When Nintendo created its most famous character, Mario, rival Sega, realized that she also needed a cool and recognizable character.
Naoto Oshima and Hirokazu Yasuhara were tasked with creating a character that could “outshine” Mario.
This is how everyone's favorite Sonic was born. His mission was to become Sega's mascot and symbol.
Birth of a hedgeho
But Sonic didn't become a hedgehog right away. Initially, the developers thought of making him a porcupine, a battleship, a dog, and even an old man with a mustache. The creators wanted the character to be able to curl up into a ball, roll around and deal damage with thorns.
While discussions were going on about the character, Naoto Oshima drew three sketches: a prickly hedgehog, a dog, and an old man with a mustache. With these pictures, he went to Central Park in New York and started asking random people which of the drawings they liked the most. Most chose a hedgehog. In second place was an old man with a mustache, whose image was eventually refined to become Eggman.
Naoto Oshima told the company that the hedgehog is in the lead. Sega approved a cute character and... it paid off!
A painstaking creative process
Initially, Sonic was very primitive: it consisted of simple geometric shapes and was a black and white linear sketch. The clear form had its purpose. “We wanted the kids to be able to draw our character by themselves,” Oshima said. The creators sought to make the hedgehog native and recognizable, along with Mickey Mouse, Felix the cat and other famous and beloved characters. Sonic was made blue to match the company's logo.
In addition, the creators wanted the hedgehog to be cool, not afraid to compete and have an interesting story under his belt, like a cartoon character.
Sonic's Story
According to the story Oshima came up with for Sonic, it all started in the 1940s. At that time, there was a cool pilot nicknamed “The Hedgehog”, which he got because of his passion for high speeds—which kept his hair on end!
The hedgehogs were depicted on the nose of his plane and on a leather jacket that he never parted with.
This speed-obsessed pilot later married a girl who wrote and illustrated children's books. Inspired by her husband's image, she came up with Sonic the Hedgehog and wrote a story about him that formed the basis for Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic and ecology
In addition, the idea behind the game was influenced by the environmental movement, which by the 1990s had reached its peak. Sonic and his furry friends were opposed to soulless robots who tried to destroy wildlife.
“This was an era when we started thinking more about the environment, so we put this idea into the game,” Hirokazu Yasuhara said.
They wanted to teach Sonic... how to dance
When it was time to introduce Sonic to the rest of the team, Oshima showed his sketches and explained how Sonic would move, jump and navigate the game's hills and winding tunnels, as well as how he would perform tricks. Naoto also planned to teach Sonic how to dance! He presented several sheets with alleged animations. Unfortunately, however, there is no room left in the game for Sonic's dance shows...
This is a win!
In the end, all the team's efforts paid off!
The Sega game console beat the competition and took the lead in sales. Oshima mentioned that the most important success factor was the fact that the company believed in the idea of the hedgehog's creators until the very last moment. This was a huge motivation and inspiration for developers!
Sonic is still at the peak of popularity. It can be seen on a wide variety of merchandise, as well as in exciting feature films.
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