SEGA
Sonic Was Not Always A Hedgehog, And Here Are The Original Illustrations To Prove It
The original concept for SEGA's mascot was far from what it ended up being. The character designer's artwork evidence this.
Fast, badass, and a hero. The Sonic we all know is the blue hedgehog who debuted on SEGA consoles in 1991. The mascot has continued to star in games ever since, but was Sonic always meant to be a hedgehog? Naoto Oshima, character designer for Sonic the Hedgehog and other titles in the saga, says no.
"I made a draft of the game. An action game about twin brothers who protect the dream world from Nightmare World's boss ‘Thirteen’. It evolved into Sonic.," the creative commented in a tweet. What is curious is that the second and third illustrations show the character as a human, next to his twin. Both have spiky hair (like Sonic): one pink and the other blue. Quite similar, but nothing close to the final product.
Ohshima did not explain why the original idea became such a different concept. The developer hinted some time ago that Sonic was going to be human, but so far he has assured that there are no copies of that concept art.
Sonic continues: More episodes of the Netflix series and products on the way
Sonic Prime, Netflix's new animated series, premiered its first eight-episode season in 2022, but SEGA has confirmed that there will be more episodes later this year, without giving specific details. Later in 2024, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 The Movie is planned, in addition to the live-action series that Paramount is preparing about Knuckles.
The latest game from the brand is Sonic Frontiers, an open-world game available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. In the review by our colleagues at MeriStation in Spain, they highlighted its quality and we stated that it is the biggest leap of the saga since its move to three dimensions.
Source | Naoto Ohshima (Twitter)