Sonic

	Super Smash Bros. fighter; Sonic
Game appearances
	Super Smash Bros. Brawl (unlockable); Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS; Super Smash Bros. for Wii U; Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (unlockable)
Special moves
	Neutral: Homing Attack ; Side: Spin Dash ; Up: Spring Jump ; Down: Spin Charge ; Final Smash: Super Sonic
Battle entrance
	Sonic bounces onto the stage from a Spin Dash.

Sonic
	; Sonic, as seen in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Full name	Sonic the Hedgehog
Species	Hedgehog
First appearance	Rad Mobile (1991, cameo); Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic Vol. 1 (1991, Sonic the Hedgehog franchise); Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) (2007, Super Mario franchise)
Latest appearance	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024, Sonic the Hedgehog franchise); Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Arcade Edition (2020, Super Mario-related media)
Latest portrayal	Ben Schwartz (English, film series, 2020-present); Roger Craig Smith (English, 2011–present, Super Mario-related media); Jun-ichi Kanemaru (Japanese, 2007–present, Super Mario-related media)

This article is about the protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. For the drive-in fast food chain, see Sonic Drive-In.

“It's all about speed!”

—Sonic, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Sonic the Hedgehog, commonly known as simply Sonic, is the eponymous main protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise who has appeared in crossover titles alongside Mario in the Mario & Sonic series and the Super Smash Bros. series. He has been Sega Corporation's official mascot since 1991, when he replaced their previous mascot, Alex Kidd. Although Sonic's most iconic games have been 2D and 3D platformers, he has also appeared in a large variety of sports, racing, and party games as well.

Since the beginning of his series, Sonic has been portrayed as a champion of peace, risking his life to stop the evil schemes of a variety of violent foes, particularly Dr. Eggman. His trademark power is an ability to run at supersonic speed, hence his name. He is generally portrayed as a heroic and headstrong character, with a bit of a tendency towards cockiness and recklessness. Sonic is often aided in his adventures by a vast number of other animal characters, most commonly his close friends Amy, Tails, and Knuckles.

For the first two games of the Mario & Sonic series and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Sonic was voiced in English by Jason Griffith, his at-the-time current voice actor in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. For the next four Mario & Sonic games as well as Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Roger Craig Smith succeeded Griffith as Sonic's English voice since the release of Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colors since 2010. Unlike Mario, Sonic usually has full voice acting.

Concept and creation

In April of 1990, Sega requested a game that would be capable of selling at least one million copies, compete against Nintendo's Super Mario franchise, and replace their current mascot character, Alex Kidd. Several character designs were submitted, and Sega eventually settled on a spiky teal hedgehog submitted by Naoto Ohshima named "Mr. Harinezumi", later renamed Sonic. Some of the original ideas for Sonic depicted him as being in a band, as well as having a human girlfriend named Madonna who would have played a similar role to Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros., though these were scrapped during development. After a few minor adjustments and redesigning, Sonic Team developed the character's first game, Sonic The Hedgehog, a platformer for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive.^{[citation needed]}

Rivalry

Nintendo and Sega were business rivals throughout the 1990s, though mostly during the competition of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis. As such, Nintendo and Sega often attempted to put each other down in their games. Examples of Nintendo mocking Sega include the "No Hopers" sign in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, and possibly the Harry Hedgehogs of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, while examples of Super Mario mockeries in the Sonic the Hedgehog series forms of media include the emphasis on "Super" on the back of Sonic The Hedgehog's box (a reference to Super Mario Bros. and other Super Mario franchise titles beginning with "Super") and the Marxio Bro's of Sonic The Comic, a British comic book about Sonic and his friends. Sega's North American marketing also mocked Super Mario in television ads that negatively compared the speed of Super Mario World to the faster Sonic games on the Genesis.^[1]

Their rivalry lasted until 2001 when Sega left the console manufacturing market with the discontinuation of their last console, the Dreamcast, and became a third-party game developer. The first Sonic games released on Nintendo consoles were Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance and an enhanced port of Sonic Adventure 2 for the Nintendo GameCube titled Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, both of which were released simultaneously in Japan. In 2007, Mario and Sonic appeared in a game together for the first time in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which IGN, in an interview with Nintendo and Sega, called a "historic peace treaty".^[2] The Mario & Sonic series proceeded to become a successful series of sporting games.

