Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese platform video game series and media franchise created by Sega and featuring their mascot, Sonic. It is a series of fast platform games. Sonic is the main character. He is a bright blue hedgehog with supersonic speed. Usually, Sonic must stop the villain, Doctor Eggman's, plans for taking over the world. Sonic is often helped by his friends like Tails, Amy Rose, and Knuckles.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog game was released in 1991. It was created by Sega's Sonic Team division after Sega wanted a new mascot character. This was because they wanted to replace Alex Kidd, and they wanted to compete with Nintendo's mascot, Mario. Its success made many sequels, and it helped Sega become one of the biggest video game companies during the 16-bit era of the early 1990s. The first major 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, was released in 1998 for the Dreamcast.
The series made over by 2014. As of 2018, the series has sold 800million copies. This includes free-to-play mobile game downloads.