Sonic The Hedgehog — From Games to The World of Cross-Platform Adaptations And Transmedia
Sonic the Hedgehog is a multi-media cross platform franchise, with its original inception in 1991 in the video-game title by the same name for the Sega Mega Drive. Although being a videogame-based franchise at its core, Sonic has been adapted to many forms of media over the years, such as cartoons, anime, comic books and recently, a live-action feature film. This case study will explore these adaptations and with how due to its status and iconic perception with the added use of transmedia, it can be argued that expanding the franchise into more narrative forms of media can allow for more compelling story telling of the original franchise’s universe and even allow for platform expansion later on. With this considered, many of these adaptations tend to follow the story already present in the games, thus giving us a wide and connected story, which brings fans the fulfilment of following the story on various platforms and forms while still being entertaining to less invested enjoyers who follow the franchise more casually. This also relates to how it’s heavily linked with transmedia due to the franchise’s use of adaptability and different media format successes throughout the years.
Within this extensive research, the following case study will be presented and applied to the two media concepts in question. Starting with Adaptation itself, adapting a form of media into another can figure itself to be a difficult task, as many elements present in the original media form might not be so well translated into the new one. However, bringing some works only present in one or some media forms into a completely new one can result in a refreshing of said works and present them to new audiences. Adapting various works has been done for multiple decades, primarily the adaptation of books into movies during cinema’s inception and more recently into TV series. Some of the most famous adaptations as of date are the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, based on the books with the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien, first released in 2001 or the Game of Thrones series, which is based on A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of books by George R. R. Martin. These adaptations are loved by fans of the original works and managed to harness the series more fans who were more familiar with the media of television and film, possibly even enticing them to further explore the original works, thus expanding the franchises in recognisability and awareness for more possible consumers.
Transmedia storytelling is a method which involves a piece of media in which continuity is kept through various media forms. This method of storytelling can allow for a greater expansion of the universe in a work of fiction, allowing different stories or different character perspectives to be shown without overshadowing the main storyline, thus giving consumers various ways to enjoy these works of fiction. There are many franchises and storylines which use transmedia storytelling due to how massive their fictional universe is, showing consumers the inner details that we didn’t get to experience or that were simply mentioned or not developed in the main media form due to more pressing matters during the main plot or time constraints. Such a franchise is Star Wars, which started as a series of movies which followed the same continuity, but due to the popularity of the wondrous and vast universe present in the movies, many other media forms presented stories regarding origins of fan-favourite villains and side characters or major events from the movies from a different perspective, such as the tie-in comics which explore characters’ backstory before they appeared in the franchise and in plenty of deep media products, which brings us on an interactive canon adventure into each of these beloved fictional universes. These various tie-ins can truly allow consumers to capture each and every essence of franchise they hold so dearly.
When it comes to the Sonic franchise, it can be considered that a lot of aspects hold true regarding the concepts in study. Sonic’s universe is vast, with many fictional characters who seem to both take from the extraordinary and the mundane, with the anthropomorphic animal characters often interacting with regular humans in many iterations. However, as mentioned by Strong (2020, p. 7), “The need to make his fictional world seem realistic’ and ‘creating a society meant to mirror the real world’ the same patently cannot be said for the many reappearances of Gandalf, Wolverine, Luke Skywalker, or the Incredible Hulk where their own regimes of genre verisimilitude prevail.” Here Strong indicates that the worlds/environments in which these characters function may be systematically and meticulously drawn, however their referent is not our external reality. Rather, their success is, at least in part, judged by the completeness with which they conjure an alternative, or alternate, reality instead. Therefore, we can link to and examine how a lot of works of fiction, while loosely basing locations and having a world regularly populated by humans, they do not base themselves in prospects of realism. Sonic follows such same principles in any media form it appears in, with his world being presented as colourful and vibrant and focusing on the more on the fantastic side that Sonic’s universe provides. This holds true for many of Sonic’s adaptations into various forms of media and even in the games themselves, where some iterations of the franchise have the titular non-realistic characters interact with normal humans, although in a world where realism is not a concern, while others simply focus completely on the anthropomorphic for great emphasis on the cartoony aesthetic due to the franchise’s younger target demographic.
