Right? I'm not crazy? This is some weird Japanese mistranslation? I mean, this shameful specimen is a hedgehog:

Hedgehogs are fat pieces of garbage. They're good for one thing, and it's kicking field goals with them.

Now this, this is the glorious porcupine, ruler of the animal kingdom:

Look at that guy! That's a boy with some 'tude! Slicked back hair, just like Sonic! You could see this guy tapping his foot impatiently!

So can we all just agree to call him Sonic the Porcupine from now on?

I feel like you found the only possible image of a real hedgehog that does look like it could approximate Sonic attitude.

And then worlds saddest porcupine. He just needs the hug that he could never physically receive.

So, you're absolutely right and I agree 100% that Sonic is actually a porcupine but you should be crucified for your bad hedgehog opinions.

Guys, I'm just sayin'

Dude, you are like, totally blowing my mind right now. Heavy.

On a "serious" note "Sonic the Porcupine" is the best rip-off platformer mascot name ever! It's up there with Awesome Possum!

Sonic is 100% home grown hedgehog and I'll fight any motherfucker who says otherwise.

@gkhan: If you don't email this to the bombcast/beastcast then I'm calling Rorie and having him delete your account. I'll tell him you hit dogs.

Oh, fuck, I hadn't even thought about that! I totally will.

This is actually a fairly mind-blowing revelation.

That said, IRL hedgehogs are kinda rad and adorable, and IRL porcupines are assholes.

So what you're saying is Sonic is definitely a porcupine.

I mean, yes, and also that Sega has no fucking idea what a hedgehog or porcupine actually are.

I ended up looking up the origin story for the character, though, and boy, is it goddamn amazing:

While Sega was seeking a flagship series to compete with Nintendo's Mario series with a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot, several character designs were submitted by its research and development department. Many results came forth from their experiments with character design, including an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (who would later be the basis of Dr. Robotnik/Eggman's design), and a rabbit (who would use its extendable ears to collect objects, an aspect later incorporated in Ristar).^[10][11]Naoto Ohshima took some of these internal designs with him on a trip to New York City and sought feedback by asking random passerbyers at Central Park their opinions; of the designs, the spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed "Mr. Needlemouse",^[6] led this informal poll, followed by Eggman and the dog character. Ohshima felt that people selected it because it "transcends race and gender and things like that".^[12] On return to Japan, Ohshima pitched this to the department, and the hedgehog was ultimately selected as the new mascot.

The detailed design of Sonic was aimed to be something that could be easily drawn by children and be familiar, as well as exhibit a "cool" attitude, representative of the United States at the time.^[12] Sonic's blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, and his shoes evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson's boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by both Santa Claus and the contrast of those colors on Jackson's 1987 album Bad; his personality was based on then-presidential candidate and later President of the United StatesBill Clinton's "Get it done" attitude during the 1992 presidential campaign.^{[10][13][14][15]} To help sell the idea to Sega's higher-ups, Ohshima pitched the concept framed by a fictional fighter pilot that had earned the named "Hedgehog" due to his spiky hair, and had decorated his plane with images of Sonic. When this pilot retired, he married a childrens' book author, who wrote stories about the Sonic character, the first which became the plot for the first Sonic game; Ohshima stated that this influence can be seen in the logo of the game, which features Sonic in a pilot's wing emblem.^[12]

The origins of Sonic can be traced farther back to a tech demo created by Yuji Naka, who had developed an algorithm that allowed a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix. Naka's original prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube, and this concept was subsequently fleshed out with Oshima's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.^[16]

Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so.^[17] A group of fifteen people started working on the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, and renamed themselves Sonic Team. The game's soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored the group's "Wonder 3" tour, painting Sonic on the tour bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game, and having footage of the game broadcast above stage prior to its release.^[18] The original concepts gave Sonic fangs and put him in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna. However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder, who calls herself "Sonic's mother",^[10] "softened" the character up for an American audience by removing those elements. This sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team. Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best.^[10]

Sonic's appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonic's original design by Oshima was short and round, with short quills, a round body, and no visible irises. Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog.^[19] Sonic's proportions would change for the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Mega Drive; Sonic's head to height ratio was changed from 1:2 to 1:2.5.^[19] For the 1998 release of Sonic Adventure, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping quills, and green-colored irises. For the 2006 game, Sonic was redesigned to make him look adult-like and taller to appeal to the next generation players.^[20] This was also done because Sonic would interact with humans more often and his design was supposed to fit.^[21] An alternative "Werehog" form was introduced in Sonic Unleashed, placing more emphasis on Sonic's melee skills rather than speed. Although Tetsu Katano acknowledged the large negative fan response to the Werehog, he believes it could return in a future game.^[22]

I think you are 100% correct. However, hedgehogs are undeniably adorable.

