Dr. Robotnik vs Eggman: why fans are arguing with Sonic the Hedgehog villain

It is strange to think that there is a key character in Sonic the Hedgehog Franchise, and yet no one seems quite sure how to call him.

Yes, the Doctor Robotnik-vs.-Eggman-era controversy has created since the early – or at least the early – 1990s. And while many have taken sides, it's important to know that there is a correct answer to this question, especially given the recently released one Sonic the Hedgehog movie. We are here to answer it.

I am Eggman

In 1990, Sega was on the cusp of the post-launch of the Master System. The console will be redesigned as Sega Genesis in the US, but it needs more than that to come out. It needed a game to be had. Hayao Nakayama, Sega's president at the time, was in charge of internal competition, seeking the formation of potential heroes in the new organization. The winner of the competition, as painted by cartoonist Naoto Oshima, was Mr. Allemouse (to continue Sonic the Hedgehog).

But there was another build-up that Oshima had made to the development team that they liked. This included a spherical male in a collection of polka dot pajamas and a nightgown. He had a big bearded and round, Coke box glasses. You can see his first design in this case archived for 1UP story to fix the competition.

While Mr. Needlemouse was a clear hero, a development team working on what would become Sonic the Hedgehog fell in love with this spherical man and felt he needed to be included in some way. He will continue to be Sonic's main opponent.

Jim Carrey as Robotnik gets off his bad plane

Robotnik's resurrection

The development team in Japan named the new actor Doel Eggman (a reference to the Beatles song). But when Sonic the Hedgehog was released in the US on June 23, 1991, a letter of instruction put him in Doctor Ivo Robotnik.

So where did Robotnik come from? In 2016, Game Informer spoke with Sonic's head of team

, Takashi Iizuka, to understand the glory.

"When the game was first made in Japan, they called the character Eggman," he told Game Informer. "It was the name of that character, but when the game was taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog we know in the West, they decided, without confirmation with the development team, changing its name to Ivo Robotnik or simply Robotnik. networking. They just went and did it. ”

This led to trouble: When the game was released in Japan on July 26, 1991, a letter of instructions introduced him to Dr. Eggman. So now they had the same character with two different names. It is thought that the US version was first released, but internally the Sega team has never seen that as an official name.

The words caused so much confusion that Sega decided to put everything together in 1999 with it Sonic Adventure. In that game, he is addressed to both Robotnik and Eggman.

Since then, Sega has tried to build a canonical name for him. In an official discussion of Sega from 2008Yugi Naka, one of Sonic's original creators, has tried to get his way back to the solution to this problem. "She is right, her name has not changed," Naka said. "Robotnik is his real name and Eggman is a generic name after the formation."

In other words, Eggman is the best nickname given to him by haters, but Robotnik is exactly what he found on his passport. Of course, it's a bit of a retcon that looks at past statements but whether it works.

What about the movie?

New release Sonic the Hedgehog The movie, beloved of Jim Carrey's red, is in a movie called Dr. They are Robotnik. Yet, at the crucial moment, James Marsden's character calls him "Eggman" as a disgrace. This largely follows what Sega presented as a response to the word debate, even though Jim Carrey's mysterious character is not in the films, so little makes sense.

In a nutshell: “Dr. Ivo Robotnik ”when you invite him to dinner and“ Eggman ”when you take him out of your house.