Come and leave your mark

Thought I’d list and clear up some misconceptions about the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Sonic's speed does not come from his shoes. The English manual for the first game does say that Sonic's shoes make him go faster (a fact which was not mentioned at all in the Japanese manual), but this is most likely referring to the High Speed power-up (known as Power Sneakers in English), which makes Sonic temporarily go even faster than normal. Notably, Sonic wears different shoes in Sonic Adventure 2 (as part of a sponsorship deal by SEGA with Soap grinding shoes, hence why Sonic gained the ability to grind on rails in that game) and he's still just as fast as usual. Sonic's speed is just an innate ability he has, not tied to his shoes.

And by the way, they're not even shoes. Naoto Ohshima, the designer of Sonic, confirmed on Twitter that Sonic actually wears boots, and the white part that was assumed to be his socks is actually just the top of the boot.

No, Shadow the Hedgehog is not Sonic's brother, nor is he a dark version of Sonic himself or anything like that. He's a separate character who was actually canonically created years before Sonic was born, and he looks like Sonic (more specifically, like Super Sonic - his quills are up rather than down) because his creator, Professor Gerald Robotnik, based his design on a prophetic mural depicting Super Sonic fighting Perfect Chaos, while his black and red colour scheme are due to him being injected with the DNA of the Black Arms, a black-and-red-coloured alien race.

The robot Sonic you fight in Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Death Egg Zone is often called Silver Sonic by fans. This name appears precisely once in official material, in the English manual for the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The official name of the robot, in both Japanese and English, is Mecha Sonic. Similarly, the blue Sonic robot from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles is also officially named Mecha Sonic. Some will call it Mecha Sonic Mk. II, but that was something Ian Flynn made up for the Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia to differentiate the two robots. Officially, they're both just called Mecha Sonic. And they're not to be confused with Metal Sonic, which is a completely different Sonic robot who appears in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, the Sonic OVA, Sonic Heroes, and a few other games. In Lego Dimensions's Sonic the Hedgehog pack, the first Sonic robot (the grey one) is incorrectly identified as Robo Sonic, while the second is correctly referred to as Mecha Sonic. Robots named Robo Sonic have never existed in the games, though one appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog Shogakukan manga, which may be where the confusion originated from.

Shadow's super form is not called Hyper Shadow. It's just Super Shadow, like Super Sonic. The Hyper Shadow thing came from a gaming magazine which captioned a picture of Super Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2 as Hyper Shadow, causing fans to believe that was the official name, even though the same magazine published a correction in the very next issue.

Amy Rose is not a cat. She's a hedgehog. She just has her quills in a bob, rather than spiky like Sonic.

Despite it being the first appearance of both characters, Sonic the Hedgehog was not the first time Sonic and Eggman met. Japanese supplementary material makes it clear that both of them had been fighting each other for a long time already before that game's story happened, and we still don't know the origins of how they met. However, Sonic Origins did retcon this and claim that it was their first time meeting.

It's often claimed that Amy Rose was brown in her first appearance, which was in a manga that came out before she made her game debut in Sonic the Hedgehog CD. While Amy did debut in a manga (with her name being spelled "Eimy" originally), the manga was drawn by many different artists in many different styles, with only one of them (and most likely not even the original one) depicting Amy as brown.

While some adaptations do make Sonic aquaphobic, he's not afraid of water in the games. He just can't swim.

One of the biggest misconceptions in the fandom is that Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is non-canon. This belief stems mainly from two things: that the events of the game were erased from the timeline in the ending, and the common misunderstanding that the game was intended to be a continuity reboot for the series (which was never the case). However, the fact is that the game is still canon. Just because the events in it were erased from the timeline doesn't mean they never happened - rather, they merely became echoes in time, which is why the Time Eater was able to pull from it in Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations. This is also why Silver is still around, and why Blaze has fleeting memories of Crisis City in Sonic Generations. The setting of the game also canonically still exists, which the game itself shows in its ending - canonically, Elise and the kingdom of Soleanna are still living peacefully. Series head writer Maekawa Shiro, as well as several official Japanese supplementary materials, have explicitly confirmed that the game is still canon. It's also notable that this misconception is far less prevalent among the Japanese fandom than it is among the Western fandom.