History

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Sonic's trademark shoes are shown in the bottom right corner next to the trash can, as well as Earthworm Jim's plasma gun

In the Cranky's Video Game Heroes awards ceremony in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Sonic's shoes and Earthworm Jim's plasma gun can be seen next to a trash can, along with a sign saying "No Hopers". This detail was removed for the Game Boy Advance remake, which was released after Sega became a third-party developer.

Mario & Sonic series

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

“Mario and Sonic have been respectful rivals since the early days of video games. In fact, for a long time they have been discussing the possibility of one day competing against each other. Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster, Mario or Sonic?”

—Shigeru Miyamoto

Sonic, as he appears in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Sonic competes against Mario and others in Olympic events in the game Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. He is a Speed character, having the best speed in the game alongside Shadow, but his power and skill are merely average and his stamina is poor. Sonic wears a yellow life jacket during the swimming events, since he cannot swim; however, he moves quite fast in water as well as out of it.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Sonic, once again, crosses over with Mario in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. As in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, he is a Speed type character and is the fastest one in the game. In the Adventure Tours mode for the DS version, Bowser and Dr. Eggman team up to ruin the 2010 Olympics. Bowser melts all of the snow at the event, and Dr. Eggman kidnaps the snow spirits to prevent any snowfall. Sonic and Mario team up in order to put a stop to Bowser and Dr. Eggman's plans and to save the snow spirits.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Sonic appears as a Speed type playable character in the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and appears in the game's opening at the beginning with the other athletes, as well as later competing in 110m Hurdles, Dream Hurdles and Dream Uneven Bars, as well as with Mario on top of Big Ben. Sonic appears as a character that can be spoken to in London Party mode in order to play minigames and earn stickers, and Mii outfits based on him and his Super Sonic form can be unlocked.

In the Nintendo 3DS version, Sonic is included in the Heroes group, meaning that he is only playable in certain events. In the Story Mode, Sonic arrives in London with Tails, where they find and clear up the red Phantasmal Fog at the Tower of London, concluding that Bowser is involved. The next day, Sonic and Tails head to Tower Bridge, where they find more Phantasmal Fog, and clear it up with the help of Yoshi, Shadow, Silver and Jet, fiding out from Bowser Jr. that Dr. Eggman is also partially responsible for the fog in the process. Sonic and Tails then move on to the British Museum, where they team up with Mario, Luigi and Toad to clear the fog from the area and find out more about the fog. After gaining some more information, the group splits up, and Sonic heads to Horse Guards Parade, where he finds Knuckles and Vector who help him fend off Bowser and clear the area of fog. Sonic then returns to the Main Stadium to meet up with the others, and helps save Cream and Cheese from some imposters when the fog returns. Sonic then heads to Stonehenge with Mario, Luigi, Toad, Tails and Omega, where he defeats Magikoopa in an Event, and after Omega recovers some memory, the group head to Big Ben to confront Bowser and Dr. Eggman. Toad and Omega head back to the Main Stadium, and the remaining four confront Bowser and Dr. Eggman, with Mario and Sonic challenging the pair. When they are defeated, Sonic helps Mario seal away the Phantasmal Fog, and then accompanies Bowser and Dr. Eggman to the Main Stadium so that they can sign up for the games, and later appears at the opening ceremony. A badge of Sonic can also be obtained from the badge machine.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Sonic also appears as a playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He is once again a Speed type character.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Sonic returns as a playable Speed type character in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In the 3DS version, Sonic, along with Mario, can be used in any of the game's events. This is the first Nintendo 3DS Mario & Sonic game to give Sonic in-game text dialogue, as opposed to his silence in previous games.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

Sonic reappears in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as a playable Speed-type character. Like many other characters in the game, Sonic wears appropriate clothing depending on the event. In addition to being playable in the Tokyo 2020 events, he is one of the eight characters that are playable in the Tokyo 1964 events, using his appearance from Sonic The Hedgehog. In the game's Story Mode, Sonic gets sucked into the Tokyo '64 game system along with Mario, Toad, Bowser, and Dr. Eggman, and decides to compete in the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.

In the arcade version, Sonic is also a Speed-type playable character. Here, he has the best speed statistic in the game, with average technique and low power.

Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Official artwork of Sonic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

SmashWiki article: Sonic (SSBB)

Sonic was originally requested to be a playable character in the previous installment according to his creator Yuji Naka, but the idea got scrapped due to time constraints.^[3] However, he would make his Super Smash Bros. debut as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and, alongside Snake, is one of the first two non-Nintendo characters to appear as playable characters in the series. He can be unlocked by playing 300 Brawl matches, completing Classic with ten characters, playing ten hours of Brawl matches, or by having Sonic join the party in The Subspace Emissary; with any of the first three methods, the player must then defeat Sonic on Green Hill Zone. Sonic was not originally planned to appear in the game; he was included during development in 2007, making him the final character created from the ground up to be added into the game.^[4]

Sonic is the fastest character in the game, with fast attacks and movements. Several of Sonic's moves are based on those he uses in his games. His standard special is the Homing Attack, which involves him flying right into opponents, his down special and side special are Spin Dash and Spin Charge, respectively, which both involve him curling into a ball and ramming into opponents, and his up special is Spring Jump, which involves him leaping up off of a spring from the Sonic series. His Final Smash move is using the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic, allowing him to fly around the stage to attack. Sonic's victory theme is directly taken from the 2006 Sonic The Hedgehog game, that tune being an arrangement of the "Act clear" theme from Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and most Sonic games after that. This makes him the first character in the series whose victory theme is ported directly from a non-Super Smash Bros. game.

Sonic in the Subspace Emissary

For The Subspace Emissary, Sonic does not appear until the very end, after The Great Maze. As every fighter makes it to where Tabuu resides, he prepares his Off Waves, which would have turned every character into a trophy. As soon as he's about to release the attack, a blue blur dashes past the fighters, and rams into both of Tabuu's wings, causing the Off-Wave attack to fail. As the blue blur jumps up on a "peak", he reveals himself to be Sonic. While he taunts, Tabuu's wings break apart, and then six fighters are selected to fight Tabuu in the final battle. Sonic, along with Jigglypuff, Squirtle, Toon Link, Wolf, and Zero Suit Samus, is one of the only characters that are never seen as trophies in The Subspace Emissary.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U

Artwork for Sonic from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U

SmashWiki article: Sonic (SSB4)

Sonic reappears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a playable character, making him the first third-party veteran fighter. This time, however, he is available from the start. He is also now voiced by Roger Craig Smith in English instead of Jason Griffith; additionally, he is now voiced by a different voice actor in different regions (e.g. he has a French voice in France). However, his voice clips are recycled voice clips from other games, with his voice clips of rising from water (only in the Wii U version), sleeping, and one of his attack grunts being archival recordings of Jason Griffith from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His appearance has been updated to reflect his design in his more recent games such as Sonic Colors, which in turn are based on official 2D and CG artworks.

His moveset is almost completely unchanged from Super Smash Bros. Brawl; the only real changes are that his down smash from the previous game (a back-and-forth Spin Dash) has been replaced with a split-kick, while his dash attack (a Spin Dash) has him perform a lunging kick afterwards. Sonic's overall damage output is lowered, but many of his attacks deal more knockback. Sonic's air speed and fast-falling speeds are both faster, while his walking speed is slightly slower.

One of his alternate colors in this game seems to be based off Silver. Along with Sonic himself, a stage based on Windy Hill Zone from Sonic Lost World makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as well as the returning Green Hill Zone appearing in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

SmashWiki article: Sonic (SSBU)

Sonic returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Sonic is an unlockable character instead of being available from the start. Sonic's basic moveset appears mostly unchanged aside from his dash attack, which is now solely a lunge kick. His Final Smash, Super Sonic, returns, but he travels much faster than before, and he moves automatically back and forth while his height can be adjusted, in a vein similar to Pac-Man's Final Smash. As with several other returning characters, Sonic's victory theme has been slightly shortened compared to the previous installments. Both Green Hill Zone from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Windy Hill Zone from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U return as well.

Like all other characters in the game, Sonic receives benefits from universal changes: his already quick mobility is much faster; his aerial attacks have less landing lag; his short hop timing is reduced; he can directionally air dodge to aid his recovery; and he can use any grounded attack out of a run and any of his aerial attacks while climbing ladders. In a similar vein to fellow veteran Charizard and newcomers Inkling and Incineroar, Sonic takes minor damage from swimming in water; this is due to him being unable to swim in his home games.

