The blue rat is everywhere, even when you're not playing his games. With the sheer size of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, it's a no-brainer that there would be references to it in many other works throughout the decades, and this thread is meant to be a showcase of all these sightings.

I'll start with the game that made me want to make this thread to begin with.

I'm pretty big on fighting games, they're the runner-up for my biggest interest other than Sonic. My favorite of these fighting games is Skullgirls, and that game actually has a handful of Sonic references. Starting with:



Surge the Tenrec for Black Dahlia. It's a surprise to have a relatively obscure comic character like that referenced in the game.



Amy Rose for Umbrella (and Piko Piko Hammer for Hungern), Cream the Rabbit for Annie (and Cheese for Sagan), and Big the Cat for Big Band.





And since this is a game where you can have teams of up to 3 characters, that does mean you can play as a full Team Rose!   (And the team actually has really good character synergy, funnily enough, so it's viable!)



Shadow the Hedgehog for Fukua. For context, although she is a completely different character, she borrows all of her sprites from Filia, technically making her a clone.

And finally...



What's-His-Face for Filia!

This one's actually kind of special since for the longest time, Filia somehow didn't have a Sonic the Hedgehog color despite having a spinning buzzsaw move exactly like Sonic's spindash. But recently the game had an update that added new colors for most characters and one of those colors was Sonic for Filia.



Cool thing, being a newer color, it has a special mechanic where she turns Super with sparkle effects and everything when using a Blockbuster! THAT'S AWESOME!!! 

I'm sure Skullgirls has some other Sonic reference hidden somewhere in there, but these are all the references in the alternate colors for characters.

Skullgirls was awesome before this, but now it's even better!

i keep hearing about a sonic reference in Gravity Falls, i cant find it though.


there was sonic cameo in OK K.O.. i only know that cuz i watched the who series during covid.

I wanted to respond to this thread sooner, especially since that blue rat is everywhere it seems these days and that was my problem, I was trying to look for references rather than just Sonic appearing in (media) which is really common now to straight up put Sonic (or even Eggman) in things or even smth from a SEGA game bcuz I felt like that was too easy...

There's also just a lot of Sonic off-shoot names like Speedy the Procupine (Scott Pilgrim), Snick the Porcupine (Pizza Tower), or Sonic the Bulldog (Black Mesa)... and then there's Zodick the Hellhog from Illbleed! (although it's "Sonic" in a Dreamcast game I thought it was different enough to specifically mention)



... Scott Pilgrim has quite a few Sonic references, I find comics have the easier chance to slip in a funny coloured hedgehog or Ring Emblem into their panels, like in NDRV3 Monokuma has a rant abt Sonic in Trial 4, which is pretty common for a lot of throw away gag lines in DR



aw geez I haven't played Skullgirls in years, I used to really be into Guilty Gear, USFIV and Skullgirls and then never had anyone to play with so I slowly fell out of fighting games...

(04-25-2024, 09:40 AM)hooligan Wrote: aw geez I haven't played Skullgirls in years, I used to really be into Guilty Gear, USFIV and Skullgirls and then never had anyone to play with so I slowly fell out of fighting games...

Heh... I just so happen to play all of these. Whenever you want a challenge, you know where to look. 

(04-25-2024, 09:40 AM)hooligan Wrote: I was trying to look for references rather than just Sonic appearing in (media) which is really common now to straight up put Sonic (or even Eggman) in things or even smth from a SEGA game bcuz I felt like that was too easy...

There's also just a lot of Sonic off-shoot names like Speedy the Procupine (Scott Pilgrim), Snick the Porcupine (Pizza Tower), or Sonic the Bulldog (Black Mesa)... and then there's Zodick the Hellhog from Illbleed! (although it's "Sonic" in a Dreamcast game I thought it was different enough to specifically mention)

... Scott Pilgrim has quite a few Sonic references, I find comics have the easier chance to slip in a funny coloured hedgehog or Ring Emblem into their panels, like in NDRV3 Monokuma has a rant abt Sonic in Trial 4, which is pretty common for a lot of throw away gag lines in DR

Oh, Dranganronpa... Never played, yet you still haunt me. AND DAMMIT, I STILL GOTTA READ SCOTT PILGRIM!

But about comics slipping in the most subtle of references to Sonic like a mere colored hedgehog or golden ring. Interesting how recognizable Sonic franchise is when just some blue spikes can indicate the Great Blue One.



Right, and to keep the reference chain. The Mauswheel boss in Deltarune references the lyrics from City Escape, albeit in a mouse flavor.

And a little extra detail, Deltarune has this "recruit" mechanic, where you can recruit enemies if you spare the same type of enemy multiple times. Then you can read their info, like likes and dislikes. Mauswheel's dislike is listed as "losing momentum", which I'm sure is just supposed to be keeping up the joke that all Mauswheel does is spin, but you can also imagine that as being another reference to Sonic and how a game lacking proper momentum-based gameplay can cause a stir in the community, if you really wanna get meta with it. 

(04-25-2024, 02:06 PM)Tominique Wrote: Heh... I just so happen to play all of these. Whenever you want a challenge, you know where to look. 

I mean, I play Scott Pilgrim Versus the World:The game, so... .-. (Knives main)