Saturday Morning Sonic

Research Article: The Great Sonic Continuity Debate

Ah, the continuity debate. Which version of Sonic is the real one? It's one of the most controversial and misunderstood subjects in the Sonic the Hedgehog fan base, yet also one of the most fundamental to its existence. Whenever a question arises regarding the legitimacy, officiality, or canonicity of a particular piece of Sonic media (game, TV show, or comic), it invariably results in tension, gnashing of teeth, and—of course—the proverbial flame war. It is a veritable mine field of a topic, at times simply avoided or banned from discussion altogether.

Why? For one, human beings are sentimental creatures. On one side we have the fans who grew up with the Sonic of the early 90s, many of whom recall fondly the days of the "Freedom Fighters," "planet Mobius," "Dr. Robotnik," "Chili dogs," and catchphrases like "way past cool." On the other side, we have a newer generation of fans, more familiar with "Dr. Eggman," "Station Square," "Chao," and "Chaos Control." Of course, I am simplifying a bit for the sake of brevity, as not all fans fit neatly into such categories. You may be a self-proclaimed games purist, or perhaps even a universal fan who enjoys just about anything with the name "Sonic" slapped on it. The idea is the same: we tend to reject what we don't know and cling to what we do.

Motivations aside, some fans take disparities within the Sonic universe to mean that certain games, publications, or cartoons should not be counted as part of the Sonic "canon" (list of genuine or accepted material). An example of this is the common use of the term "SegaSonic"* to delineate products viewed to be part of "the one true continuity" from "unofficial" material created outside of Sega or Sonic Team. In reality, this is an over simplification—a somewhat narrow-minded one—that ignores the vast majority of Sonic media, past and present.

So how did the Sonic franchise get to be such a seemingly inconsistent and contradictory mess of characters, locations, and stories? To really understand the nature of this debate, it's necessary to delve into a bit of history. Let's start with Sega itself.

History Primer

Sega began in the form of Standard Games, a Honolulu, Hawaii-based company founded by three Americans in the 1940s. The company moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1951 to become Service Games of Japan (Sega, for short), where they developed coin-op machines for United States servicemen stationed in Japan.

In 1965, Sega merged with Rosen Enterprises, a company founded by the American businessman and former serviceman, David Rosen. Rosen became CEO of Sega until Hayao Nakayama (the owner of Esco, a small Japanese arcade game business that Rosen had acquired) was appointed to head the Japanese branch. In 1986, Rosen left to found Sega of America, a new subsidiary established to better market (and later, develop) Sega products in the U.S. and other western territories. Rosen headed up the new branch until 1989. He remained at Sega of America as chairman until his retirement in 1996. Today Sega is comprised of Sega of Japan (SoJ), Sega of America (SoA), Sega of Europe (SoE), and several smaller subsidiaries.

In late 1989, Sega of Japan's then president and CEO, Hayao Nakayama, tasked three of his employees—Naoto Oshima, Yuji Naka, and Hirokazu Yasuhara—with developing a video game mascot for the company to compete with Nintendo's Mario. Yashuhara, Sonic the Hedgehog's chief level designer, explained the process in an August 2008 interview with Gamasutra:

“in the very beginning, the project staff consisted entirely of Naka and Ohshima, back before I joined them. The main thing Naka had thought up at that time was a game engine that scrolled really, really fast—the problem after that was to figure out what kind of game we could make with that. We didn't have any game at that time, so we had to think about that first. I thought it'd be enough to have a game where you ran really fast, but we couldn't get anything to work. Naka was really adamant about the idea that the game should be playable with one button, since Mario needed two—jump, and run or attack. My response to that was that if you have only one button, then all you can do is jump, so we need to find some way the player can attack at the same time. So our character needed some way to deal damage just by jumping, and from there, we came up with the idea that he should roll himself up into a ball while in the air.”

After several iterations of the character—including a long-eared rabbit and an armadillo—artist Naoto Oshima came up with a design that stuck: Sonic the Hedgehog was born.

Sega introduced their new mascot to the world on their Genesis gaming console ("Mega Drive," as it was known outside the U.S.) on June 21, 1991—first to North America and Europe, and a month later to Japan on July 26th. The game was developed by a team of about 15 Sega of Japan employees, originally known as AM8 and later dubbed Sonic Team. The team was headed in part by Oshima, Yashuhara, and lead programmer Yuji Naka.

Sonic was a huge success, especially in North America and Europe. As his popularity exploded stateside, the opportunity to branch out into other media formats presented itself. With the massive potential of the Sonic brand in mind, Sega began approaching companies like DiC Entertainment and Archie Comics with the intent of licensing out their character for comics, children's books, merchandise, and a television series. With a strong existing fanbase and the increased exposure that these alliances would provide, it was a win-win proposal all around.

This is where Sonic's identity crisis really begins to take shape. With very little story or background established in the games themselves, each division of Sega developed its own mythology in conjunction with its licensees. The effort was not a particularly well coordinated one; sometimes these stories would build off of and complement each other quite nicely—other times they would present wildly contradictory views of the character and his world.

The Sonic Team Debate

In an effort to solve the dilemma of multiple storylines, some fans have concluded that only material developed and approved directly by Sonic Team should be considered canonical. However, this line of thinking is historically flawed.

The big secret about Sonic Team is that it actually didn't exist for much of the 90s. In fact, some of the biggest and most successful titles in the Sonic library were developed in the United States by Sega of America's Sega Technical Institute. If any doubt still remains, feel free to check the credits for Sonic 2, 3, or Sonic & Knuckles—you may be surprised to find that no reference is ever made to any "Sonic Team."