Yep, that looks like Sonic the Porcupine to me. But what the hell did hedgehogs ever do to deserve punting?

Hedgehogs are cool.

Hedgehogs are awesome

The lie of Sonic has many angles.

I hated this thread before I even clicked on it so, well done.

As someone who used to own a hedgehog, SEGA definitely didn’t make a mistake. All hedgehogs like to do when you let them out of their cage is run around as fast as possible, or rubbing poop all over themselves.... lots of washing off poop.

@monetarydread: The poop smearing was always my favorite part of the early Sonic games.

Porcupines rule and hedgehogs drool! I'm not quite sure how I found myself on this weird little hill, but I'm going to die on it!

Sonic is a human, actually.

@sethmode: Yup, there is a reason why we keep seeing underwater levels in those games. Sonic just needs to get clean... hrmm... I think I have a new idea for some Slash Fiction.

When I was but a pup, and since Sonic always clearly was stylized more towards a porcupine,
I always wondered if Sonic was called "Hedgehog" in Japan because some languages call both porcupine and hedgehog by the same name.
Like in Norwegian I do believe we use the same word for both species: pinnsvin (tr. needle-swine).
So to us he could've been Sonic the Needle-swine if we ever cared to dub/translate back then.

Sonic the needlemouse dated Madonna? my god.

@gkhan Get off that lil' green hill zone!

Hedgehog is adorable. Looks like Lavos mixed with a Hamster.

@notnert427: Jeez. Video games are weird, but awesome.

Man, I forgot how motherfucking cute hedgehogs are.

For what it's worth, "Needlemouse" is the literal translation of the Japanese word for "hedgehog."

I'm kind of amazed that Sonic has survived this long dragged out of his home environment of the 90s. I could never really get over his mono-eye.

TIL hedgehogs and porcupines are not the same thing.

I'm guessing hedgehog, my wife's Japanese and she knows what a hedgehog is but had no idea what a porcupine is.

At least they got Knuckles right

Guys, guys. Let's be reasonable here. I know this forum is like one year old, but I honestly don't care.

Sonic is DEFINITELY a hedgehog. Sure, porcupines have those pretty cool spines, but there's these key factors that make Sonic a hedgehog:

1: The idea of using a hedgehog most likely came from the fact that hedgehogs usually run around pretty much everywhere, just like Sonic.

2: The word 'Needlemouse' in Japanese is the literal equivalent to hedgehog in English, whereas porcupine would be 'quill pig' in latin (hedgehog in latin would be hedgepig or urchin, so don't try to use that arguement).

3: Sonic's main way of attacking is turning himself into a ball, which is the same thing hedgehogs do when threatened, whereas porcupines just make their quills stand up.

4: Sonic's anatomy is more similar to a hedgehog rather than a porcupine (example: hedgehogs have their nose sticking out, while porcupines have this flat nose).

Also, come on, hedgehogs aren't that bad! What did they do for you to insult them? I say that hedgehogs are pretty cool and adorable.

5. "Mr. Needlemouse" should definitely be a villain - ideally, one impersonating Sonic.

I mean, he's an alien from another planet. He could be anything. If we really want to test something out, we could drop a Hedgehog and a Porcupine in a tank of water and see how they get on.

Oh, almost forgot. There's more, just in case there's any questions or counterattacks to this, or you're just not satisfied:

5. In Archie Comics, a porcupine character was made: Spike the Porcupine. And he DOES actually look like a porcupine. This proves that there IS a difference between a hedgehog and a porcupine in the Sonic franchise, and that Sonic is NOT a porcupine, but a hedgehog.

6. If Sonic was actually supposed to be a porcupine, SEGA of America would've most likely pointed that out before the first game's release, to prevent any conflicts or contrversies. But no, everything points to Sonic actually being a hedgehog and SEGA actually making him a hedgehog on purpose.

