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Draft:Hedgehog Engine

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  • Comment: Not independently notable, nor is it likely to become so. May want to slightly merge some information to Sonic the Hedgehog if merited. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 22:38, 4 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: I'm not sure this article qualifies for notability given the sources provided. Only one source is dedicated to the engine itself, this being a primary source. The rest contain only passing mentions of the engines, and MobyGames is not a reliable source for verifying game credits, as the content is user-submitted. If more sources cannot be found, I would consider merging this information on either the games that introduce the engines or the Sonic the Hedgehog series. If the information on this draft is accurate, it would also be helpful to add these engines to each respective game article. - Z-Gamer Guys (talk) 09:18, 15 November 2025 (UTC)


Hedgehog Engine
DeveloperSonic Team
Initial releaseNovember 18, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-11-18)
Written inC++, Lua
MiddlewareHavok Physics, CRI Middleware
Platform
LicenseProprietary

Hedgehog Engine is a video game engine created by Sonic Team. Hedgehog Engine has primarily been used for video games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, for which the engine is named, such as Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations.[1] A second iteration of the engine, Hedgehog Engine 2, was built for Sonic Forces and made its debut in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.[2]

Development

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Hedgehog Engine

[edit]

Hedgehog Engine began development in 2005 for use in the game Sonic Unleashed. Sega advertised the engine as featuring "impressive lighting abilities and new technology tailor made for Sonic's new speed capabilities".[3] According to Yoshihisa Hashimoto, the director of the game and engine, the Hedgehog Engine was originally created for the game's cutscenes, as they sought to reach a Pixar-level quality but felt that existing engines could not create the visual presentation the development team wanted. It was also created for "seamless 2D to 3D transitions" in the game's level design,[4] reminiscent of gameplay in the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games.[5] He also cited certain difficulties with creating the engine, such as the speed of Sonic the Hedgehog during gameplay affecting the data reading speed, as well as compressing the data of the lighting engine onto an Xbox 360 disc.[6][7] The engine utilized techniques like global illumination and their own "Light Field" technology to improve the real-time computer graphics.[8]

Hedgehog Engine 2

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The second iteration of the engine began development in 2013 after Sonic Lost World, and started development alongside Sonic Forces under the title Project Sonic 2017.[2][9] Hedgehog Engine 2 features an improved global illumination model and physically based rendering, improving the graphical fidelity such as the appearance of shadows in games.[10] Other games apart from those in the Sonic the Hedgehog series have also used the Hedgehog Engine 2, including Sakura Wars (2019).[11] The last game to use the Hedgehog Engine 2 was Shadow Generations, with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds opting to use Unreal Engine 5 instead.[12][13] Sonic Team made their transition to Unreal Engine starting in December of 2022,[14] and future games are planned to use Unreal Engine 5 going forward.[15]

Features

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Hedgehog Engine features baked global illumination and light probes that allow for high quality lighting. In Sonic Unleashed, stages reached as long as 10-20 kilometers and so were calculated using distributed computing in order to generate them in a timely manner.[16]

Several Hedgehog Engine games including Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Forces feature integration with the Havok Physics engine and CRI Middleware. Games such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Frontiers use the Lua programming language to supplement the game's scripts and sequencing.[17]

According to Takashi Iizuka, a producer on the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Hedgehog Engine enables easier cross-platform support across a "wide spectrum of hardware" allowing the Nintendo Switch version of Sonic Frontiers to look "very comparable" to that of the PC version.[18][19]