Following the release of Sonic 1, lead programmer Yuji Naka departed Sega along with several other members of Sonic Team who were dissatisfied with management policies at the company's Japanese branch—pay structure, specifically. At around the same time, a high-ranking Sega game designer by the name of Mark Cerny was working with Sega of America's president Tom Kalinske and executive vice president Shinobu Toyoda (the supervisory link between SoA and SoJ at the time) on an idea for a new development studio that would increase game development stateside. Known as the Sega Technical Institute (STI), the studio would bring together some of Sega's brightest talent from both the U.S. and Japan.

After learning of his departure from Sega, Cerny convinced Naka to relocate to the U.S. and work for him at STI (Cerny had worked at Sega of Japan for several years and knew Naka personally). Sonic Team was effectively disbanded and several of its founding members (including Hirokazu Yasuhara) joined Naka in the U.S. There at STI, Japanese and American teams worked alongside one another developing such titles as Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles (as a side note, Naoto Oshima stayed behind in Japan and went on to direct Sonic CD). While Sonic 2 was a combined effort between the American and Japanese employees at STI, the language and cultural barriers between the two teams proved difficult. As a result, Sonic Spinball was developed largely by the the American team, while Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were developed by the Japanese team. While they continued to work together and share talent from time to time, Yuji Naka reportedly preferred to have the two teams work separately.

In 1994, Yuji Naka was offered a promotion by the Japanese management. He and his team split from STI and moved back to Sega of Japan where Sonic Team was eventually re-established. This group went on to create Nights for the release of the Sega Saturn. Back in the U.S., STI continued for several years before folding, developing an array of titles including the infamously scrapped Sonic Xtreme—a story for another day.

All this is simply to say that Sonic's development was never handled solely by a single team. Historically, the franchise—cartoons, comics, and games—has been handled and influenced by a variety of people from all over the world. Even during the original design process for the character, Naoto Oshima consulted with SoA marketing (who, ironically, did not like the idea—another story for another time). Sonic Team may have created the character, but Sonic was ultimately made great by the sum of the influences of the creative minds working at Sonic Team, STI, SoJ, SoA, SoE, and outside companies like DiC, Fleetway, and Archie. Most of this talent (including the original Sonic Team) have since moved on to other things. Even the two individuals most associated with Sonic—Naoto Oshima and Yuji Naka—are no longer involved in Sonic Team or the character's development.

The Culture Debate

Another popular argument goes something like this: 'Sonic should never be tampered with in the west because he is a Japanese creation. Nothing created outside of the direct influence of Sega of Japan should be considered in any way canon.' The implication is that all western-developed continuities and elements are thus invalid and unintended by the character's creators.

Contrary to this belief, however, is the fact that Sonic has long been established as a “western” (North America and Europe) property—even back to the very inception of the character. When asked what inspired Sonic's design, Naoto Oshima—Sonic's original creator/designer—was quoted in a 2008 Nintendo Power interview saying, "Sonic is the personification of my image of America back then. Relative to Japan and its politics, America had a sense of speed and motion that were dynamic. I wanted to capture that essence in Sonic." In an interview with Gamasutra, Oshima's colleague Hirokazu Yasuhara reveals, "we definitely were trying to make [Sonic] popular in America."

The Sonic franchise is not just a Japanese import. In the same way that Sega is an international corporation with roots in both America and Japan, Sonic the Hedgehog is also an international franchise. The character was created with the very deliberate intention of serving as Sega's mascot in all territories.

If anything, Sonic was designed to appeal to the American audience. Let's be blunt: Sonic is an edgy red, white and blue symbol of liberty, surrounded by stories that consistently champion the values of freedom and individualism. Sega saw the incredible potential for growth in the western market during the late 80s and early 90s, and wanted a mascot that would help drive that growth. Designed in the tradition of classic American cartoon icons like Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, Sonic the Hedgehog did just that—and in a big way.

"To say the character was well-known when first submitted to us as a possible comic book property is only half-right. You see, Sonic was the product of a Japanese artist named Naoto Oshima. Like many of his Japanese colleagues, Oshima's work seemed influenced by pioneering American animators such as Otto Messmer, Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks and Max Fleischer—as well as by the “father” of Japanese comics and animation, Osamu Tesuka. The influence was so complete in fact, that like those artists' most famous creations—Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop and in Japan, Mighty Atom (known as “Astro Boy” in America)—Sonic too became a character that was instantly recognizable. Somehow, Oshima managed to bottle the essence of those creations—to create a character so appealing to the eye that you'd swear you'd seen it before dozens of times—all of your life, perhaps. So this was the character that was presented to us."

-Paul Castiglia, former editor of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic

Sonic has always been more popular outside of Japan, and sales figures have consistently reflected this. By the same token, we have always had original media coming out of all regions—not just Japan.

This sentiment has been confirmed on more than one occasion by executives in both Japan and the U.S. When The Sonic Stadium asked SoA president Simon Jeffery in a 2007 interview whether Sonic was considered more popular in the west, Jeffery replied, “Very much so.”

In fact, part of Yuji Naka's motivation for joining STI in 1992 was to be closer to Sonic's epicenter of success: the U.S. When asked about Naka's move in an interview with Sega-16, former president Tom Kalinske added, "I think he (Naka) wanted more freedom, and since Sonic wasn't as successful in the Japanese market as it was in this one, he probably wanted to be closer to where it was successful and listen to why people thought it had been successful, as well as get the input of Americans who loved the character and gameplay."

Later on in 2000, several key members from Sonic Team Japan moved to San Francisco to form Sonic Team USA (later known simply as Sega Studios USA) in a concerted effort to produce future Sonic titles that would appeal to the western market. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes were developed by the USA team before its members returned to Japan where the full Sonic Team once again resides.

