Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sonic the Hedgehog |
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| Developer(s) | Sonic Team |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Director(s) | Shun Nakamura |
| Producer(s) | Masahiro Kumono |
| Artist(s) | Akira Mikame |
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| Series | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release date(s) | Xbox 360
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| Genre(s) | Platform, action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Sonic the Hedgehog (commonly referred to as Sonic '06) is a 2006 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 3D platformer with action-adventure and role-playing elements. The main playable characters are three hedgehogs: Sonic, Shadow, and Silver, who feature in separate campaigns titled "episodes". A bonus "Last Episode", which involves all three hedgehogs and concludes the storyline, is unlocked upon completing the first three.
Although each character traverses the same levels, their unique abilities allow the player to access different areas of each stage and prevent them from accessing certain items. Scattered through each level are golden rings, which serve as a form of health. The rings can protect a character from a single hit by an enemy or obstacle, at which point they will be scattered and blink before disappearing. The game begins with Sonic, Shadow, and Silver each assigned a limited number of lives. These lives are successively lost whenever, with no rings in their possession, the characters are hit by an enemy or obstacle or encounter other fatal hazards. The game ends when the player exhausts the characters' lives. Every few levels, players will encounter a boss stage; to proceed, they must defeat the boss by depleting its health meter.
Upon completion of a level or mission, players are given a grade depending on their performance, with an "S" rank being the best and a "D" rank being the worst. Players are given money for completing missions; more money is given to higher ranks. This money can be used to buy upgrades for the player character. Certain upgrades are required to complete the game. The game also features two multiplayer modes: "Tag", a cooperative mode where two players must work together to clear levels and collect Chaos Emeralds, and "Battle", a player versus player mode where two players race against each other.
Plot
Doctor Eggman kidnaps Princess Elise of Soleanna in the hopes of harnessing the Flames of Disaster, a destructive power sealed within her. Aided by his friends Tails and Knuckles, Sonic works to protect Elise from Eggman. Meanwhile, Shadow, his fellow agent Rouge, and Eggman accidentally release an evil spirit, Mephiles. The spirit transports the agent duo to a post-apocalyptic future ravaged by a demonic monster, Iblis. When Mephiles meets survivors Silver and Blaze, he fools them into thinking Sonic is the cause of this destruction and sends them to the present to kill him.
Throughout the story, Sonic and friends travel between the past, present, and future in their efforts to stop Mephiles and Iblis and protect Elise from Doctor Eggman. Though at first Silver stalks Sonic and impedes his attempts to save Elise, Shadow reveals to him that Sonic is not the cause of his world's suffering but rather Mephiles, who is trying to change the past for his own evil purposes. They travel 10 years in the past and learn that Mephiles seeks to bond with Iblis, who was sealed within Elise as a child, as they are the two halves of Soleanna's omnipotent god, Solaris. Mephiles eventually succeeds after killing Sonic to make Elise cry over his death, releasing her seal on Iblis and merging with him to become Solaris, who then attempts to consume time itself. The heroes use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to revive Sonic, and he, Shadow, and Silver transform into their super forms to defeat Solaris. Sonic and Elise are brought to the past and extinguish Solaris's flame, removing the god from existence and preventing the entire game’s events from ever occurring. Despite this, Sonic and Elise show faint signs of recalling their encounter afterwards.
Release
Sonic the Hedgehog was announced in May 2005. A demo version of the game was playable at E3 2006. A second demo, featuring a short section of Sonic's gameplay, was released via Xbox Live in September 2006. Sega released several packages of desktop wallpaper featuring characters from the game, and American publisher Prima Games published an official strategy guide, written by Fletcher Black. Sega also made a deal with Microsoft to run advertisements for the game in Windows Live Messenger.
The Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog was released in North America on November 14, 2006, followed by a European release on November 24. Both versions were released in Japan on December 21. The PlayStation 3 version was released in North America on January 30, 2007, and in Europe on March 23. The game is often referred to by critics and fans with colloquial terms that reference its year of release, such as Sonic 2006 or Sonic '06.
In 2007, Sega released several packages of downloadable content that added features to single-player gameplay. These include a more difficult single-player mode and a continuous battle mode with all of the game's bosses back-to-back. One downloadable addition, "Team Attack Amigo" mode, sends players through a multitude of levels, changing to a different character every two or three levels and culminating in a boss fight. The PlayStation 3 version was delayed to allow more time to incorporate the downloadable content, and thus launched alongside it.
The game was digitally rereleased via the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 15, 2010. The following October, various Sonic games with average or below average scores on the review aggregator website Metacritic, including Sonic the Hedgehog, were delisted from retailers. Sega reasoned this was to avoid confusing customers and increase the value of the brand, following positive prerelease responses to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I and Sonic Colors (both 2010). Sonic the Hedgehog was relisted on the Xbox 360 Marketplace in May 2022.
Legacy
GameTrailers and GamesRadar considered Sonic the Hedgehog one of the most disappointing games of 2006. The failure of Sonic the Hedgehog led to the direction of the series being rethought. The next main Sonic game, 2008's Unleashed, ignored the gritty and realistic tone of its predecessor.
Sonic the Hedgehog introduced Silver the Hedgehog, Princess Elise, Mephiles, and Iblis to the franchise; most have made few appearances since. Silver is a playable character in Sonic Rivals (2006) and its sequel, in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2007), and in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and its sequels, and is a minor character in the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors (2010) and Sonic Forces (2017). He also appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics. The main theme of Sonic the Hedgehog and the theme of Sonic, "His World", was sampled in Drake's 2017 song "KMT".
To celebrate the Sonic franchise's 20th anniversary in 2011, Sega released Sonic Generations, which remade aspects of past Sonic games. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows versions feature a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog's "Crisis City" level, and every version, including the Nintendo 3DS version, includes a reimagined version of the boss battle with Silver. The decision to include Sonic the Hedgehog stages and bosses in Sonic Generations was criticized by critics and fans of the series; Jim Sterling of Destructoid referred to the Silver boss fight as the "catch" of the otherwise high-quality game.
See also
In Spanish: Sonic the Hedgehog (videojuego de 2006) para niños