Games using Hedgehog Engine

[edit]
Title Release Engine Ref.
Sonic Unleashed 2008 Hedgehog Engine [5]
Sonic Colors 2010 [9]
Sonic Generations 2011 [9]
Sonic Lost World 2013
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games 2016 Hedgehog Engine 2
Sonic Forces 2017 [9]
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 2019
Sakura Wars [20]
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game [21]
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 2020 [22]
Sonic Colors Ultimate 2021 Hedgehog Engine[a] [23]
Sonic Origins[b] 2022 Hedgehog Engine 2 [24]
Sonic Frontiers [19][25]
Sonic Superstars[c] 2023
Shadow Generations 2024 [12]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Ported and integrated into Blind Squirrel Entertainment's Xerus Engine, rendering using Godot
  2. ^ Uses the Retro Engine developed by Christian Whitehead; Hedgehog Engine is used for menus
  3. ^ Uses the Unity game engine; Hedgehog Engine is used for menus

References

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  1. ^ "Sonic Unleashed". GamesIndustry.biz. 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  2. ^ a b "『ソニックフォース』完成記念インタビュー 中村Pらに聞く"王道ハイスピードアクション"を求めての道のり". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  3. ^ Sarkar, Samit (2008-04-03). "Sega confirms Sonic Unleashed: I'm trying really hard not to use a pun here". Destructoid. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  4. ^ Chung, Jackson (November 26, 2008). "Sonic Unleashed Launch Trailer". TechEBlog. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Dickens, Anthony (April 8, 2008). "Sonic Is Unleashed". Nintendo Life. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  6. ^ "Global Illumination in SONIC UNLEASHED". www.gdcvault.com. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  7. ^ Sterling, James Stephanie (December 2, 2008). "Destructoid interview: Sonic Unleashed". Destructoid. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  8. ^ Ramsay, Randolph (September 11, 2008). "Q&A: Sonic Team on Sonic Unleashed". GameSpot. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d Shea, Brian (March 17, 2017). "A Longer Look at Modern Sonic - Sonic Forces - PlayStation 4". Game Informer. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  10. ^ SEGA, (C) (2017-12-06). "「ソニックチャンネル」グラフィックスプログラムリーダー 大山貴輝". Sonic Channel. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  11. ^ Wong, Alistair (May 4, 2019). "Project Sakura Wars Uses Sonic Series' Hedgehog Engine & Know-how From Yakuza Series". Siliconera. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Lovegrove, Adam (November 17, 2024). "10 Things Shadow Generations Does Better Than Sonic Generations". Game Rant. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  13. ^ Sterling, James Stephanie (September 30, 2025). "Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Egged On (Review)". The Jimquisition. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  14. ^ Bari, Muhammad Ali (December 28, 2022). "Sega Working On Multiplayer Sonic Game, Running On Unreal Engine 4". TwistedVoxel. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  15. ^ Litston, Theo (March 26, 2024). "Sonic Heroes Unreal Engine Remake Rumoured For 2025". Retro Dodo. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  16. ^ "Sonic Unleashed - Progress". blogs.ign.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  17. ^ Sonic Team (November 18, 2008). Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360). Sega. Scene: Credits.
  18. ^ Hansen, Jakob (2022-10-28). "Takashi Iizuka explains why Sonic Frontiers will still run well on the Nintendo Switch". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  19. ^ a b Deschamps, Marc (November 6, 2022). "Sonic Frontiers Producer Says the Game Will Run Well on Nintendo Switch". ComicBook.com. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  20. ^ "『新サクラ大戦』開発者に徹底的に訊く！　「シリーズのキャラは？」「主人公の神山はどんな男？」 など疑問に答えまくるロングインタビュー！(2/2)". Famitsu (in Japanese). May 3, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  21. ^ "Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game". Game Rant. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  22. ^ Wacholz, Charlie (December 14, 2020). "Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Review — Second Time's The Charm". DualShockers. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  23. ^ Blind Squirrel Entertainment, Inc. "Sonic Colors: Ultimate". blindsquirrelentertainment.com. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  24. ^ Linneman, John (June 28, 2022). "Sonic Origins tech review: glitches and a steep price make for a tough sell". Digital Foundry. Retrieved 2025-11-16.
  25. ^ "'Sonic Frontiers' Developer Interview". SEGA Careers Site. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
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