Sonic the Hedgehog is a trademark video game creation and the main character of the eponymous series produced by Sega. The characyer also grabbed much attention in a number of spin off books, cartoons and comic strips as well. The first game of Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 1991 so as to give Sega a mascot, when Sega faced rivalry from Nintendo’s creation Mario. Thereafter, Sonic games shot off to instant fame and became one of world’s most popular video game characters. Sonic’s series sold over 60 million copies. Moreover in 2005, Sonic became one of the few game character inductees along with Mario and Link in the Walk of Game.
Sonic the Hedgehog, sometimes called the Blue Blur, is a fifteen year old blue anthropomorphic hedgehog. He is believed to have the ability to run faster than the speed of sound and can also curl into a ball in order to attack opponents. This strategy of Sonic is one of the chief game plays of the series. Naoto Oshima, an artist along with Hirokazu Yasuhara who is a designer and Yuji Naka who is a programmer is given credit for creating the character of Sonic the Hedgehog.
When Sonic was conceived, Sega was on the outlook for a game that could sell over a million copies as well as a character that would successfully replace Alex Kidd, the then mascot of Sega. Many character ideas were submitted by the research and development department such as an armadillo, a dog, a rabbit, a Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas as well as Oshima’s spiky hedgehog that was then named Mr. Needlemouse but chosen as the new mascot and thereafter renamed to Sonic.
Much effort was invested in creating the final appearance of Sonic games – the blue pigmentation was chosen to match the blue logo of Sega, Sonic’s boots were inspired by those worn by Michael Jackson, the red in the boots were to appeal to Santa lovers and Sonic’s personality astonishingly matched that of Bill Clintons’. Sonic was also given the special ability to swim because Yuji Naka wrongly assumed that hedgehogs could not swim and wanted his hedgehog to possess special swimming abilities. The increasing demand on the character by part of his fans, has lead Sega to further develop the overall concept and include a number of new characters, called freedom fighters to spice up the plot a little bit. In order for fans to follow up on the character off line, or off the console, Sega has had to create a more complex plot that includes conflicts and relationships, such as the one Sonic keeps with Amy Rose Hedgehog.
A group of fifteen members who came to be known as the Sonic Team began to work on the creation of the Blue Blur. The soundtrack for the game was composed by Nakamura of Dreams Come True and Sega funded the band’s Wonder 3 world tour in order to promote Sonic games by painting Sonic’s character on the bus, distributing advertising leaflets and airing a footage of the game being shown to the audience before the beginning of each performance.
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Find Sonic the Hedgehog activities, scene creators, hints, and flash Sonic games at http://www.blueblurzone.com
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