Sonic has always been the rival of Super Mario, especially in the USA where the most famous hedgehog in video games caused a sensation at the beginning . And it didn’t even have to be a porcupine, at first.
As told in the book Console Wars, which we advise you to retrieve on Amazon, Sonic’s design was a focal point of the launch of the franchise.
The blue hedgehog had to be cool, biting and more shrewd than Mario who, even more than now, was considered the protagonist of a video game for children. A design work carried out by many professionals including, unfortunately, some of whom we had to report recently missing such as Rieko Kodama.
In a video game that has become legendary also thanks to the work of Yuji Naka , sadly known today for less elegant events, which made it a very fast and technically advanced video game.
The most curious thing is that the fastest hedgehog in video games not only didn’t have to be a hedgehog at the beginning, but it would have looked much more like Super Mario.
Dualshockers in fact reports the testimony of one of the concept designers of SEGA who, at the time, were responsible for developing the visual identity of Sonic.
Naoto Oshima, designer and co-creator of our beloved hedgehog, recently showed on Twitter some preliminary works of the time.
Take a look at Twin Star, this is the provisional name given to the visual project, and think who comes to your mind looking at the two characters in the drawing on the left :
I made a draft of the game. An action game about twin brothers who protect the dream world from Nightmare World’s boss “Thirteen”. It evolved into sonic.
私 ゲーム ゲーム 原案 書 書 作っ た。 ナイト メア 世界 の ボス サーティーン サーティーン 」夢 夢 の を 守る 守る 双子 アクション ゲーム。 ソニック ソニック に し し し し し し し し し し し し 進化 進化 進化 に に に に に に に ソニック ソニック ソニック ソニック ソニック ソニック ソニック ソニック ソニック— Naoto Ohshima (@NaotoOhshima) January 21, 2023
“I made a draft of the game. An action game about twin brothers who protect the dream world from the Nightmare World boss “Thirteen”. He evolved into Sonic.»
If nothing comes to your mind, try putting “Mushroom Kingdom” and “Bowser” inside this sentence, and you will have a very similar concept to the brothers Mario and Luigi saving their world.
Fortunately Sonic has evolved into something very different, a character who will also be the protagonist of all of 2023 as promised by SEGA.
Speaking of initial concepts, there is another much more recent game that could have been much more grotesque: Nintendo Switch Sports . Check out these initial artwork.
