The History of Sonic the Hedgehog [Hardcover]

Udon Entertainment Corp. (Corporate Author), Les Editions Pix'n Love (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2013

Celebrating over 20 years as SEGA's official mascot, The History of Sonic the Hedgehog is the ultimate guide to SEGA's spiky blue speedster! This hefty 300-page hardcover volume covers in detail every 2D and 3D Sonic game, plus spinoffs and crossovers. You'll also find character profiles, promotional artwork, rare concept art, and a detailed look at the origins of the "Blue Blur".

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Udon Entertainment (January 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1926778561
• ISBN-13: 978-1926778563
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Computers & Technology > Games & Strategy Guides > Internet Games
  • #40 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Pop Culture > Art
  • #63 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Video & Electronic Games

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting story of SEGA and Sonic January 8, 2013

By Parka TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Length: 1:25 Mins

More than 20 years have passed since Sonic made its first appearance in 1991. I still remember fondly how much I enjoyed playing the first three series of the game.

The History of Sonic Hedgehog is a befitting book that celebrates Sonic's 20th anniversary. It was originally published by Pix'N Love Editions in French and this English edition is published by Udon. It's a handsome 300-page hardcover with a nice cover. I really like the cute 2D art of Sonic on the cover as compared to the 3D version on the back cover.

The book covers roughly three main parts. The first looks at the history, the second on the games and the last part on characters and extras.

The history of Sonic is intermingled with the story of SEGA, before it was even known as SEGA (it was called "Service Games"). It's an interesting flashback to the creation of the Sonic through the accounts of the developers, and to the rise and fall of SEGA as a console maker, and the transformation into a multi-platform publisher.

The pages are beautifully laid out with wonderful photos and screenshots. There are photos of consoles I never knew existed. Three lengthy interviews included are with the creators Yuji Naka the programmer, graphic designer Naoto Oshima and producer Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Generations (2011).

The second part focuses on the games. There are eight 2D games, ten 3D games, sixteen handheld ones and 23 spin-offs over the span of two decades. I only played the first three games so I'm reading about the rest for the first time. Each game has a short but informative writeup. The screenshots are a bit small though. I wished there were more and bigger. Stage designs for the games are gorgeous.

The last section has all the main characters and their profiles.... The interesting bits are the Sonic cameos in other games.

This book is a nostalgic trip into the history of Sonic and SEGA.

Highly recommended for fans of the game.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.) Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must buy for Sonic fans! January 4, 2013

By Samantha Smith

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I think every Sonic fan should add this book to their collection. I've been a Sonic fan for over 15 years and when I first heard about this coming out I immediately pre-ordered it. Warning: There's ALOT of pages so expect this book to take up a large portion of your spare time. It tells you everything and I mean EVERYTHING about what you need to know about Sonic. It tells you the history before and how Sonic was created, the rivalry between Sonic/SEGA and Mario/Nintendo, interviews with the creators (Sonic Team), what goes on during development, talks about all the 2D, 3D, handheld and spin-off games, Sonic ups and downs, cameos, all the characters from the games, never before seen artwork and sketches, etc There's a lot of reading but I'm going to enjoy every last page of it. I'm thinking about buying my 8 year old nephew this book cause he loves Sonic, too.

Highly recommend if you're a longtime Sonic fan like me or you're a new Sonic fan and you want to know all about Sonic and some of SEGA's history then you should pick this up.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic, high quality history book for Sonic fans January 13, 2013

By Relytia TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

For the past several months that I've had this book on pre-order, I've often wondered just what sort of book would it be when it finally arrived. Would this be an in-depth look at Sonic's real-life history as a video gaming mascot and the champion of Sega? Would this be an in-universe encyclopedia with entries on the characters, locales, and events in the Sonic series? Would it be more of a concept art book with cool commentary from some of the main people behind the Blue Blur? Turns out, it's all of these. As one who has been a massive fan of Sonic since his childhood, I think it's safe to say I am super happy with this book.

The book is broken down into several big sections with quite different focuses for each one. The first hundred pages or so goes into great detail about Sonic's real life history. Starting all the way back in the 1960's when Sega Enterprises was formed, to Sonic's inception as a character, all the way until the present, the book goes into great detail. It's a really fascinating read that gives a lot of insight into Sonic's history in the context of the bigger Sega picture, and the even bigger picture of the video gaming industry as a whole. Sonic is a trailblazer in many ways, and the history section of this book really makes you appreciate that. To end the history section are a series of really interesting interviews with some of the most important people behind Sonic, such as the ingenious Yuji Naka, arguably the father of Sonic, Naoto Oshima, the man who gave him his iconic look, and Takashi Iizuka, who has been his artistic director since Sonic Adventure. I love these kinds of interviews in books of this nature, and the quality of writing and information in this book is fantastic. I love it all. Great start....

