At the ripe ol’ age of 20, most videogame luminaries are already basking in the glow of nostalgia. This is no longer a fledgling industry, but even with profits exceeding those raked in by Hollywood, tastes remain fickle. What chance then does a hedgehog have of outrunning the sands of time?
Plenty, it seems, if your name is Sonic. The world’s favourite bolt from the blue turns 20 today, having made his debut on June 23, 1991. Granted, Sonic isn’t your average hedgehog. For one, his age far outstrips the average life expectancy of his cousins in the wild.
He’s a spiky customer too, in keeping with his needles, but he’s a far cry from his rather more timid real-life relatives. More importantly, though, and a key factor in his enduring popularity, is his speed. Forget a speeding bullet; travelling at the speed of sound, Sonic reduces Superman to a passing blimp.
That, and his ability to curl into a ball and obliterate his foes, has seen his career take off: alongside countless video game titles, and a hallowed seat in the Hall of Game, Sonic has branched out into a bona fide television (catch him on the KidsCo channel) and comic book star.
Along the way, this coin-collecting hedgehog has picked up a few enemies and made a lot of new friends.
His first nemesis was Mario, the moustached, spring-heeled Italian plumber who has himself defied gaming trends by staying in the game long after his expected sell-by date. Twenty years ago, the birth of Sonic was supposed to be the venture that broke Mario’s video game monopoly.
With shoes modelled on those worn by Michael Jackson, Sonic was expected to hot-foot it away with Mario’s money. It didn’t quite work out that way: Mario is a plucky little guy, and with Sonic making strides in his own right, it worked out best for everyone when these two pint-sized heroes shook hands and appeared together in subsequent games.
Instead, Sonic was left to focus his attentions on Dr Ivo Robotnik (aka Dr Eggman), an impatient genius with an IQ of 300, who, as all mad scientists are wont to do, dreams of taking over the world.
Easily riled, especially when someone gets in the way of his plans, Robotnik is nothing if not persistant. Lesser evil geniuses would have given up the ghost long ago, but each new mechanical contraption spawned in his twisted mind renews his gnawing desperation for world domination.
A bit of divide-and-conquer doesn’t hurt either, as Sonic once found out to his cost when his friend Knuckles, an echidna, bought Robotnik’s lies.
Sonic, however, has rarely had to face Robotnik alone. Miles “Tails” Prower, a play on “miles per hour”, is a two-tailed fox who has been Sonic’s side-kick for nearly as long as Sonic has been saving the world.
Blessed with the power of flight (Tails uses his two tails as helicopter blades), he is also a handy mechanic –- just the sort of comrade one would need to deny the dastardly Robotnik.
Sonic also has a girlfriend – well, she’d like to think so – in Amy Rose. No matter how fast Sonic runs, he cannot seem to escape her romantic intentions. As one of the Sonic series’ most popular characters, it looks like he’ll be stuck with her for a while yet.
In his 20 years, Sonic has run the full adventure gamut. He has travelled time, battled his mechanised doppleganger Metal Sonic, reined in a powerful alter ego and has even competed at the Olympics. All of which means the “Blue Blur” will be around for a long time to come. Really, who’s going to stop him? Just ask Dr Robotnik. - Tonight
Tonight, together with the KidsCo channel, are offering readers an awesome prize to celebrate Sonic’s coming of age. We will be giving away a laptop, an XBox 360, a PS3 and a Wii, each with a copy of the new Sonic videogame, as well as 16 other games (four in each format). To stand a chance of winning one of these fantastic prizes, all you have to do is answer this very simple question:
Q: What is Sonic’s sidekick’s name?
Send your answers, along with your name, address and contact details, to [email protected]. The competition closes on Tuesday, June 28, at midnight. Only the winners will be contacted.