For a short time in the early 90s, Sega was an incubator of quality, innovation, and creativity. Sega of America and Sega of Japan had a generally positive relationship, and the American branch was provided a great deal of freedom. Sega of America was nearly equal with the Japanese branch in terms of influence, and the two operated almost as if they were two completely different companies. SoA controlled much of its own marketing, product development, and licensing, and they became wildly successful in doing so (later to the chagrin of their Japanese counterparts). In the words of SoA executive vice president Shinobu Toyoda, "[President] Nakayama clearly understands that when in Rome, you should do as the Romans do. At Sega of America we have autonomy." This autonomy is arguably what led to Sega's success. During this time the company's share of the gaming market rose from 1% to 50%, and their new mascot became an overnight success story.

Much of Sega's success can be attributed to Sega of America's then president Tom Kalinske, who was the driving force behind Sega's aggressive marketing image; a direction that the Japanese side of the company was not at all fond of in the beginning. In an interview with Sega-16, Kalinske described one particularly colorful board meeting he attended in Japan:

"I go back to Japan, and I meet with Hayao Nakayama and the board at Sega, and I say "look, you guys have got this thing all wrong" . . . They said they didn't like anything I had told them and disagreed with all of it, 100%. They didn't agree that we should advertise against Nintendo, staff up the U.S. to develop software, reduce the price of the hardware, or put our best title in with the hardware, and I can't remember all the other stuff they didn't agree with. Basically, they didn't agree with any of it, and I thought that well, this was the shortest career anyone ever had! That's it, three months, and I have to go find another job. But at the door, as he was walking out, Nakayama turned and said "but we hired you to make all the decisions for the United States and Europe, and so, that's what we want you to do, even though we think you're crazy and don't agree with it, go ahead and do it." So from that day, for the next four years, I don't think they ever interfered in any decision we made."

It was at this time that Sega of America began carrying the company both financially and developmentally, and the Japanese side of the business did not take kindly to this new state of affairs. There was a rivalry—or at the very least significant tension in the ranks—brewing between the western branches of Sega and the main Japanese branch during the mid 90s. Some have suggested—and we have reason to believe—that this type of sub-par communication and management persists even today.

In regard to the deteriorating relationship between SoJ and SoA, Kalinske had this to say:

"In hindsight, I think there probably was [some resentment on Sega of Japan's part over the Genesis' success]. I don't believe there was from 1991-1993. I think somewhere in the mid '90s, '94 or '95, they built up a great deal of resentment, and I didn't realize it at the time, until probably the latter part of 1995, when one of my colleagues in Japan, who I knew well and had a good relationship with, said to me something to the effect of "you don't understand how browbeat and annoyed the Japanese executives here are because of your success. Every meeting we go into, Nakayama asks us why can't you do things the way the Americans and Europeans did? Why aren't you guys as successful as they are? We've been around longer." I think the local executives didn't appreciate that he'd take that tone with them. Apparently, he also beat them up over Sonic, which was never as successful in Japan as it was in the U.S. and Europe (to this day, that's the case), and I think he was always throwing that in their faces too. So clearly, by late '95 there was great resentment built up: jealously, resentment, and kind of a desire to get back at those Americans that Nakayama [the CEO of Sega Japan] kept throwing in their faces . . . partly due to our success in America, Japan just didn't want to do the things that we suggested."

Nick Alexander, head of Sega of Europe from its inception until 1994, said in a September 2008 interview with Sega-16, “The relationship between Sega Europe (SoE) and SoJ was complex and at times very challenging,” stating that one of the reasons he had left Sega was because he had “become increasingly frustrated and bewildered by differences in view with SoJ about strategy and marketing.”

In another interview with Sega-16 dated May 2006, Professional journalist and gaming insider Steven Kent had this to say about the relationship between SoJ and its fellow branches:

"Nakayama-san never gave Sega of America its due. It's interesting, Nakayama was brought into Sega Enterprises largely based on the efforts of an American—David Rosen, who was always impressed with Nakayama's business sense. Once he got in, however, Nakayama seems to have decided that the Japanese knew best. He gave Kalinske some latitude when it came to marketing Genesis. Toward the tail end of the Genesis period, however, Nakayama's pre-determination that the Japanese know best became very apparent. The Sega of America team was not consulted during the creation of Sega CD, for instance.

This rivalry and the politically motivated development decisions that resulted from it are often cited in what ultimately led to the downfall of the gaming giant, culminating in the company's exit from the hardware market in 2001.

"SoJ was going through a lot of executive changes there too, and the new people at SoJ pulled the plug on many projects and people in America. The situation was bad at SoJ, and they turned STI and SoA upside down . . . At that time, the company became very political and practically everyone in the SoA management was fired or quit."

-Roger Hector, former STI director interviewed by hxc in 2005

Sonic may have been created in Japan, but he was designed as an international icon from the very beginning. The rivalry that emerged between the two largest branches of Sega helps to put into perspective just how integral Sonic's popularity and development in the west was to the company's success internationally.

The Precedence Debate

Another common approach to the continuity debate is the claim that Sonic is a video game character first and foremost; therefor, the "real" continuity is the games continuity because it came first. Let's break down this argument with a little bit of history.

With a statement like this, we have to ask ourselves: 'which games, which region, and what time frame?' Since the claim suggests that the older the source is, the greater priority it should receive, we'll start with Sonic's earliest-known roots and retrace the character's evolution from there.

In the beginning, Sonic's Genesis titles were developed with the understanding that they would be localized by each branch of the company in order to better suit the audience in each territory. As a result, the games themselves contained very little in-game storyline. Sonic was created as the "cool" alternative to Nintendo's Mario, and Sega understood that what might be considered "cool" in Japan might not have the same appeal in America. In a 1992 interview with Sega Visions, Yuji Naka explained, "It was difficult to create a character that can please children from all over the world, because we had an idea of the worldwide evolution for Sonic. We concentrated on creating simplicity and the impact of colors."

