Games - Mobius

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	Games - Mobius

Mobius is the planet that the Sonic the Hedgehog characters are from in the comic book series made by Archie Comics (United States) and Fleetway (Europe), and in all three American cartoons, including the light-hearted Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
, the more serious ABC cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog
(called "SatAM" by the Sonic community), and Sonic Underground
.

The Games

Sonic the Hedgehog was created as a mascot for Sega, replacing their former mascot Alex Kidd. In order to maximise the appeal of the new character, his background (and the planet on which he lived) was given no detailed information in any of the initial games of the series (from the first game through to Sonic 3D Blast). This allowed the separate branches of the company (Sega of Japan, Sega of America and Sega of Europe) to each create their own stories to fit the games.

Whereas Sega of Japan considered the setting of the games to be Earth, the English-speaking versions of the games considered the setting to be a fictional planet. The name Mobius was adopted as canon by Western fiction. However, since the release of Sonic Adventure and its sequels, which were set on Earth and featured more human interaction, the Japanese backstory has internationaly been accepted as canon. Now most gamers consider that all of the games took place on Earth and not on the fictional Mobius.

Some fans believe that Earth, as adopted in the Japanese canon, is actually a future Earth or Earth in an alternate universe (this is typical in anime). This is partly backed up in the Shadow the Hedgehog game because the worldmap in the background of the GUN headquarters is similar to Earth but the shape of the landmass is slightly changed. However, with the release of Sonic Riders, the future Earth theory have virtually ben proven impossible. This is due to the fact that the Babylon Rogues, a group of anthropomorphic birds that appear in the game, are said to hail from the ancient Babylonians, who lived over a thousand years prior to our time. In other words, anthropomorphic animals have existed since ancient times in the Sonic universe, and thus can not be evolved versions of animals from our time. The alternate universe theory is still quite plausible however.

As the most recent Sonic games are assumed to be taking place on Earth, as per traditional Japanese canon, Mobius has, in recent years, begun to adopt a slightly different and more abstract meaning for many Sonic fans, as despite whatever world Sonic may officially reside, Mobius is sometimes used to refer to the aesthetically-bound and all-encompassing universe of Sonic the Hedgehog, understood by some to be a purely emotional construct of each individual fan. Even many who adamantly adhere to the idea that Sonic the Hedgehog can be tied only to Earth have begun to accept Mobius as a term denoting "the special feeling we got when we first played the games in the early 1990's," as first quoted from an online exchange on the subject.

Other groups of fans of the Japanese and Western fictions alike have concluded that for Sonic's world to be an Earth of the future/Earth in an alternate universe or for it to be Mobius would mean the exact same thing (See SatAM and Archie Continuities).

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

The animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
provided one of the earliest version of the planet Mobius. Though it quickly became apparent, with the release of new games, that the concept of the planet did not equate to the setting of the games, it nevertheless immediately provided the interpretation that the only inhabitants of the planet (besides Dr. Robotnik) were anthropomorphic animals, not humans.

In this continuity, as in the Japanese version, the place is completely free, with Dr. Ivo Robotnik just trying time and again to take it over (and usually failing miserably).

Sonic the Comic

Sonic the Comic, a UK-based comic published by Fleetway, and certain other books, provided a Mobius backdrop far more consistent with the style of the first few games. Once again, the inhabitants of the planet were anthropomorphic animals. Sonic the Comic notably divided the planet up into "zones", each with its own distinctive landscape and climate, in a similar manner to the early games.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Mobius (Sonic the Hedgehog) ]

Games - Mobius

The Games

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Comic

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