A classic courtesy of reddit: The Sonic the Hedgehog Technical Files

[Almar]

http://info.sonicretro.org/Original_Story

They apparently were made within Sega of Japan back in the day. It's interesting since:

1. It speaks of Sonic coming from Christmas Island but wandering Earth so much he has no home.

2. "Eggman" Robotnik was already there. And it says that his perfect world is one filled with robots and that he wants to exploit Sonic.

 

 

[Sonic Fan J]

I'm going to have to read that when I have more time. There is a lot of really cool info in there, but just from browsing I' glad to see the points that he loves adventure and is not a hero. Why people always miss those two things is beyond me, but seeing an article that covers those points is awesome to me. Now just to have some time to read some more.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Yeah, I really love how the characters are depicted in this document and I think for the most part, the series would be better off if they largely stuck to these depictions.

[Almar]

It also shows that there's been a radical internal charge to remake the series away from Naka and Co.'s vision of it. In my book, it gives me more grounds that the series from Unleashed up has been a stealthy reboot that Sonic's handlers aren't willing to admit to the public to avoid any backlash.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

Okay, did not expect the backstory to start with a whimsical story about world war 2 pilots inspiring a lady to write stories about Sonc.
With the huge popularity of WW2 shooters in the 2000's, I'm shocked Sonic team never got tempted to make a Spinoff game starring human Sonic in a WW2 era Tornado mowing down some punks in the second great war.
Would be a great double feature with Shadow's game.

" Knuckles has a strong sense of honor and has a good heart <...>. He is very clever and smart "
uhh, yeah, I think modern Sonic Team has changed a few details since.

Funny how the document points out Sonic loves the ocean here.
With all the "Lol Sonic can't swim" jokes, his attitude about water is the complete opposite now.

[StaticMania]

1 hour ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

With all the "Lol Sonic can't swim" jokes, his attitude about water is the complete opposite now.

Sonic says he loves the view of the Ocean in Secret Rings...I don't think that's changed.

[Plasme]

On 2/9/2020 at 5:13 PM, StaticMania said:

Sonic says he loves the view of the Ocean in Secret Rings...I don't think that's changed.

It's constantly joked in all media about how he's scared of water and all the way back to the 90s.

[StaticMania]

He can't swim, but he likes the ocean view...he's seen vacationing near beaches typically...

Him being "scared" of water is only ever seen in Sonic X.

[Natie]

"Sonic is fond of sitting on its beach in his beach chair, wearing sunglasses, and listening to cool rock music." 

Yeah, the OVA staff was definately given these documents as a direct reference lol. 

But yeah I love these descriptions, they really match up to how I always percieved the characters and their world. They had a really cute universe set up here.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

They specifically mention in the document that Sonic can't swim.  When they say he loves the ocean, they're not saying he loves BEING in the ocean.

56 minutes ago, Plasme said:

It's constantly joked in all media about how he's scared of water and all the way back to the 90s.

That's a bit of an exaggeration. He was explicitly portrayed as being able to swim in SatAM and early Archie. Also, most media doesn't really bring it up Sonic's fear of water very much. Sonic X is the only media I know of that seems to be fixated on it (and apparently Sonic Underground too, I barely watched that so I wouldn't know).

[StaticMania]

7 minutes ago, Monkey Destruction Switch said:

(and apparently Sonic Underground too, I barely watched that so I wouldn't know).

I can see it being in that show used to give Sonic another weakness so he'll rely on his Sibling's help more, but I don't remember it being even the focus of an episode...

[Cuz]

17 hours ago, StaticMania said:

I can see it being in that show used to give Sonic another weakness so he'll rely on his Sibling's help more, but I don't remember it being even the focus of an episode...

"The Deepest Fear" tackled it, and it was a pretty extreme hydrophobia if I recall. 

It's like the 3rd episode I caught as a kid. So it stays in memory.

 

Also known as the one where the sibs meet SpongeBob's great grand dad.

Cap'n Squegee absorbent, grey and porous is he.

I mean Underground is were Sonic's constantly spouting: "Water! Why's it have to be water!"

[Polkadi~☆]

A lot of this well defines the things I love in the Sonic franchise, with all the character bios being how I'd expect them to be.

It's a shame that the current focus of Sonic has shifted further away from this, because everything about this really does feel cool. Not 90s cool attitude, but genuine timeless cool.

[StaticMania]

9 hours ago, Cuz said:

Cap'n Squegee absorbent, grey and porous is he.

Well, that explains why I don't remember it...yeesh.

I retain the right to repress this.

[Wraith]

Sonic having a seperate origin for his existence thats grounded in reality is a little silly. I guess they wanted a happy ending for this hedgehog pilot guy but also liked the tragic angle so they just did both of those things. Not sure what it has to do with anything regardless. 

The actual character bios are neat to see. Not a ton has changed since then but details like Knuckles being younger than Sonic are things I'm glad they did tweak. I always liked characters like Knuckles being older than Sonic despite their immaturity. It shows that age doesn't mean a whole lot compared to experience. 

Otherwise it's mostly in-line with what we know about the characters, but it's a cool piece of history. 

 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Honestly, whenever I reread this I just skip over the bizarre origin story since I assume it wasn't really meant to be canon.

23 hours ago, Cuz said:

Cap'n Squegee absorbent, grey and porous is he.

Sonic Underground's character designs sure were something. And I mean that in the worst possible way.

[Volcan Pacaya]

On 2/8/2020 at 11:35 AM, Sonic Fan J said:

I' glad to see the points that he loves adventure and is not a hero.

"What you see is what you get, just a guy who loves adventure."