Sonic X-treme was announced, but it was cancelled due to a permission dispute between developers, and filled in at the 11th hour by an upgraded port of the Genesis game Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island.Īround the turn of the millennium, the series got revitalized in a truly three-dimensional incarnation on SEGA's final home console, the Dreamcast. The spinoff game, Sonic R, was the only noteworthy Sonic game on the console. Sonic, meanwhile, reached an Audience-Alienating Era during the run of SEGA's Saturn console, which was a good deal less successful than its predecessor.

These imitators would continue to be a somewhat dominating presence on the video game market throughout the rest of The 16-bit Era of Console Video Games, and the popularity of the subgenre would first truly start to wane in the late 1990s, even with how other big names like a certain bandicoot or dragon took inspiration from it.

Most mascots might have taken the form of more or less subtle imitations of Sonic, but they were all pretty blatantly meant to cash on the series' popularity. Of course, SEGA's success with Sonic did not by any means go unnoticed by their competition, both in the West and in their home court of Japan, and in the wake of the release of the original trilogy for the Genesis, a slew of Mascot with Attitude platformers would hit the video game market. (This was the predecessor to the eventual family-friendly versus mature games debate, with a hedgehog with an attitude standing in for killing beeyotches.) For a short while, Sonic managed to overshadow Mario, Mickey Mouse and even Bugs Bunny themselves in worldwide popularity, due to the technical whizziness of the series' concept (helped by Sega dropping the term ' Blast Processing' into its ads) and the proto-Badass nature of its main character. Many entertainment companies were given the license to produce no less than four cartoon series, seven comic series, countless books, a Sunday comic strip, and even an OVA, all to capitalize on Sonic's success. The sprites were incredibly well-drawn, the levels were huge and expansive with a few alternate paths, and they incorporated many design features like loops, corkscrews, and crumbling ledges that were never seen before in any game. The spunky, ever-lovin' cobalt-blue insectivore grew in strength and speed with each sequel to put its creators into a healthy competitive spot with Nintendo (and other, lesser gaming companies, most notably Hudson Soft and SNK) during the 16-bit Console Wars. Originally created in 1991 for the then-fledgling Sega Genesis (and not-so-fledgling Sega Master System) by a group of fifteen people (who were later to be named Sonic Team) tasked with creating a mascot to compete with the face of video games, Sonic quickly became the gaming company's mascot, immediately replacing Sega's previous mascot, Alex Kidd. Since Eggman's always striking back with another new trick up his sleeve, Sonic's usually got some help in the form of his supporting cast, including: Miles 'Tails' Prower (as in 'miles per hour'), a two-tailed fox kit serving as Sonic's trusty sidekick and Heli-Critter transport Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic's hot red foe-turned-friend with the physical power to match his namesake Amy Rose, his love-struck Fangirl with a Genki Girl attitude and a mallet you don't wanna mess with and the cavalcade of all the other friends and allies he's made over the years. In both cases, it's merely Gameplay and Story Segregation - the developers just lacked the time or drive to make different-colored sprites for all of the Emeralds.) (There are only two games where this is not the case - Sonic Spinball, where none of them are green (they're all blue instead), and Sonic Battle, where all of them are green.

note Incidentally, despite being called 'Emeralds', only one of them is green. Naturally, the free-spirited Sonic doesn't approve of Eggman's ambitions, and Eggman really hates that hedgehog for expressing said disapproval through scheme-thwarting time and time again, so the series follows wherever the endless conflict between fat man and kinetic Funny Animal will take them next. Eggman- a mustached Mad Scientist with a big girth, bigger robot army and an even bigger ego, and a life goal of using his scientific know-how (with unique power sources like the Chaos Emeralds being a plus) to achieve world domination. This platforming plethora of ring-collecting and badnik-charging stars the titular Sonic the Hedgehog, a real cool blue dude with Super-Speed and a knack for taking whatever thrill rides he can find. Sega's flagship franchise and one of the most popular video game properties of all time.

Marvel heroes tabletop pinball machine