The Building Blocks of Speed in “Sonic the Hedgehog”
Sonic the Hedgehog was advertised first and foremost as fast: a fast game, featuring a fast character, on a fast console. But how does one depict the visuals of speed necessary to sell that idea? In real life, speed mostly registers as a lack of visuals; past a certain point, our eyes literally cannot process the events in front of us fast enough to clearly register them. Early Sonic promotional materials used blurring and transparent ‘after-images’ to mimic this effect, but that is easier to get away with in a flat, still image. In a videogame format where the audience/player is forced to make precise inputs in order to win, any loss of visual information would have resulted in confusion and increased difficulty. This is especially true for the graphics available at the time, because as impressive as the Sega Genesis was compared to its competitors, it still had an extremely low pixel count compared to what we have today. Rather than restrict visual information even further than it had to, the team behind Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) coded its visuals in a strong shape language that any player could pick up on. This shape language not only enabled Sonic to be as fast as possible while remaining coherent, it also created a greater sense of speed through that visual cohesion. While Sonic’s graphics and designs have varied significantly across mediums and over time, the core tenants of this shape language established in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) remain integral to the understanding of speed across the franchise.
The origins of the Sonic shape language begin with Sonic himself. In one interview, Hirokazu Yasuhara, one of the original creators of Sonic, said that at the time, Sega was looking for a mascot, not just another protagonist. This mascot had to have an easy-to-understand form and a sense of familiarity, but it also needed to be cool. Stylistically, Sonic matched many other cartoon animals of the time, such as Mickey Mouse: he had a large head with wide eyes, a rounded body, and simple, somewhat stubby limbs. All of these characteristics are traditionally meant to convey harmlessness, softness, and friendliness. Yet where most animal mascots keep their focus centered on these round, cute characteristics, Sonic is set apart due to the emphasis on his spikes. When you break Sonic down to his simplest form, it’s easy to see that he is fundamentally a circle accessorized by triangles.
In Hirokazu Yasuhara’s game manual illustrations, Sonic’s ‘base’ form is all circular: his head, body, and hands most obviously, but his eyes and nose could also be counted toward his roundness. Then, at the edges of his design, are the triangles: his spikes, his ears, and his shoes.
Notably, there is a complete absence of squares, the third pillar of traditional shape language. This ratio of shapes and their relation to Sonic would come to define his world. Circles are the basis of all important things, triangles are the “surprise” factor, and squares exist only in contrast to Sonic himself.
The first aspect of shape language most players will pick up on is the association between circles and movement. Supposedly, when Sega settled on a hedgehog mascot, it was partially due to its form1: they were already envisioning the way a superpowered hedgehog might curl up into a ball, roll around, and do damage with its spiky covering. This ball-esque nature was baked into the visuals of Sonic’s movements. The more Sonic moves, the more circular he becomes. When examining his sprite sheet, we can see that in his basic motion cycle, his stride is quite long. We see the full extension of his limbs in his movements, and this is the closest analog to human movement.
As he picks up speed, the circular motion of Sonic's run is emphasized due to the “smearing” of his shoes and his more compact movements, as his arms and legs don’t extend as far as they did previously. The “smearing” effect is also the Sonic team’s first response to motion blur. Rather than taking visual information away, they actually add visual information, splashing more of Sonic’s vibrant colors on the screen.
Finally, when Sonic is at top speed or jumping into the air, he is almost completely circular, appearing in some frames as a literal blue sphere.
This progression fits well with the idea of speed because of our pre-existing knowledge of circular motion. We see circular motion everywhere: in our own stride, in the wheels on a car, in the spin of a fan. Perhaps more importantly, one of the clearest representations of momentum we have is a ball rolling down a hill, and mechanically, Sonic encourages players to pick up momentum. In a practical sense, these visuals serve to make Sonic more readable the faster he goes, such that the player can always easily track his movement and their own reactions. Thus Sonic’s circular appearance serves to both enhance the ‘feeling’ of speed and make speed more accessible to the audience.
Beyond simple motion, circles also represent embodiment and interaction. As previously mentioned, circles literally make up the majority of Sonic’s body. Furthermore, Sonic’s primary mode of interaction is jumping, which is required to traverse obstacles, pick up power-ups, and attack enemies. Sonic’s jump sprite is one of his roundest, so the more Sonic interacts with the world, the more circular he becomes. Complimentary to this, nearly everything that Sonic can interact with is circular as well. The parts of the ground that help him speed up are distinctly curved. The buttons that make him jump higher are round and accompanied by springs. The enemies he can either crash into or defeat are depicted with the same kind of roundness that he is, despite their mechanical nature. The rings that Sonic picks up are circular, yet hollow in the middle, indicating the fact that he can interact with them by simply passing through. The save points that mark his progress are topped with a colorful sphere that changes color when passed. These are all things that the game developers want players to pay attention to, so they are granted the shape with the greatest importance. Additionally, due to the previous association with movement, players can quickly learn that these elements will not slow them down, fostering greater confidence and furthering the importance of momentum.