This is where the precedence argument falls flat on its face. The early games essentially had no story—at least not one common to all territories.

Most of the story development that did exist was initially behind the scenes. While Sonic Team was busy developing Sonic 1 in Japan, the producers on the American side (who communicated with the development team in Japan) were beginning to flesh out a back story for the character in the west. This included giving many of the characters and enemies English names. Dr. Ivo Robotnik—known in Japan as "Dr. Eggman"—is one of the characters who received a different moniker for the west (Remember all those egg-related insults and nicknames Sonic used to use for his nemesis in the old cartoons and comics? Now you know where they came from). According to Dean Sitton, the Sega of America employee responsible for proposing the name “Dr. Ivo Robotnik” to the game's American producers, the producers created a “Sonic bible” that was used internally within the branch and by its licensees to establish a background, persona, and world for the character.

"As a lowly game councilor I would sit at a desk and answer about 200 calls a day telling callers how to beat games etc. I would often get invited to brainstorming meetings to help develop storylines or name characters... offer ideas. The sonic game [was] in an early state (just a few levels and some of the characters appeared as garbage chars that flickered. The producer of the U.S. version would be in Japan and call in for updates. Like how many rings for a free man... how many rings for a continue etc. I got to play the game for a week or so and I submitted a document that showed the characters in the game that I could see and a few names for each of them. Dr. Badvibes and many other names were not chosen. I named Ivo Robotnik, Ballhog, and 3-4 more from that game. I helped to flesh out the fiction for Green Hill and Sally/Sandy/whatever the girl's name is now. Usually producers of games have only to fill in the blanks. It doesn't always matter how the blanks get filled in."

-Dean Sitton, interviewed by hxc in 2006

Throughout the 90s, this internal continuity remained different for the east and the west; even the box art and promotional artwork for the games was re-imagined to give the 'hog an 'edgier' look in the states.

"We [at] SoA didn’t know much about the [Sonic] fiction because there wasn’t really any at that time . . . It wasn’t really a "team," but 2 game councilors and the 2 producers saying 'this is called this and that is that.'"

-Dean Sitton

While the western game manuals of the time (shared by both North America and Europe) remained vague on the character's past, location, and the names of his little forest friends, the Sonic bible delved into much greater detail. A first draft of the story reveals such esoteric details as Sonic (real name: Sonny) living next to a burger joint in Hardly, Nebraska (population 1,226). Later drafts, however, reveal the origin of some much more familiar elements of the Sonic franchise. Some excerpts:

“The story begins on the planet Mobius at an unspecified point in time and space. Sonic the Hedgehog, an orphan, grows up with his forest friends in the Green Hill Zone. From each of his animal friends, he picks up different skills and characteristics—not all of them good. Speed, cleverness, but also stubbornness and cockiness are among the traits he develops, plus a certain amount of “forest smarts.”

“Orphaned at an early age, Sonic grows up in the forest of the Green Hill Zone and falls in with a clan of rambunctious animal friends. His friends teach him all the tricks they know. From Johnny Lightfoot (the rabbit), Sonic learns how to outrun every other creature in the forest; from Sally Acorn (the squirrel), he learns how to jump incredible distances; and Porker Lewis (the pig) teaches him to fear fire. Flicky the Bluebird influences Sonic with her happy, fearless, approach to life; Joe Sushi (the walrus) shows him how to dive and swim underwater; and from Tux (the penguin), Sonic picks up the skill of finding air bubbles underwater. Most important of all, Chirps (the chicken) inadvertently helps Sonic develop the technique for his Super Sonic Spin Attack. As Chirps is learning to fly, he tumbles head over heels out of the nest. Sonic teases Chirps by imitating him, but as he tumbles, Sonic builds up so much speed that he becomes a blur of quills and fur. Before Sonic knows it, he's drilled a hole through the side of a mountain!”

“Sonic's main buddies are Johnny Lightfoot, Sally Acorn, Porker Lewis, Chirps, Tux, Flicky the Bluebird, and Joe Sushi. Each comes from a large family, and each is playful and friendly. Sonic's pals make their home in the forest of the Green Hill Zone. With Robotnik on the rampage, however, they and their families have been scattered throughout the six zones, turned into mechanized warriors who try to destroy Sonic, or held captive in steel tanks at the borders of each zone. As Sonic releases his friends from captivity or robotdom, they bound away in glee.”

“Sonic meets Dr. Robotnik by accident, after tunneling into his secret underground lab. Robotnik (before he turns evil) befriends Sonic and lets Sonic visit from time to time to watch experiments. When Robotnik becomes evil, Sonic escapes from the lab, returns to the Green Hill Zone, and tries to warn his friends of the impending planetary disaster.”

“Kintobor [Dr. Robotnik] bloats up like a gigantic egg, turns against Sonic, and threatens to wage biogeophysical warfare against all of Mobius until he can completely ruin and control the planet. He plans to capture and transform all of Sonic's friends into mechanized monsters and use them to attack Sonic. He also plants dastardly, mechanized traps in the six zones of Mobius.”

“After the accident, Robotnik comes to the sudden realization that understanding Nature isn't enough—one must dominate, control, and contort it. And so his goal in life is to control and/or mechanize anything he comes across.”

“Carefree and radically cool . . . He cares about his forest pals and delights in coming to their rescue. Then there's Sonic's Attitude . . . Sonic does not respond well to authority—he just doesn't have time to listen to someone else tell him what to do. Instead, he'd rather figure it out for himself, or just do what ever needs to be done without thinking about it. He's cocky, independent, self-assured, but never obnoxious or cruel.”

“His favorite diet? Fast food.”

