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Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)

1991 video game

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ37123
Source-derived summary

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 1991 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It was released in North America and PAL regions in June and in Japan the following month. The player controls Sonic, a hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds. The story follows Sonic as he aims to foil the mad scientist Doctor Robotnik's plans to seek the powerful Chaos Emeralds. The gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health, and a simple control scheme, with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button.

Development began in 1990 when Sega ordered its developers to create a game featuring a mascot for the company. The developers chose a blue hedgehog designed by Naoto Ohshima of Sega R&D9 after he won an internal character design contest, and named themselves Sonic Team to match their character. It uses a novel technique that allows Sonic's sprite to roll along curved scenery which was based on a concept by Oshima from 1989. Sonic the Hedgehog, designed for fast gameplay, was influenced by games by the Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. The music was composed by Masato Nakamura, bassist of the J-pop band Dreams Come True.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)” is 1991 video game. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Sonic, Hedgehog and video, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1991, 1990, 1989—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1991-06-23, 1991-07-26, 2006-11-19, 2006-12-02—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. For this dossier, Sonic, Hedgehog and video is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1991 video game” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q37123. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 6 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991, 1990 and 1989.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
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  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game) primary sources, Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game) archive and Sonic research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.