Earth

The Earth, also known as Sonic's world, is the overall main setting of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Notable for its many oddities and hidden wonders, it is a lush and beautiful planet in Sonic's universe, inhabited by various creatures, most notably humans and anthropomorphic animals.

Throughout its history spanning over a billion years, the Earth has seen the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, major wars, plagues and tragedies, and visits from beings from other planets. Unfortunately, various members of its inhabitants have developed weapons of mass destruction, and several power-hungry tyrants have caused crises and even catastrophes. Due to this, the Earth is far from peaceful, and though some have implored its inhabitants to live together harmoniously without violence, no attempts at permanent peace in the world have been successful. Nonetheless, the majority of the people on Earth are well meaning at heart and only wish to live their lives and make their dreams come true.

Naming

Sonic's world was named Mobius by Sega of America in their 1991 series bible. This was adopted into Western media, and occasionally mentioned in the English video game instruction manuals, with the games being said to be set there. Japanese media, conversely, never used the term, and the planet went unnamed or was called simply "Earth" there. The notable exception was the Japanese manual of Sonic Spinball, in which "Mobius" was implied to be a separate planet from Sonic's. The name "Mobius" was discarded in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with Sonic Adventure 2 establishing that the canon name of Sonic's world was "Earth". Since then, very few sources have referred to the planet as "Mobius", instead calling it "Earth" or "Sonic's world".

Description

The Earth is home to a plethora of different species and creatures coexisting peacefully with one another, including humans, animals of various species and races (anthropomorphic or otherwise), Chao, and later Wisps; although humans remain the planet's dominant species. The planet also houses several forms of supernatural creatures like ghosts and, for a time, Dark Gaia's Minions; several deities that include Chaos and Solaris; and physical embodiments of nature; such as Dark Gaia and Light Gaia. Even the Earth itself has been speculated to have a will of its own.

Over the course of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Earth has been portrayed inconsistently, its landmasses and locations having often varied in size and shapes from game to game. Sometimes, the Earth has included locations and areas from the real world, like Japan, Asia and in other cases, it is portrayed with entirely new and original locations not seen elsewhere.