Along with Sonic himself, the franchise holds an iconic cast of characters who reoccur consistently regardless of what form of media they appear in. This allows the franchise to be consistent by its overall narrative and character development, even with newly introduced characters along the franchise’s evolution, both in terms of mainstay characters and one-time appearances. The fandom is also more likely to be interested as they can join their already beloved characters in any iteration of the franchise, thus bringing a sense of familiarity whilst maintaining a steady stream of new content and ideas for the organisation. As Strong (2020, p. 7) mentions: “Margrit Tröhler terms a ‘multiple protagonist constellation’ (459), engaged with on the basis of that recollection — by a moderately attentive consumer”. This suggests that the theory of how multiple mainstay characters in moderate number can easily be remembered by any consumer, thus bringing them familiarity with any appearance they make. A vast recollection of characters can also bring different kinds of consumers into the franchise, as many of them could sympathize with any character from the cast due to their personality, design, character development and relationships to one another. In Sonic, there are plenty of characters who are equally iconic and appear as regulars, those being Tails, Knuckles, Amy and the antagonist Dr. Eggman. These are all characters who have their own personalities and relations to one another, be them friendly or not so much, which keeps the story engaging and keeps the audience rooted in their favourite characters.
A spin-off in the gaming industry is a common occurrence, as many franchises have games that diverge from the main series’ in terms of story and/or gameplay, yet retain elements from the main branch of the series, maintaining them recognizable as part of it. As such, spin-offs can be considered as a unique form of adaptation since they propose a new approach to an already established media form and take focus on different elements of said media form, be it other characters, story or gameplay elements, in the case of videogames. As we can deduce, “The new game is not necessarily connected directly with the story, theme, or general gameplay of the original series.” (Lee et al, p. 7), thus some elements of the original line need to be adapted to fit the new game more precisely. We can observe various spin-offs in Sonic: one of the most prominent being the various entries of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007–2019), which crosses over with the Mario franchise. This game brings new gameplay in the form of the various Olympic sport events, yet maintains the characters from the Mario and Sonic franchise, keeping the game recognisable to the original source and for audiences. Sonic had a spin-off earlier in its life however, in the form of Knuckles’ Chaotix (1995). This game introduced many new characters and focused on them, whilst maintaining core gameplay similar to the gameplay formula present in the main games at that time, be it with some alterations. These various outings bring new major ideas and focuses, so the franchise can experiment with these various gameplay and story elements without causing major restructuring of the main branch of the franchise.
Sonic’s first appearance was on his own videogame in 1991, way before the internet became of common access. As technology evolved, however, pre-existing established videogame characters like Sonic had to learn and adapt to the more interconnected communities and sharing speed of the internet and using it to their advantage in terms of marketing and accessibility. Either Sonic’s games or other transmedia outings such as the cartoons and the comics are readily available on any digital device commonly owned by modern consumers, assisting the franchise becoming easily accessible in any device, as Buehring et Vittachi (2020, p. 3, 4) explain: “The motivation for adopting a video animation style as a medium is that people in modern societies have undoubtedly become more used to dealing with content on digital displays and screens”. It is widely known that today, the default medium of sharing content is both through electronic and visual mediums: people watch stories unfold on television, on their computers, on movie screens and even on their telephones. Understanding this outlook contributes to the franchise keeping an interconnected storyline in easy access to the consumers, allowing for a transmedia continuity to be kept up with by the consumers easily without posing exaggerated expenses for the production company or the consumer or having the necessary products be difficult to obtain for those without ready access to specialized stores.
