Sonic the Hedgehog’s early days brought the Blue Blur great success, but also a quick downfall.
The characters face is still one of the most recognizable in the industry.
Segas blazing blue mascot has certainly seen some ups and downs over the years.
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Sonic the System Seller
Sega releasedAlex Kidd in Miracle Worldfor the Sega Master System in 1987.
Ohshimas original drawing featured a hedgehog with a much harder edge than Sonic has today.
The character had fangs and a human girlfriend named Madonna (pictured above).
This caused a bit of tension between Sega of Japan and their American counterparts.
The original game was fleshed out by a team of 15 people within Sega of Japan.
The developers renamed themselves Sonic Team for the project.
Meanwhile, back in America, Segas marketers went to work.
Players who participated were then asked to vote on which game was the superior platformer.
Sonic the Hedgehog quickly became synonymous with Sega and the Genesis system and received rave reviews.
During the 1991 holiday season, the Genesis outsold the Super NES by a two-to-one ratio.
At the systems peak in January 1992, the Genesis owned 65 percent of the 16-bit console market.
But in the big picture, Sega had accomplished the goal they set out to achieve in 1988.
Their new mascot was every bit as successful as Mario was for Nintendo.
Sonic, in short, was a system seller that would carry Sega through the entire 16-bit era.
And then it all went to hell.
Speed Bumps
The Sega Saturn released in Japan on November 22, 1994.
But Sony had beaten Sega to market in North America.
Consumers were simply not willing to spend extra money on an add-on for an aging system.
The Saturn was immediately available for sale, that very day.
Gamers were indeed shocked but not nearly as surprised as Segas retail partners and third-party developers.
The company did not give anyone a heads up about the release moving up from September to May.
Those who did pick up a system found that very few quality games were available.
The company had been working on a game calledSonic X-treme.
Internal politics continued to make development a struggle and the game was ultimately canceled.
Its telling that the best reviewed major Sonic games since the 3D transition areSonic GenerationsandSonic the Hedgehog 4.
Both games feature a Sonic that is playable in 2D, like the glory days of the early 90s.
Alive-action/CGI hybrid movieis in production for 2018.
The company has clearly not lost hope in its greatest creation.
As recently as 2014, Sega launched a brand new multimedia initiative calledSonic Boomto revive the character.
TheSonic Boomera is best known for giving Sonic a brown scarf.