Aside from the mythology being developed behind the scenes, there were some public sources of Sonic fiction at the time as well. In 1991, Sega of America produced a promotional mini-comic. Written by Francis Mao, the comic was distributed through a variety of channels in the U.S. and Europe to correspond with the release of Sonic 1. The comic establishes Sonic's home planet as Mobius (no, it wasn't from a mistranslation of a Yuji Naka interview) and introduces us to several of the “tiny animals” in their western forms ("Porker Lewis" is mentioned here by name and we are shown the "badnik transforming machine"). The comic also speaks of how Sonic received his blue hue and his trademark sneakers from the friendly “Dr. Ovi Kintobor” before he was transformed into the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik. As you might expect, this back story followed Sega of America's Sonic bible to a tee.

Europe remained even more faithful to the Sonic bible than their American counterparts did. Many of the details and characters established in the bible and the promo-comic were reused verbatim in 1993's official Stay Sonic guide and formed the basis for the UK comic book series, Sonic the Comic. Although very few specific details from these early bibles may be recognized today, it's difficult to dismiss the influence that the Sonic bible had on defining Sonic's character around the world.

"This is all back story which isn't really delivered within the game scope. Many unknowns in fiction were filled in or made up or delivered from Japan as success of the license grew . . . Each of these fictions [Sonic continuities] has a life of its own... There's SoA, Archie comics, the several cartoons, the original Japanese game and UK game versions."

-Dean Sitton

We don't know how many subsequent versions of the Sonic bible existed, but it likely received regular revisions. Despite its claim that “You may build upon the concepts, storyline, and characters described in this bible, but you may not contradict any of the information this bible contains,” it's clear that developments introduced by licensees like DiC and Archie were quickly adopted by Sega of America, and that many of the established elements in the bible were contradicted or altered in the process.

When the ABC Saturday morning TV series (SatAM) began pre-production in 1992, veteran animator and story editor Len Janson went to task developing a premise for the show that would soon go on to solidify an entirely new direction for the franchise in the west. Janson produced a writer's bible in which Sonic's band of friends (including the aforementioned Sally Acorn) were completely re-imagined as a team of “Freedom Fighters” living in the secret hideaway of Knothole Village. These young heroes risked life-and-limb together to free Mobius from the oppression of Dr. Robotnik and the ever-present fear of his Roboticizor machine.

Sega of America carried the SatAM story over to other forms of media, effectively making it the standard Sonic story in America for several years. Archie comics was provided with a copy of the SatAM bible, which the writers used as a basis for the Sonic the Hedgehog comics. Even Nigel Kitching, the writer for UK's Sonic the Comic was told that he should make Sonic part of a team of Freedom Fighters, per Sega's request. This same general premise and cast of characters was also echoed in a series of mini-novels written by Michael Tietelbaum, a “Look and Find” book, a series of Golden Books, promotional materials, SegaWorld Sydney events (statues pictured at right), and a variety of additional merchandising. The Genesis title, Sonic Spinball (developed by STI and released in both America and Japan), includes cameos from SatAM and Adventures characters in its bonus stages, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine was heavily based on Adventures. Several of the U.S. and European game manuals even relate back to the western continuity. In a prime example of localization gone awry, the Sonic CD manual references Mobius and mistakenly refers to Amy Rose as “Princess Sally.”

According to Chris Senn, one of the top game designers at STI, there were even plans drawn up at the institute to bring the SatAM storyline and characters to the game series:

“There was interest in building on previous storylines or characters, and in the beginning, STI management wanted a tie-in to the cartoon show characters.”

-Chris Senn, STI game developer

The first attempt at a tie-in was a demo for a Genesis game called “Sonic 16,” produced by an STI developer named Peter Morawiec. Peter shared his demo with the world in an interview with Sega-16:

“Shortly after finishing Sonic Spinball, Roger Hector (STI's boss) took Naka's team and number of us down to DiC Animation in Burbank, CA. The studio was about to start production on a Sonic cartoon series for the ABC TV network. It was a funny meeting - the storyboards were super Warner Bros'y, all squash-and-stretch, and full of silly slapstick humor. The Sonic Team guys sat through the spiel all stone-faced, so I don't think they liked it very much. Roger was interested in having STI create a spin-off game based on the show, so I tried to come up with a gameplay format allowing for more story and adventure than the original Sonic games. I had made a number of these Amiga demos by then, so it didn't take very long to put together, probably less than a week . . . Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to animate fast-scrolling backgrounds in Brilliance, so the demo came off too slow-paced, though I always intended for it to have some fast-moving sections. From what I heard, Naka gave the design thumbs down, but it was probably the right decision. The cartoon wasn't even out, so banking on its success would've been premature, and too many spin-offs for a fresh new franchise are likely to do more harm than good.”

-Peter Morawiec, STI developer

From the sound of it, the presentation that STI was given was either for AoStH or a very early prototype of SatAM. Morawiec's demo, however, is distinctly SatAM as we know it.

In a script written by Michael Kosaka and obtained by Sonic Cult, we also discover that Sonic Mars—the precursor to Sonic Xtreme designed for the Genesis 32X (which was codenamed “Mars” at the time)—would have contained playable SatAM characters and environments. Everyone from Sally to Antoine and everywhere from Robotropolis to Knothole is mentioned here. The plot summary from the game script says it all:

"While Sonic is away checking on a security alarm in a remote part of the Great Forest, his pals (Sally, Bunnie, Tails and Knuckles) have discovered a strange message from within one of Robotnik’s super computers. [Dr. Robotnik is trying to take over a computer VR world (Micro Mobius) and the message is a plea for help from its peaceful inhabitants.] Sonic returns to Knothole to discover that Robotnik has captured his friends and taken them into his VR world. Sonic attempts to save his friends and thwart Robotnik’s plan to “reformat” Micro Mobius."