Despite the fact that the Sonic franchise has had many outings in various media platforms, the success of such an outing depends heavily on four factors, as mentioned by Buehring et Vittachi (2020, p. 4): “Glaser, Garsoffky and Schwan (2009) describe four important factors in narratives, namely dramatization, emotionalization, personalization, and fictionalization, which makes it an effective form of knowledge acquisition”. The specific factors mentioned above, “dramatization, emotionalization, personalization, and fictionalization”, are viewed as a crucial factors of any story within media, with Sonic being no exception. No matter the media outing, the plot must achieve to be compelling, it’s characters must have a palpable personality and emotions and the universe surrounding it must fit into the fiction already set by other iterations, unless said iteration brings forward new elements which must be explained early in the story for the consumer to be keep up with. As consumers take in the product, their minds must be sparked and enticed to want more: they should feel compelled to put themselves in the characters shoes to understand different perspectives, not necessarily agreeing with them, but allowing themselves to take in different points of view. They should also be enticed into bringing forth their own ideas as to how they would like the story and franchise overall to progress, such as what other forms of media would allow the story and characters of Sonic to better progress, bringing forward their own sense of self and desires into the franchise and allowing to feel more connected with the story, the characters and the interconnected universe throughout the games, cartoons and comics.
Reflecting back on this case study identifies that Sonic as a franchise possesses a lot of versatility in terms of narrative storytelling. The franchise evolved from a simple story to complement the original MegaDrive game in its initial release to an over-arching universe with many characters and locations explored through various forms of media, keeping a transmedia narrative throughout most releases. The use of adaptation and transmedia relates to the justification of interconnected universes within Sonic. Allowing for devoted fans to feel rewarded in terms of the ‘Uses and Gratification Theory’, where by indulging in the continuity and exploring it further, they feel a sense of reward and connection to the universe they are experiencing, while still being entertaining by itself and allowing more casual enjoyers to take part in the franchise at their own pace. Sonic the Hedgehog is a household name in the videogame industry and now more than ever due to the expansion of the franchise over to many other forms of media, so many more consumers can enjoy Sonic, his games, movies, stories and universe, all thanks to the creative concepts of adaptation and transmedia.
Sonic the Hedgehog Opening Scene 1080p
Sonic Unleashed — Intro HD (1080p)
Reference List:
⁃ Buehring, J. and Vittachi, N. (2020) ‘Transmedia Storytelling: Addressing Futures Communication Challenges with Video Animation’, Journal of Futures Studies, 25(1), pp. 65–78. doi: 10.6531/JFS.202009_25(1).0007.
⁃ Lee, J.H., Clarke, R.I., Sacchi, S. and Jett, J., 2014. Relationships among video games: Existing standards and new definitions. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 51(1), pp.1–11.
-SEGA (1995) Knuckles Chaotix. [CD] Sega 32 X.
-SEGA (2007–2019) Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. [CD] Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch.
-SEGA (1991) Sonic the Hedgehog. [CD] Sega MegaDrive. USA: Sega of America.
-Strong, J., 2020. Character Adaptations: Recurrence and Return. Adaptation, 14(1), pp.109–135.
Images/Videos Used:
- Title Screen for the Original ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Video Game (1991) - maxresdefault.jpg
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Movie Poster (2020) — SonicPoster.jpg
- Green Hill Zone — Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) — e0cd02c1131d6713252ce9fe8c314924cda33717_hq.jpg
- Green Hill — Sonic the Hedgehog: Movie (2020) — latest
- Image of the Sonic the Hedgehog ‘Cast’ — 8942cd1559e1a8f01718dc5072d861ae804c3284_hq.jpg
- Box Art: Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011) — VFutdH7usKqyIUvEcGiFBlvIlgwsRrn-HKAVwIN8E3PTp88yXvTyUmMns4qOKGM4QK5hIif-lZCBACHLhp2mnGpEsDNzb9TcWr8mcKVOdw30-eykqu22Fn2rXQMxCSyohpOP4SKZuS7Ca7afOFgRWAZznXDL85Y_eOJhno_7WQPs
- Sonic Dash Screenshot iOS (2013) — sonic_dash_1.jpg
- Sonic the Hedgehog IDW Issue 1 Cover (2018) — latest
- Sonic Unleashed — Intro HD (1080p)
- Sonic the Hedgehog Opening Scene 1080p
