Sonic the Hedgehog is a franchise with over thirty years of history. Starting off as a way for Sega to compete with Nintendo’s own flagship series, Super Mario, Sonic lived up to expectations people had and became Sega’s own mascot. Despite it being undeniably Sega’s most popular and successful series, Sonic’s track record is different from Mario’s. This is not only about the unpredictable quality of recent mainline Sonic games, it's also about Sonic’s awkward history with spin-offs.