Sonic The Hedgehog Inspired By All-Time Popular Anime

The idea might sound absurd at first, but the similarities came quickly. Right from the early Sega Genesis games, one of Sonic’s recurring goals was to collect the seven chaos emeralds which contained incredible powers. Right away this had the Sonic games feeling a bit similar to the main focus of Dragon Ball Z, which was collecting the seven mystical dragon balls.

Any Dragon Ball fan will also remember one of the franchise’s most iconic moments being Goku transforming into the legendary Super Saiyan, a form characterized by its signature gold color and aura. So it feels like more than a coincidence that around this same time in the ‘90s, Sonic also gained the ability to transform into Super Sonic, also characterized by Sonic turning a glowing gold. Around this point it definitely felt like Sonic was taking at least a few cues from Dragon Ball.

The similarities only continued to pile up over the years. In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic gained one of his most iconic rivals, an evil black hedgehog named Shadow who he eventually became friends with. Fans noted that this felt an awful lot like Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, the evil Saiyan counterpart to Goku who eventually came to respect him after being a longtime rival. It was around this time the Sonic and Dragon Ball connections felt too clear to ignore.

The next major character the Sonic games introduced only amplified those suspicions. Dragon Ball Z introduced the character of Trunks, a Saiyan who traveled back in time from the future to warn the heroes that he came from an apocalyptic timeline that they had to avert. And the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game introduced Silver, a hedgehog who time traveled from the future to warn of the world’s impending destruction. At this point the Sonic and Dragon Ball connections felt deliberate for sure.

While none of the creators of Sonic have come and outright said that they were trying to include some nods to Dragon Ball Z, it is known that some of the creators were big anime fans. And Dragon Ball Z was undeniably the biggest anime being released in the ‘90s when Sonic the Hedgehog was first leaving his mark on video games.

With the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie set to be released this December, it will no doubt reignite a lot of those comparisons as we see the cinematic debut of Shadow the Hedgehog. For Sonic fans who stopped playing the games back in the Sega Genesis days, the homages to Dragon Ball might finally become obvious on the screen. The secret may finally be out and become common knowledge on Sonic’s apparent anime inspirations.