Sonic the Hedgehog
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Sonic the Hedgehog is the titular protagonist of a long-running series of videogames, with cartoon, anime and comic spin-offs. Debuting in the early 90s, he was originally a legitimate rival for Mario in terms of popularity and influence, but his games fell into a spiral of decline in the early 2000's that it never fully recovered from.
In a nutshell, Sonic is a super-fast blue-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog who constantly works to thwart the schemes of the local robotics-obsessed Mad Scientist; one of the first things that divides the infamously fractious Sonic fanbase is whether they call Sonic's enemy by the name "Eggman" (his original name in Japan, and which he was retconned to in English during the 2000s) or "Dr. Robotnik" (the more menacing name that the English distributors came up with for him during the 90s). He has an enormous array of possible allies in this fight, mainly because his continuity has splintered into a wide array of different branches, creating a sprawling and messy multiverse.
Supporting Cast
Miles "Tails" Prower(get it?): A young(4-8) years old) fox-boy who has two tails(hence the nickname) for no explained reason, and can use them like a propeller to move fast and even fly. Tails is a mechanical genius despite his young age, and idolizes Sonic much like a little brother.
Amy Rose: A pink hedgehog with a big hammer and a bigger crush on Sonic. How annoying she is about it(and how well Sonic handles it) varies a lot between games and other adaptations.
Metal Sonic: Robotnik has tried the old "Evil Robot Duplicate of the Hero" schtick a few times, this is probably his most successful.
Knuckles the Echidna: A red Echidna with dreadlocks(that he can glide with) and spiked fists(for punching). Eggman tricked him into fighting Sonic when they first met, but they became friends after Eggman's true nature came out. A grumpy loner who falls just short of being an edgelord, especially compared to...
Shadow the Hedgehog: a.k.a. Edgelord Sonic. Genetically engineered to be the ultimate life form, the fact that only brings him about even with Sonic is telling. Is willing use guns, that's how edgy he is.
Rouge the Bat: Not Rogue, though she arguably is one. A white-furred spy and jewel thief who is probably sexier than a character in a series mostly made for kids should be. Teases Knuckles a lot(arguably because he guards the biggest gem on the planet), and has a genuine soft spot for Shadow, whom she often works with alongside E-123 Omega, a rogue Eggman robot.
Cream the Rabbit: An adorable six-year-old bunny who accidentally got kidnapped by Eggman once, and still hangs around the heroes from time to time. Lives with her mother Vanilla(who also got kidnapped by Eggman another time) and their pet Chao, Cheese and Chocula.
Blaze the Cat: This flame-empowered Princess from another dimension is effectively her world's counterpart to Sonic, fighting to defend her world from its own Eggman.
The Chaotix A trio who work as detectives and troubleshooters. They are Vector the Crocodile, the leader(who is kinda sweet on Cream's mom), the ninja Espio the Chameleon and the childlike Charmy Bee.
Other Characters
Wisps: Originally from the game Sonic Colors, these weird little Squid/Jellyfish aliens have different colors and powers.
Sally Acorn: Sonic's love interest in the Archie and SatAM continuities. Princess of a kingdom on Mobius, she now helps Sonic lead a resistance against Robotnik. A version of her also appears in Sonic the Comic.
Bunnie Rabbot: Another Archie/SatAM character. She was a rabbit who got captured by Robotnik's goons, but Sonic rescued her before she was fully Roboticized, effectively making her a cyborg with metal legs and an arm. Her fighting ability and mildly flirtatious nature made her a bit of a proto-Rouge, and indeed the latter's introduction to the Archie continuity involved a fight between the two.
Nicole: Oh this is a fun one. Nicole originally appeared in SatAM as a hand-held computer Sally carried around for hacking and other purposes. It was carried over to the Archie continuity, where it got smarter, eventually gained a body(a Lynx), and became a character in her own right.
Shortfuse the Cybernik: From Sonic the Comic, Shortfuse was a squirrel who got Roboticized, but managed to regain his free will. He's kind of a cross between Shadow and E-123 Omega(and a bit of Boba Fett), though he predated them both.
Snively: Robotnik's nephew and chief minion in SatAM, eventually adapted to the Archie comics too.
Sonia and Manic the Hedgehog(s): Sonic's triplet siblings from Underground.
Sticks the Jungle Badger: From the Sonic Boom series, Sticks has lived alone for most of her life, and is a little bit crazy.
Tangle the Lemur: From the IDW comics, Her long, extendable tail is her primary method of attack. Based off a very early concept for Sonic(the same one that eventually became the game Ristar).
Whisper the Wolf: Another IDW character. A sharpshooter with a gun that can take different forms by merging with Wisps. She was part of a Mercenary team called the Diamond Cutters, but one of the team betrayed the squad to Eggman, killing everyone but her. She is currently good friends with Tangle. Whisper and Diamond Cutters were based off the bosses from Metal Gear Solid (naturally, she's Sniper Wolf).
Doctor Starline: A Platypus in the IDW continuity who was a big fanboy of Dr. Eggman. He worked with him on a few schemes until he couldn't ignore Eggman's flaws, and began to strike out on his own, to show Eggman how it's done. To begin, he made his own versions of Sonic and Tails, Surge the Tenrec and Kit the Fennec, who promptly turned on him.
Longclaw: An Owl who was Sonic's mother figure in the film.