Despite very common belief, humans and animals do not exist in separate dimensions in the Sonic games, and Sonic Forces did not retcon Classic Sonic as being from another dimension as opposed to from the past. This whole misconception seems to stem from the fact that in the English localisation of Sonic Forces, Tails says that Classic Sonic is "from another world", as well as Takashi Iizuka saying that animals and humans live in different worlds. This is actually a slight mistranslation of the Japanese word "sekai", which does literally translate as "world" but has a much broader meaning, and can also refer to things like societies and time periods. What Tails meant was that Classic Sonic was from another time period (Silver, being from the future, also refers to his time period as "my world" quite often), and what Iizuka meant was that the animals and humans just live in separate societies, not dimensions. SEGA confirmed in a video on their official YouTube channel that it is all one world, with the animals generally living on the small islands and the humans living in the big countries and cities, and games since Sonic Forces have clarified that Classic Sonic is still from the past.

And on the subject, there was never any such thing as a world or planet called Mobius in the games. Sonic's home planet is, and always has been, Earth. The Mobius thing came from a mistranslation of an interview with Yuji Naka, who made a comment about Sonic "running on Mobius", which was most likely a reference to the Möbius strips that appear in Emerald Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. While some American adaptations of the series did explicitly refer to Sonic's home world as Mobius, the games have always been set on Earth.

Sonic is not from Mobius in the Sonic OVA or Sonic X. In the OVA, he's from Planet Freedom (Wakusei Freedom in Japanese, which might even just be an alternate universe version of Earth), and while Sonic X depicts him coming from another world/dimension as a clear nod to the whole Mobius thing, the world he comes from is only ever referred to as "Sonic's world" and is never given an official name, either in the series or in supplementary material.

Freedom Planet is not a Sonic fangame. It did start out as one, but it quickly became a completely original game, with original characters and settings and an original story.

While Rouge does work for GUN now, that hasn't always been the case. In Sonic Adventure 2, Japanese-exclusive dialogue makes it clear she's an outside professional who was hired by the President himself to work directly for him on an on/off basis. She doesn't start explicitly working for GUN until Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

It's often said that Jaleel White, voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in the '90s American cartoons, was planned to voice Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations, but he either turned down the role or demanded too much money. However, Jaleel himself confirmed via Twitter that he was never even approached by SEGA to voice Classic Sonic, who was always intended to be mute.

It's often said that Sonic's love of chilli dogs became canon to the games in Sonic and the Black Knight. It was actually first mentioned in the Japanese manual of Sonic Advance 3.

People will often say that Nack the Weasel was originally named Fang the Sniper, and that his name was changed in the West because of censorship. This is... slightly backwards. In fact, his original name was Nack the Weasel, but in Japanese, Nack sounds similar to Knuckles ("Nakku" vs. "Nakkuruzu"), so they decided to change it. They held a contest to decide the new name, and the winning entry was Fang the Sniper, so that became his name in Japan. In the west, where due to different pronunciation rules in English "Nack" and "Knuckles" are different enough to be distinct, he reverted to the name Nack the Weasel. Despite being called "weasel", SEGA have confirmed he's actually a jerboa, and the "weasel" in his name isn't referring to his species, but rather a description of his character (i.e. he's sly and crafty, like a weasel).

It's a common rumour that Tails was originally a tanuki, but he was changed into a fox because SEGA thought non-Japanese players wouldn't know what a tanuki was. This is the result of several mistranslations and crossed wires. Tails was always a fox - the only difference was that he was originally a normal one-tailed fox, before they decided to give him two tails. SEGA of America initially wanted to change his real name to Miles Monotail, but SEGA of Japan wouldn't let them.

Among the many, many levels that were planned for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 but cut, a desert level named Dust Hill Zone is often mentioned. There was a desert level planned, and there was a level named Dust Hill Zone planned, but they weren't the same thing. The desert level was actually called Sand Shower Zone, and Dust Hill Zone was actually a "dark future" version of Green Hill Zone, with more of a haunted house theme.

Dr. Eggman is often said to be a feminist, based on the manual for Sonic Heroes calling him one. While it is pretty funny to imagine an evil dictator who wants to take over the world and enslave all of humanity believing in gender equality, this is sadly the result of a mistranslation. The English word "feminist" is used as a loanword in Japanese to mean something more akin to "womaniser".

Contrary to popular belief, Utoku Keiko did not provide the voice clip of Sonic saying "I'm outta here!" in Sonic the Hedgehog CD (heard if you leave Sonic idle for three minutes). That voice clip was actually provided by Nishimura Masato, a designer at Sonic Team at the time (the "Majin" referred to in the creepy "Fun is infinite" Easter egg screen). Also, according to Masato himself on Twitter, what Sonic actually says in that Easter egg is "I'm outer here!"

