Three Reasons Why the Sonic the Hedgehog Franchise is Successful
Thursday, 24th March 2022, 3:51pm (UTC), 0 Comments


Sonic the Hedgehog is both a fictional character and the name of the franchise that has grown up around him. In a nutshell, Sonic is a humanoid blue hedgehog who utilises his speed to battle the villainous Doctor Eggman, with the help of other animated characters like the two-tailed fox called Tails and the red rabbit named Knuckles.

Originally, Sonic the Hedgehog was developed so that Sega could have a mascot that could compete with Nintendo's Mario in terms of popularity. Sonic quickly took on a life of his own as the Sonic games became enormously popular, resulting in decent sales of Sega's gaming systems. Eventually, this resulted in Sonic making appearances in a variety of different media, including comic books and cartoons, which are still in production today. The introduction of Sonic the Hedgehog has inspired a plethora of games and cartoon characters, within the gaming industry, there are numerous digital games at casinozonder.com that share the same premise, for example, there are several slot style games in the way the Sonic games are played.

What Elements Make up the Sonic Universe?


The Sonic Games


Since it all started with a game starring Sonic and his pals, it only seems sense that the Sonic games are the most essential part of the brand. As Sonic's popularity grew, so did the games, which began as simple platformers but quickly expanded to include elements of other genres. Platformers on the Sega Genesis like Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3 maintained the core aspects of platformers while also adding new characters and enhancing gameplay components to keep things fresh.

The Merchandise


There have been a variety of different goods related with the Sonic brand throughout the years, much like any other successful property. For example, there are still a considerable amount of Sonic the Hedgehog toys being created today, which means Sega has another source of income in addition to all of the other revenue streams generated by the franchise.

Cartoons


Sonic the Hedgehog has appeared in a variety of cartoons during the course of his career. DIC Entertainment, for example, has created three unique Sonic cartoons between 1993 and 1999, each of which differed greatly in terms of the characters they featured, the storylines they followed, and even their degree of similarity to the source material. Furthermore, a two-episode original video animation produced in Japan, as well as a later and much longer Japanese series that found its way over to the United States under the moniker Sonic X, have all been released in the United States.
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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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More Details Revealed for Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Saturday, 11th December 2021, 8:34pm (UTC), 0 Comments
It has been a couple of exciting years for fans of Sonic that don't look to be slowing any time in the near future either - the release of the movie last year certainly brought attention, not least for the design change to the main character that was later amended but also as other outlets started to focus on the brand once more with some of the biggest themed games emerging at online sites, particularly in certain genres like at sinlicencia.org and many other popular sites too. The momentum doesn't look to end, however, as the movie poster for the latest entry has been released and news of the newest Sonic game looking to be unveiled at the Game Awards.

Whilst details have been around for quite some time, there is some great news for fans of different characters in the Sonic series - Jim Carrey will be reprising his role as Dr. Robotnik who had certainly been a fan favourite from the first, Colleen O'Shaughnessey will be reprising her role as Tails after voicing the character in the first movie and in a number of games, and Idris Elba will be joining the cast to play his role as Knuckles too. Fortunately this time around it doesn't seem as if any creative freedoms have been taken to change a well known design and the characters should all be appearing just about as expected, especially Sonic with his continued updated look to, and with the first movie being received quite well this second one should certainly be able to gain some traction and hit the nostalgia for older Sonic fans who may have missed the first movie.



What may certainly be more interesting however is what they decide to reveal about the newest game later this week - an official video was released earlier in the year that showed an updated graphic sonic running around a forest, but nothing more has been released since then so expect there to be some gameplay footage or at least something akin to a playtest - a new Sonic game to enter into the new year would certainly be a nice treat for many players, but fans may have to wait just a little longer as when the original trailer was released there had been a note from the Sonic Team head that this announcement may have come a little earlier than intended. If rumours are to be believed that this could be an open-world styled game, however, there's certainly something very exciting to look forward to.
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Sonic's Role In The Sega-Nintendo Showdown Of The '90's
Thursday, 28th October 2021, 7:33pm (UTC), 0 Comments
Everybody loves a good rivalry. Ford vs. Chevy. The Yankees vs. the Red Sox (that's a favorite of online sports bettings sites). In video games, the original rivalry was Sega vs. Nintendo and the see-saw battle shaped the home console business as we know it today.

With about 30 years of hindsight, let's reflect on the heated competition in which Sonic the Hedgehog was dead center of. Here's what happened and what wrong three decades ago:

Sonic Saves The Sega Genesis

Old-school gamers have fond memories of the Sega Genesis, the company's first foray into the home-console market. It's typically seen as Sega's peak in the console business, which it was, but not until the original Sonic the Hedgehog game was released in 1991.

You see, the Genesis launched three years before that with a wimp. The console did little to eat into Nintendo's market share, which was estimated to be 90 percent in the United States in 1990. Then one blue-haired, super-speedy hedgehog flipped the industry upside down.



Sonic was Sega's counter to Nintendo's Mario character and game franchise. It effectively positioned Sonic as its "mascot" per se and gamers ate it up. Thanks to the iconic game (which was packaged with the console), plus a cheaper system cost than the Super Nintendo, Sega outsold its rivals four straight Christmas seasons during the '90s inside the United States.

Sega Does What Nintendon't

In the history of video games, the above catchphrase is one of the most iconic. Sega used the tagline in America to differentiate itself from Nintendo. In ads, Sega positioned itself as better - in terms of game library, graphics, and super-fast gameplay. Of course, Sonic came to symbolize all three of those.

In fact, Sonic the Hedgehog was originally going to be "edgier" than the one you now know. The game's original developers - from Japan, of course - envisioned the character with fangs, a spiked collar, an electric guitar and a human girlfriend named Madonna. The American-based employees of Sega stopped it from happening and toned down the character's "goth-ness" per se.

With savvy marketing and Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega and Nintendo were neck-and-neck in the mid-90s, at least in America. Despite Sega's Japanese roots, the company struggled back home where Nintendo, another Japanese firm, was firmly entrenched as No. 1. This spurred Sega to develop a brand-new console, which signaled the beginning of the end of this rivalry.

Sega Falters With the Saturn

The Sega Saturn launched at the tailend of 1994. However, this time the console wasn't just pitted against Nintendo. No, no, there was a new player in town (also from Japan) and it was called the Sony Playstation. Like Sega, Sony also positioned itself as the console for more "mature" games, which Nintendo shied away from to protect its family-friendly image.

The Saturn failed to meet the success of the previous Genesis. In fact, it actually cannibalized the predecessor's success. Gamers remained latched onto the Genesis, which Sega slowed production of to ramp that of the Saturn. Production issues continued to plague the Saturn, which was felt by game developers and players alike.

It's also worth noting that a Sonic the Hedgehog game was never released for the Saturn console. Not one. Not supporting your new console with your most iconic franchise feels like an unthinkable mistake, but it actually happened.

Too Little Too Late With The Dreamcast

Rather than fix the Saturn, Sega opted for a complete replacement in the Dreamcast console. It was released in late 1998 with a brand-new Sonic Adventure game right after. The game was a resounding success with 2.5 million copies sold, but the console itself wasn't.



By this time, Sega had shot itself in the foot one too many times. Both Nintendo and Sony were far, far ahead of it in the console war - and they weren't relinquishing those leads no matter how beloved Sonic was. Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast in 2001 and left the console business for good.

While Sonic games trickled into Nintendo and Playstation systems thereafter, it never re-captured the eyes of gamers like it did when it was Sega's own flagship franchise for their console. And that's been the story of the last 30 years (and counting).
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