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Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series by Sega. Sonic first made an appearance in the arcade game Rad Mobile in 1990. The original Sonic the Hedgehog debuted on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991, and became the reason why Sega dominated the 16-bit market early on and became more popular than Mario with its "blast processing". In turn, Sonic is often subjected to piracy as well.

Sonic The Hedgehog[]

Sonic The Hedgehog Title

Sonic the Hedgehog title screen.

The first Sonic game, released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. Dr. Robotnik is seeking the Chaos Emeralds and plans on creating Robotnik Land, transforming Sonic's friends into Badniks (his robot servants). Sonic sets out to go defeat him. The player, as Sonic, goes through six zones (Green Hill Zone, Marble Zone, Spring Yard Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Star Light Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone) split up into three acts each, the final having a boss fight with Robotnik. The game became popular due to its fast-paced action, and became the popular pack-in game, replacing Altered Beast.

This game alone was the reason Sonic became a popular series to bootleg. It was ported to the Famicom by Somari Team as Somari, starring Mario; later hacks replaced Mario with Sonic and were released under NT. Jurassic Boy 2 by Sachen is based off of Sonic 1.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2[]

Sonic 2 cover

USA cover.

Released in 1992, it introduced Tails and increased the number of Chaos Emeralds to seven. There were also many more zones and refined gameplay by introducing the Spin Dash. A prototype was stolen and unofficially released in Asia and Brazil; in May 1999, it was found on a Chinese Geocities page and became known as the Simon Wai prototype.

Unlike Sonic 1, this one was never ported by pirates. However, Somari includes the Spin Dash (you're able to stay stationary, rolling until you let go of the button; then you go off rolling into enemies) and NT's re-release of Somari has Sonic and Tails on the cartridge. As well as this, the otherwise unrelated World Heroes 2 pirate includes Emerald Hill Zone, the music from Chemical Plant Zone (used in Lawrence Blood's stage), and Sonic as a playable character (who, like Somari, has the Spin Dash).

Sonic The Hedgehog 3[]

Sonic 3 cover

USA cover.

Released in 1994, it introduced Knuckles the Echidna who was tricked by Robotnik into stealing Sonic's Chaos Emeralds at the beginning of the game. Pirates use the Sonic sprites from here in Sonic Jam 6 and Sonic 6 for the Game Boy or Sonic Adventure 7 for the GBC.

Sonic & Knuckles[]

Sonic & Knuckles

USA cover.

Released in 1994, same with Sonic 3, you can play as Sonic and Knuckles in these levels.

Sonic Mega Collection[]

Released in 2002, these have the 16-bit compilation games: Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Spinball, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Blue Sphere, Knuckles in Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Flicky, and Ristar.

Pirates[]

One of the most infamous pirates based off of Sonic is the aforementioned Somari by Hummer Team. Many people have found it impressive that Sonic 1 was ported to the NES despite not being an exact port (mainly that the level design is different).

Sonic has appeared in many hacks. Two are hacks of Speedy Gonzalez games (the aforementioned Sonic 6 and Sonic the Hedgehog (SNES), the latter called Sonic 4 on cartridges and boxes). Later, a company named Sintax released the Sonic pirated game Super Sonik II (details are unknown at the moment).

One misconception is Sonic vs Os Mauniks, a Master System hack of Psycho Fox where the main characters are replaced by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and glitch character Ashura. This is, in fact, a fan-made hack by a fan from Brazil.

Resources[]

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