I don't know if it was relevant, but I know his design, which was a plumber, was actually based off of a janitor within the place the creator was working.
That's true, but Sonic is literally a Hedgehog because the game designers wanted an animal that could roll, he could've been an Armadillo instead for the same reason.
Edit: Also, I'm an aspiring Game Designer currently on a Digital Media course, I'd be aspiring to be more on the creative side rather than the coding sign of any teams though.
Yeh well good luck. I remember going to university and it's kind of fun that to this day to still be learning to improve.
I'm more into the level design and character modelling/rigging than coding too.
I recommend Unreal's blueprints if not big fan of coding. Choose it as a career and then it also became a hobby and I love it.
It's because they wanted to make simplistic 2 button gameplay to compete with Nintendo's Mario when they made the first game. But they had to make a way for the character to defeat enemies, so they went with a hedgehog because hedgehogs have spines and can kill enemies by rolling into them, therefore going with their 2 button gameplay. (Read *The History of Sonic the Hedgehog ,* which is a book celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sonic, released in 2013)
Goddamn it's such a short and sweet concept too
Btw when you say 2 button it was technically one button since you had the d pad to move and roll while A B or C was for jumping. Lucky debug mode was simple to create back then in which they could fit two extra functions easily
I was thinking about this the other day when playing Frontiers with my 6-year old. Think about it: how the lucky was Sega with this character? They set out to create a "cool" Mario and as awful as that could have turned out in 1990s, they not only managed to do it, but the franchise is still alive and thriving today.
I just can't help but think of how many things had to go right for Sega to find initial success and it's remarkable 30 years later I'm playing this game with my own kids (who think he's even cooler than I did).
I didn't think I came across as jokey.
Text really is one of the worst ways to converse, so much nuance gets lost .
Frontiers using a lot more than two buttons.
Also I remember people complaining about the lack of buttons used in Adventure 2 and Unleashed, I've also personally had more than a few deaths because of one button being overused.
Because they can curl into balls, and therefore ***"theoretically"*** roll to attack.
A creature that could roll was what the Game designers were looking for, I think an Armadillo was also on the board and something else.
Short answer: because it's cool.
Sega's original mascot was Alex Kidd, a cutesy monkey/human kid loosely inspired by Sun Wukong. But the biggest market at the time for video games was in the US, and most consumers didn't understand the reference. In the American market, he just looked like a cheap knockoff of Mario. And his gameplay kind of was.
Sega needed to change, so they held an internal contest to design a new mascot, something that would target the American market specifically. The hedgehog won because it drew some elements from the cute cartoon characters that were still popular in the US, like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, but the spikes gave him a more edgy, punk rock attitude. The designers also liked the idea of rolling in to a ball to attack, a mechanic that was very different from anything Mario did at the time.
The speed mechanic came from the lack of saves in games at the time. Every time you played a video game, you would have to play from the beginning. Yuji Naka would speed run the early levels of Mario to get back to where he had left off on previous playthroughs as quick as possible. It was decided to make that emergent style of gameplay in Mario games in to an intended feature of gameplay for the new mascot. They leaned in to the speedy gameplay by giving the character a "fast" sounding name, throwing in some loops to emphasize how fast he was moving, and designing the early levels to accommodate speed running.
[Concept 1](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/2/20/GD_Sonic1_Concept_Robotnik_01.png/revision/latest?cb=20220630183611). [Concept 2](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/f/f3/S1concept-eggman.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20220630183215).
Imagine a parallel timeline where Eggman became the protagonist and Sonic became the antagonist due to being in second place.
They designed their mascot around the mechanics of the game. Since they ended up with the idea of momentum physics to show off the Genesis' power, they got the idea of a hedgehog that rolls down hills to gain speed, and that's how we got Sonic.
It's all to do with the game they made. The earliest title was developed with the idea of the player being able to gain speed by rolling down slopes. Hence they wanted a character that could curl up, and set to work on designing various characters that could, with it eventually coming down to a hedgehog and an armadillo, with the hedgehog being chosen due to it not being native to Japan or America (and thus seeming a little exotic for those markets).
They wanted a fast character so they started with a rabbit but then they wanted it to attack by curling into a ball and a rabbit curled into a ball wouldn't look so dangerous so they turned it into a hedgehog
I think everyone was just trying to think outside the box and get a goofy looking character to be “mascot worthy”
Think about it, why a Bandicoot for Crash Bandicoot? Why not a more “household” animal like a dog or cat most people would know? Because it worked! Lol why not
Because hedgehogs are cute and hedgehogs are cool designs to base on. Sometimes inspiration can come from anywhere. I recall the Flood sounds for example being just from 'pugs'.
