In nature, the maximum speed of a hedgehog is 4 mph. In video games, Sonic the hedgehog speed is estimated between 767 and 3,840 mph. The fact that such debates exist and continue to monitor the swirling dervish from SEGA confirms the creation of one of the most distinctive icons of popular culture. It is a comic tale of invention, a corporate society and starting point of a revolution that would cement the largest entertainment environment on Earth. This is the original story of a play legend.
Sonic the hedgehog entered the lexicon of public consciousness 30 years ago, on June 23, 1991, when the original Sega Genesis title struck shops. Now, after several versions through eras, machines and platforms, next to what would become the highest video game movie adaptation of North America of all time, the “mark” It feels strongly stronger and, perhaps, more impermeable to damage than ever before.
But while this seminal character is as incomparable as the tastes of Pac-Man and his Nemesis Mario, we know less about the initial development of Sonic and the central role played by three Japanese Sega employees: Yuji Naka programmer, artist Naoto Ohshima and Designer Hirokazu Yasuhara. Their story begins at the end of the 1980s, with Sonic hardly a sprite in Sega’s eyes, articulating a world play landscape almost entirely owned by Nintendo.
The so-called “Wars Console”, which saw Sega embarking in a deliberate and aggressive campaign to eliminate the monkey of the jovial key of their rival, Mario, descended into the cultural folklore. Certainly, the initial strategy was innocent enough with the company that launches an internal competition to design a replacement of its existing mascot, the Alex d’Alex irreparably. Among the participants was Ohshima, who presented a range of designs including a tatou, a pig-epic, a dog, a rabbit and an old grumpy man with a mustache, which would later become the nicher Doctor Robotnik.