Have you ever wondered how Sonic the Hedgehog came into existence? Before Sonic there was Mario from Nintendo, Mario was and still is a huge game seller for the company. When you think of Nintendo you automatically think of Mario. Sega Games wanted the same concept, they wanted a mascot who could represent the company as well as become a best selling video game.
Many people may not remember but Sega used to have a character called Alex Kidd as the mascot but unlike Mario the popularity just wasn’t good. The company tried various designs that were turned in by the Sega Development Department. Some of the different types of drawings were of a character called Mighty the Armadillo, a drawing of a dog and a rabbit. But none of these ideas was going to capitalize on the idea that Sega had.
Then a team from Sega that consisted of Naoto Oshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara and game programmer Yuji Naka was put together to come up with the next big Sega Icon. In the early 1990’s they came up with a concept of a character that had some human qualities and some non-human qualities.
This character was a hedgehog. One of the special powers of this hedgehog was that he could run extremely fast like super sonic speed. Not only could Sonic run like the wind but he could also curl up into a ball to fight off his enemies, just like the hedgehogs in the wild do.
In the beginning the new character was going by the name Mr. Needlemouse. Then the blue color was added, as his skin color was blue to match the logo of the Sega Company. More people got involved in creating this character and soon Sonic the Hedgehog was born. Games were being developed but the company had to get the word out about the new face of Sega. During the Wonder 3 tour that was sponsored by Sega, the employees handed out brochures and advertisements of the game to generate some interest.
Sonic first appeared in the early 90’s in the game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive and Genesis game consoles. During this time Sonic started to become popular not only as a game but as a character or mascot as well. The Sega Company had hit the ground running. But the more Sonic became popular; Nintendo started producing more Mario Games, which are always popular.
Sega held it’s own with follow up games to the original Sonic the Hedgehog and these games were just as popular. But soon Sega started to lose ground with some disappointing products such as Dreamcast. One of the last appearances Sonic made was in 2005 called Sonic Jump. Fans started to lose hope. But in 2007 a new Series called Sonic and the Secret Ring came out and in December 2008, a new game called Sonic Unleashed will be sold for Xbox360 and Playstation3 gaming consoles. In the winter of 2009, a new Sonic game called Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection will be out in stores. Looks like Sonic is making a comeback.
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