Paramount Pictures 

The new Sonic The Hedgehog movie is finally in theaters after its tumultuous beginnings. Many Sonic fans expected the movie to spectacularly fail after all the VFX issues with Sonic’s character models, but after its release in mid-February, the movie is actually getting solid reviews and makes a great family movie. In addition to this surprise, Sonic The Hedgehog The Movie does an excellent job of including lots of easter eggs and hidden moments, which reference Sega’s most famous video game franchise. Read on to find out some of the easter eggs you might have missed.

The neat game music moments

The movie features a lot of references and pays homage to the memorable music featured in the Sonic The Hedgehog games notably in Sonic’s latest release on next-gen consoles and the original games on the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive. The beginning of the movie uses the opening theme music from the Sonic Mania, which featured on all next-gen consoles in 2017, but the most iconic music found in the movie is Jon Batiste’s reworking of the Green Hill Zone music found in the very first Sonic the Hedgehog game.

via: tcrf.net

Green Hill Zone

The Green Hill Zone was the first level on the original Sonic The Hedgehog game, which was released in 1991 on the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive. The new movie features a few references to the iconic level but we love that the town in the movie is called Green Hill. In an even better reference to the level, the opening credits of the movie show Sonic racing around his home planet through what looks like a perfect replica of Green Hill Zone 1. It’s easter eggs like this that leave fans wanting a sequel.

Another Sonic 1 reference

The opening segments of the movie reference the original Sonic the Hedgehog game often. Another example of this happens when we see Sonic as a baby with his surrogate mother Longclaw the owl. Many fans started looking for a reference in the Sonic games or comic books to Longclaw but it was the little flower Sonic brings for her that is the easter egg of this scene.

The sunflower Sonic gives to his surrogate mother is the very first flower you see, at the start of the Green Hill Zone 1 level on the original Sonic The Hedgehog. This easter egg is a great hidden one that many fans will miss.

Via: imdb.com / Courtesy Paramount - © 2019 Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc.

The final fight’s old skool reference

Another excellent reference to the original Sonic game comes in the form of the final fight against Jim Carrey’s character Dr. Robotnik. In this scene, we see Sonic fighting Dr.Robotnik who is in a jet-like machine very similar to the boss fight at the end of Green Hill Zone in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. We see Sonic jumping from building to building, so he can jump down to attack Dr. Robotnik’s ship. This movement is very similar to the spin attacks that players had to deliver to bosses in the original Sega Genesis/MegaDrive games and his great homage to those games.

The Eggman reference

The name Dr. Robotnik has become synonymous with the Sonic franchise over the years but in Japan, where the game originates, Dr. Robotnik has always been referred to as Eggman due to large, egg-like appearance. This hasn’t gone unnoticed in the new Sonic The Hedgehog Movie as Sonic makes up the nickname Eggman for his arch-nemesis. Additionally, we are treated to a scene at the end of the movie, which features Jim Carrey’s Dr.Robotnik character looking more like the Eggman we know and love, including him rocking a pretty epic mustache!

A more modern easter egg

While we love the classic Sonic references, a later scene in the movie call on Sonic and his 3D adventures, which featured on more modern consoles. During the scene in the movie where Dr. Robotnik is trying out Sonic’s electrical power that he has managed to harvest, we see Jim Carrey’s character burst into dance. While he does this, we get a glimpse of his playlist which shows tracks by the band Crush 40. This band is very well-known among die-hard Sonic fans as they created the music for Sonic’s first major 3D outing in the game Sonic Adventure, which was released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1998.

Sonic’s iconic sneakers

During the new movie, Sonic ends up getting some new sneakers from his co-star Tom’s niece, which look just like the sneakers found in the original games. Interestingly for keenly eyed fans, a lot of the earlier scenes of the movie shown in the movie’s trailer show Sonic wearing these sneakers, but he doesn’t actually get them until much later in the movie. Weird huh?

Via: imdb.com / Courtesy Paramount - © 2019 Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc

Sonic’s San Francisco escape

In the movie, Sonic has to escape from the bad guys by running through the streets of San Francisco. This particular scene is iconic in Sonic The Hedgehog lore and features as a stage in the game Sonic Adventure 2 released in 2001. The game is one of the more loved and memorable games from the Sonic 3D era, especially for this city escape scene.

The Badniks

The Badniks are what the games and comics refer to as Dr. Robotnik’s robot army. Often resembling animals in the classic games, The Badniks feature as enemies on many Sonic levels and stages. Although we don’t get to see them in the movie, we get to see a power switch labeled “Badniks” when Dr.Robotnik has trouble with an overloading circuit. Perhaps we will get see more of the iconic army in the movie’s proposed sequel.

Sonic’s favorite superhero?

Finally, the new movie sees a nice reference to Sonic’s rapid superhero counterpart DC’s The Flash. We see this in an early scene inside of Sonic’s cave. This scene also features two further call-outs to classic Sonic games including a headband with the classic game logo, and an exit sign reading “Hill Top Rd”, which refers to the Hill Top Zone featured in Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

The Flash reference, however, comes toward the end of the scene when Sonic sits down to read his favorite Flash comic book. This has maybe left fans wondering if there will be any crossover action with The Flash franchise.