The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has a broad, deep, detailed, and, at times, confusing lore. This stretches across more than a dozen games, a couple of comic book series, and several cartoons. Now, many consider each of these categories their own separate canon.
In fact, while the games generally take place in the same canon (though there are exceptions), the cartoons are each their own canon and comics from different publishers are also in separate canons. With such a sprawling pool of lore, it can be easy to forget a few things, so here are ten bits of such lore, from across the several cannons.
10 Rosy The Rascal To Amy Rose
In the game Sonic CD, we’re introduced to a new character, a female hedgehog named Rosy the Rascal. She's a young child that was pulled into the conflict between Sonic and Eggman when she was kidnapped by Metal Sonic. After being saved by Sonic, she fell madly in love with him and followed him around and tried to win his heart.
Later, she resurfaced as Amy Rose, complete with a wardrobe change but still obsessed with Sonic. While this change was not explained in the games, the Archie published comics did. Still introduced as a child, Rosy wanted to join the fight against Eggman but was denied due to her young age. So, she made a wish on a magic ring to become older and became Amy Rose.
9 Evil Super Sonic
The UK had its own run of comics, titled Sonic the Comic, published by a company called Fleetway Editions. They took a slightly different approach with Sonic being notoriously abrasive and just overall more of a jerk. However, the most notable thing in this canon is its version of Super Sonic.
Fleetway Super Sonic is an evil, practically psychopathic entity with sharp teeth, claws, and bloodshot eyes. The transformation becomes a last resort in many storylines considering the potential for bystanders to be hurt and Sonic’s inability to control himself while in this form. Fleetway Super Sonic becomes its own being, and a deep inner conflict arises between it and Sonic himself.
8 Sonic’s Tragic Family History
Given Sonic’s care-free disposition, it's very easy to forget that, in many canons, Sonic has a family history that's tragic enough to qualify him as a Disney Princess. In the Archie publications, we meet his mother and father, Bernadette and Jules Hedgehog, and Sonic’s uncle, Charles or Chuck Hedgehog.
When Eggman took over the world, Sonic’s family were captured and robotized and remained that way for the majority of Sonic’s life. In one of the cartoons, Uncle Chuck is Sonic’s caregiver until he is captured and robotized. In another show, Sonic’s mother is forced to give him up to protect him from Eggman.
7 Knuckles Isn’t Alone
Knuckles the Echidna has a reputation for being the last of his kind and, for a long time, was the only echidna depicted in the series with the exception of flashbacks. A handful of echidnas appear in the comics, but the game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is where we see the most.
The heroes end up traveling to a prison dimension known as the Twilight Cage. Here, they encounter an evil clan of echidnas known as the Nocturnus. Power-hungry and imperialistic, they were transported to the Twilight Cage for their violence and overreaching and remained there for more than 4,000 years.
6 Shadow The Hedgehog’s True Story
In 2005, Shadow the Hedgehog was meant to finally answer the question: who is Shadow? Is he a clone of the original, a robot, an alien? The game’s story had ten different endings. You had to get all ten to unlock the truth.
This revealed that Shadow was created by Professor Gerald with help from the main villain, the alien Black Doom. It was hoped that the DNA of this Ultimate Lifeform (half Mobian, half-alien) would hold the cure for a rare disease that Gerald’s granddaughter Maria suffered from. After defeating Black Doom, Shadow makes his final choice to shrug off the past and move forward.
5 Sonic The Ladies’ Man
While Sonic actively avoids the advances of Amy in the games and comics, he's not so shy around other girls. In the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, he makes no secret of his affections for Sally Acorn and, in the Archie published comics, they have a long on-again-off-again relationship that eventually culminated in them getting married.
That's not all, though. When he wasn’t dating Sally, Sonic dated Fiona Fox and had a brief passion for Mina Mongoose. Pretty ladies have never been hard for Sonic to find, but he always remains a gentleman.
4 How Humans Fit Into The Sonic World
For a long time in both the games and comics, there were only one or two humans on planet Mobius and this lead many to wonder where all the humans are. Then, in Sonic Adventure, there was a whole city full of them with no explanation! As usual, the Archie publication fills in the gaps.
Mobius used to be exactly like Earth until the planet was attacked by aliens with Gene Bombs. These bombs mutated and regressed humans, now referred to as Overlanders, and drove them to the far corners of the planet, leaving Mobians to dominate. The two cultures clashed many times but eventually found peace and integrated their societies.
3 Sonic The Hedgehog Is Bonafide Royalty
When you think of Sonic the Hedgehog, you picture a cocky hero that always has a taunt at the ready and stuffs chili dogs into his face with reckless abandon. It’s not exactly what you would picture when thinking of a king or even a prince, but in several canons, Sonic is both of these things!
In the cartoon Sonic Underground, his mother is the Queen and he is the rightful Prince of Mobius. In the game Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic is proclaimed the King of Camelot, and in the Archie publications, he becomes a King by marrying Princess Sally.
2 The Most Powerful Character In The Universe Is…?
Knuckles the Echidna! In the Archie publications, Knuckles undergoes a transformation into Chaos Knuckles. Due to his father’s experiments, Knuckles is one with the Chaos Force, granting him ultimate power and control over Chaos Energy. He is nearly omnipotent, can travel through time, and even manipulate matter into whatever form he desires!
The only character that holds a candle to Chaos Knuckles is the deity Solaris from the game Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. That deity had power over time, existing in past, present, and future all at once. While it did have the power to devour and scatter timelines, it was defeated by Sonic, Silver, and Shadow in their Super forms. However, Chaos Knuckles has never been beaten once he’s at full power.
1 Sonic The Hedgehog’s REAL Name
Naming in the Sonic universe tends to fall into two categories: a conventional structure with a first and last name or a name followed by the species of the character. At birth, Sonic’s first and middle names were derived from his grandparents.
While the first name, and the grandparent it honors, have never been revealed by creators, we know that his middle name, and grandfather, is Maurice, and his last name is Hedgehog. Sonic decided to legally change his name at some point to reflect his speed. This fact is mentioned only a handful of times in the Archie publications, making it quite easy to forget.