 The series debuted in 1991 with the video game, "Sonic the Hedgehog", released for the Mega Drive video game console (named Sega Genesis in North America).Most "Sonic the Hedgehog" games have either been platform games or released for Sega video game consoles and handheld game consoles (handhelds) dating from the Sega Genesis to the eighth generation of video game consoles (2012–present).However, some of the original games were ported into versions on third-party home consoles and developed by several companies.