Official Anniversary Marked Today
Back in the day, the blue hedgehog’s influence was limited to players of a single console–the Sega Genesis. Ninteteen years to the day later, an evolving hedgehog pared with an evolving company means Sonic can be enjoyed by gamers across all platforms, and across the world.
With that in mind, today is a celebration both for Sonic fans and for the whole of gaming. Despite differences in fan opinion, disagreements with the franchise direction in recent years, and an arguably diminished role on the gaming landscape, Sonic the Hedgehog has sped his way through nineteen years with class and sometimes crass, from his wild wacky yet sometimes eerily reminiscent worlds to the screens of our televisions, computers, mobile phones, and portable devices.
The hedgehog himself evolved greatly in this time, from the pixels that made up his 16-bit sprites, to full fledged 3D models. Sonic inherited family and friends as well, a large pool the spans not just games, but comics, movies, animated shorts, and an external community. He remains the cash cow of Sega’s games business, and he also remains in the hearts and minds of anyone, young and old, who chose to partake in his many adventures.
The buildup to the 19th anniversary was composed of much anticipation. As it stands now, with at least four titles in development across six platforms, the buildup to the twentieth year will involve execution. It is shaping up to be both Sonic and Sega’s most important year yet. Be assured, no matter what happens in the coming year, Sonic will have many zones to conquer in years ahead.
So, we ask you again, as we did last year, to share your most memorable Sonic experience in the comments area.
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Nice article, Tristan. I remember the first time I played Sonic the Hedgehog on my Nomad. I was instintly a fan of Sonic’s fast-paced action platforming. My favorite 2D Sonic is Sonic 3 And Knuckles. I remember unlocking the Doomsday Zone with all 14 emeralds. When I first played Sonic Adventure I was intrigued and interested. It lived up to my expectations and more with its memorable levels and music of Jun Senoue. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is my favorite 3D Sonic game all time and was an improvement over the first. Though I haven’t played that much of Sonic’s recent console games since I don’t own a Wii, I have all of Sonic’s game for the DS with Sonic Rush Adv as my favorite. Just today I read the history page of tssz. I never knew all of the details before. It is inspiring to see how steadfast this site has been in trying to serve the fans and be a wholesome fun site to visit. Thanks again.
I also hope that Sonic’s 20th Anniversary game will be Sonic Adventure 3 and hopefully be a and that fans and critics alike can enjoy. God Bless You All.
-TRF
I’m making a great amazing video for it.
You currently have Ice Cap Zone playing in your head.
ninteteen years.
I loved that typo X3;
Happy 19th Birthday Sonic, I’m happened to be one of your biggest fan since your first game of Sonic the hedgehog on Genesis.
My first experience with Sonic came from seeing a preview in a magazine of the first game for the SEGA Genesis shortly before the game came out, and I thought “That game looks cool”. When we bought the Genesis back in the early 1990s, Sonic the Hedgehog was the very first game that I ever played, and I loved it. It was fun going fast through loops, collecting rings and saving those animal friends from the prison eggs and kicking Dr. Robotnik’s rear at the end of the act. I don’t know what my favorite Sonic game would be, but I like all of them, and it’s probably because I’m open-minded (and I don’t complain about the modern games that no one cares about unlike everyone else).
As much as I love Sonic as a video game franchise, it suffers from one of the worst fanbases on the Internet: Flame wars, classic vs. modern character design debates, poorly made “fan characters” or “recolors”, voice actor debates, pairing debates.. God, that list keeps going and going. When will it stop? Can’t everyone just get along for once? For a change I would like to see a more civilized Sonic community.
In my humble opinion, I see Sonic as a video game character, not a Toontown resident or pop culture icon. As someone who doesn’t like Disney too well, I am so sick of people associating Sonic with classic cartoon characters because he doesn’t belong there and the fact that Sonic originated in a video game before being on anything else. Sonic may starred in three cartoon TV shows (Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground), but the franchise also has been adapted to two anime series (Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie and Sonic X) and several comics and manga. Guess what, many other video game franchises were made into movies, comics and shows many times as well, so Sonic is not the only one. Personally, I like the two anime series better then the three cartoons because the character designs stay more true to what they were in the games. I especially like Tails’ anime design better because he looks more like a fox which he supposed to be, whereas in the cartoons he looks too much like some brown cat/squirrel hybrid thing. Not offending anyone who likes cartoon Sonic, but that’s my opinion on what I’m saying. It’s also because I favor anime over western animation for some reason. Sonic starred in a few crossover games with Mario and was a guest fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and I feel that the Sonic franchise is more at home with other video game franchises then he is with cartoons or pop culture. I wasn’t being rude or anything but like I said: I am just saying my opinion on the Sonic franchise.
