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Sega released a novel game on June 23, 1991. The intent was to match the Mario character created under the Nintendo trademark. However, they were unprepared for the popularity that exploded with the introduction of Sonic the Hedgehog. This blue hedgehog with his super sonic agility and super sonic speed that can coil into a ball in order to attack or flee his adversaries and foes is one of the most recognized video game characters since the dawn of video gaming.
Sega's intent was to match the Mario character created by Nintendo, but Sonic has prevailed as the real winner in the competition because Sonic has grown to be one of the most recognized video game characters of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The wonder and awe of the video game character Sonic can be displayed in having sold over 80 million copies of the game in one year. Along with the game Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega also discovered amazing admiration with spin-off comics, cartoons and feature films for their Sonic character born from the video game. Instead of merely challenging Nintendo's Mario, Sonic surpassed Mario with unbridled reaction from fans of Sega and millions of new enthusiasts of the personality. Sega can boast their blue hedgehog was one of the first video game personalities inducted into the Walk of Fame.
Origins of the Hedgehog
Amazingly Sega hit upon Sonic the Hedgehog when they were attempting to kill two birds with one stone. They wanted to replace the current company mascot of Alex Kidd as well as compete with Nintendo's Mario. Before landing on Sonic, several characters were submitted for consideration including an armadillo, rabbit, in addition to a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas and a dog. Sonic didn't completely discard all of the characters presented when they were searching for the Mario competition.
The armadillo was formed into Mighty the Armadillo and the Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas was later used as the foundation for Dr. Robotnik. The rabbit inspiration had a feature that enabled him to gather an object with his flexible ears wasn't fully grown into a character. However, the flexibility of the ears was assimilated into the character Ristar.
Sega is a company that has hundreds of programmers that work on the creation of games and characters related to their video games. The programmer Yuji Naka along with artist Naota Oshima has received the recognition as the developers of this video game and the personality Sonic.
Naoto Oshima presented a spiky fast moving and flexible hedgehog that he named Mr. Needlemouse. The company went with Naoto's presentation and design for their new mascot. Along with acquiring a new mascot they also found the nemesis for Mario. The decision to choose the hedgehog was one that has made a tremendous difference in where the company as a whole was sitting in the gaming industry for years to come. When Naoto Oshima designed the hedgehog "Mr. Needlemouse" soon to become Sonic, he incorporated the cobalt blue from Sega's cobalt blue logo and believe it or not Michael Jackson was the inspiration of the hedgehog's shoes. Sonic's shoes are red aroused from Santa Claus and Bill Clinton's "get it done" attitude added to the personality of the creature.
One of the mysterious capabilities of the character is his aversion to water. Yuji Naka left the character without the talent to swim because he mistakenly believed that keeping with the hedgehog theme, they weren't able to swim.
The initial Sonic the Hedgehog game had a team of fifteen people developing the game. The fifteen developers called themselves Sonic Team in honor of Sonic the hedgehog. Music is important for a gaming platform and Sonic received the musical collaboration of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored a tour, Wonder 3, incorporating Sonic by painting him on the side of the tour bus. While the band toured brochures of the video game were dispersed to audiences promoting the game and showing footage from the video game around the stage they performed on prior to the actual release of Sonic the Hedgehog game. Originally Sonic had fangs and was displayed with a female hedgehog named Madonna. Sonic was changed from a fang displaying character in order to give him a softer feel. This was decided by Madeline Schroeder from Sega of America. She felt Sonic would be appreciated by American audiences better with a softer feel to his temperament and character. This wasn't the only changes made for Sonic as he has developed over the years. Sonic had an original design of shorter, stocker and less proportioned than the Sonic we know today. With the Sonic Adventurer released in 1998, the designer Yuji Uekawa provided him with more extension to his legs and a body that was less sphere-shaped. His quills became more elongated along with irises that were colored green. These were most of the changes that really stood out with gamers. However, over the years Sega has made little changes here and there. There have been spin-off media including comics and cartoons that have featured variations. The changes have to be within specs set by uniform model sheets.
Actors for Sonic
The voice of Sonic has been provided by several different actors. Keiko Utoku can claim the honor of being the first voice of the phenomenon in samples of Sonic CD. However, the authentic original voice belongs to Takeshi Kusao with the arcade version of Sega Sonic the Hedgehog. With the circulation of Sonic Adventure the actor Junichi Kanemaru voiced the role for the personality. Tomokazu Seki took over the voice with publication of Sonic Unleashed with Sonic is the role of Werehog. An American voice was finally heard with Sonic with Ryan Drummond with Sonic Adventures series. The American voice for Sonic continued until 2004. After Sonic Adventure series the characters voice became that of Jason Anthony Griffith. Jason had previously voiced Sonic the Hedgehog with the American dub of Sonic X series. In November of 2010, Roger Craig Smith replaced Jason Griffith beginning with Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colors.
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