Sonic the Hedgehog is the name of SEGA's flagship franchise and the character it features. During the 1990s, SEGA had been rivals with Nintendo, and thus Sonic was treated as a rival to Nintendo's Mario. During the 2000s, however, SEGA dropped down to being a third party developer for other companies, including Nintendo. This opened the way for the cast of the Sonic the Hedgehog series to make crossover appearances with Mario and other Nintendo characters. This started with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which featured a cast of Mario and Sonic characters as playable characters competing in Olympic events, along with other characters appearing in non-playable roles as referees and audience members. This has spawned its own subseries which has added more character appearances. In addition, Sonic has also been featured as a playable character in the Super Smash Bros, series, starting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Other Sonic characters have also made Super Smash Bros. appearances in the form of Assist Trophies, stickers, trophies, Spirits, Mii Fighter costumes and other cameos.

Sonic the Hedgehog

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Sonic is a blue hedgehog who is the eponymous protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog action platforming series series. His main ability is his incredible running speed. He can run faster than Mach 1 and is able to use his speed to attack enemies. He has had many enemies over the years, but Dr. Eggman has been the consistent foe. He spends most of his time traveling alone and lives by his own rules, as he sees saving the world as "a minor distraction". He actually is not interested in competitive racing unless it involves showing up Dr. Eggman, as seen in the storyline for his first racing game, Sonic R.

During Nintendo and SEGA's times as rivals, there was a jab taken at Sonic in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Knong Quest. During Cranky Kong's Video Game Heroes award ceremony at the end of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Sonic's shoes (along the gun of another third party character, Earthworm Jim) are seen discarded by a trash can under a sign reading "No Hopers".

In all games of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games subseries, Sonic appears as one of the playable competitors. He's a speed-type competitor. This marks the first time that Sonic and Mario truly appear together, and in a capacity in which they are both playable.

Super Smash Bros.

Sonic has also become a regular character in the Super Smash Bros. series starting with his debut as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was unlocked by either playing 300 brawls, beating Classic Mode with ten different characters, playing more than ten hours of brawls or by completing "The Subspace Emissary". Within "The Subspsce Emissary", Sonic only appeared near the end, where he cut through Tabuu's wing in time to prevent him from turning all of the other characters into trophies and then joined the roster for the final battle. Sonic later reappeared as part of the default roster in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U (being the only third party character to carry over from Brawl, although Solid Snake would return in the next game) and as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he was unlocked through the game's variable-based system for unlocking fighters or by unlocking him in Adventure Mode.

Within the Adventure Mode of Ultimate, he made a prominent appearance during the opening cutscene. When Galeem unleashed his beams of light, Sonic was seen trying to outrun it, and he appeared to slow down in an attempt to save Pikachu, only to be hit by one of the beams of light. Sonic could later be found and awakened within the Sacred Land area. In Classic Mode, Sonic's personal route was called "At the Speed of Sound", and the theme of his opponents was that they each represented different characters or general games from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It ended with a standard boss fight against Master Hand and Crazy Hand.

Sonic's appearances have been accompanied by two trophies (one being of his Final Smash, Super Sonic) and three stickers (two using art from his original game and one from the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog) in Brawl, two trophies (plus a Super Sonic trophy in the Wii U version) in the 3DS/Wii U game and three Spirits in Ultimate. One was a Fighter Spirit of Sonic, while the other two were Spirits for Super Sonic and Sonic the Werehog.

Other Appearances

Sonic has also appeared in Super Mario Maker as a Mystery Mushroom costume (using his sprite from the original Sonic the Hedgehog) that could be unlocked as a random prize for clearing the 100 Mario Challenge on Expert or higher, or by scanning a Sonic amiibo. In Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi pattern based on Sonic's appearance could be unlocked by scanning his amiibo.

Amy Rose

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog CD (1993)

Amy Rose is a female hedgehog with a crush on Sonic. She first played the part of Sonic's damsel in distress, but as time has gone by she's become more independent. These days she can take care of herself and sometimes goes with Sonic on his adventures. Her weapon of choice is a large hammer.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games as well as all three of the Winter Games follow-ups, Amy is one of the competitors. She is an all-around character. She also appears as a trophy and sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and an Ace Support Spirit in Ultimate. Her Spirit's Support effect is to raise the damage done to shields. When fought in a Spirit battle, Amy's Spirit would possess an Inkling, starting the battle with a hammer and with the ability to wield a hammer for longer, as well as increased move speed.