Although there is a tendency to emphasize differences between Sonic universes, it should be noted that the mythology developed by SatAM to support the western media did not differ sharply from what was actually presented in the games released at the time (Sonic 1 & 2). In the games we have Sonic and his pal, Tails, fighting to save their planet (Mobius or Earth, depending on which region's story you subscribe to) from the diabolical plans of the evil scientist, Dr. Robotnik (Eggman on the Japanese side). His methodology? Overtaking cities, refineries and forests, polluting the world and enslaving Sonic's forest friends in robots. While the western story developed for SatAM and Archie adds a lot to this premise, it rarely contradicts it. The roboticizor is a concept straight out of the games, as are the recognizable themes of anti-oppression, environmentalism, and nature vs. industry. We've even got Time Stones and a “Doomsday Project.” In some ways, it could even be argued that this interpretation was a closer representation of Sonic Team's early games than the later games became.

While the Sonic story continued to evolve in the west, fans in the east were also presented with a variety of stories to choose from. Despite Sonic Team's own direct involvement in the production, Sonic the Movie (the OVA) shared little in common with any previous fiction, placing Sonic on “Planet Freedom." A licensed Sonic Manga published in 1992 (the first appearance of characters Amy Rose and Charmy Bee—SoJ later adopted them as characters of their own) portrayed Sonic as a young hedgehog boy named “Nicky.”

The issue over which mythology came first is not so cut-and-dried. The two main sets of mythology (east and west) appear to have developed simultaneously, and both evolved drastically over time, branching out into different media. Not only that, but it would appear that some of the very earliest bits of fiction contained elements that nobody accepts as canon today. Most of the western-developed characters including Sally Acorn, Johnny Lightfoot, and Porker Lewis actually predate Japanese-developed supporting cast members like Amy Rose and Knuckles the Echidna. Although their developments were not widely incorporated by Sonic Team overseas, some of the first sources to truly flesh out Sonic's personality and world in detail were actually American and European.

If you were to go back to the 90s and ask any western Sonic fan about Sonic the Hedgehog, he probably would have told you something about Mobius, Robotnik, and the Freedom Fighters. The fact is that—during the period of Sonic's greatest level of fame—far more fans were exposed to these storylines than any other.

Sonic's appeal is not limited to a particular format, nor is there any good reason for it to be. In Sega of America president Simon Jeffery's own words, “There will always be room for Sonic, no matter what the technology. Sonic is a character, not a game.”

The Officiality Debate

The issue here is one of both intention and law. The perception is that Sega does not own or is somehow unaware of any continuities apart from the Japanese games universe. This is one of the most popular arguments, although it's also the easiest to debunk; we've already begun to do so in the first three sections.

Now, Sega is a huge corporation composed of thousands of people, each with opinions and preferences all their own. This makes it difficult to make generalizations about the opinions or behavior of the company as a whole. Since the company has never come out and made any sort of formal statement on the matter of "Sonic canon" and probably never will (you can bet it's not high on the board meeting agenda), we are going to look at things largely from a legal perspective—the same way that Sega looks at it.

The image above is of one of Sega's Sonic License Approval Forms from 1994. Anything related to the Sonic property must go through an approval process at Sega, and everything that meets their approval is deemed official. If something does not meet the company's approval, it is either modified at their request or held back from release altogether. Everything Sonic-branded—from every single issue of Archie's Sonic Comics to SatAM and its DVD releases—has had to meet Sega's approval through a similar process. In other words, all Sonic is “SegaSonic,” because all Sonic is official and Sega-approved. It simply wouldn't exist if it wasn't.

Accordingly, the Sonic bible states:

This official Sonic the Hedgehog bible is your reference for creating and marketing Sonic the Hedgehog products . . . This Bible is for the exclusive use of Sega of America, Inc. and its business partners . . . You may build upon the concepts, storyline, and characters described in this bible, but you may not contradict any of the information this bible contains. Sega of America reserves the right to change the contents of this bible at any time, without prior notification. Any product related in any way to the Sonic the Hedgehog story or character must be approved by Sega of America Inc., according to the terms outlined in the Quality Control section of this bible . . . To assure consistency for all licensed products, your Sonic the Hedgehog License Agreement requires that written approval be obtained for any proposed use of the Sonic the Hedgehog logo, character names, or renditions prior to production and sale. Approvals must be obtained from Sega of America, Inc. Sega of America's Product Managers and/or Agents will be delighted to work with you on creative concepts.

Sega is and has always been very protective of the Sonic brand. In fact, in the 90s Sega employed a company called Copyright Promotions (a subsidiary of DiC Entertainment) just to oversee licensing in Europe and make sure that the Sonic Property was being portrayed correctly in merchandising and comics.

To this day every single issue of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series is reviewed and approved every step of the way by Sega's licensing departments in both America and Japan before release to the public.

"Every level of production is run past Sega. Robert Leffler and Dyna Lopez work in Sega Licensing and the script has to get approved, the pencils have to get approved, the inking, then the lettering, then the coloring. Everything has to go through them first."

-Ian Flynn, head writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series

Not only does Sega put its stamp of approval on licensed products like the SatAM TV show and the Archie comics series, but in many cases Sega is the one to approach these companies in the first place. Back in the 90s, It was Sega that instructed Archie to follow the cartoons:

"In the beginning, Sega instructed our editorial team to reflect the art and story styles of the syndicated series, but it soon became apparent from fan reaction that the Saturday morning series was the one striking a nerve. The comic soon followed suit with a mix of the two styles, but a heavier emphasis on the dramatic . . . As the comic series and the animated shows were simultaneously developed, the tight, advanced scheduling of the comic industry kept us from keeping up with last-minute changes made to the shows. This resulted in Sally being printed in various color schemes that didn't match her TV counterpart as well as Rotor being referred to as Boomer."

