Sonic’s boom: How blue hedgehog changed video game world forever

Time doesn’t so much fly as roll up in a ball and spin furiously, as Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog’s debut. Here, Tom Campbell, host of a podcast charting the character’s history, tells Ross Crae the Honest Truth about the super-fast video game hero

What are Sonic’s origins?

Back in the early 90s, SEGA was looking for a video game mascot to rival Super Mario on the Nintendo because, frankly, it was wiping the floor with them in terms of sales.

There was an internal competition to find a new character. Suggestions included a rabbit, an armadillo, a dog and, according to the notes, “an old man with a moustache”.

Why did the designers choose a hedgehog?

It came down to how they wanted the game to run. Mario games were quite slow, so they wanted to make a game that was the opposite. SEGA wanted a character that would be incredibly fast, one that could defeat enemies with a somersault attack and crash through walls with ease. They decided that a hedgehog would be the best choice as, with the spikes, it was not only the toughest but the coolest looking too.

How vital was Sonic for SEGA?

It’s no exaggeration to say that Sonic tipped the balance in SEGA’S favour in the video game war against Nintendo, and began very quickly out-selling Super Mario in the early-90s.

Without Sonic, the video game landscape would be very different today.

Why do you think this little blue hedgehog has captured people’s imagination?

The 90s was very “cool” as a decade and Sonic was very much in the zeitgeist. He was a brash, arrogant lead character that people gravitated to for being unconventional. Sonic games have a special energy to them. They hit at a time where platform video games were quite slow and involved meticulous planning. The freedom to just barrel through levels at a hundred miles an hour was incredibly liberating.

How has the design and gameplay of Sonic developed over the years?

Sonic made the jump from 2D (left to right) to 3D (all over the place) in the late-90s and with that came deeper character development and more storytelling. A lot of Sonic games offer more than just the speed run element these days and, whilst it’s great to diversify into shoot-em-up style games and treasure-hunting mini-games, the focus has stayed the same.

What do you think is coming in the future for Sonic?

This year is Sonic’s 30th anniversary and there’s a lot of tie-ins with other video games and media platforms to celebrate it. We also know a Netflix series is in the works for next year and a new video game has been teased. It’s going to be an exciting year.

What are your personal memories of Sonic?

I loved playing Sonic as a kid. I remember the day I got a SEGA Master System for Christmas with Sonic The Hedgehog and that iconic day me, my brothers and my mum and dad drove to Toys R Us to get a SEGA Megadrive and Sonic The Hedgehog 2. I was an avid collector of Sonic The Comic and the shop at the top of the road from where I lived would keep me a copy every fortnight.

What’s the most interesting fact about Sonic you discovered in your research?

I delved into the cartoon series and the comic book adaptations from around the world. I had the chance to speak to some amazing people involved such as Jim Cummings (the voice of Winnie The Pooh and Dr Robotnik in the cartoon) and a guy called Ken Penders, who was the writer of the Sonic comic books in America.

Ken famously sued the comic book company when he was let go, claiming that the characters he’d created for the comic book were his intellectual property. He was hated within the community for decades because of this but it was fascinating to get his side of the story for the first time ever and realise that it wasn’t as black and white as it was made out to be.

A History of Sonic the Hedgehog podcast is available now. Tom also presents on the Youtube channel Cultaholic.