Sonic the Hedgehog (series)

The Sonic the Hedgehog series features Sonic the Hedgehog, a character known best for his incredible speed, and his endeavors to defeat Dr. Robotnik, or any other destructive force at work. His early games were action platformers that involved Sonic having reach the end of a "Zone" while destroying robots that held innocent animals captive. Sonic is able to save even more imprisoned animals, but he must first defeat Dr. Robotnik at the Zone's completion. Later titles have had different approaches to gamplay as the series moved from 2-D to 3-D.

Sonic the Hedgehog was created by Sega and originally began life on the Sega Genesis. As the mascot for Sega and their gaming systems, Sonic was seen as a rival to Nintendo's Mario. However, in the late 90's Sega's popularity began to diminish and in 2001 Sega pulled itself out of the console business. Sega continues to be a popular game publisher and developer; Sonic games alone have been on nearly every possible gaming platform, with several games on Nintendo consoles. The first Sonic game to be released on a Nintendo system is Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance, followed by Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Nintendo GameCube.

As the series has grown, many sidekicks and friends have helped Sonic in his adventures, including Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Blaze, Cream and Big the Cat. All of these characters have not only been apart of the main series but have participated in spinoffs and party-style games. Outside of platforming, the series has enjoyed racing, fighting, puzzles and RPG gaming.