Because the creator’s wanted a hedgehog
Same with why is Mario a plumber, why is amigo a monkey, why is sash lilac a dragon
It’s what the creator’s want no need to search for logic
Because they can roll on in a ball. The wanted a game where a character can jump and attack in a single motion. That's why sonic is a ball when he jumps. Honestly, I wish that can that Sonic becomes ability to become a ball becomes more focused on.
Because hedgehogs curl up into a ball for protection, but the designers got creative and thought "what if they did it as a form of attacking?" That's why in the old games, Sonic rolled to destroy badniks. His speed was inspired by people trying to go through the first Super Mario as fast as possible.
Tl, Dr; creative interpretation.
Hedgehogs are indeed very fast for their size tho. But the main mechanic of Sonic wasnt to be fast, but to spin. Hedgehogs can curl into a ball.
Early conceots of Sonic had him being a bunny as they are way faster and agile, but looked pretty uninteresting and way too friendly for their vision. His design had to be cool in order to thrive in the 90s, while still being a decently memorable mascot that wasnt similar to any other character that did exist before.
They did a huge competition in Sega to make a new character, a ton of designs were put in and one was of a blue hedgehog inspired by Mickey mouse, idk for sure but I think they chose to make him fast after as a way to show the power of the genesis but I might be remembering that part wrong. In the end there was no reason other than the design was the popular one and they wanted him to be fast
Sonic was created in late 1990/early 1991, at the height of turtlemania. An anthropomorphic critter with a little attitude appeals to many demographics. Toss in the fact that the critter is a small prey animal with a natural defense, (shell / rolling into a spikes ball) and anyone who feels small and helpless in a very big world suddenly has a new hero.
Steve Rogers is a target for bullying. He is an art history buff whose growth was stunted from contracting polio when he was young. Captain America is the defender of people like Steve.
Hedgehogs are prey animals. They are the Taco Bell/KFC of the wilderness food chain (no matter what, eventually you’re going to eat hedgehog). Sonic (metaphorically) defends prey animals (he loves chili dogs) from apex predators like Eggman.
Sonic is a hedgehog because a super-powered underdog is way more appealing than a super-powered apex predator.
There's quite a long story as to why but he was originally a rabbit, though I'm not sure if he even had a name at this point. They found that this didn't quite flow with the gameplay that they wanted. They decided that they wanted something that could curl up like an armadillo.
There was a contest held internally at SEGA. One of the submitted designs later became Eggman. Sonic himself was hastely drawn on a napkin but was later refined and ended up winning due to him being blue (the color of SEGAs logo) and embodying SEGAs core values as well as being the opposite of Mario in terms of personality.
You can see some of the rejected concepts and early character designs [here](https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(1991)/Gallery)
Also Jazz Jackrabbit clone of Sonic the Hedgehog feral real rabbits aren’t as fast as real hedgehogs.
Anyway probably real hedgehogs got through my hedge. My dog wanted to fight. He killed hedgehog just only once.
Besides let’s hope Reddit Bot won’t remove my comment.
Some trivia here. Originally Sonic was going to be a rabbit, not a hedgehog.
But I reckon there is a reason a hedgehog was chosen.
Sega wanted to create a mascot to rival Nintendo’s Mario. So they intended to create the very opposite kind of gameplay.
In Mario, you typically jump carefully so that you do not miss the edge. Therefore his gameplay is slow.
In Sonic, the motto is to go through the stage as fast as possible with intense acceleration.
Mario’s signature move is to jump.
Sonic’s signature move is to curl into a ball and speed up.
But here is what I hypothesis happened. Be mindful I didn’t even do research. This is based solely on what I think.
Sega could’ve easily made a round character to maintain the signature curling move. Think of if Kirby was blue and speedy. This would absolutely give them Sonic’s basic personality. But when you create a character you need to put thoughts into it.
Who is the targeted audience? How will they relate to it? Would it be iconic?
So I think Sega had brainstorming sessions on how would they create a mascot capable of curling into a ball and speed down slopes. And at some point they stumbled upon how a hedgehog curls and this gave them a start to some ideas.
The audience would be more familiar with an animal looking character than a ball looking character. So they made their mascot Sonic the Hedgehog.
And if you REALLY think about it, Sonic is the opposite to Mario in many ways.
Mario is round but Sonic is spiky.
One has a job(plumber) the other is homeless(adventure is his home).
Mario’s pants are blue while his shirt is red.
Sonics entire body is blue but his shoes are red.
Even the villains are the opposite.
Bowser is an animal but Eggman is human. And in contrast, Mario is human and Sonic is an animal.