Mega Man: Toward the end of their Sonic comicbook run, Archie also managed to get the license to make comics for Capcom's Blue Bomber. Naturally, Archie decided to do a crossover between the two: "Worlds Collide". It did so well, they made a sequel, "Worlds Unite", which involved even more Sega and Capcom characters.
Games
Sonic is resident of some alternative reality "Earth" where sentient animals and humans coexist (American localization fucked it up and called planet "Mobius") which Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik was trying to conquer with an army of robots powered by brainwashed animals that Sonic was trying to save. Later Eggman dropped the forced mecha piloting angle for just straight up using AI and occasional recruitment of elder gods.
Comics
There are currently three major comic continuities, technically four.
Sonic the Comic was a British line that nobody heard of outside of England until the internet got involved. Heavily based on a scrapped concept for a western Sonic origin story, where Doctor Robotnik was formerly a kind scientist called Kintobor who worked with Sonic to drain the world's evil with Chaos Emeralds before a lab accident turned him into the fat mad scientist we all know. Initially more game-accurate than the Archie comic, as time went on it diverged into its own direction with plots involving evil fish-aliens and Arabian Nights themed planets smaller than an atom. The most infamous original element is Super Sonic being portrayed as a psychopathic split personality caused by Sonic being exposed to too much Chaos Energy, which eventually managed to get his own body seperate from the original Sonic and become a recurring villain.
Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog was the original American comic line, which became the basis for Sonic SatAM - see below. This is divided into two sub-continuities; Pre-Penders Lawsuit and Post-Penders Lawsuit.
IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog is the latest Sonic comic line, and trying its hardest to adhere to Sega's new rules for Sonic's universe.
Both Sonic the Comic and Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog have unofficial online continuations of their continuities, not related to Sega but continuing the canon of their respective comics.
Cartoons
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Basically a Looney Tunes style fast-paced gag-a-minute action comedy with Ren & Stimpy style surreal artwork. Smallest cast of any continuity, boiling it down to Sonic and Tails for the heroes, and Robotnik with his three bumbling robot minions/"sons" (Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts) for the bad guys. Infamous source of memes due to the "Youtube Poop" reworking of the series. It should be noted that this show, SatAM, and Underground all had Sonic voiced by Jaleel White, who played uber-nerd Steve Urkel on the 80's/90's Sitcom Family Matters.
Sonic SatAM: Technically just called "Sonic the Hedgehog", this cartoon, based very loosely on the Archie comics, earned its moniker due to airing at the same time as AoStH above, but on Saturday mornings. In contrast to the light-hearted, goofy tone of its brother, this show was dark, revolving around Sonic and a small band of Freedom Fighters conducting a desperate guerrilla campaign against Dr. Robotnik and his legions of Swatbots and Badniks, who has conquered the world with the aid of the Roboticizer: a horrible machine that can transmute any living creature into an obedient robotic slave. One that still retains its original consciousness, just locked away in a corner of its own mind, screaming as it watches its body do whatever Robotnik commands. Was cancelled due to insufficient ratings at the end of the second season.
'Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie: An animated film that was assembled from the two episodes of a failed Sonic anime pilot. Set on a completely different world to Mobius, called "Planet Freedom", the plot is that Sonic is forced by Robotnik to venture to Robotnik's fortress in the sub-world of Planet Freedom to thwart "Metal Robotnik", an evil robot that kicked Robotnik out of his home and has now tampered with a hyper-powerful generator that is building up to a planet shattering explosion. It ultimately ends with Sonic clashing against Metal Sonic, an evil robot clone of himself. After a legal fuckup that's almost foreshadowing what would happen years later with Penders, Sega ended up losing the rights to everything that Studio Pierrot invented for the movie (and considering that this was back when the Sonic franchise was only five years old, with the original Genesis games being all they had to work with, that was quite a bit). This is why Knuckles isn't allowed to wear a hat to this very day.
Sonic Underground: The first Sonic cartoon of the 2000s, presenting a slightly less grimdark version of SatAM; in this one, Sonic is one of three royal triplets prophesied to, at the right time, reunite with their mother the queen and bring about the downfall of Robotnik, who has overthrown their family and brutally reigns over Mobius. Until the time is right, the triplets play in an underground rock band to try and motivate the demoralized denizens of Mobius to rise up and join the resistance.
Sonic X: The first Sonic cartoon of the 2010s, this anime started as an adaptation of Sega's 2000s Sonic games, but set on Earth and with an annoying human kid sidekick. Also debut of Sonic's Super Badass edgelord Arch Rival Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Boobs(Bat).
Sonic Boom: The most recent Sonic cartoon. A slapstick, goofball comedy series. While the game it was based on was lackluster, many appreciated the clever jokes and gags in the show. It also didn’t shy away from poking fun at the sonic franchise itself, or the reputation of Sonic fans for being weirdos.
Films
In 2019, previews were released for a feature film by Paramount Pictures. Fans HATED it, mostly for the attempted realistic redesign of our protagonist, which fell right into the Uncanny Valley. Paramount actually delayed the release of the film by a year while they totally re-did Sonic's design, which was much appreciated by the fans. While it was in many ways a standard Buddy/Adoption flick, it did have a lot of heart, and more importantly Jim Carrey being his Jim Carreiest playing Dr. Robotnik.
To the surprise of everyone, it worked, in basically the same way the 1989 version of Batman worked (ie, letting the villain's much better actor eat the scenery). It worked well enough to earn a sequel, which brought in Tails and Knuckles and set up for a third installment to add Shadow in December 2024.