GOTTA. GO. FAST.
Through all of its ups and downs (and all arounds), the games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series have been (and still are) so chock-full of awesome moments. Each game has its own page (feel free to start pages for other games):
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles
- Sonic Adventure
- Sonic Shuffle
- Sonic Adventure 2
- Sonic Battle
- Sonic Heroes
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
- Sonic and the Secret Rings
- Sonic and the Black Knight
- Sonic Chronicles
- Sonic Unleashed
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4
- Sonic Colors
- Sonic Generations
- Sonic Lost World
- Sonic Mania
- Sonic Forces
- Sonic Frontiers
- Sonic Superstars
Other media:
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)
- Sonic the Comic
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
- Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
- Sonic Underground
- Sonic X
- Sonic Boom (both the cartoon and the games)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (film series)
- Sonic Prime
Series in general/Other:
- Essentially, every time Sonic goes super in the series is such a moment. The transformation sequences from Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 are among the best. Regardless of the rest of the games, Sonic unleashing a huge Battle Aura around himself and turning the iconic golden color as the game's theme song plays is pretty damn incredible.
- In the games where you have to collect the emeralds yourself via special stages, the moment when you get the last one definitely counts. And if it's one of the games where you can go Super Sonic in normal gameplay (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and every game starting with Sonic the Hedgehog 4), seeing the "NOW SONIC CAN BE SUPER SONIC" message can make you feel particularly triumphant.
- Sonic has been a regular in the Super Smash Bros. series since Brawl. Firstly, despite being Nintendo's direct competitor once upon a time, Sega's own mascot is invited to duke it out with or alongside his long-time console rival. This, combined with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, shows how far the companies have come since those days. Second, Sonic is the only character in the series to appear in every game since the introduction of third-party characters, since fellow Brawl newcomer Solid Snake was cut from the fourth game and every other third-party character in the games released ever since Brawl's release was introduced in a later installment. Sonic is that synonymous with Nintendo's history that he's allowed to show up every single time.
- Heck, his introductory video, posted on the site when he was first revealed to have made it into the game, was a minute-long moment of awesome for him. Imagine the fans' thought process as they watch this video for the first time: "Mario's there, he's beating up some Goombas... that tapping sound. Who's that running... oh my god, it's those shoes. OH MY GOD, IT'S HIM!". The 'hog himself blasts Mario out of the way, boasts "Sonic's the name, speed's my game!" as he strikes a pose, then "Live And Learn" kicks in. The rest of the video consists of him beating the crap out of several other Smashers — and pulling a victory pose with Mario, finally putting an end to their lifelong rivalry — before going Super Sonic. Indeed, many a fan had a fangasm as they watched this video, knowing that their wet fanboy dreams would finally come to fruition.
- Even Snake's introduction video showed him in a two-sided battle, but Sonic never got a scratch in his.
- Sonic's surprise appearance in the Subspace Emissary is a crowning moment in itself, as he manages to charge up what appears to be the Ancient Light Attack to smash Tabuu so hard, his wings shatter and his Off Waves are interrupted. Let's rephrase that: Nintendo's former console rival just saved their world.
- And then there's the "World of Light" intro for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When Galeem fires his Frickin' Laser Beams at the entire Smash Bros. roster, effectively killing everyone but Kirby, Sonic can be seen trying to save Pikachu. Sonic, who by all means can potentially outrun the beams, puts himself in harm's way to save a friend. Sure he doesn't succeed, but the fact that he tried at all is a good reminder of who Sonic is at heart.
- Sonic's impact on popular culture is so immense, the series even left its mark in the field of genetics. When a series of mammalian homologues of the hedgehog gene
were discovered in 1995, two of them were named after real-world hedgehog species, "desert hedgehog" and "Indian hedgehog", while the third was named "Sonic hedgehog". Of the three homologues, Sonic hedgehog is the most extensively researched, playing a key role in the development of the human brain. There is even a protein inhibitor that binds to Sonic hedgehog, named "Robotnikinin". - Even if Sonic has hit some low points in his series, he's still been with us for over 30 years. Somehow he and other characters in the series have endeared themselves to the general public and kept going after all this time. He has been a character that has appeared a wanderer and goof-off, but will still work as hard as he can to reach his goals (mostly saving the world), often with the help of some pretty cool friends, and great music in the background. So maybe some of the games aren't that great, but seeing any moments listed here (or ones that haven't been listed yet) will always make that kid in us happy to see a hero just one more time.