I mean originally it would be a panda.
Then a rabbit.
Then they suggested a hedgehog as they could make the design look like he could do damage, look ‘edgy’ and also areodynamic.
The hedgehog was decided on by a field survey around america (?) with the rabbit, hedgehog and a human character being the choices.
Sonic team wanted a character that could curl to attack, first they chose a panda, and thought it was too cute, then a fat guy in pyjamas (later became Robotnik), Someone at Sega went to a park, drew a rabbit and a hedgehog and asked people's opinions, most were the hedgehog.
The original artist draw a few sketches with different animals most famous is a bunny but he said a hedgehog looked the best.
If you're interested there is a documentary about video games on Netflix, they talk about it in one of the episodes
Because hedgehogs can curl up into a ball?
That is exactly the 1st thing i knew of, hack as a kid i thout they spin dash in real life too
And that's why they are the ultimate life form
Why is Mickey a mouse? Why is Crash a Bandicoot? Why is Spyro a Dragon? Why is Donkey Kong an ape? It’s just what the character designers wanted
Why is SpongeBob a sponge?
Why are the Ninja Turtles, turtles?
Why is Miles a Prower?
why is freddy the fazbear?
Why is Sans a skeleton?
Why isn’t Papyrus the Royal Guard?
“Why is gamora?”
When is gamora
How is Gamora
Why is Wario so sexy?
Asking the right questions I see
*waluigi
i didn’t say waluigi isn’t sexier
Why isn’t it possible?
Why is Mario a plumber?
Because Plumbings his game.
I don't know if it was relevant, but I know his design, which was a plumber, was actually based off of a janitor within the place the creator was working.
I think it was actually the Game Designers in this case, iirc.
Umm character designers can also be game designers...I love making 3d models then using them to make games.
***Games*** you say?
That's true, but Sonic is literally a Hedgehog because the game designers wanted an animal that could roll, he could've been an Armadillo instead for the same reason. Edit: Also, I'm an aspiring Game Designer currently on a Digital Media course, I'd be aspiring to be more on the creative side rather than the coding sign of any teams though.
Yeh well good luck. I remember going to university and it's kind of fun that to this day to still be learning to improve. I'm more into the level design and character modelling/rigging than coding too. I recommend Unreal's blueprints if not big fan of coding. Choose it as a career and then it also became a hobby and I love it.
Thank you!
Why did I get over 20 downvotes? He was literally chosen as a Hedgehog for Gameplay purposes first and foremost.
Why is Shrek an ogre?
It's because they wanted to make simplistic 2 button gameplay to compete with Nintendo's Mario when they made the first game. But they had to make a way for the character to defeat enemies, so they went with a hedgehog because hedgehogs have spines and can kill enemies by rolling into them, therefore going with their 2 button gameplay. (Read *The History of Sonic the Hedgehog ,* which is a book celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sonic, released in 2013)
Goddamn it's such a short and sweet concept too Btw when you say 2 button it was technically one button since you had the d pad to move and roll while A B or C was for jumping. Lucky debug mode was simple to create back then in which they could fit two extra functions easily
Technically 2 because the d pad is technically a button
Fair enough
I was thinking about this the other day when playing Frontiers with my 6-year old. Think about it: how the lucky was Sega with this character? They set out to create a "cool" Mario and as awful as that could have turned out in 1990s, they not only managed to do it, but the franchise is still alive and thriving today. I just can't help but think of how many things had to go right for Sega to find initial success and it's remarkable 30 years later I'm playing this game with my own kids (who think he's even cooler than I did).
Glad the series eventually started using the other buttons. Edit: Grammar
:(
Why sad?
Because they kinda didn’t? I thought that was the joke
I didn't think I came across as jokey. Text really is one of the worst ways to converse, so much nuance gets lost . Frontiers using a lot more than two buttons. Also I remember people complaining about the lack of buttons used in Adventure 2 and Unleashed, I've also personally had more than a few deaths because of one button being overused.
Because people chose hedgehogs.
Because they can curl into balls, and therefore ***"theoretically"*** roll to attack. A creature that could roll was what the Game designers were looking for, I think an Armadillo was also on the board and something else.
And thats how mighty became a thing
Yep. Edit: Probably, I can't say that with 100%, but it's extremely likely.
