Where did SONIC first ever appear? Was it in a driving game?

[THXII38]

I was chatting to the guy who runs the 2nd hand game shop in Luton, we were talking about proper arcade machines. He was telling me about his old full size coin-op SEGA driving game (I forget the name). Anyway, he says that it has a sonic figure hanging on the dashboard, and that this is the first ever outing of Sonic anywhere.

Is this true?

[kainemaxwell]

That game would be Rad Mobile.
(Made famous in Encino Man)

[ManekiNeko]

It was one of Sonic's first video game appearances, but I don't think it was THE first.
I remember people got excited about Rad Mobile because it was the first 32-bit arcade game by Sega. I also recall EGM insisting that its hardware would be used in Sega's successor to the Genesis. I'm not sure if that actually happened or not.

JR

[bargora]

Apparently Sega's ST-V arcade board was basically the same hardware as what went into the Saturn, so if Rad Mobile ran off of a ST-V board, I guess that EGM would basically be right.

And I don't know of any earlier Sonic sightings.

[CrazyImpmon]

Here's a link to Klov about Rad Mobile and it does mention Sonic figure was seen hanging from the rear view mirror (I knew I wasn't imaging things!) and listed the arcade as being out in '91 and claims it's the very first appearance of Sonic in any games.

When was Sonic the Hedgehog released for Genesis anyway? Late '91?

[Wavelflack]

Sonic's first appearance was Sonic 1. I know, it's a boring end to the mystery, but it's true.

Sonic hanging from the rear view mirror in Rad Mobile came later. Finally, Rad Mobile was on System 32, not ST-V.

[Wavelflack]

By the way, it's easy to make your own "Rad Mobile Sonic-thing". I used to have one hanging from the rear view mirror of my 68 Cougar . I simply took one of the Sonic bubblegum toys (plastic, hollow Sonic toy, filled with bits of bubblegum), drilled a small hole in his head, took a piece of pullchain (like you would find on a ceiling fan) and ran it out of his head. I secured the chain to the mirror, and voila! A picture perfect (down to the beaded chain) rendition of Sonic ala Rad Mobile!

Let me see if I can find a picture...