Sonic the Hedgehog (Japanese: ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Hepburn: Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a fictional character created by Naoto Ohshima and Yuji Naka. The title character of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise, Sonic is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds and curl into a ball to attack enemies. He races through levels, collecting power-up rings and avoiding obstacles, as he seeks to defeat the mad scientist Doctor Eggman.
Sonic made a cameo appearance in the arcade game Rad Mobile (1990) before making his full debut in Sonic the Hedgehog, released for the Sega Genesis in 1991. Ohshima designed Sonic to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario and used the character to flesh out a prototype programmed by Naka. Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure (1998), with a more mature look designed to appeal to older players.
Sonic is one of the world's best-known video game characters and a gaming icon. His series had sold more than 80 million copies by 2011.
ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ(英: Sonic the Hedgehog)は、セガのビデオゲームに登場するキャラクター、ゲームタイトルそのもの、およびマスコットキャラクターの一人。通称ソニック。また、スピンオフ作品である漫画やアニメーションにも登場している。