7. There's no way SEGA of Japan would confuse a hedgehog with a porcupine, as there's both hedgehogs and porcupines in Japan, and it is common knowledge there.

8. Sonic has pointed out that he's specifically a hedgehog himself. Many, many times. You might say "But Sonic is an alien! He could be anything!" If so, why does he call himself a hedgehog?

9. As mentioned before, Sonic was based off the fact that hedgehogs are very swift and run a lot. As cool and slick you may say they look, porcupines are actually very slow creatures, making it impossible for Naoto Ohshima to base Sonic off a porcupine.

10. An indirect proof is that Ohshima said he based Sonic's concept on a fictional fighter pilot who was nicknamed "Hegdehog" due to his spiky hair. This fact is referenced in the first game's logo, that has Sonic in a pilot's wing emblem.

That should be enough to prove that Sonic isdefinitely a hedgehog. Every fact points to that result.

So, the answer to your initial question is: No, you're wrong. There is no Japanese mistranslation, you're just wrong. Sonic is a hedgehog.

Once again, what did hedgehogs do for you to insult them? Hedgehogs are adorable, cool, and they're good for many things: they're excellent swimmers, they run very fast for their size and they turn into cute balls of spikes to defend themselves. Porcupines are just some fat and weird specimens, and are nowhere as near as "Ruler of the Animal Kingdom". They're color blind, they're slow, and they just pull their quills up. No offense, actually I kinda like porcupines, but not as much as hedgehogs.

Basically, in your language: F*ck you, porcupine!

Disclaimer: I have nothing against porcupines, I actually kinda like them, but not as much as hedgehogs. I mean, look at that big beautiful boy! The reason I said that about them is because I just got ticked off because of what he said about hedgehogs.

One of the all-time great necro-bumps that I've seen on this forum.

Are you implying his name is Sonic The Hedgehog who is a porcupine?

I'm into this.

Please don't tell me he convinced you.

@sawnek-sped: Mr. Hedgehog the porcupine I presume?

Yup. He did, didn't he?

Man, 99 times out of 100 people that create a username for one purpose it is a bad time for everyone. This is not one of those times.

@sawnek-sped: I am delighted to see this old thread of mine resurrected. This thread is the vanguard of the "Sonic is a porcupine" truth movement, and the truth cannot be stopped!

First off all, if anyone was offended by my harsh language, I apologize. It was said in jest, but I maybe took it too far. I do maintain, however, that hedgehog are terrible smelly creatures.

Now! To the issue at hand! JUST LOOK AT HIM! He looks nothing like a hedgehog, but he totally like a porcupine! All your fancy arguments are designed to make us not believe what we see with our own eyes. Dude's clearly a porcupine. His quills are long and they are angled backwards in a crest on his back, just like a porcupine. Hedgehogs have none of these features: their quills are short, going in all directions, and evenly distributed (i.e. not in a crest).

Also, hedgehogs are famously slow and sedentary creatures! They live in hedges, drink milk from saucers, then fall asleep because they drank too much milk. Baby Yoda is positively energetic in comparison!

Porcupines, on the other hand, are fast, agile and dangerous, able to take on the most deadly of predators:

One final proof: here are two images. One is of Sonic, the other a porcupine. I bet you can't tell which is which!

See! They're IDENTICAL!

Case. Closed.

@gkhan:

If what you say was to be true, then how do you explain the fact the Sonic ROLLS INTO A BALL, and porcupines DON'T, and hedgehogs DO? That's a key fact. My past arguments should have been enough to explain, but it seems not.

Your arguments are backed up by visual appereance, not facts. Sure, I see what you mean with the spines and the speed and agiliy of a porcupine, but, other than that, that's no Sonic. What Naoto Oshima wanted with Sonic's design was a circular-looking character, and porcupines would be everything but those.

Want to see a real porcupine? Boom: Spiky the Porcupine, hailing from the Archie Comics.

You want a hedgehog?

His middle name is 'The' and his last name is 'Hedgehog' so he's just a porcupine named Sonic The Hedgehog.

For a second, I thought the legendary @sonic_hegehog had returned.

@pooch516 said:

Actually, in the comics, Sonic's real name is thought to be Ogilvie Maurice the Hedgehog, his middle name being confirmed in a comic by Sonic himself.