Blaze the Cat

First Appearance: Sonic Rush (2005)

Blaze is a princess who in her original appearance is said to be from an alternate dimension, but later games later show she is actually from the future where she works with Silver the Hedgehog. She protects the Sol Emeralds in a role similar to those of Sonic and Knuckles in protecting the Chaos Emeralds. She has the ability to control flames.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and all three of the Winter Games follow-ups, Blaze is one of the competitors. She is an all-around character. She also appears as a trophy and sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and an Advanced Support Spirit in Ultimate. Her Spirit's Support effect is for the player's fighter to start a battle with the Superspicy Curry effect in play. When fighting in Spirit battles, Blaze's Spirit possesses Robin in an area with the floor as lava. She starts the match wielding a Fire Flower, and her explosion and fire-related attacks are more powerful.

Chaotix

First Appearance: Knuckles' Chaotix (1995)

Team Chaotix are a group of three who were originally featured in the game Knuckles' Chaotix where they worked with Knuckles, and they have occasionally formed supporting roles in games since then. They have usually been shown as a detective agency. Vector the Crocodile is their strong leader who can harness the power of music, while Espio the Chamelon is a more stoic member with the ability of camouflage, and Charmy the Bee is a small and optimistic member of the group.

Within the Mario & Sonic games, Vector has been featured as a playable competitos from the beginning, being classified as a power-type competitor. Espio and Charmy have mostly been regulated to appearing as referees and in other NPC roles, although Espio was playable in the Long Jump events of Rio 2016.

In the Super Smash Bros. games, each member of the Chaotix has appeared as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there was a Novice-rank Primary Spirit for the entire Chaotix. When fought in a Spirit battle, Vector would possess K. Rool, Espio would possess Sonic, and Charmy would possess Pikachu. All three of them would periodically turn invisible, in emulation of Espio's camouflage ability.

Cream

First Appearance: Sonic Advance 2 (2002)

Cream first met Sonic after being rescued from Dr. Eggman and then fought alongside him to rescue her mother, Vanilla. Cream is almost never seen without her Chao, Cheese. Cheese attacks enemies to defend Cream. Cream is also able to fly, with her ears acting as helicopter blades.

In most of the Mario & Sonic games, she acts as a referee and in other non-playable modes. She has only been playable in the 3DS version of Rio 2016 in the beach volleyball events. She also appears with Cheese in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a trophy and sticker, in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U as a trophy and in Ultimate as an Advanced Support Spirit. Their Spirit's effect is to increase the player fighter's jump height. When fought against in a Spirit battle, Cream would possess Isabelle, while Cheese possessed a Squirtle, in a battle with lowered gravity.

Dr. Eggman

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Dr. Eggman (real name Ivo Robotnik) is Sonic's primary adversary who wishes to control the world. In order to carry out his plans, Dr. Eggman needs to get his hands on the Chaos Emeralds. He uses his army of robots to do this, but he always seems to fail. He has usually sought the Chaos Emeralds to power various weapons, although recently he has used them to awaken powerful living weapons such as Chaos and Shadow in hopes of manipulating them for his own ends; such plans have usually backfired in his face.

In all of the Mario & Sonic games, Eggman has been featured as one of the playable competitors. He is a skill-type competitor. Eggman also has a descendant known as Eggman Nega, who makes non-playable appearances throughout the series before being playable in the Long Jump events of the 3DS version of Rio 2016.

Eggman also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a trophy and a sticker, in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U as a trophy and in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Legend-Rank Primary Spirit who boosts the power of electric attacks. When fought in a Spirit battle, Eggman's Spirit would possess Morton Koopa Jr. and fight alongside a metallic Sonic in a battle with occasional bob-omb downpours.

Eggrobo

First Appearance: Sonic & Knuckles (1994)

The Eggrobo (also spelled Egg Robo within Smash) is a recurring enemy in the Sonic games. They are egg-shaped robots made to reflect Eggman's robots, which float in the air with jetpacks and are normally equipped with powerful blasters. These enemies primarily appeared in Sonic & Knuckles, were a number are unleashed upon Sonic in the Death Egg, and one runaway Eggrobo replaces Eggman as the boss whom Knuckles faces in his version of the storyline. They've only also appeared in Sonic Generations as enemies, and otherwise, aside from inspiring the E-100 characters, the Eggrobos have mostly appeared in sports spin-offs and other minigames.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, the Eggrobos appear as an enemy that can be faced in the Smash Run mode. Their appearance is accompanied by a trophy.