The Japanese/European opening song for Sonic the Hedgehog CD is not called "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior", nor is it called "You Can Do Anything". The actual title is "Sonic - You Can Do Anything". And the ending theme is "Cosmic Eternity - Believe in Yourself".

Sonic has never actually said "Gotta go fast!" in any of the games. It just became a meme after the line was repeated in the English dub opening of Sonic X, though Sonic has said it in other continuities (like the Sonic Boom cartoon) as a nod to the meme. The closest he's come to saying it in the games is saying "Gotta speed up!" in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Despite the fact that Tails is often the one piloting it, the Tornado is actually Sonic's plane, not Tails's (which is why it has Sonic's name on the side of it). Sonic and Tails first met after Sonic crashed his place on West Side Island, where Tails lives, whereupon Tails helped him fix it and added some upgrades and improvements.

It's often said that Sonic Adventure 2 is when the English localisation started using the name Dr. Eggman as opposed to Dr. Robotnik. That would actually be the next game, Sonic Heroes - Sonic Adventure 2 features scrolling text reading "I am Robotnik" and "The Robotnik Empire" during a pivotal cutscene, as well as Eggman's relatives, grandfather Professor Gerald Robotnik and cousin Maria Robotnik.

"Reach for the Stars" from Sonic Colors was not performed by Cash Cash. It had the singer from Cash Cash, Jean Paul Makhlouf, doing vocals, but it wasn't done by the band themselves. Similarly, "Endless Possibility" from Sonic Unleashed wasn't performed by Bowling for Soup, it just had Jaret Reddick, the lead singer of that band, on vocals. 

Contrary to popular belief, Sonic's original name was not Mr. Needlemouse. The name he was given on his concept art was Mr. ハリネズミ (Mr. Harinezumi), which translates as Mr. Hedgehog. "Needlemouse" is a direct and far too literal translation of "harinezumi".

Shadow's theme from Sonic Adventure 2 is not called "All of the Darkness". That name comes from people mishearing the first line of the chorus as "All of the darkness that dozes in the dusk", when the actual lyrics are "Oh dark, the darkness that dozes in the dusk". The actual title of the theme is the line after that, "Throw It All Away".

Casual fans of the series sometimes refer to Tails as Tails the Fox, even though he's never officially been called that. Tails is one of the few characters in the series to not have a "[Name] the [Species]" style name, with his full name being sometimes given as Miles "Tails" Prower (Miles Prower being his real name, and Tails being his nickname). Also, while some continuities (such as the '90s American cartoons and Sonic X) have him disliking or being embarrassed about his real name, there's nothing in the games themselves to indicate that that is the case - in fact, he even introduces himself as Miles "Tails" Prower on a few occasions, such as when doing recaps of his story/levels in the Sonic Adventure games.

No, the Archie comics did not give Sonic's real name as Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog. While it is revealed in the Archie comics' continuity that "Sonic" is not his birth name, nowhere is it ever revealed what his birth name is in the comics themselves. "Olgilvie" came from then-writer Ken Penders saying that he had intended for that to be Sonic's real name, but it was never actually made part of the canon. "Maurice", meanwhile, was a one-off joke.

Sonic was not born on South Island, that's just where the first game was set. Japanese materials reveal that Sonic was actually born on Christmas Island, though this has since been retconned by SEGA due to them not wanting to have any origin stories for Sonic.

Cosmo's species in Sonic X are never officially called "Seedrians", that was a fan-created nickname for them. Her species doesn't in fact have any official name, and is simply referred to as "Cosmo's species" in official material.

In the Sonic fanfiction world, "Sonadow" is the name for stories involving a romantic pairing between Sonic and Shadow, while "Shadic" is the name for the fan-created Dragon Ball-style fusion of the two characters. Whatever you do, don't get the two mixed up.

Fanfiction commonly depicts Shadow calling Amy "Rose", but this has never happened in canon. Shadow and Amy don't interact that much, but when they do, he calls her Amy just like everyone else does.

Chaos and Tikal did not "depart to the afterlife" at the end of Sonic Adventure, nor were they sealed in the Master Emerald again. It's rather funny people think Chaos was sealed in the Master Emerald again, since Sonic explicitly spoke against doing exactly that in the cutscene before the battle with Perfect Chaos. Chaos and Tikal being dead is also disproven by Chaos still being alive and around in Sonic Battle. Not to mention that neither of them came out when Knuckles smashed the Master Emerald to pieces in Sonic Adventure 2. As shown in Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence, Chaos and Tikal now live in secrecy on Angel Island as spirits. Maekawa Shiro, who wrote the scene of Chaos and Tikal departing, outright stated that he never intended for it to be seen as a death.

