WARNING: Spoilers for Sonic the Hedgehog ahead

Sonic’s gotta go fast. Therefore, you might have missed all these Easter eggs, references, and secrets hidden throughout the movie.

The Cute Chaos Make an Appearance

During the film’s high-speed chase scene, Dr. Robotnik hits a family van. If you look closely at the dashboard of the van, you might have spotted a cute creature, known as a Chao. The Chao are a species of creatures from the Sonic the Hedgehog games. They’re very similar to virtual pets and are raised by players in mini games. They require food, love, and care just like any pet.

Sanic the Hedgehog

The director of the film, Jeff Fowler revealed that his favorite Easter egg in the film was the reference to Sanic the Hedgehog. Sanic appears in the movie when we meet Crazy Carl. Crazy Carl was the only person in Green Hills who had seen Sonic and has therefore gone mad trying to prove what he saw.

The sketches that he drew of Sonic might seem very familiar to you, as they’re based on a sketch uploaded by the YouTuber onyxheart called Sanic the Hedgehog. Sanic has become one of the biggest Sonic memes and clearly had to make its way into the movie.

Crazy Carl provides some other Easter eggs in the film as well. He refers to Sonic as “The Blue Devil” which was the name of Sonic’s car in Sonic Drift 2.

Remembering San Francisco

San Francisco was likely used as a location in the film because the city means a lot to the history of Sonic. The American division of Sonic Team was located in San Francisco and the city was used as an inspiration for “City Escape”, the first stage of Sonic Adventure 2.

Green Hill, Montana

As soon as the movie starts, we see Sonic running through the first level of the game, Green Hill Zone. Later on, we see the video game location brought to the real world with Green Hills, Montana. Called “the little town with big heart”, Green Hills is not a real place but instead references the first zone in Sonic’s game.

Could We See Knuckles Soon?

The creatures who come after Sonic and Longclaw in the beginning of the movie look a lot like echidnas, based on their red fur and spiked knuckles. If you’re a fan of the games, then you know that Knuckles was also an echidna. So, does this mean we could see the red tough guy in an upcoming sequel?  

Sonic is Obsessed with Fast Pop Culture References

If you take a look at Sonic’s cave, you’ll find a lot of pop culture references to speedy characters. He’s constantly reading the Flash comics, showing off his love for the DC speedster. Sonic also has a roadrunner sign on his cave wall, referencing the classic Sonic vs. Looney Tune’s Roadrunner debate. He even references Keanu Reeve’s role in the movie Speed.

Hill Top Road

Sonic has clearly been gathering things on Earth that have special meaning to him. If you take a look at the sign that he uses as a ping pong table in his cave, you’ll see that it reads, “Hill Top Road”. Hill Top Zone was the first level in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

The Sonic Game Logo and Sunshine Valley

When Sonic is practicing his nunchuck skills, he puts on a white bandanna. If you’re a true fan, you probably noticed that the front of the bandanna has the Sonic game logo on it.

While Sonic’s playing baseball with himself, the players that he uses as the opposing team, have the letters “SV” on their uniforms. SV could stand for Sunshine Valley, a location that appears in the Sonic comics.

Doctor Robotnik’s Easter Eggs

Jim Carrey brought the video game villain to life and plenty of Easter eggs came with his portrayal. Originally, we saw Dr. Robotnik dressed in all black. However, throughout the film, he becomes more like that character we all know from the games. He puts on his red flight suit, grows out his mustache, shaves his head, and even gains some weight.

During the movie, you might have also remembered Sonic calling Dr. Robotnik, “Eggman”. This is a clear reference to the video games. Dr. Robotnik was called Eggman in the original Japanese release of the 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog video game. The name eventually bled into the US versions of the games in 1998 and the doctor became known as Eggman.