Flicky

First Appearance: Flicky (1984)

Flickies are small birds that live on Flicky Island in the Sonic series. They are often used by Dr. Eggman for "battery power" in his Badniks. Other small animals similar to Flickies are also used for this purpose.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Flickies make up part of the audience. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, they make an appearance in the Windy Hill Zone Stage along with the other animal friends from the early Sonic games: Pecky, Picky, Pocky, Cucky, Ricky and Rocky. That version also has an accompanying trophy for all of these animals, entitled the "Fauna of Windy Hill Zone".

Jet

First Appearance: Sonic Riders (2006)

Jet is a headstrong hawk who is the leader of the Babylon Rogues. He is a rival of Sonic's in the Extreme Gear races of the Sonic Riders games. He appears as a trophy and a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and an Advanced-rank Support Spirit (who boosted movement speed) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Also, a playable model for Jet was found in the game data for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, suggesting that he was originally intended to be playable in the game. He went on to make non-playable appearances in the following games, before being playable for the football events in Rio 2016.

Knuckles the Echidna

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)

Knuckles lives on Angel Island and is the last descendant of a lost civilization of echidnas. His duty is to guard the island, especially the Master Emerald, from intruders. He was originally tricked into fighting with Sonic, but later became a friendly rival. At times, he has teamed up with Team Chaotix.

In every game of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series, Knuckles has appeared as one of the playable competitors and is a Power-type competitor.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, he made occasional background appearances running through the loop in the background of the Green Hill Zone (sometimes accompanied by Tails and/or Silver the Hedgehog). A Mii Fighter costume of Knuckles was also made available in the 3DS/Wii U game, and Ultimate, and Knuckles later appeared in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Assist Trophy who attacked opponents with a number of punching moves, including digging into the ground and attacking with an uppercut. He has also been represented by a trophy and sticker in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U game and an Ace-rank Primary Spirit (who boosts the power of fist attacks) in Ultimate.

Metal Sonic

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog CD (1993)

As its name suggests, Metal Sonic is a robotic doppleganger of Sonic the Hedgehog created by Dr. Eggman. It is first employed in Sonic CD, complete with an infamous last stage where Sonic must race Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic has mostly appeared in spin-off games as well as reprising his role as a villain by upstaging Eggman to become the final boss of Sonic Heroes, having absorbed the DNA of various fighters to become a monstrous machine.

Metal Sonic appears in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games as a playable character, and he has returned in every follow-up since then. A sticker of Metal Sonic from Sonic CD also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS he appears as a trophy. Metal Sonic also appears in Ultimate as an Advanced Primary Spirit with the added effect of raising the player character's speed. When fought in a Spirit battle, Metal Sonic's Spirit would possess a metallic version of Sonic in a timed stamina battle while equipped with a Rocket Belt.

Rouge the Bat

First Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

Rouge the Bat is a treasure hunter and jewel thief who has also worked as a government spy. She is very capable at stealth and combat. She has acted as an antagonist, ally and rival throughout her appearances in the games, and she is also known for her flirtatious dynamic with Knuckles the Echidna.

In the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series, she initially made non-playable appearances as an opponent starting in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. She eventually became a fully playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but only for one sport (golf in the 3DS version and beach volleyball in the Wii U version). In the Super Smash Bros. series, she has been represented by a sticker in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS game and a Support Spirit in Ultimate. As a Spirit, her Support effect is to boost the strength of aerial attacks. When fought in a Spirit battle, her Spirit possesses Fox McCloud. In the fight, some of her attacks are strengthened, and she heals herself by landing melee attacks on the opponent.

