Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game for the 16-bit Sega Mega Drive console. First released in the U.K. (and U.S.) on the 23rd day of June 1991, this game marked the debut of Sonic the Hedgehog in any media and kickstarted the craze that would result in Sonic the Comic two years later. The game starred him as a titular character as he sped through Mobius freeing his friends from Badnik shells and stopping the diabolical mad scientist Doctor Ivo Robotnik from taking over the world.