In fan works, it's common for Shadow to call Sonic "faker" as a sort of nickname, but he's never actually done this in the games. It's Sonic who calls Shadow "faker" in Sonic Adventure 2, and Shadow responds with "I think you're the fake hedgehog around here". After this, it's never brought up again, in this game or subsequent ones. It does happen a lot in the comics, though, mostly because writer Ian Flynn loves to make references to fandom jokes and memes.

Many of the characters' portrayals in fandom are either exaggerations or complete misunderstandings of their canon personalities.

• Sonic is often portrayed as hyperactive, always zipping around all over the place and never being able to sit still for more than a second at a time. While some adaptations, such as the live action movie series, do portray him like that, the games have never done so. In those, and in the anime Sonic X, Sonic's personality is more akin to a greyhound - he's mostly laid-back and chill, until something happens which requires him to spring into action. (In Sonic X in particular, one of his favourite pastimes is taking naps.) That said, some of the comics do depict him this way, even going so far as showing the act of standing completely still to be incredibly difficult for him.
• Knuckles is often portrayed as an incredibly gullible idiot who believes anything anyone tells him. Again, while he is portrayed this way in some adaptations (like in the Sonic Boom cartoon, which is a lot more comedic and parodic in tone anyway), in the games he's actually shown to be quite smart, if a little hotheaded at times (notably, in Sonic Forces, he actually leads the resistance against Eggman and coordinates most of their assaults). His reputation for being gullible stems from the belief that he constantly gets tricked by Eggman into fighting Sonic. This has only happened three times in the entire game series - once in his debut game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles (in which he didn't know Sonic or Eggman and therefore had no reason to believe Eggman was lying), again in Sonic Adventure (which was most likely intended as a callback to his debut, and even then it was a combination of circumstantial evidence and coincidence that ultimately convinced him, not just Eggman's words alone) and one final time in Sonic Advance 2. It does happen a few more times in Sonic X, which doesn't help matters, but three times out of however many Sonic games is not that much all things considered. Not to mention all the times where he doesn't immediately trust someone - for example, he's very distrustful of Rouge in Sonic Adventure 2 when he first meets her, and even after they become friends he's still wary around her.
• Amy is often depicted as an annoying, clingy girl with a short temper who's obsessed with Sonic and chases him around everywhere he goes. This is mostly the fault of Sonic X, which does portray her this way, though even in that series she's shown to be capable of being sweet and friendly too. In her debut game, Sonic the Hedgehog CD, the lack of dialogue makes it difficult to get a read on her personality, but the cutscenes seem to depict her more as an innocent romantic girl rather than clingy and obsessive. In Sonic Adventure, while she definitely is shown to have a thing for Sonic, she's depicted as a sweet and caring girl who takes care of an injured bird she finds. This depiction continues in Sonic Adventure 2, where she gives a heartfelt speech to Shadow that helps him remember Maria's true wish. While starting in Sonic Heroes she did start to show some elements of the more clingy personality, she mellows out on it somewhat in Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces, and by Sonic Frontiers she expresses a desire to find happiness for herself rather than keep chasing Sonic forever.
• Shadow is often depicted as if "brooding dark edgelord" is his entire personality. People often forget that he's capable of showing genuine kindness and compassion, cares very deeply for his friends (even if he doesn't always show it), and even is shown to have a sense of humour at times (such as in Sonic Heroes, where he cracks one-liners like "Well then, it'll be a date to DIE for!" with an amused smirk on his face). While he is quite reserved, even in his debut game he has moments where it seems like he's enjoying himself (particularly during his fights with Sonic), and most of his reserved behaviour can be chalked up to PTSD from Maria's death. He's not a perpetual frowner, either - he's shown smirking on a few occasions, and in Sonic Rivals one of his talking sprites shows him genuinely smiling.
• In parodies, Big is usually the only character who's even more dumb than Knuckles. While Big definitely has never been the sharpest bulb in the box, his original portrayal was more slow (in the literal sense, not as in slow-witted), lazy and laid-back, and he occasionally displayed moments of quick thinking (such as his idea to use the Tornado to escape the Egg Carrier). Later games show him as more easygoing and lax than flat-out dumb, with the exception of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and, again, Sonic X.