TSSZ also has been a good site for me to look at so that I can find out the latest news on everything Sonic and SEGA-related, and has been going strong for years. Hopefully TSSZ will stay that way as years go by.
My first ever Sonic game: Sonic 3D Blast for PC.
My family and I were walking around Circuit City, and I was really into computer games at the time, but mostly learning ones. At that age, around 5, I had been really into the AoStH series on TV, but I had no idea Sonic was more than just a cartoon. We walked down the software aisle and I saw the familiar face and picked it out. I can remember walking around the store holding that box feeling like I was on top of the world.
Let’s see, what else…I remember when I first played Sonic Adventure.
It was, of course, Christmas morning and I just opened my Dreamcast for the first time (still play Sonic Shuffle on that guy =]). I loaded up Sonic Adventure and started to play. It was INCREDIBLE to be playing as my main man in 3D. Unbelievable. When I got my PS1 a few years before and was playing games like Crash Bandicoot, Sonic in real 3D was nothing more than a “what if…” a what-if that I was experiencing right then and there.
There’s one more memory I can go back to, and that is when I came up with what I imagined a “Sonic 4″ would be like. I had just recently discovered game emulators so I could play all the classics that I never got to play (we never had a Genesis in my house =[). I laid in my bed just imagining up title screens and theme songs…and thinking to myself “yeah…but Sonic 4 would never happen. But it would be so neat if it did!”
And look where we are today.
Happy birthday, Sonic. Don’t let Dimps kill you!
First post on this site. My brother Edge turned me on to this site.
This is my Happy birthday video for Sonic the Hedgehog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_qukgi7Qrg
My fondest memory of Sonic is actually my very first memory… playing my Genesis/MegaDrive back in 1997… I was just 3 years old… Sonic 2 was and still is an awesome game…
happy birthday Sonic The Hedgehog you had some rough 19 years with these shitty games
@TrueRadiantFree i hope not as much as i would like an SA3 i wouldnt want Jason Grifith and 4kids to ruin it i would want Ryan Drummond to voice Sonic
Happy Birthday Sonic!
my bestest Sonic moment was playing Sonic 4 Episode 1 ^_^
A fan since my hands could hold the genesis remote. My childhood hero and still my favourite characters ever. And I’m not likely to shelve him in the next 19 years.
Happy Birthday!
-Catch ya later
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONIC THE HEDGEHOG & DR.EGGMAN
YOU’R THE BEST SONIC I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART :’)
@blueblur damn you the game is not released yet and your just mocking those who think S4E1 isnt good by saying its your fondest memory gimme a break
dont forget guys in nickelodeon will bring sonic x i cant wait for the exitment all this stuff is great and happy anerversity blue blur and egghead next year is a big hite guys sonic 20 anerversity next year in 2011.
i dont know what probely
1.sonic story book 3
2.sonic unleashed 2
3.sonic adventure 3
4.sonic herose 2
@philip who cares about all that we want sonic 4 to be perfect
Sonic happy much
It feels so great to be a Sonic fan on this day; especially when the hedgehog’s anniversary is on your birthday!
What irony….I was born exactly a year before Sonic’s debut! ^^
I remember my first sonic game was sonic 3 but i only got a chance to play tails cause my sis had sonic. But it wasnt until sonic adventure that i started became a sonic fan. Too bad that critics are acting like hypocrites and saying Sonic cant be done in 3D, eventhough sonic adventure 1 and 2 were AWESOME
After 19 years he still hasn’t found his mother.
SAAAAAWNIK UNDERGROUUUUUND!!
Sonic 1 = Great
Sonic 2 = Awesome
Sonic 3 & K = Incredible
Sonic Adventure = A blast
Sonic Adventure 2 = Extraordinary
Sonic Heroes = My first
Shadow the Hedgehog = Enjoyable
Sonic Next Gen = THE EPITOME OF A RUSHED GAME
Secret Rings = Entertaining
Sonic Unleashed = Tremendous
Black Knight = Fun
What can I say? Sonic will always remain my favorite series forever.
Looks at article picture
one of these things is not like the other
My first game was Sonic 2, I played it on my cousins genesis it was such a blast, and I loved the music.
