Overview
Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a video game series featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, a blue hedgehog. Including outside Japan-only mobile games and download sales, the total number of units sold and downloaded worldwide has reached 800 million as of 2018.
The first game in the series was designed to take advantage of the Mega Drive's (Sega Genesis) high-speed graphics processing capabilities.
However, if the player has even one ring as an item, they are not immediately out of the game even if they hit an enemy or obstacle, and the stress caused by mistakes is reduced by collecting the scattered rings.
The first game was a huge hit, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide due to its sense of speed and game balance. Therefore, there are many games, animations, comics, etc, that have been developed only in foreign media (outside Japan).
The series has become a huge hit in Japan, representing not only the mascot character Sonic but also the company itself, Sega.
The Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice promotional video released in 2016 and the Sonic Forces promotional video in 2017 surpassed 345 million and 350 million units sold in the series, respectively. Furthermore, according to information from Sega Sammy Holdings, the number of units sold, including downloads, has exceeded 800 million as of 2018.
This figure is said to include mobile games not yet distributed in Japan (or discontinued in Japan) such as Sonic Jump, the Sonic Dash series, Sonic Runners Adventure, and the
Sonic at the Olympic Games, but details are unknown.
For reference, the Sonic Dash series had 100 million downloads worldwide by 2015.