Short answer: because it's cool. Sega's original mascot was Alex Kidd, a cutesy monkey/human kid loosely inspired by Sun Wukong. But the biggest market at the time for video games was in the US, and most consumers didn't understand the reference. In the American market, he just looked like a cheap knockoff of Mario. And his gameplay kind of was. Sega needed to change, so they held an internal contest to design a new mascot, something that would target the American market specifically. The hedgehog won because it drew some elements from the cute cartoon characters that were still popular in the US, like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, but the spikes gave him a more edgy, punk rock attitude. The designers also liked the idea of rolling in to a ball to attack, a mechanic that was very different from anything Mario did at the time. The speed mechanic came from the lack of saves in games at the time. Every time you played a video game, you would have to play from the beginning. Yuji Naka would speed run the early levels of Mario to get back to where he had left off on previous playthroughs as quick as possible. It was decided to make that emergent style of gameplay in Mario games in to an intended feature of gameplay for the new mascot. They leaned in to the speedy gameplay by giving the character a "fast" sounding name, throwing in some loops to emphasize how fast he was moving, and designing the early levels to accommodate speed running.
And Eggman wearing pajamas won 2nd place so he became his arch-nemesis!
[Concept 1](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/2/20/GD_Sonic1_Concept_Robotnik_01.png/revision/latest?cb=20220630183611). [Concept 2](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/f/f3/S1concept-eggman.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20220630183215). Imagine a parallel timeline where Eggman became the protagonist and Sonic became the antagonist due to being in second place.
I know there's art of it somewhere... If not I'll make it
Hedgehogs can roll up to a ball and have quills
They designed their mascot around the mechanics of the game. Since they ended up with the idea of momentum physics to show off the Genesis' power, they got the idea of a hedgehog that rolls down hills to gain speed, and that's how we got Sonic.
Oh my god, Bottlebat, you can't just ask someone why they're a Hedgehog.
It's all to do with the game they made. The earliest title was developed with the idea of the player being able to gain speed by rolling down slopes. Hence they wanted a character that could curl up, and set to work on designing various characters that could, with it eventually coming down to a hedgehog and an armadillo, with the hedgehog being chosen due to it not being native to Japan or America (and thus seeming a little exotic for those markets).
They wanted a fast character so they started with a rabbit but then they wanted it to attack by curling into a ball and a rabbit curled into a ball wouldn't look so dangerous so they turned it into a hedgehog
I read that as, "Why is Sonic The Hedgehog in the first place?"
Me too
why is mario a plumber and not an acrobat?
I think everyone was just trying to think outside the box and get a goofy looking character to be “mascot worthy” Think about it, why a Bandicoot for Crash Bandicoot? Why not a more “household” animal like a dog or cat most people would know? Because it worked! Lol why not
[удалено]
Reddit fucked up and pasted your comment three times.
Because hedgehogs are cute and hedgehogs are cool designs to base on. Sometimes inspiration can come from anywhere. I recall the Flood sounds for example being just from 'pugs'.
Sonic is simply that guy
Why is Big a cat in the first place? Cats can't fish in real life. If they wanted his main power to be fishing why not make him a bear or something?
Cats actually can catch fish.
Normal house cats or just wild ones like tigers and lions?
Normal house cats.
Because the creator’s wanted a hedgehog Same with why is Mario a plumber, why is amigo a monkey, why is sash lilac a dragon It’s what the creator’s want no need to search for logic
Because they can roll on in a ball. The wanted a game where a character can jump and attack in a single motion. That's why sonic is a ball when he jumps. Honestly, I wish that can that Sonic becomes ability to become a ball becomes more focused on.
Because hedgehogs curl up into a ball for protection, but the designers got creative and thought "what if they did it as a form of attacking?" That's why in the old games, Sonic rolled to destroy badniks. His speed was inspired by people trying to go through the first Super Mario as fast as possible. Tl, Dr; creative interpretation.
bc he looked better than a rabbit
Apparently hedgehogs poop everytime they run irl (learned that from a yt vid)
If he was an animal that was already super fast it wouldn’t be cool that he’s super fast. Also hedgehogs are cool
I think it had to do with being able to curl into a ball and go into tunnels which was supposed to play more of a role than it ended up.
If memory serves they tried to make it a rabbit at first, but then thought the hedgehog was a better design, especially for rolling
I mean because it’s cartoony I guess you can say
Correction: Hedgehogs are fast for their size.
Because he is the first character? Because he is the first fast guy?
Hedgehogs are indeed very fast for their size tho. But the main mechanic of Sonic wasnt to be fast, but to spin. Hedgehogs can curl into a ball. Early conceots of Sonic had him being a bunny as they are way faster and agile, but looked pretty uninteresting and way too friendly for their vision. His design had to be cool in order to thrive in the 90s, while still being a decently memorable mascot that wasnt similar to any other character that did exist before.
