Facts about the series that you were surprised about

[Mogtaki]

Really, I remember hanging out Sonic Stadium years ago and reading somewhere that he was originally intended to be a lady. 

Hmm, although, looking at it seem like it was miscommunication or something, ha-ha! Whoops, my bad then. 8)

Edit: Dang-a-rang, okay, okay! I gotcha! LMFAO, no need to get antsy, simple mistake.

 

If it helps, he was supposed to be a tanuki.

 

Also, Ray the Squirrel was designed before Tails was and was going to be Sonic's sidekick instead.

[TheOcelot]

It surprised me that Dr Robotnik was known as Dr Eggman in Japan, back in the early 1990's.

 

A doctor that likes turning little animals into robots (or trapping them inside badniks), so the name 'Robotnik' made perfect sense. Whereas Eggman refers to his egg like body-shape.

 

That Sonic CD had two different soundtracks. So bizarre that SoA felt the need to create an alternative soundtrack. Actually the whole CD and Sonic 2 being developed at the same time in the 90's was fascinating.

 

That Eggman blew up half the moon in Sonic Adventure 2. That was such a iconic scene.

Edited April 13, 2013 by -Bender-

[Chaos Incarnate]

• Never knew Sonic's favorite drink was Cola! Thanks to OmegaXCL telling me this and providing a link as evidence. Pretty cool that Sega licensed an official Sonic cola back in the day.
• I was shocked when I discovered Sonic Unleashed was meant to be Sonic Adventure 3. Aside from a similar plot to Adventure 1 and hub worlds, they really share nothing in common. 
• Drummond being invited to reprise his role as Sonic after 4kids was replaced. I wasn't exactly a big fan of the original cast, but it would have been incredibly interesting seeing his return to the Sonic series after nearly 10 years.
• Michael Jackson's involvement in Sonic 3. Going back and listening to the tracks, especially credits, you can definitely tell he was involved in some capacity. 

[Spin Attaxx]

In StH, Robotnik was originally a kind-hearted scientist and Sonic wasn't originally blue.

That's an early part of the (dead) Western Continuity - in the (current) Japanese continuity, Sonic was always blue and Eggman was (presumably) always rotten.

 

(di u see wat i did dere)

[never]

Gosh, I gotta apologize, in that post I was referencing several different continuities and didn't really specify 'em.

***STC

I meant Sonic the Comic for that one "fact". I actually thought that was kind of neat (the 'backstory' they were given), but the whole aspect of "what goes" and "what doesn't go" in the Sonic universe (regardless of which universe it is) can be a headache.  

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

The fact that the main reason Sonic team wont bring Nack back is because he was developed by the now-defunct mobile team and not them..... talk about lousy reasoning. Ditching a good character because you didnt make it

[-blank-]

That Amy was originally 8 with a completely different design.

 

That Sonic SatAM didn't take issues from the comics and animate them - or vice versa.

 

That Sonic was going to be a rabbit and armadillo at different points in development.

 

That the character we know today as Eggman was going to be the protagonist.

[never]

That the character we know today as Eggman was going to be the protagonist.

Whoa, really? Do you have anymore info on that, that sounds neat. : o

[Spin Attaxx]

The fact that the main reason Sonic team wont bring Nack back is because he was developed by the now-defunct mobile team and not them..... talk about lousy reasoning. Ditching a good character because you didnt make it

Isn't the reason Sonic Team won't use Nack simply because they don't want to?

 

Whoa, really? Do you have anymore info on that, that sounds neat. : o

One of the protagonist's original designs was a Theodore Roosevelt-esque man in PJs. After the design was finalised as Sonic, the PJ Roosevelt was reused as Dr. Eggman.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Spin Attaxx

[Blue Blood]

Isn't the reason Sonic Team won't use Nack simply because they don't want to?

 

From what I've been able to gather, that's pretty much it. They don't want to, and along from that there's some ownership issues. SEGA does hold the rights but from thereon-in it's quite a grey area. I don't understand it at all. 

Edited April 13, 2013 by Blue Blood

[Dizcrybe]

That Sonic is supposed to be short-tempered.

[Milo]

That "True Sonic Fans" apparently do exist out there.

[Mogtaki]

• Michael Jackson's involvement in Sonic 3. Going back and listening to the tracks, especially credits, you can definitely tell he was involved in some capacity. 

 

Uhhhh, it's only some involvement but Michael Jackson wasn't happy with all of it so a lot of it was scrapped with the tracks he did not showing up; although, they do still have the tracks in question. The ending track was used by him LATER because he liked the sound of it for 'Stranger in Moscow'. Just thought I'd add that in.

[-blank-]

One of the protagonist's original designs was a Theodore Roosevelt-esque man in PJs. After the design was finalised as Sonic, the PJ Roosevelt was reused as Dr. Eggman.

Pretty much;

 

http://info.sonicretro.org/Dr._Eggman

 

The 'Character Conception' in this article explains things in a bit more detail.

[Mr Useful]

That Metal Sonic was planned to be in Sonic 06. Made me butthurt because he's my favorite.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Dom

[Spin Attaxx]

And then glad because it stopped him from getting a bad rep?