Along with its importance, the shape language of circles in Sonic has also held up the strongest over the years. Even Sonic projects that depict the titular hedgehog in a much more visually open and narrative-heavy format, such as the Sonic X animated show from 2003, rely on the established patterns of circular motion to depict speed. Granted, the limited animation style— and limited budget— of Sonic X make this easier to notice, but the reliance on Sonic’s previous shape language was still accompanied by many other kinds of animation effects, filters, and tricks to enhance the show’s visuals, which arguably would not have been as effective without the underlying structure. The intro sequence to the show makes use of what looks to be a spinning 3D-animated sphere, with just enough of Sonic’s signature colors to feel like a representation of Sonic at top speed, though this one sequence moves much faster and more smoothly than the rest of the show. Throughout the intro and during several chase scenes from the show, Sonic is depicted with a mostly-still upper half, while his legs and shoes are morphed into a vaguely moving circle, similar to his original running sprites. Rather than risk over-using Sonic’s fully spherical form for both jumping and attacking, Sonic X tends to use it only in attack sequences, preserving some of its impact. Perhaps unintentionally, the continued use of the round and cartoonish designs of Sonic and his friends amidst much more realistic human character designs clearly conveys the show’s central conceit, that these animal characters are lost in a world very different from their own. These designs also connect Sonic and friends to the more organic shapes of nature, rather than the city backgrounds that they are often depicted in. Doctor Robotnik’s design is also incredibly fitting, as his stylized roundness and proportions place him in the same category as Sonic, even though he is technically human and has a very different silhouette.
In contrast to the ever-present circles, triangles are generally ‘added on’ to other shapes, indicating increased danger or caution. According to traditional shape language, triangles are often used as a symbol of danger, power, and unpredictability. We see this used throughout Sonic’s environment to mark threats, such as in spike pits, dangerous obstacles, and many of the enemies. In Sonic’s design, we see his spikes most clearly when he is showing power through actively attacking an enemy, or reacting to danger by skidding to a sudden stop or dropping into a defensive/crouched position. Even though triangles are a marker of danger, the fact that Sonic also displays these markers reassures the player that he is similarly formidable. Sonic’s regular quick-stops in the face of spiky traps allow his character a sense of control that adds to his cool factor, and they also force the player to experience the sudden contrast between movement and stillness, enhancing the appeal of speed.
In Sonic X, triangles and sharp angles are much more heavily emphasized than in the original, but they follow the same design principles. Sonic X aims to present a more dangerous situation than the original Sonic video game, or even the Sonic game it was based on, Sonic Adventure. Sonic X was also trying to lean into an edgier aesthetic than the original, matching what was associated with coolness at the time, as is evidenced by the popularity of Shadow the Hedgehog. Even Doctor Robotnik— commonly known as Eggman specifically because of his round, generally non-threatening appearance outside of his mechanical creations— has sharper edges than usual. Most notably, the shape and shading of the Chaos Emeralds reflects this emphasis on sharp points as well, making them appear more like threats than a tool that Sonic could control and emphasizing their power.
The least emphasized shape in the world of Sonic is the square. This is not to say that squares are not important, however; their importance is best illustrated by the iconic Green Hill Zone, known for its checkered pattern. Given the static and constant nature of the pattern, players can essentially measure their speed against the squares, unconsciously tracking how many squares they pass in a certain amount of time. The repetition of squares in the landscape this early on in the game teaches the players that squares are unmoving and unchanging, almost features to be ignored. In this sense, squares become a safe shape. In Green Hill Zone and many other levels, the ground Sonic runs on is occasionally split into square platforms or is given more dimension through the inclusion of squarish indents that open up more areas for the player to explore. Players can tell that these places are accessible in part due to the safe-square association. This allowed the game designers to sprinkle in moments of surprise when they break this association, such as when the reliable checkered ground suddenly crumbles while Sonic is passing over it, or when blocks become moveable and breakable in puzzles throughout the later zones. Even when those moments become somewhat overdone, they still feel like an exception to the rule. Squares are used to establish reliability and a general unchanging physicality that contrasts strikingly with its ever-moving characters.
Similarly, Sonic X largely relegates squares to backgrounds, specifically realistic-looking cityscapes and structures. These are familiar to any audience member and help ground us in the rules that govern our world so that we can better understand the fictional world in front of us. However, these structures clash harshly with the non-Earth characters in the show, and these characters continually defy rules of physics as we understand them. Since we’re expecting the world to work more like our own, Sonic’s powers stand out as something exceptional and impressive.
Shape language is an incredibly important aspect of visual design, especially character design. Our understanding of shapes inherently affects how we understand the relationship between characters or objects and the world they inhabit. The shape language of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) may have been born out of simple necessity rather than a fully formulated artistic choice, but it served its purpose well enough that audiences still enjoy the look and feel of the original, and are continually inspired to iterate on its designs.
Originally published on April 28, 2024 for the class "History of Sonic the Hedgehog" at the University of Chicago. This essay has been reformatted here to allow for ease of understanding.
