Sonic the Hedgehog (Franchise)

Background

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game franchise created and owned by Sega starring its mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. The series started in 1991 with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Sonic was responsible for turning Sega into a leading video game company early in the 16-bit era, and his first game soon replaced Altered Beast as the default pack-in game for the Genesis in North America and Europe.

While sale estimates vary (see Reception below), the Sonic franchise has undoubtedly become a huge commercial success since its inception: as of 2013, the franchise had sold more than 140 million units, making the series the 5th best-selling videogame franchise of all time. As of 2020, over one billion cumulative units have been sold.

Most games in the series are developed by Sonic Team, with the exceptions being various spin-offs by other Sega divisions or other video game companies. The chief programmer for the first game was Yuji Naka, who would later become head of Sonic Team. The game designer was Hirokazu Yasuhara, and character designer was Naoto Ohshima. The music of the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Mega Drive / Genesis were composed by Masato Nakamura of the Japanese band Dreams Come True.

By 2006, Yuji Naka, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Naoto Ohshima had all left Sega. Currently, Takashi Iizuka is the head of Sonic Team, who has been involved with the series since 1994. Most of the series' music is done by Sega's internal sound team.