Mobius

Mobius is the planet that the Sonic the Hedgehog characters are from in the comic book series made by Archie comics (America) and Fleetway (Europe), and in all three American cartoons, including the light-hearted Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, the more serious ABC cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog (considered as "SatAM" by the Sonic community), and Sonic Underground.

The US instruction manuals of some early Sonic games state that the game takes place on Mobius. The Japanese Instruction Manuals do not mention this whatsoever. A few US produced Sonic games do take place in Mobius, this includes Sonic Spinball (16-bit) and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. These games were meant to promote the US cartoons and fall into the same continuity as them.

Depictions in Various Media

Depictions of the planet vary depending on the media it is portrayed in. In the Archie comics, it's a future Earth, but consists of Mobians (animalistic beings) and is ruled by a dictator, Dr. Robotnik, who orginally went by the name of Julian Kintobor before he became a dictator trying to destroy all Mobian life, and trying to turn them into Robots (considered as "Robians") via roboticization. Earlierin the comic series it was mentioned that Mobius existed in an entirely different universe than that of Earth that can be reached through the Cosmic Interstate, an intergalactic road that connects different universes and realities across time and space. It's possible that Mobius is meant to be a future version of an alternate Earth. This version of Mobius is also populated by Overlanders, four fingered humans who survived a genetic bomb attack.

The SatAM version is similar to the Archie Comic depiction, but it being a future Earth is never mentioned during the series run.

In Sonic Underground, the same kind of setup is used, but no reference to Earth is made (nor is Robotnik's first name particularly mentioned). Overlanders are present and a bit more plentiful as only those that break Robotnik's laws become Roboticised.

In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Mobius does not have a dictatorship and Dr. Ivo Robotnik is shown trying time and time again to take it over (and usually failing miserably). Overlanders are not portrayed but instead five fingered Humans are shown.

Sonic the Comic portrays Mobius in a style similar to the early games, as the planet was divided into "zones", each with a distinctive landscape and climate. At the start of the comic Robotnik was not the ruler but eventually took it over. He subsequently was overthrown, although he tried repeatedly to regain his position as dictator. Mobius and Earth are seperate worlds in this comic.

In the newest Sonic cartoon, Sonic X, Sonic, Robotnik, and many others are transported from an unamed planet into present day Earth. It is speculated that the unamed planet could be Mobius. However, there is no substantial evidence to back up or deny this claim, and since there has been virtually no mention of Mobius in the country it was made (Japan), many people do not believe it is intended to be that way.