Please welcome Irish the Hedgehog to Sonic canon. On Tuesday, Sega made good on a year-old goof, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, about the existence of an Irish friend of Sonic the Hedgehog. Just in case you’ve started hallucinating from fever or are starting to question your connection to reality in a time of self-isolation, Irish the Hedgehog is quite real, I assure you. You’re not imagining this.
Why Irish the Hedgehog? Well, to celebrate the holiday, of course. But also because, on March 17, 2019, Sega wished everyone a “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!” on the Sonic Twitter account. At the time, Sega used an altered image of Jet the Hawk, standing next to a pot o’ gold.
Happy #StPatricksDay! pic.twitter.com/6lZ1YYehGN
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) March 17, 2019
But then, Irish YouTube personality Seán “JackSepticeye” McLoughlin asked a canon-altering question of Sega: “Can I voice Irish the Hedgehog?”
And thus, Irish the Hedgehog was born. Sega credits artist Mark Hughes with bringing Irish the Hedgehog to life, clover-shaped chest hair(?) zone included, and musicians Hyper Potions and Jun Senoue for composing a folksy remix of Sonic Adventure 2’s “Escape From the City.”
We will operate under the assumption that Irish the Hedgehog is canon, unlike this Sonic the Hedgehog plush from Build-A-Bear, and suggest you follow suit.