-Paul Castiglia, former Archie editor

When Archie writer Ken Penders had plans to kill off Princess Sally Acorn for dramatic effect in the comic book series, it was Sega that swept in to save the day:

”I felt that the plot device of killing off Sally would be the only justification for Sonic to fully cut loose and go after Robotnik no matter what . . . Because Sega didn't want to rule out the possibility of using Sally in the future, it was decided she should live.”

-Ken Penders, interviewed by Sonic HQ

According to the pilot script for SatAM, writing for the series began on 4/14/92, not long after the release of Sonic 1. In fact, the SatAM bible's first revision dates all the way back to 2/18/92! It's clear from this early production material that Sega had every intention of turning Sonic into a media star from the very beginning. Bearing in mind that Sonic 2 wasn't even released until November 1992, DiC would have had to have had early knowledge of Tails' character in order to incorporate him into the story on such short notice. This suggests that the two companies worked closely together. Moreover, most of the members of Sonic Team were in fact working in the U.S. when SatAM was produced and aired. It seems only reasonable to assume that they at the very least had knowledge of the show—and probably watched it!

In a 1992 interview with Sega Visions, Yuji Naka acknowledged the western concept of Mobius, saying, “Sonic has to run through more levels . . . the new Mobius worlds are brighter, crisper, and much more detailed. However, we think players will be too busy getting through the game to spend any time enjoying the scenery.”

In an interview on the Sonic Underground DVD box set, DiC's Robbie London tells us that Sega of Japan was very active in the approval process for the Sonic Underground cartoon series, even going so far as to force the company to reanimate the character to have 5 fingers (In Japan, 4 fingers was associated with the mafia).

Even under this close scrutiny, Sega approved of every licensed Sonic product we have today—multiple universes and all. It would seem that Sega was far more concerned with the character's overall image than in maintaining a single cohesive story.

According to both Sonic the Comic writer Nigel Kitching and SatAM writer Ben Hurst, one of the positive aspects about Sega back in the 90s is how much artistic freedom they provided to people working on the Sonic franchise. While there was always plenty of oversight from the executives—and even the occasional dispute (SatAM Story Editor Len Janson had to fight hard on several occasions to defend the writers' mythology against Sega of America's own continuity)—Sega generally allowed each portrayal to develop its own unique interpretation of the Sonic universe. This resulted in cartoons and comics that could be developed similar to independent properties, instead of being stifled by internal business politics like many licensed products are.

"With a different attitude from Sega Europe, Sonic The Comic would have been just another bit of soulless merchandising."

-Nigel Kitching, writer for Sonic the Comic

Of course, all of this begs the question: if all continuities are valid, official representations of the Sonic universe, then how do we reconcile the differences between them? The fact is that we don't have to—Sega certainly hasn't.

The Sonic franchise is what is sometimes referred to as a “multiverse,” meaning it consists of more than one official universe. If one Sonic medium does not agree with another, it is a non-issue because each incarnation is part of a separate universe. Each continuity has its own canon and mythology. Whether this was a conscious decision or just a case of poor communication at Sega, it's simply how the company chose to market its intellectual property.

Sonic Today

As the number and variety of Sonic's interpretations continued to grow throughout the 90s and the central game series began to develop a more complex story of its own, Sonic fans around the globe were faced with a barrage of contradictory information. To reel things back in, the Sonic game continuity became “internationalized” in 1999 with the release of Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, and the majority of the western storyline details and character developments from the cartoons and comics were quietly dropped.

Despite Sega's apparent move to internationalize the Sonic franchise, there are still some elements from western localizations that have survived the transition. Indeed, there are still points on which the modern media sharply differ. Recently there appears to be a move towards greater recognition of some of Sonic's most classic elements. To name a few:

• Sonic's love for Chili Dogs has returned, most explicitly in the opening movie to Sonic and the Black Knight. Chili Dogs are also described as Sonic's favorite food in Sonic Unleashed, get a shout out in Sonic Chronicles, and are even mentioned in the Japanese guide for Sonic Advance 3.
• In spite of Sega of Japan's movement to phase out the western name "Dr. Robotnik" in favor of his Japanese title, "Dr. Eggman," the name "Robotnik" has begun to resurface again. In Sonic Adventure 2, the moniker finally received recognition in Japan as Eggman's family name. The Archie comic series still often refers to the character as "Robotnik," and the Sonic RPG Sonic Chronicles uses the name on several occasions during in-game dialog. Yuji Naka once commented on the matter in an interview with Sonic Channel saying, "To tell the truth, his name has not changed. Robotnik is his real name and Eggman is a common name taken after his shape."
• Sonic's home planet is still an issue of dispute. The Sonic X anime (a production directly supervised by Sonic Team), reveals that Sonic was transported to Earth from another planet (which is left unnamed for reasons unknown), a planet populated by anthropomorphic creatures like himself (Earth animals are depicted in realistic form and Sonic is viewed as an anomaly when he arrives there). This is in contradiction to the games, which appear to suggest that Sonic has always lived on Earth.
• The use of the title “the fastest thing alive” appears in Sonic Riders.
• Sonic's use of power rings for increased strength and ability is highlighted in Sonic X, similar to their use SatAM.
• The official Archie comic series, Sonic the Hedgehog, still follows in the footsteps of SatAM and includes the original Freedom Fighter cast. According to a member of SMS with sources in Japan, the Archie book and its unique cast have even been getting some attention overseas. Yuji Naka published a letter in the book commemorating issue 125, and Sonic Team's own Jun Senoue did a report on the series on the official Sonic Channel web site. For a time, a Sonic X comic ran alongside the StH book, proving that Sega is quite comfortable with allowing more than one continuity to co-exist.
• The Sonic Mega Collection, compiled under the supervision of Sonic Team, contains a “Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Book Cover Gallery” of over 100 comic covers and full scans of the entire Sonic Firsts series. The Introduction to the gallery, provided by Archie Comic Publications, contains a “History of the Series,” which delves into the comic's relationship to the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) cartoon shows.
• Because of his greater popularity in the west, Sega has begun involving more western developers such as Bioware and Backbone Entertainment in creating Sonic games again.
• Swat Bots appear in Sonic Chronicles.
• SoJ's own Sonic Channel history page includes references to SatAM, Archie, and AoStH.

