History and the Development of Sonic the Hedgehog
Monday, 21st March 2022, 1:27pm (UTC), 0 Comments


Sonic the Hedgehog is a Sega video game character created by manga artist Naoto ?shima and graphic designer Yuji Uekawa in collaboration with Sega's head developer, Takashi Iizuka. The hedgehog is able to move fast enough to escape from locked doors and walls, and can also curl up into a ball for protection.

The hedgehog's debut was in June 1991, and it quickly became one of the world's most popular gaming and media franchise that had global appeal and awareness. Since the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, even to this very day, this franchise inspires a lot of games and animated characters, in terms of the games, there are many digital games that have the same concept, for example, there are many slot themed games in the sonic format. You can find a number a new options here if you have been looking for new gaming options as would like to play traditional casino games, with the gaming platform, you have the possible chance to win money.

Sonic the Hedgehog was created by Sega in order to compete with Nintendo's popular Super Mario series. The idea of Sonic was inspired from several games such as "BurgerTime", "Popeye" and "Namco's Pac-Man". It also inspired the creation of other characters that are seen in the Sonic series such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Eggman. At first, Sonic was called Mr. Needlemouse because of his long arms that look like a mouse's tail. The name was later changed to Sonic because it was easier to pronounce, and it stuck.

Sonic is meant to be a universal character and has been ported to other game systems including Nintendo's Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2 and 3 (as well as Sega's own Dreamcast).

In Japan, Sonic found success as a pop cultural icon by starring in TV animation (including one based on the American version), comic books, cartoons, comics and merchandising. To this day, Sega has released over 100 games of which more than ten have been made exclusively for the Game Boy Advance. Although the characters have had their own spin-off games and comics, they have never been successful enough to maintain their own television series. Sonic the Hedgehog has had two movies, one real life animation that was released in 2020 and the second movie that is being released 1st April 2022, the first film was a massive success and if haven't seen the movie, it's definitely worth the watch.
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Something of a Sonic Movie Tradition
Thursday, 3rd March 2022, 10:58am (UTC), 0 Comments
Branding is a vital part of any venture and getting it right the first time can make or break any big release - it's true for any form of media whether that be the latest music and album release, lists of different games and options with examples like these online, or within a new movie release, particularly ones that come with high fan expectations if they're based on a popular game or character. It seems something of a tradition for the Sonic franchise at this rate, as the second movie release has already had a bit of criticism prior to its release.

With the first movie, the criticism was with the design of the main character - the original CGI Sonic had perhaps looked goofier than intended and almost immediately had a negative fan response, but the studio accommodated change very quickly and the new look was received well and has been used once again for the new movie. Fortunately, lessons were learned from this and the appearance of both Knuckles and Tails doesn't seem to have had much creative freedom taken and they remain quite true to form as they'd look within the games.



The latest snafu has come for the release poster, which underwent almost immediate change - the original poster had shown the names of the headlining stars in James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, and Jim Carrey, but neglected to mention the names of returning cast member Tika Sumpter and the new voice of Tails, Colleen O'Shaughnessey. Unlike the first release, not including a couple of names on the poster seems like a very minor mistake to make and another that was quickly able to be resolved without too much hassle, but a funny trend to have both releases find even a small amount of criticism just before their scheduled release.

With the first movie being something of a pleasant surprise for viewers once it first arrived with plenty of easter eggs too, there's a lot of hope that the second movie will be able to deliver on much of the same fun and wacky acting to be a similar success, and with some other big names joining the cast too it could lead to another fun flick once again. A third movie has already been confirmed by Paramount too and a spin-off focusing on the Knuckles character, so it could also be interesting to see what snafu's come from the next batch of releases if any, and whether or not it becomes something of a Sonic movie tradition.
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The Importance of a Strong IP
Friday, 28th January 2022, 12:53pm (UTC), 0 Comments
Recognizable characters can make or break many forms of entertainment - whether this is a non-fictional character represented on the big screen or something fictional created specifically for game, film, or TV purposes, a great character and a strong IP can make all the difference. Some have lived timelessly through these different media and have been recreated as the figurehead in reproductions as more gaming sites are featuring beloved characters in different gaming genres, but just how important is it to have a good IP that can span these different interests?

Two perfect examples can be taken from the childhood of many avid gamers today - the title characters of the Nintendo and Sega IPs of both Mario and Sonic are two characters that won't soon be forgotten, particularly as newer representations of them are still so influential today. For Sonic, one only needs to look to the success of the first live-action movie and the upcoming release to show how much interest still lies there, as well as the sales numbers for games which continue to impress, and the merchandising side too through spin-off TV shows and physical products with toys and clothing too. Despite first showing in media back in 1991, Sonic is still as influential as its first release.



Similarly for the Nintendo IP, Mario is still an extremely prominent figure with its own movie releasing soon enough, and a number of the games are still the most played and speed run games today - whilst the gaming representation is still much higher than that of the former as Nintendo is still publishing titles on a regular basis, both have managed to have a huge amount of since their creation and have shown that a strong IP will stick around for a long period of time.

As all markets become more saturated with newer characters, newer interests, and changing demands, these two characters still stick out amongst all of the others which is even more impressive with just how long they've been around, and show that these well developed characters even very different to modern offerings can be explored in many different ways, and in many different forms too - whilst not all are well received and the first movie release of Sonic can attest to that, it does show that there is at least a lot of creativity left for these characters, and that these different creative approaches can breathe fresh life into these influential memories for many.
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