Flashback to 1990: after five years of playing David to Nintendo's Goliath, Sega was poised to sling the proverbial stone. The company needed a mascot character who could simultaneously embody their hip, bold new attitude and run nose-to-nose with Nintendo's plumbing prince. Pengo and Alex Kidd probably weren't going to cut it, so a contest was held among employees to come up with a suitable character. The submissions ranged from a retarded bulldog to an all-American wolf to a freaky little man in PJ's. (That last entry does look a bit familiar though, doesn't he?)

   Nearly three months were spent developing the character and gameplay premise. The original idea was to have a speedy character who destroyed enemies by picking up and throwing objects. This involved too many processes and slowed gameplay down, so the object-hurling dynamic was dropped entirely in favor of a character who simply rolls through enemies. After shaking up the animal kingdom a bit, the creators were left with one of two choices: an armadillo or a hedgehog. The hedgehog won, and character designer Naoto Ohshima went forth with that idea to create one of the most beloved videogame heroes of all time. The programmers, meanwhile, concentrated on developing the fast, smooth game engine that would redefine the platforming genre and set the standard for the entire 16-bit era. Sonic the Hedgehog was born.

   Now, over a decade later, the blue legend continues. Although born on Sega's Mega Drive, the speedy wonder has infected numerous platforms from a number of developers, including: Master System, Game Gear, Mega CD, 32X, Pico, Saturn, Dreamcast, NeoGeo Pocket, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox; not to mention stints in arcades, PC's, and mobile phones. That familiar spiny visage has become a pop culture icon the world over, but Sonic shows no signs of slowing down now. The hedgehog who put the "Sonic" in "Sonic Team" continues to spin into the future, and he won't be making stops for naysayers or evil egg-shaped scientists.

Written by Jared "Green Gibbon!" Matte. Concept scans thanks to Michael Stearns and Mary Yamasaki. Hosting provided by Emulation Zone and Emulation World.