FAMEPedia:Today's featured article/June 23, 2021

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created and owned by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. In addition to video games, Sonic incorporates printed media, animations, a 2020 feature film, and merchandise. The first Sonic game, released on June 23, 1991 for the Sega Genesis, was developed after Sega requested a mascot character to compete with Nintendo's mascot Mario. Sonic success helped Sega become one of the leading video game companies during the fourth generation of video game consoles in the early 1990s. When Sega exited the console market and shifted to third-party development in 2001, it continued the series on Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation systems. Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega's flagship franchise and one of the bestselling video game franchises, selling over 140 million by 2016, and several Sonic games have been listed among greatest of all time. Although later games, notably the 2006 series reboot, have been criticized for a perceived decline in quality, Sonic is influential in the video game industry and is frequently referenced in popular culture.