[JumpingRyle]

Quick backstory: Alex Kidd was Sega's official mascot prior to Sonic. (Since the release of Sonic, though, Sega hasn't made another Alex Kidd game.)

One of the first games released on the Mega Drive in Japan was Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (released Feb. 10, 1989). According to Wikipedia (warning! warning!), Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara (a.k.a. Sonic Team) were part of the development team for AKEC. I'm not sure if those credits are correct because they aren't actually listed in the game and I couldn't find anything to support it. But it is entirely plausible that they would have worked on Alex Kidd.

While scanning all of the Sonic info in those old Japanese magazines (see other thread), one thing that has caught my attention is that Japanese people were not really familiar with hedgehogs before Sonic. Many of the articles that introduce Sonic also have a brief description of what a hedgehog is. The mock interview with the singer that I uploaded has her asking Sonic, "So what are you? A cat?" I think it's similar to the confusion people had when Crash Bandicoot was released.

So here is a scene from the beginning of Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle:





A hedgehog, walking on two legs!

I've always wondered where Sonic Team came up with the idea of a hedgehog since they are not commonly known in Japan. But this might show that they were already familiar with them.

(sorry if this has been posted before!)

[360]

Strikes me as an innocent coincidence more than anything to be honest. The timing works out well however (Sonic 1 would have started development around then) so it's possible your hypothesis is correct. Something more interesting in my eyes is why were the Alex Kidd games on the Master System (the excellent combo of Miracle World and Shinobi World) light years ahead of Enchanted Castle which was developed later and released on more powerful hardware. You'd think realistically speaking that a "next generation" Alex Kidd game on the Genesis/Megadrive would have been super amazing but having played every Alex Kidd game ever released throughout my childhood Enchanted Castle was in my opinion lacklustre and disappointing. Shinobi World alone which wasn't even a major project is a vastly superior game.

Man I'd love to see a new Alex Kidd game released as a digital download one day. Something like a spiritual successor to Miracle World.

[The KKM]

I've lately been thinking what role Phoenix Rie's played in Sonic- she's more known for Phantasy Star and Alex Kidd, but she's credited in 1 and CD too. Wouldn't be surprised if among other stuff, it was her who thought of using a hedgehog.