Sonic the Hedgehog

One can say the birth of Sonic was inspired by Mario .i.e. Sega wanted a game capable of competing with Mario and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research and development department, including an armadillo (which then developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Dr. Robotnik/Eggman's design), and a rabbit (intended to use its extendible ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar). 

Sonic’s character might have been created because the legendinary hero Mario, regardless of that Sonic was a well thought creation starting with his colours; Sonic's blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, his shoes were a concept evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson's boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by both Santa Claus and the contrast of those colors on Jackson's Bad, while his personality was based on Bill Clinton's "Get it done" attitude.

With some much said about this character is far to wonder how the audiences welcomed the new Mario competition, well Sonic's first appearance in the video game world was in the racing game "Rad Mobile" (later ported to the Sega Saturn under the name "Gale Racer"), but Sonic's first major appearance was in the platform game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which also introduced his nemesis Dr. Robotnik. His two-tailed fox friend Miles "Tails" Prower joined him in the game's 1992 sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic CD, released in 1993, introduced Sonic's self-appointed girlfriend Amy Rose and his robotic doppelgänger Metal Sonic as Sonic traveled through time to ensure a good future for the world. The first animated series to feature Sonic was Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, in which he was voiced by Jaleel White. The cartoon had a very comical take on Sonic and Tails' adventures battling Robotnik. Pierre De Celles, an animator who worked on Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, described the show as "fun and humorous.