[Splash the Otter]

That Metal Sonic was planned to be in Sonic 06. Made me butthurt because he's my favorite.

Really? What would he have done?

[Mr Useful]

Really? What would he have done?

Well, he was only mentioned in text that simply said things such as "You unlocked new hard mode missions for Metal Sonic" that were left unused. I assume he would be sonic clone like in Adventure 1.(Remember kids, Metal is faster than Sonic, SA2 proves this)

[Linkabel]

If it helps, he was supposed to be a tanuki.

 

Also, Ray the Squirrel was designed before Tails was and was going to be Sonic's sidekick instead.

 

Ummm, where did you get this information? Tails was designed with the idea that he was going to be Sonic's first sidekick. From what I know Mighty & Ray were just created to fill the slots in SegaSonic.

[Mogtaki]

Ummm, where did you get this information? Tails was designed with the idea that he was going to be Sonic's first sidekick. From what I know Mighty & Ray were just created to fill the slots in SegaSonic.

 

I backtracked a bit to where I remember seeing the information, but:

Yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, was assigned to create a sidekick character for Sonic in an internal contest. Yamaguchi originally created Ray the Squirrel (who would only appear in SegaSonicArcade) to be used as a sidekick but designed Tails as an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog after Sega of Japan rejected the Flying Squirrel idea. The character was meant to hold a "deep admiration for Sonic." The name 'Miles Prower' played on a speed pun and was originally intended to be a tanuki, a raccoon-like canine native to east Asia, and extremely popular in Japanese folklore. The designers decided to change him to a fox, however, to avoid possible comparisons with Mario, who at the time had a power up called the Tanooki Suit, which allowed him to fly, and made him look like a tanuki. His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails" in which Yamaguchi was none too pleased at all about.

Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise. He put the name "Miles" in as his legal name; "Tails" would be his nickname, ending up with the full name of Miles "Tails" Prower.

 

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Miles_%22Tails%22_Prower

 

Still a source, I'd say. There was loads of design choices for the sidekick position with one even including a turtle named Boomer.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

I backtracked a bit to where I remember seeing the information, but:

 

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Miles_%22Tails%22_Prower

 

Still a source, I'd say. There was loads of design choices for the sidekick position with one even including a turtle named Boomer.

Well thats interesting, so that means that Ray is not a tails clone instead of the being one like most people think XD

[FireBird75]

• The Chaotix crew were in a game prior to Sonic Heroes.  I didn't know about Knuckles Chaotix for the longest time.
• The concept for a character like Blaze was conceived before Sonic Adventure 2 (http://www.sonicwrecks.com/depository/proto-blaze-returns-a-closer-look-at-the-concept-kitty/)
• Sonic Unleashed is called Sonic World Adventure in Japan.  Are you kidding me? They should have stuck with that title for every region!
• Sonic's personality was based on Bill Clinton's "get it done" attitude. Yeah, I can see it XD
• There was Sonic Drift 2. They made another one!? O.o
• Amy actually is Sonic's girlfriend in a manga.
• Sonic Pocket Adventure is the only Sonic game to get a perfect 10/10 from IGN.  Wow wow wow! I don't think they would give that score to Sonic 3 & Knuckles!  And talk about obscure!

[JezMM]

Just a couple of small ones:

 

Heavy and Bomb's existence.  I knew of the Chaotix from STC, and that they were from their own spin-off, but not knowing anything about the spin-off, the additional characters of Heavy and Bomb, who never appeared in the comic, totally came outta nowhere for me Sonic lore-wise.

 

That Sonic Underground was the last cartoon to be produced in the US.  I was convinced the order went AoStH, Underground, SatAM as a kid somehow.

 

 

Just chiming in, is this actually accurate? We have beta's of CD dating as far back as May 1992, and they all include "You Can Do Anything". S2 8-Bit was released in Autumn of '92, and CD in Autumn '93. But considering CD was the much more high profile game, presumably with a longer development time, it would make sense that the music originated in CD and not S2.

 

Ah yeah, I imagined the soundtrack for the games were probably made in tandem at the very most, with CD most likely first.  I was just speaking from my own perspective of what games I'd experienced in what order.

[Linkabel]

I backtracked a bit to where I remember seeing the information, but:

 

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Miles_"Tails"_Prower

 

Still a source, I'd say. There was loads of design choices for the sidekick position with one even including a turtle named Boomer.

Well thats interesting, so that means that Ray is not a tails clone instead of the being one like most people think XD

Well looking at Yamaguchi's project/work history, nothing mentions that he had nothing to do with the SegaSonic project. The only Sonic-related projects are Sonic 2 and Sonic CD. So I don't think Ray was supposed to be Sonic's sidekick at all.

[Splash the Otter]

Well looking at Yamaguchi's project/work history, nothing mentions that he had nothing to do with the SegaSonic project. The only Sonic-related projects are Sonic 2 and Sonic CD. So I don't think Ray was supposed to be Sonic's sidekick at all.

It's more likely that Ray was based on an early design of Tails, kind of like how Mighty was allegedly based on an early design of Sonic.