In Dr. Robotnik’s lab, the doctor attempts to recreate the power from Sonic’s quill and shorts out the power. When he opens the fuse box, you might have also seen a button labeled “The Badniks”. The Badniks refers to a robot army that Robotnik used to search for the chaos emeralds in the video games.

Sonic’s Therapist is the Film’s Special Effects Supervisor

In the beginning of the film, Sonic plays his own therapist. The name of the therapist, based on the engraving on the door, is Dr. A Burdett, a reference to the film’s special effects supervisor Alex Burdett.

Sonic’s Worlds

During the game, we always worked hard to collect all the rings. Now, the movie has revealed what the rings are used for – to travel between worlds.

If you take a look at the map of the worlds that Longclaw gave to Sonic, you’ll find some interesting Easter Eggs. The map contains an image of a Chaos Emerald, the gems that appear throughout the Sonic games and provides different powers. There’s also a world on the map that might look familiar to gamers – it’s the Sega Saturn logo.

Should things go wrong on Earth, Sonic’s next world was a “nice safe little world filled with only mushrooms”. Now, this could be a shoutout to Mario since Sonic has an ongoing competition with the mushroom-loving character; however, it could also be a reference to the Mushroom Hill Zone, the first zone of Sonic & Knuckles.

Sonic and His Chili Dogs

If you’re a fan of the comics and games, then you know that Sonic absolutely loves chili dogs. You can catch him and Tails eating them in the games, and they were introduced as his favorite food in the comics. That’s exactly why we see Sonic eating a bunch of chili dogs in the film and stinking up the hotel room with Tom.

The Canyon and Coffee

At the end of the big boss fight scene, Sonic, Tom, and Robotnik end up back in Green Hills. The coffee shop behind them during the battle is called “The Canyon”. This could be a reference to a stage in Shadow the Hedgehog called Glyphic Canyon.

There’s also another odd coffee reference in the film. While Sonic and Tom are at the hotel in the beginning of the film, they’re watching the news. The ticker that runs across the bottom of the screen reads, “Controversial new coffee bean tax”. Have any idea what that could reference?

Sonic Gets His Race Car Bed and His Iconic Shoes

At the end of the movie, Sonic finally gets a place to call home. Tom and Maddie redecorated their attic to make it comfortable for the speedster, and there’s nothing that feels more like home than his race car bed. This bed is a shoutout to the comics, where Sonic sleeps in a very similar shaped bed.

One of the most iconic things about Sonic is probably his red and white sneakers. In the film, we see him getting these infamous shoes as a gift from Maddie’s niece.

All the Other Pop Culture References

There are a lot of pop culture references that were mentioned throughout the movie. Some of them were pretty easy to spot, but here’s a list if you missed them:

• Sonic referred to Longclaw as Obi-Wan Kenobi if he ate mice. This is a clear reference to the iconic jedi from Star Wars.
• Sonic says, “With great power comes power hungry bad guys”. This is a mashup of the infamous Spider-Man quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”.
• Tom talks to a group of ducks crossing the street and calls them “Donald, Daisy, and Daffy” – a reference to the Disney characters and Daffy the duck from Looney Tunes.
• Tom goes to use a payphone in the film and Sonic asks if it’s a teleportation box. This is a reference to a couple of different films such as the teleporting phone booth in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and the booth from Doctor Who.
• When Wade Whipple is being interrogated by Dr. Robotnik, he asks if they’re going to wipe his memory and references Men in Black.
• In the film, Sonic says he feels like Vin Diesel and “it’s all about family, Tom”. This is a direct reference to Fast and the Furious.

That End-Credit Scene!

Probably the biggest Easter egg of the movie was the end-credit scene where we’re introduced to Miles “Tails” Prowler. The two-tailed fox can use his tails to fly like a helicopter and was introduced in the 1992 video game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This means that we can expect him to also appear in the sequel of the movie, should there be one.

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Did you find any other Easter eggs, hidden reference, or secrets in Sonic the Hedgehog? Let me know in the comments!