode II (2012) but inferior to Mania . They praised its replication of the Genesis-era Sonic gameplay but criticized its new mechanics, while the visuals and music were divisive. Initial sales were slightly below expectations, attributed to competition from the similar platform game Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023), though Sega reported it had sold well by June 2024. Sonic Superstars

20449-669: Was the first original Sonic game released for a Nintendo console after Sega and Nintendo's fierce rivalry in the 1990s. It was outsourced to Dimps because Sonic Team was understaffed with employees familiar with the GBA. Dimps also developed Sonic Rush (2005) for the Nintendo DS , which uses a 2.5D perspective. Dimps's projects received generally favorable reviews. To introduce older games to new fans, Sonic Team developed two compilations , Sonic Mega Collection (2002) and Sonic Gems Collection (2005). Further spin-offs included

#162837