In the World of Light trailer, Sonic tries to run away from Galeem's large laser attack, but slows down in an attempt to save Pikachu; this fails, with both of them being captured by Galeem and used to create puppet fighters. Sonic is found in the "Sacred Land" sub-area of the Dark Realm, and is one of the fighters required to be defeated to progress.

Classic Mode route

In his Classic Mode route, Sonic battles against fighters based on various characters he encounters throughout the Sonic franchise.

At the Speed of Sound
Round	Opponent(s)	Stage	Song
1	Fox	Green Hill Zone	Green Hill Zone
2	Captain Falcon	Figure-8 Circuit	Super Sonic Racing
3	Giant Metal Sonic	Fourside (Ω)	Open Your Heart
4	Kirby ×3	Halberd	Sonic Heroes
5	Sheik	Mushroomy Kingdom	Seven Rings in Hand
6	Giant Incineroar	Windy Hill Zone	Wonder World
Final	Master Hand, Crazy Hand (intensity 7.0 or higher)	Final Destination	Master Hand Master Hand / Crazy Hand (intensity 7.0 or higher)

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Sonic suit in Mario Kart 8

The artwork of Sonic from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is seen on the Mii Racing Suits screen of Mario Kart 8 (from version 4.0 onwards) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Upon scanning the Sonic amiibo onto the NFC touchpoint, a racing suit stylized after him will be accessible to the player; this suit can be used on the Mii.

Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World

Sonic Yoshi in Yoshi's Woolly World

By tapping Sonic's amiibo into Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, the player will unlock a Yoshi appearance based off of Sonic, sporting blue skin with flesh-colored arms and chest, Sonic's shoes and gloves, and green eyes. Tapping in the amiibo will cause Yoshi to transform into this appearance instantly, although it can be switched to at the amiibo Hut as long as it has already been used.

Super Mario Maker

Sonic appears as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes available in Super Mario Maker. The costume can be unlocked by clearing 100 Mario Challenge on Expert difficulty or by tapping Sonic's amiibo onto the Wii U GamePad, and can only be used with the Super Mario Bros. style. The sprite used for Sonic is 16-bit, being based on his sprites in the original Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Sonic The Hedgehog game. Collecting the Mystery Mushroom giving the player this costume plays the 1-Up tune from the 1991 game Sonic The Hedgehog, and all of Sonic's sound effects are taken from the original games. Pressing causes Sonic to look up while playing the Ring-collecting sound. Finally, Sonic's "course clear" and "lose a life" fanfare are the course clear and game over fanfare, respectively, from Sonic The Hedgehog 3.

Super Mario-kun

Sonic made a special appearance in Mario & Sonic at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a bonus Super Mario-kun story released in the 500th issue of Corocoro Magazine.^[5] In an adaptation of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Mario and Sonic act as rivals in various events. Mario is so confident he will win, he tells Sonic that if he loses, the manga will be renamed to "Super Soni-kun". Throughout the chapter, Mario gets increasingly frustrated until Sonic reveals the only reason he made a guest appearance in the manga was to get to know Mario and become friends. After making up, the two proceed to the final event, the 100m Dash, before Yoshi gives Mario a Golden Dash Mushroom. After Sonic accuses Mario of cheating, the two get into another fight.

List of appearances

The following concerns the Super Mario franchise and related crossovers only.

Title	Description	Release	System
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	Playable character	2007	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	Playable character	2008	Nintendo DS
Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Unlockable playable character	2008	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Playable character	2009	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Playable character	2009	Nintendo DS
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Playable character	2011	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Playable character	2012	Nintendo 3DS
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games	Playable character	2013	Wii U
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U	Playable character	2014	Nintendo 3DS, Wii U
Mario Kart 8 (as of version 4.0)	Mii Costume	2015	Wii U
Yoshi's Woolly World	Cameo as amiibo Yoshi design	2015	Wii U
Super Mario Maker	Playable character (Costume Mario)	2015	Wii U
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games	Playable character	2016	Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Arcade
Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World	Cameo as amiibo Yoshi design	2017	Nintendo 3DS
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Mii Costume	2017	Nintendo Switch
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Unlockable playable character	2018	Nintendo Switch
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020	Playable Character	2019	Nintendo Switch