Shadow the Hedgehog

First Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

Shadow is one of Sonic's enemies turned rival. He was created by Eggman's grandfather, Gerald Robotnik fifty years ago with genetic material provided by the Black Doom. After the death of Gerald's granddaughter Maria, whom Shadow had a close bond with, Shadow became dedicated to destroying the world to gain revenge until he experienced an epiphany in Sonic Adventure 2 and helped Sonic to save Earth from the Biolizard. Shadow was supposedly killed afterwards, but Eggman was able to save him. After discovered his past, Shadow has become more of an ally to Sonic. Shadow has an ability called Chaos Control that lets him warp space and time in order to make him seem much faster then he is to the point where he appears to teleport around. He can also use the Chaos Emeralds to turn into a more powerful, golden form known as Super Shadow, much like Sonic.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and all of its follow-ups, Shadow is one of the playable competitors. He is a speed-type competitor. He also appears in the Super Smash Bros. series as an Assist Trophy, starting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl where it is unlocked automatically with Sonic. When summoned, Shadow uses Chaos Control to slow down time. Shadow is also represented by a trophy and sticker in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U installment and two stages of a Primary Spirit in Ultimate. His first Spirit is an Ace-rank Spirit of his normal self, and after reaching Level 99, the Spirit can be enhanced into a Legend-rank Spirit of Super Shadow which comes with a boost to a player character's attack and speed while they are undamaged. When fought in a Spirit battle, Shadow's Spirit would possess Sonic and be aided in battle by the Assist Trophy version of Shadow.

Silver the Hedgehog

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Silver the Hedgehog is a hedgehog who lives in the same future as Blaze the Cat, where they fight off Eggman Nega, who is a descendant of the original Eggman. He is unlike the other two hedgehogs in that he is slow and has psychic powers instead of the superspeed of the other hedgehogs. In Sonic the Hedgehog he had lived in an apocalyptic future that had been ravaged by the Iblis Trigger, so he went back in time to destroy it. At the end of the game the apocalyptic future seemed to have been overwritten, but Silver and Blaze still existed in the future.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Silver can be sometimes be seen in the background of the Green Hill Zone running through the loop in the background (with or without Tails and Knuckles), and this cameo remains in later versions of the stage seen in the 3DS Smash Bros. and Ultimate. Silver is also represented through a trophy and sticker in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U game and an Advanced-rank Support Spirit (which increased the power of throwing and grabbing attacks) in Ultimate. When fought in a Spirit battle, Silver's Spirit would possess Sonic and start the battle equipped with the Black Hole item, which would also commonly appear during the battle.

Additionally, a playable model of Silver was found in the game data for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, showing that he was intended to appear as a playable character at one point. Silver makes a fully playable appearance in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Game, and he returns in all of the follow-ups.

Tails

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) (1992)

Tails is a two-tailed fox who is Sonic's biggest fan and his closest companion. Thus he accompanies Sonic on most of his adventures. Tails is able to fly by spinning his tails and has a knack for mechanics.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and its follow-up games, Tails is one of the playable competitors. He is classified as a skill-type competitor. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he can be sometimes seen in the background of the Green Hill Zone level running through the loop (with or without Knuckles and Silver the Hedgehog), and this cameo is reprised in the following Smash Bros. games. There is also a Mii Gunner costume of Tails that was available as DLC in the 3DS/Wii U game and Ultimate. Tails has also been represented by a trophy and sticker in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U game and an Ace-Rank Support Spirit in Ultimate. His Spirit's Support effect is to increase the power of up special moves. When fought in a Spirit battle, Tails's Spirit would possess Fox McCloud in a low gravity fight with an appearance by Knuckles's Assist Trophy..

Minor Appearances

Other playable characters from recent Mario & Sonic games include Sticks the Badger, an ally of Sonic's from the Sonic Boom version of continuity; as well as Zavok and Zazz, who are members of The Deadly Six, a group of antagonists from the game Sonic: Lost World. The Deadly Six were also represented by a trophy in the Wii U Super Smash Bros.

The following characters initially appear as stickers (with notes mentioning other Smash Bros. appearances) in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Big the Cat (trophy in 3DS Smash; Spirit in Ultimate)
Chao (Trophy in 3DS/Wii U Smash; Spirit in Ultimate, enhances to Hero Chao)
Chaos (Spirit in Ultimate)
E-102 Gamma (Spirit in Ultimate)
E-103 Omega (Trophy in 3DS Smash; Spirit in Ultimate)
Emerl
Erazor Djinn
Shahra
Storm the Albatross
Tikal
Wave the Swallow

In Ultimate, there is also a Spirit of Infinite, a jackal mercenary who acted as one of the main antagonists of Sonic Forces.

Sonic the Hedgehog Characters in Nintendo Games

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