Classic Sonic the Hedgehog Zones Reimagined

Every king needs a castle and every hero needs a world to save. For Sonic the Hedgehog, that world is Mobius, a lush planet made up of several iconic zones like Green Hill and Chemical Plant. While visiting the Green Hill Zone Playground in Brazil is the closest fans can get to visiting these famous locales in real life, gamers can now send vintage-looking "greetings from" postcards purporting to be from Sonic's world.

The postcards were shared on the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account. The account often shares interesting Sonic-related art and animation, but the idea to share postcards for locations no one could ever really visit is particularly inspired during a time in which most people are unable to travel because of the pandemic.

Each of the three postcards represents a zone from one of Sonic's classic Sega Genesis outings, with Green Hill Zone from the hedgehog's first game, Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2, and Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles. The postcards do an amazing job of capturing the look of each zone while also capturing a vintage aesthetic that is enhanced by the aging effect applied to the artwork.

Another interesting detail is that the text for each zone is filled in with images of the specific location from different Sonic games over the years. Green Hill Zone, in particular, has appeared in many different Sonic games, so that postcard was able to take advantage of a lot of unique artwork spanning several games.

There is some fan speculation in the tweet's replies that Sega might be dropping hints for an upcoming Sonic game by sharing the postcards. It's possible, however, the Sonic the Hedgehog account often posts things with no ties to any upcoming announcement or product release. It recently tweeted a reference to the Sonic.exe creepypasta just for the fun of it, and the postcards were likely shared in the same spirit. Regardless, fans of the blue blur shouldn't have too much trouble printing out the postcards and sending them off to fellow hedgehog enthusiasts.

When considering some of the most popular video game mascots, there are two names that stand out from the rest as arguably the most influential in all of gaming. Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog are some of the most recognizable characters, not just in gaming, but in pop culture as a whole. The influence of Mario and Sonic can be felt in almost every corner of the industry, from the way platformers have evolved over time, to how companies like Sony and Microsoft depend on mascots to sell certain exclusive titles. They're a part of gaming history, and they still manage to influence it to this day.

Mario and Sonic have been in gaming for a very long time, and their origins are steeped in the very beginnings of the "Console Wars" in the 90s. Sonic was essentially created in order to help Sega rival the popularity of Nintendo and Mario, and for a time it actually worked. The two mascots have undergone a substantial amount of change since the height of their rivalry, either in an effort to one up one another or simply due to the evolving nature of the video game industry. Now that the mascot war between Nintendo and Sega is long over, it's worth evaluating how Mario and Sonic have changed since their earliest days.