After the history section, there are four big sections that are all about Sonic's games. They are broken down into 2D, 3D, handheld, and spin-off categories respectively. Some games get a lot of page space, such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which has about five or six pages. Other, more obscure titles, such as Sonic Shuffle, has only one or two. Some get less than that. The majority of the info is a summary of the game itself, its content, its innovations, a little real life history, features, a bit about the story, some really interesting trivia, etc. Each game also features a lot of great visuals, ranging from concept/official art to actual screen shots of the games they're from. It's all really well-done and classy. Even screenshots from the older systems and handhelds look very crisp and colorful. It's great.

Next is a rather large section about the characters of the Sonic universe. From the obvious like Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, to the totally obscure like Jet the Hawk, there's quite a few characters represented. I was saddened, however, to see some of the more obscure ones don't get their own page, such as Fang the Sniper (aka Nack the Weasel), Ray the Flying Squirrel, or Mighty the Armadillo. Characters as obscure as these are thankfully referenced in the entries regarding the games they appear in (Sonic the Fighters in Fang's case, and SegaSonic the Hedgehog for Mighty and Ray). Each character that does make the cut in this section gets some history and in-universe information, as well as lots of beautifully printed pictures ranging from concept art, to official art, to actual screen shots. Again, as is the case in the entire book, all of the pictures are beautiful to look at, and the information is quite intriguing. The only let-down is the entry for the "Badniks and Bosses," where each game only gets about three pictures to show, and only 11 (with most being totally obscure or downright horrendous in the case of Sonic 06').

The book ends with an "Extra Zone" section that just boils down to a list of all the obscure, bizarre cameos that Sonic has made in other games over the years, like being able to use Sonic as bait in Sega Bass Fishing, or having him appear as a map shape in Shining Force II (A real classic). This part is quite silly and and enjoyable, but nonessential if you ask me. I would have preferred they ditched this section in favor of putting more pictures and info in the "Badniks and Bosses" part of the character section, but oh well.

All in all, this is an awesome book for a Sonic fan. Seeing as how Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was my first video game as a child and is still one of my all-time favorites, and given that I spent years of my life obsessing over Sonic's next adventure for years as a kid even into my teens, I think it's safe to say I'm a massive Sonic fan. I've been with him in the best of times, and endured his worst of times. That been said, this book was a real treat for me to read. The information is fascinating and full of insight, the art and pictures in the book scream high-quality and attention to detail, and that cover, featuring Classic Sonic on the front and Modern Sonic on the back, is just downright rad. The whole book is just awesome, and really captures Sonic's trademark "coolness" and attitude. Go ahead and add this book to the ever-growing list of fantastic publications from Udon (this book actually was made by the French comapany "Pix'N Love, and localized and published here by Udon). So whether you yourself are a big fan of the blue blur, or you have one in your life that you want to buy a gift for, look no further than this book. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for fans January 27, 2013

By Betsy O'Quinn-Orr

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Two things I was disappointed in was that they didn't mention much about the shows or anime, only one tiny section for "Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog" & A few mistakes here and there (For one, Cream The Rabbit's height is way off)

Being a huge fan girl of all things Sonic I mostly wanted this book for collection and display. Lots of neat little tidbits and great for any Sonic fan.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Long-Time Sonic Fans! January 26, 2013

By D. Centeno

Format:Hardcover

I heard about this book back in Summer 2012 and had wanted since it was finally released (after some push-backs). When I got my hands on it, I quickly read about some of the best games in the series - the original Mega Drive series, the Sonic Adventure Series, and the more recent games I own. I was amazed by the plethora of information; it was great! The very next day, I was telling my friends all of the cool trivia I learned, like how Shadow was originally intended to only appear in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Colors evolved from Mario Galaxy and the Olympic Games series.

Here you have almost everything you might ever want to know about the Blue Blur. I enjoy reading the background information about the development of the games. My personal favorite section (so far) is the "Bonus Zone" of the history section. It features interviews with three of the developers of Sonic, including his designer who says "Dragon Ball" and Akira Toriyama were big inspirations in his life. If you quickly flip through the pages, you'll even notice it's like a flip book and Sonic does some of his signature moves!

Boasting aside, there are some setbacks. I have come across some minor punctuation errors (missing periods, etc.), but that can happen in any book. I'm a little disappointed that the first two games feature some screenshots at the top of their respective pages with the zones of the games, but this stops after Sonic 2. I know it would be troublesome to fit them in, since games like "Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing" only have half a page of information, but an index of some sort in the back with all of the levels would have been nice. Lastly, this being a translation of a French book, it says nothing about the American comics or television series.... The Japanese OVA and "Sonic X" aren't even addressed. This encyclopedia should definitely mention something about Sonic's crossing over into other forms of media, especially since it repeatedly mentions that he isn't just a video game icon, but a pop culture icon of this generation.

Overall, if you have more than two Sonic games, or one of the compilation games, you should buy this book. You'll find out so much information that's quite enjoyable! I even showed this to my friends. I feared I'd be seen as a nerd, but they actually enjoyed reading along, too!

P.S. My favorite part of the book is when an interviewee is asked if Michael Jackson really did work on the music for Sonic 3. His response is simply that he knows Sega wouldn't want him to share that information, so it will always be a rumor. Read more ›