Sonic the Hedgehog Might Be Speeding Into a Tesla Near You Again Pretty Soon

Before we get to Sonic, though, we're taking a short detour first. That's because no other mascot in video game history is as famous and brought in more American dollars (or Japanese Yen) than the little mustachioed Italian plumber that stemmed from the imagination of Shigeru Miyamoto.

That mascot's name is Mario Mario. And no, that was not a typo. His last name is the same as his first name, which makes his brother, Luigi Mario. This was confirmed by Miyamoto himself back in 2015, during the 30th anniversary of the hit video game Super Mario Bros.

While Mario Mario's popularity grew and grew, at the same time, the competition was inevitably at hand. In this case, it came from SEGA, under the form of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game in 1991, on their flagship Genesis console. To say that the title was a massive success would be an understatement. According to sources from the video game industry, in total, the first ever Sonic game sold over 22 million copies.

Granted, it came bundled with the Sega Genesis, but it's still no small feat. Quite the opposite, in fact, because it was the best-selling home video game of that year, generating over one billion dollars in console sales alone, thus helping Sega gain 65% of the European console market. Dennis Lynch, who was working at the Chicago Tribune back then, said that it even managed to outsell Mario in America in 1991.

The sequel was an even bigger commercial hit, breaking sales records in the United States, with over 1,000,000 copies sold during its release day alone. The third one was filled with appraisals as well, but sadly, not long after, things started to turn the opposite way for Mario's arch-nemesis. The fall wasn't abrupt and quick, but it came nonetheless.

While the Italian plumber continued to grow, the world moved on from Sega's blue mascot, and the hit franchise ultimately ended up on the pages of history as a "member berry." (A "member berry" is a nostalgia trip coined by South Park creators in episode 268).

Now getting back to the present, Sonic is becoming quite the phenomenon again, but not in the interactive medium of storytelling, but in the form of classic movies.

Starring opposite Jim Carrey as his arch-enemy, Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, Sonic The Hedgehog 1 and 2 became two of the highest-grossing video game adaptations of all time. The duo is sitting pretty next to Warcraft, Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Rampage, Uncharted, The Angry Birds Movie, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Taking this recent resurgence into consideration, having one of the best Sonic games on your video game platform will obviously benefit its popularity. One such platform even came on four wheels. After Tesla rolled out the 2021 holiday update, owners were able to play the first Sonic game on the car's main display through Tesla Arcade.

All you needed to have (aside from a Tesla, of course) was a compatible controller connected through one of the vehicle's USB ports. You could have used the touchscreen buttons as well, but your reaction time needs to be spot-on to play such a fast-paced 2D platformer. Touch controls are as precise for a game like Sonic as a blunt cleaver is for a surgeon.

Almost exactly one year after that, during 2022's holiday update, Telsa sort-of, kind-of removed Sonic from its library. The official reason wasn't given by anyone from Tesla, so please excuse me if I don't start listing all the possible explanations. While speculations might be fun, I see no use for them in this case.

Moving on, recently, the user "Thib" from the "notateslaapp.com" forums posted a screenshot of how they complained to the Tesla service about the missing video game and said that "They replied it is a temporary suspension and it will come back." Now, take this with a grain of salt because this is in no shape or form an official public confirmation.

This being said, though, the blue rapscallion might be missing, but that's just one little critter. Whereas at the very end of 2022, Tesla integrated Steam, the world's largest PC video game digital store, into its fleet. While this effort amazed video game journalists from all across the world, the reality is that your Tesla won't run just like a PS5 or Xbox Series X.

First of all, while some models might have the RDNA 2 graphics architecture, the keyword here remains "some." You have to find out if yours has one before you go and try out Cyberpunk 2077. Also, the cars are running on a version of Linux, so even if you want to get the latest Sonic Frontiers from Steam, it's locked to Windows only, I'm afraid.

However, you can still try and play the Sega Genesis Collection Bundle which is on sale at the moment of writing, from $65 down to $25. The collection features over 50 classic games, but not the original Sonic titles, sadly. It does have some games involving Sonic, but I wouldn't advise you to try them. Instead, go for Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Golden Axe, or Streets of Rage.