Sonic the Hedgehog

This article is about the video game series. For the first game in the series, see Sonic the Hedgehog (video game). For the character, see Sonic the Hedgehog (character).

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese platform video game series and media franchise created by Sega and featuring their mascot, Sonic. It is a series of fast platform games. Sonic is the main character. He is a bright blue hedgehog with supersonic speed. Usually, Sonic must stop the villain, Doctor Eggman's, plans for taking over the world. Sonic is often helped by his friends like Tails, Amy Rose, and Knuckles.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Genres	Platform
Developers	Sonic Team Sega Dimps Traveller's Tales SIMS Co. Backbone Entertainment BioWare Sumo Digital Hardlight Aspect Gameloft
Publishers	Sega
Creators	Yuji Naka Naoto Ohshima Hirokazu Yasuhara
Artists	Naoto Ohshima Yuji Uekawa
Platforms	List Android Arcade Game Boy Advance GameCube iOS Mobile phones Java ME Microsoft Windows Neo Geo Pocket Color Nintendo DS Nintendo 3DS Nintendo Switch PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Portable PlayStation Vita Sega Genesis Sega Game Gear Sega CD Sega Saturn Sega Dreamcast Sega Master System Sega Genesis 32X Sega Pico Leapster LeapFrog Didj Wii Wii U Xbox Xbox 360 Xbox One
First release	Sonic the Hedgehog June 23, 1991
Latest release	Sonic X Shadow Generations October 25, 2024
Spin-offs	Sonic Boom

The first Sonic the Hedgehog game was released in 1991. It was created by Sega's Sonic Team division after Sega wanted a new mascot character. This was because they wanted to replace Alex Kidd, and they wanted to compete with Nintendo's mascot, Mario. Its success made many sequels, and it helped Sega become one of the biggest video game companies during the 16-bit era of the early 1990s. The first major 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, was released in 1998 for the Dreamcast. The first 3D Game is technically Sonic 3D Blast released on November 5, 1996 on the Game Gear.

The series made over $5 billion by 2014.^[1] As of 2018, the series has sold 800 million copies. This includes free-to-play mobile game downloads.^[2]

Reception and legacy

Aggregate review scores
As of 2017.

Game	Metacritic
Sonic the Hedgehog	(X360) 77[3] (GBA) 33[4]
Sonic the Hedgehog 2	(X360) 82[5] (iOS) 60[6]
Sonic CD	(iOS) 93[7] (X360) 82[8] (PS3) 80[9]
Sonic the Hedgehog 3	–
Sonic & Knuckles	(X360) 69[10]
Sonic 3D Blast	–
Sonic Adventure	(GC) 57[11] (PS3) 50[12] (X360) 48[13]
Sonic Adventure 2	(DC) 89[14] (GC) 73[15] (PS3) 65[16] (X360) 60[17]
Sonic Advance	(GBA) 87[18]
Sonic Advance 2	(GBA) 83[19]
Sonic Heroes	(Xbox) 73[20] (GC) 72[21] (PS2) 64[22] (PC) 66[23]
Sonic Advance 3	(GBA) 79[24]
Sonic Rush	(NDS) 82[25]
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)	(X360) 46[26] (PS3) 43[27]
Sonic Rush Adventure	(NDS) 78[28]
Sonic Unleashed	(PS2) 66[29] (Wii) 66[30] (X360) 60[31] (PS3) 54[32]
Sonic 4: Episode 1	(Wii) 81[33] (PS3) 74[34] (X360) 72[35] (iOS) 70[36]
Sonic Colors	(NDS) 79[37] (Wii) 78[38]
Sonic Generations	(X360) 77[39] (PC) 77[40] (PS3) 76[41] (3DS) 66[42]
Sonic 4: Episode 2	(iOS) 66[43] (PS3) 63[44] (X360) 61[45] (PC) 54[46]
Sonic Lost World	(Wii U) 63[47] (3DS) 59[48]
Sonic Mania	(PS4) 86[49] (NS) 86[50] (PC) 84[51] (XONE) 83[52]
Sonic Forces	(XONE) 62/100[53] (PC) 58/100[54] (PS4) 58/100[55] (NS) 57/100[56]

Sales

Year	Game	Platform(s)	Sales
1991	Sonic the Hedgehog	Mega Drive / Genesis	15 million[57]
1992	Sonic the Hedgehog 2		6 million[58][59]
1993	Sonic Spinball and Sonic the Hedgehog CD		1 million in US[60]
1994	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles		4 million[61] (Sonic 3: 1.02 million in US[62] Sonic & Knuckles: 1.24 million in US)[62]
1995	Knuckles' Chaotix	Sega 32X
1998	Sonic Adventure	Dreamcast	2.5 million[63]
2001	Sonic Adventure 2 / Battle	GameCube	1.7322 million[n 1]
	Sonic Advance	Game Boy Advance	1.515 million[n 2]
2003	Sonic Mega Collection	GameCube	1.453 million[n 3]
	Sonic Heroes	PlayStation 2/Xbox/GameCube	3.41 million[67][68][69]
	Sonic Mega Collection Plus	PlayStation 2/Xbox	2.19 million[70][71]
2005	Shadow the Hedgehog	PlayStation 2/GameCube/Xbox	2.06 million[69][72]
2006	Sonic the Hedgehog	Mobile	8 million in US & EU[73]
	Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3	870,000[74]
2008	Sonic Unleashed	PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3	2.45 million[75]
2010	Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows	1.07 million[76]
	Sonic Colors	Wii, Nintendo DS	2.18 million[77][78]
2011	Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing	iOS	16.7 million[79]
	Sonic Generations	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS	1.85 million[80]
2012	Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS	1.36 million[81]
	Sonic Jump	iOS	8.8 million[79]
2013	Sonic Lost World	Wii U, Nintendo 3DS	710,000[82]
2014	Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal		620,000[83]
2016	Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice	Nintendo 3DS
2018	Sonic Mania	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows	1 million[79]
2022	Sonic Frontiers	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Mario & Sonic series			22.78 million[n 4]
2007	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	Wii, Nintendo DS	11.31 million[89][90]
2009	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games		6.53 million[76][91]
2011	Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Wii, Nintendo 3DS	3.28 million[79]
2013	Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games	Wii U	65,377 in Japan[n 4]
2016	Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games	Nintendo 3DS, Wii U	430,033 in Japan[n 4]
Series total			123.32 million[n 5]

Note

1. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: 1.44 million in US,^[62] 192,186 in Japan,^[64] 100,000 in UK^[65]
2. Sonic Advance: 1.21 million in US,^[62] 204,542 in Japan,^[64] 100,000 in UK^[65]
3. Sonic Mega Collection: 1.38 million in US,^[62] 72,967 in Japan^[66]
4. Mario & Sonic series:

   • Up until March 2011 – 19 million^[84][85]
   • Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games – 3.28 million^[86]
   • Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games – 65,377 in Japan^[87]
   • Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – 430,033 in Japan^[88]
5. The Sonic franchise (including Mario & Sonic) had sold over 89 million units by March 2011.^[84] In addition, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games sold 3.28 million copies and Sonic Generations sold 1.85 million units as of March 2012, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed sold 1.36 million units as of March 2013, Sonic Lost World sold 710,000 units as of March 2014, and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric & Shattered Crystal sold 620,000 units as of March 2015.^{[92][93][94][95]} The iOS games Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (released June 23, 2011) and Sonic Jump (2012) sold over 16.7 million and 8.8 million paid downloads, respectively, as of 2013.^[96] Sonic Mania (2017) sold over 1 million units as of March 2018.^[97]