My first 3D experience was Sonic Adventure on my other Cousin’s Dreamcast, he only had the demo so I only remember the Whale part.
At my local youth center everyone was Crazy about SA2, they wohuld always play 2-Players and have a blast, to this day a Sonic game still hasnt delivered a genuine 2-Player experience. I remember me and my friend copying the transformation sequence between Sonic and Shadow lol.
When I got a PS2 I purchased my first bought Sonic game, Sonic Heroes. Desite being a love/hate game I was a kid then, I didnt knowv the concept of a good/bad game, but regardless I loved it, it was such a blast to play, I still play it to this day.
Happy B-Day Sonic, keep on running
I hope Sonic and Amy go out on their date at the beach for Sonic’s 19th birthday. That would be lovely.
My very first video game ever was Sonic 2, and since then I’ve been a huge Sonic fan.
Man, I miss those days. Before I had to worry about school or work or anything. I’d just play Sonic as much as I wanted to, and not have to worry about getting anything done.
Here’s to nineteen more.
My most memorable Sonic experience…
playing Sonic Adventure 2.
My first sonic game was Sonic Adventure and I loved it a lot, but SA2 was such a blast when I was young and it’s still today,.
In Second place it comes Sonic Unleashed, the final battle was such a epic fountain of awesomeness, I could barely belive a game culd be that epic.
Now, there is Sonic colors and Sonic 4, ad 2 games that I cant wait for them to come out, happy birthday Sonic the Hedgehog, hope you have a very good year with all the games that are coming, wish you the best.
I never really grew up with the blue hedgehog myself (that award goes to Pokemon)
but my first game was SA2. I remember a few years (I was in 7th grade, now I’m going to 12th) back around November that Target had some coupons in the mail for 15% off most of their CameCube games. I BARELY had enough money to buy one game. I went to Target and they had one of those combo packages and it had BOTH SA1 &SA2. I watched some of the Sonic cartoons when I was smaller, so I was curios about these games. I remember opening the packaging for the games and JUST by looking at SA2′s box art, I could that games was cooler, so I played that first. Hooked on Sonic ever since.
Favorite 3D Sonic =Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360)
Favorite 2D Sonic = Sonic the Hedgehog 2
I Remember When I First Played Sonic Was When I Was 1 Years Old Visiting There Was A SNES And Sega Genesis Hooked Up I First Tried Super Mario World (I Kept On Dieing) Then There Was Sonic 2 In The Sega Genesis I Tried It Out And I Was Blown Away With Sonic. Now After 19 Years Sonic Has Played A Big Part In Gaming
@Damn
We all need to realize that a person’s voice is not who Sonic is.
Keep on dashing Sonic. Hopefully 2011 will be your best year ever!!!!
I first played Sonic when I was around 4, I found a Sega Genesis (my mom bought my dad it) and it came with Sonic spinball. I told my dad how much I liked it so he bought me more sonic games off ebay, like Sonic 3. I would always show my friends Sonic 3 and we would play it. I love Sonic still.
My first Sonic game was Sonic 1, Master System, good times, got the Master System to Sonic today and still going strong and there ready to kill any enemies that Minding!
Happy Birthday Sonic, you’ve no doubt was and still is the most charismatic character and laws of the gaming world!
I was a fan of Sonic in 2001. My first comic book #93. My little brother’s birthday in 2004 or 5, he got SEGA Genesis video game with 6 games. My second comic is #209. In 2008, my brother ordered 2 sonic games: Sonic Heroes (PlayStaion 2) and Sonic Mega Collection Plus (PlayStation 2). On March 11, 2010, I was buying 3 games:Sega All-Stars Tennis (PlayStation 2), Sonic Riders:Zero Gravity (PlayStion 2) and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (DS).
I have 2 comics of Sonic, 7 games of sonic, 3 demos and 2 DVDs (Sonic Christmas Blast and Sonic Underground). It’s the fastest thing alive!:)Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) should aired on Canada. Too bad they cancelled all 3 shows from 1993-2000 (except Sonic X)
Have a great birthday, sonic! Hope its Sonic Adventure 3, Sonic Heroes 2 in 2011.
Screw WWF/E Wrestling, Sonic is our Hero, and nothing can stop him. ‘Cause he’s the fastest thing alive!!
Crush 40 does making cover songs from SA2 to SRZG. Also they make new songs from 2009.