I was reading some scientific articles about one of the issues I like most, evolution, and in this case, marine biology's whales and how they lost their legs eventually, when I came accross this stunning little detail that It wasn't even highlighted as being game-related. The whole article can be found niah and I quote However, the actual loss of the hind limb occurred much further along in the evolutionary process, when a drastic change occurred to inactivate a gene essential for limb development. This gene - called Sonic hedgehog - functions during the first quarter of gestation in the embryonic period of the animals' development, before the fetal period. In all limbed vertebrates, Sonic hedgehog is required for normal limbs to develop beyond the knee and elbow joints. Because ancient whales' hind limbs remained perfectly formed all the way to the toes even as they became smaller suggests that Sonic hedgehog was still functioning to pattern the limb skeleton. I smiled when I realized that some hard working marine palaiontologist or genetic scientist loved his mega-drive so much.
Its quite cool, and well documented on the Sonic Jam disc. Alot of sonic related media and hype appeared around this time, the Macy's balloon parade that year featured a Sonic which was the first time a video game character had made it to the show. Williams formula 1 team also had helmets with a sonic deco to celebrate sega's sponsorship at the time.
