Sonic's First Home Appearance

[Badnik Mechanic]

Ok so let's get something out of the way first, Sonic's first appearance was 'Rad Mobile' but this was an arcade game, it didn't become a home game until much later. Now as for the exact release date I'm unsure. 

However, in terms of home console/system, it was Sonic 1 on the MegaDrive right? Well... actually... no it wasn't. 

According to two youtube users, Sonic first actually appeared in a 'free to play' game called "The Adventures of Quik & Silva" for the Amiga, why free to play? Well this was a game which came free with a videogame magazine dated May 10th, 1991, the magazine was issue #5 of Amiga Fun.

Now this game contains a ton of copy-rite infringement, there's Mario, the Ghana Sisters and a bunch of other characters... including Sonic... and he was a bad guy!

A second youtube user pointed this out back in 2011, but that one didn't get much attention.  This new video also contains a lot more information.

[ZDozer]

What.

Sure it IS Sonic in there. I thought his "first" appearance was on the inside view of a car in a racing game (as one of those rearviewmirror accessories). Can't remember the name of the game, though.

Edited August 14, 2015 by ZDozer

[PickleBrows]

What.

Sure it IS Sonic in there. I thought his "first" appearance was on the inside view of a car in a racing game (as one of those rearviewmirror accessories). Can't remember the name of the game, though.

It was Rad Mobile as Hogfather said above. The point is that this was his first appearance on home consoles.

[Failinhearts]

Interesting. Surprised we didn't find out about this until now. It's also funny that Sonic's appearance on home consoles is literally a parody that might result in legal action if SEGA found out about this at the time.

Also, Sonic's a bad guy? (Cue obligitory Pixels joke)

[Kittea]

Interesting. Tbh I'm not surprised, I remember reading about Sonic's first ever appearance in that Rad Mobile game but I've never read anything that specifically stated his first home console appearance was in Sonic The Hedgehog (1991).

Edited August 14, 2015 by CAiTlin_Sprite

[Tani Coyote]

Over on Facebook people are disputing this being canon.

 

As if being canon has any bearing on whether a cameo was real or not, haha. It's a cameo, fair and square. It may not be an official, licensed appearance, but it is an appearance.

[Phos]

I think the question is if you count it considering it wasn't put there by sega or with their permission, and thus can't actually be called "Sonic" by the creators of the game in question at the time, so is it really Sonic?  

[Tara]

He has the same exact design as Sonic and in a game full of copyright infringement, there's no way it could have been accidental.  So yes, for all intents and purposes, it's Sonic the same way that the SNES Sonic 4/Speedy Gonzales hack is technically Sonic.  It's not his first official appearance, but it's the first time he was technically seen on a home system.  So the debate seems a little silly, to me.

Anyway, that is an interesting piece of trivia.  It's really interesting to me how the company was so optimistic in Sonic's expected outreach that they would attempt to capitalize on his existence before he was ever released to the public.

[iDEATH]

Shame they didn't recolour him, he could have also been the first Sonic OC.

 

Cool bit of trivia though...now I kinda want to track this down.

[YoshiAngemon]

Interesting. Surprised we didn't find out about this until now. It's also funny that Sonic's appearance on home consoles is literally a parody that might result in legal action if SEGA found out about this at the time.

Also, Sonic's a bad guy? (Cue obligitory Pixels joke)

More like obligatory Bad-Anon joke. But I'll let that slide. Mario himself would be a good candidate for Bad Anon; remember his one-time stint as a Bad Guy in Donkey Kong Jr.?

[-blank-]

Well, ya learn something new everyday. I've heard about Sonic appearing in Rad Mobile but this is the first time I've heard of something like that.