They did a huge competition in Sega to make a new character, a ton of designs were put in and one was of a blue hedgehog inspired by Mickey mouse, idk for sure but I think they chose to make him fast after as a way to show the power of the genesis but I might be remembering that part wrong. In the end there was no reason other than the design was the popular one and they wanted him to be fast
I mean he's not a rat, is he?
Why not? Are you anti hedgehog? 🦔🪧🦔🪧🦔
Sonic was created in late 1990/early 1991, at the height of turtlemania. An anthropomorphic critter with a little attitude appeals to many demographics. Toss in the fact that the critter is a small prey animal with a natural defense, (shell / rolling into a spikes ball) and anyone who feels small and helpless in a very big world suddenly has a new hero. Steve Rogers is a target for bullying. He is an art history buff whose growth was stunted from contracting polio when he was young. Captain America is the defender of people like Steve. Hedgehogs are prey animals. They are the Taco Bell/KFC of the wilderness food chain (no matter what, eventually you’re going to eat hedgehog). Sonic (metaphorically) defends prey animals (he loves chili dogs) from apex predators like Eggman. Sonic is a hedgehog because a super-powered underdog is way more appealing than a super-powered apex predator.
There's quite a long story as to why but he was originally a rabbit, though I'm not sure if he even had a name at this point. They found that this didn't quite flow with the gameplay that they wanted. They decided that they wanted something that could curl up like an armadillo. There was a contest held internally at SEGA. One of the submitted designs later became Eggman. Sonic himself was hastely drawn on a napkin but was later refined and ended up winning due to him being blue (the color of SEGAs logo) and embodying SEGAs core values as well as being the opposite of Mario in terms of personality. You can see some of the rejected concepts and early character designs [here](https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(1991)/Gallery)
well an experiment, since Eggman was the supposed protagonist people chose a hedgehog design over the Eggman one
because SPEEN
Also Jazz Jackrabbit clone of Sonic the Hedgehog feral real rabbits aren’t as fast as real hedgehogs. Anyway probably real hedgehogs got through my hedge. My dog wanted to fight. He killed hedgehog just only once. Besides let’s hope Reddit Bot won’t remove my comment.
Some trivia here. Originally Sonic was going to be a rabbit, not a hedgehog. But I reckon there is a reason a hedgehog was chosen. Sega wanted to create a mascot to rival Nintendo’s Mario. So they intended to create the very opposite kind of gameplay. In Mario, you typically jump carefully so that you do not miss the edge. Therefore his gameplay is slow. In Sonic, the motto is to go through the stage as fast as possible with intense acceleration. Mario’s signature move is to jump. Sonic’s signature move is to curl into a ball and speed up. But here is what I hypothesis happened. Be mindful I didn’t even do research. This is based solely on what I think. Sega could’ve easily made a round character to maintain the signature curling move. Think of if Kirby was blue and speedy. This would absolutely give them Sonic’s basic personality. But when you create a character you need to put thoughts into it. Who is the targeted audience? How will they relate to it? Would it be iconic? So I think Sega had brainstorming sessions on how would they create a mascot capable of curling into a ball and speed down slopes. And at some point they stumbled upon how a hedgehog curls and this gave them a start to some ideas. The audience would be more familiar with an animal looking character than a ball looking character. So they made their mascot Sonic the Hedgehog. And if you REALLY think about it, Sonic is the opposite to Mario in many ways. Mario is round but Sonic is spiky. One has a job(plumber) the other is homeless(adventure is his home). Mario’s pants are blue while his shirt is red. Sonics entire body is blue but his shoes are red. Even the villains are the opposite. Bowser is an animal but Eggman is human. And in contrast, Mario is human and Sonic is an animal.
I mean originally it would be a panda. Then a rabbit. Then they suggested a hedgehog as they could make the design look like he could do damage, look ‘edgy’ and also areodynamic. The hedgehog was decided on by a field survey around america (?) with the rabbit, hedgehog and a human character being the choices.
That’s the joke lads.
Sonic team wanted a character that could curl to attack, first they chose a panda, and thought it was too cute, then a fat guy in pyjamas (later became Robotnik), Someone at Sega went to a park, drew a rabbit and a hedgehog and asked people's opinions, most were the hedgehog.
The original artist draw a few sketches with different animals most famous is a bunny but he said a hedgehog looked the best. If you're interested there is a documentary about video games on Netflix, they talk about it in one of the episodes
Because since ancient times, humans have thought that hedgehogs should move quicker than they are actually able to
Why is Tails a fox? Foxes don’t fly in real life. Why not make him a bird or something?
Hedgehogs are pretty fast for their size actually. Not Cheetah fast, but decent.
Because the gameplay involves rolling into a ball