Happy 24th Birthday, Sonic

Another Year Faster and, Perhaps, Wiser
It is June 23rd, the day Sonic began his speed run into tens of millions of homes and hearts around the world.

In 24 years, the blue hedgehog has beaten badniks, traveled through time, collected chaos emeralds, fought against chaos control, found a wide array of new friends, spawned countless stories and continuities, and found that, if he tries, he can truly do anything.

“Anything” has seemed like everything. The very first Sonic game in 1991 has delineated into Classic, Modern, and Boom Sonic, with a vast array of merchandising for each. Sonic is not just a cherished character of gaming history; he is a brand, still one of Sega’s strongest, and still worth billions of dollars despite shortcomings of recent games, and the rather impressive disaster in his 23rd year that was Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.

Now, Sonic begins full speed ahead into mobile. With Sonic Jump and Sonic Dash solid successes for Sega, the hedgehog’s largest mobile offering to date, Sonic Runners, goes worldwide on Thursday. It will be the most significant test to date on whether Sonic can survive the rapidly changing landscape of media consumption.

But that’s Thursday. Today is a day for celebration, and in Japan, Sega is doing it with style.
With Runners, the next Boom series title, another Mario and Sonic team-up for the 2016 Olympics, and a much anticipated 25th birthday to come, Sonic’s road ahead seems wilder than ever–and he wouldn’t want it any other way.