Sonic has always been known for his fast speeds and quick wits, but have you ever wondered if something more is behind it? What if, from the start, Sonic’s purpose was to make you think ahead, think of the future of our planet, or even your life? In 1990, SEGA was trying to find a way to blow the gaming industry out of the water. They’d been brainstorming on making a mascot for the company. It took some trial and error to settle on a character. The designs went from a wolf, a dog, three different human designs, and a rabbit to eventually get to Mr. Needlemouse, a blue hedgehog.

Now that the character was made, all that was left was to make a background and story out of him. Sonic Team would throw some ideas on the table, like Sonic having a human girlfriend, named Madonna, or Sonic being part of a band, but none would really stick. One thing that did stick is Sonic’s respect for nature. The Genesis games were all about letting technology live in harmony rather than letting it control.

Let’s take a look at Sonic CD. Sonic CD was a classic Sonic game released in 1993 on the SEGA CD. This game’s setting was on a small planet called Little Planet. Little Planet is a celestial body that only appears above a lake called Never Lake once a year for a month. Eggman, wanting the gems native to this small teleporting planet, threatened to take the Time Stones. These stones control time. To save the planet from Eggman’s control, you, the player, either have to collect the seven time stones or destroy all of Eggman’s generators in the past. When you’ve successfully gotten rid of the generators and travel to the future, you get to see nature and technology coexist in harmony, versus the devastation and gloom you see if you don’t.

*The picture above is the good future of a level

*The picture above is of the Bad Future

This belief to protect and respect nature was inspired by Shinto. Shinto is the indigenous religion/belief in Japan, centering on the worship of kami—spirits or deities believed to inhabit natural phenomena, objects, and ancestors. Shinto is very common in Japanese storytelling, like with Studio Ghibli. This is what I believe Sonic is trying to tell the world.

Another great example of this is Sonic X. Sonic X was an animated series that came out in 2003 and around late 2004. In the third and final season, Sonic and friends find themselves against an alien race called the Metarex. The Metarex have made it their mission to kill all life on planets, galaxy-wide. They do this by stealing the planet’s heart almost. This is called a “Planet Egg”. A Planet Egg is what gives a planet its life. Once it’s gone, the planet will slowly wither away until all organisms, including the humans and animals on that planet, die. Sonic and friends, having their Planet Egg taken after finding a new member of the team, a plant person named Cosmo, went to track down these Metarex. They end up encountering other planets with the same fate as their own, dying slowly with no ability to save themselves. The fear of disrepecting life and plants is what Sonic is truly built on.