- The Progressive and Nike commercials. Sonic is finally regaining his place at the top of the gaming industry. It's nice to see Sonic becoming popular outside of the gaming industry, just like the old days.
- Destroying the Sonic Spinball stage 3 boss, the Veg-O-Machine, not only frees further animals from Unwilling Roboticisation, but also sends the entire island crashing into the ocean and forces Robotnik to take off in his space shuttle. Oh, and did we mention that it's a Roboticizer in an officially licensed Sonic game?
- The first boss, Scorpius, isn't as awesome to take down...but it is immensely satisfying when you get Sonic to ricochet inside of its tail, causing it to repeatedly scream in agony as you do so until the tail comes off. It doubles as nightmare fuel, yes, but it's feels so damn good to pull off.
- The official Twitter account as it stands. Whoever Sega hired to manage it has an excellent sense of humor and loves the series enough to know all the ins and outs of it, both good times and bad.
- The Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony has some bits worth mentioning here:
- While strictly focused on the games, nearly all the bases are covered when it comes to them. The Genesis era? While Sonic 3 & Knuckles only gets three songs due to the legal issues surrounding the soundtrack and no stage themes from Sonic CD are present, all of the mainline platformers are present in some form. The Game Gear games? They're here too, and with their own dedicated medley at that! Sonic R? It's not only present, but part of a medley entirely dedicated to Sonic's short lifespan on the Saturn, with both Sonic Jam and the obscure Sonic: Into Dreams mode from Christmas NiGHTS getting nods. The Adventure duology? Not only does Crush 40 bring in Open Your Heart, Live and Learn, and Escape From the City, but there's beautiful orchestral renditions of It Doesn't Matter and Believe In Myself. The so-called Dark Age? Both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic '06 get orchestral medleys and there's performances of I Am... All of Me and Knight of the Wind. The Boost/Modern Era? All the games (save for Generations, for obvious reasons) get medleys and both of the vocal themes for Sonic Colors get amazing new covers courtesy of Tomoya Ohtani.
- One for Johnny Gioelli, who even after more than two decades, is still able to perform damn near all of the main vocal themes he's sung for near-perfectly and have an absolute blast doing it.
- Another for Falk Au Yeong, who'd previously done the mixing and mastering for Sonic Mania's soundtrack. Among the work he'd done prior to that, though, is an original soundtrack for the second version of the fangame Sonic: Before the Sequel. Agreeing that the orchestra-style remix of Sky Sanctuary used for act 3 of Cloudy Crowd Zone in the original version of the game was irreplaceable, him and the team decided that the entire zone's music needed to match. So, in keeping with both that and the culmination of Tails' story arc, Falk went on to make the track Flying High, an orchestra-style remix of both versions of Believe In Myself that plays in the zone's first act. Now, cut to the Sonic Symphony, nearly a decade later- one of the segments is an orchestral version of It Doesn't Matter... preceded by an orchestral version of Believe In Myself, sounding nearly identical to the version heard in Before the Sequel. And who's one of the two people credited for the arrangements used in that segment? Falk. While he'd technically already paid the fanbase back with his work on Mania, this time he got to do so on a much larger stage, and also by utilizing the work he'd done on one of the most well-regarded Sonic fangames of all time. Bravo, Falk.
- Above all else, though, is what this performance managed to somehow achieve: uniting the infamously-fractured Sonic fandom. For the two hours the Symphony aired, there were practically no dividing lines- just a single, united fanbase jamming out to 30 years of amazing music.
- The final artwork for the Sonic Channel Isekai Onigiri event in 2023 features something no one had expected. A fight between Super Sonic and Super Eggman While this isn't necessarily the first time Eggman has become super-powered, the fact that we finally have a game canon adjacent Super Eggman after years of speculation of what a form could look like is simply glorious to see.
- Let's face it, Sonic the Hedgehog lives and breathes 'Awesome Moments' no matter what game you're playing. That's just who he is, and what this franchise always aims for.
