I love YouTube, and I’ll tell you why…Deeree (a Frag Doll semi-finalist) linked a YouTube video of a hedgehog eating a carrot and from there I found a really cool retrospective video on Sonic the Hedgehog in the “Related Video” section.  One hour later, I had watched 5-6 different retrospectives on various games.  Of course Sonic caught my eye being that it was my favorite childhood videogame growing up, also because I learned some fun-videogame facts. 

I had no idea the original Sonic was the lead singer in a rock band or had a groupie girlfriend named, Madonna.  She was a very attractive human that was infatuated with Sonic and would chase him around. Sonic was also drawn a lot more edger then we see him today; he had tangs and wasn’t as soft and fluffy.  Japans dilemma was trying to figure out how to use the same character, but still appeal to the Japanese and American audience. The US ended up giving Sonic a makeover that upset the Japanese Sonic team.  The US Product Manager even had to get on a plane and fly to Japan to try to defend Sonics new look, which she describe as, “Not a fun meeting.” After a heated debate they finally came to an agreement to leave Sonic as the “softer” version; thankfully so, because I couldn’t even imagine Sonic any other way. I was actually surprised to hear that America wanted Sonic more simplified and not the other way around.  Japanese has always been known for their simplistic ideas and have been very much successful in their creations. Anyhow I hope you found these few Sonic facts as cool as I did.

Below you can watch Part 2 of the Sonic the Hedgehog story I reference to in my blog.  I also recommend checking out all the retrospective videos Gametap has up on YouTube.