Even post-1999 the games themselves have had little by way of a coherent continuity, with many games taking place in alternate dimensions or storybook worlds. According to SoE's Kevin Eva, Sonic Team is ultimately concerned with the “here and now”—whichever games, characters, or ideas that happens to include. Despite the persistence of contradictions and plot holes, however, today's Sonic franchise maintains largely the same cast of characters with similar characterizations and elements throughout all regions; something that the Sonic of the 90s did not do.

Sega is not at all the company it once was, either in terms of personnel, structure, or policy. Sega of America no longer has the autonomy that it once had in the 90s; most of the decisions today are dictated by the executives in Japan, who have the final say on just about everything that happens at Sega. According to SoA president Simon Jeffery in a 2006 interview with The Sonic Stadium, Sonic Team in Japan is now "The keeper of all things Sonic." As SoE Community man Kevin Eva put it, everything is "vetted intensely by Japan." Everything about Sonic—all the way down to the English voice actors and the directing of their performances—is ultimately controlled by Sonic Team and Sega of Japan.

Today, fans are split: while a large contingent continues to recognize western concepts like planet Mobius and the Freedom Fighters, Sega's mainstream fanbase seems largely unaware of such concepts, or believes them to be entirely irrelevant. The divide between the old western and the new eastern mythology is one of the single most glaring devides in the Sonic fanbase; 'Sonic the Freedom Fighter' vs. 'Sonic the loner.' For some, the changes that have accompanied internationalization have been unwelcome. For others, this "streamlining" of the series has helped to refocus the license and soften the character's identity crisis. Whether or not Sega has been successful at melding the franchise into a universe marketable across national boundaries is a question beyond the scope of this article—one that is still up for debate.

The Point

For many fans, what this whole debate really comes down to is a question of who really owns Sonic, and there is no definitive answer to that question aside from Sega as a whole. Does anyone really own Sonic? Do you really want anyone to own Sonic? These are questions that depend on the values of each individual fan. In the end, Sonic is just fiction, and no piece of pure fiction can be any more “real” than the next.

Although in some ways it may be frustrating not to have a single, consistent continuity to reference, the reality is that there simply never was one. And really, wouldn't it be awfully boring if there was? Much of Sonic's mass appeal comes from the fact that he is not relegated to a single portrayal or medium.

There's no doubt that Sega created a bit of a mess for themselves. Each branch of the company was left free to develop and market its own localized version of the franchise, license out the character, and adopt elements from other regions and licensees. Fans can argue all day long over whether Sonic is from Mobius, Earth (future Earth, Earth in an alternate dimension), Planet Freedom, an unspecified world, or some unnamed planet, but no one will ever win because there has never been one single “official” storyline aside from the basic "Sonic vs. Robotnik" premise that was developed for the early Genesis games—the foundation for all Sonic mythology that followed. All of the continuities are valid, official interpretations of Sonic, distinct in their own right. Although Sega may not give every universe the attention we'd like, they have established and recognized their officiality.

The Sonic franchise will continue to change and evolve as time goes on—that's simply product lifecycle. The series is unique in that its fans are sustained by a consistent flow of material from a variety of media sources. How much material—TV shows, comics, movies, merchandise, and games—are you willing to throw away to protect your “ideal” version of Sonic? Someday today's generation of fans will be reminiscing about “the good old days” the same way that old school fans do now. Time marches on. Sonic should be allowed to change with the times, but there is no reason why his past should be thrown aside or forgotten, either. At the end of the day, it's all Sonic.

My advice? Let's give this debate a rest and learn to appreciate all Sonic material for what it's worth on its own individual merit. It doesn't have to fit together. You don't have to like all of it (or any of it), but you should accept it as part of the larger Sonic multiverse. The fact still remains that—like it or not—all of these continuities existed and Sega had a hand in all of them. The Sonic franchise is just one of many series with these types of dimensional conflicts—just look at Zelda, Megaman, Batman, Superman, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Star Trek. Which continuity you favor is simply a matter of personal preference—not a matter of which one is “canon” or “official.” It's time to get past these silly inter-community battles and learn to respect each other's opinions. After all, we all love the same little blue hedgehog—don't we?

Sources: Sega-16, Nintendo Power, Gamasutra, Sega.com, Sonic Channel, New York Times, Sonic Retro, Sonic Stadium. Special thanks to Nigel Kitching, Dean Sitton, Ben Hurst, and Ian Flynn. An extra measure of gratitude goes out to Sega-16 for their interviews and extensive research into the golden age of Sega.

*As we established, the term “SegaSonic”—although perhaps a useful descriptor—is inaccurate, as all Sonic is Sega approved. This is a loaded term used by some fans to refer exclusively to the Japanese translation of Sonic games made by Sonic Team. The origin of the term in its current use can actually be pinpointed back to a debate on the alt.fan.sonic-hedgehog newsgroup about continuity legitimacy between two fans, David Bulmer and Alessandro. Bulmer borrowed the term from the Japanese arcade game by the same name and has since stated that he regrets ever doing so.

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