On Thursday, June 23^rd, one of gaming’s greatest icons, Sonic the Hedgehog will celebrate his 20^th anniversary.  The recognizable blue hedgehog first appeared in 1991 with the debut of the Sega Genesis 16-Bit console and quickly became a household name.  In the 20 years that Sonic the Hedgehog videos games have been available, Sonic has become one of the best selling and most well-known characters in video gaming history. Sega talks about what’s new for Sonic fans -- including his new stereo 3D experience -- in this exclusive E3 video below.

Below are some of Sonic’s biggest milestones as he celebrates two decades of gaming:

1991-Present: SEGA has sold more than 70 million Sonic the Hedgehog games worldwide, appearing in more than 130 releases across multiple consoles

1991-Present: Has appeared on hundreds of children’s products ranging from lunch boxes to Valentine’s Day cards

1993: Sonic first appeared in his first of four television shows, Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog

1993: Archie comics debuted the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series

1993: Sonic the Hedgehog makes his debut in the Macy’s Day Parade as the first video game character balloon

1999: Sonic Adventure debuts on the Dreamcast console

2011:  Sonic Generations, the upcoming video game release that Sonic fans old and new will enjoy, was created in celebration of Sonic’s 20^th Anniversary, featuring both the classic and modern day Sonic, as well as, levels inspired by his 20 years of titles. 

About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.