| To be included on this stand-alone list, each entry should meet the following list criteria (see discussion):
- For characters from the games, the character must have made a substantial (e.g. non cameo) appearance in at least two Sonic games. Because Sonic has such a large cast of characters, this list is primarily dedicated to major ones. One-off or minor characters are considered out of this list's scope and should be covered within their respective game's article rather than here.
- An example of a character who meets this criteria is Ray the Flying Squirrel, who makes substantial appearances in SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Mania Plus. This is the minimum required for a character to be considered noteworthy for this list.
- An example of a character who does not meet this criteria is Princess Elise, whose only substantial appearance is in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Unless she makes another non-cameo appearance in the future, she fails the inclusion criteria.
- For characters from other media (TV shows, movies, and comics), the character must have made a substantial appearance in at least two different forms of media. Because Sonic is primarily a video game franchise and there are too many Sonic characters exclusive to non-video game media to be listed here, a separate criteria exists to determine if a non-game character can be listed.
- An example of a character who meets this criteria is Princess Sally, who made substantial appearances in the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon and the Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog series. Therefore, she can be listed, even though she has never made a substantial appearance in a Sonic game.
- An example of a character who does not meet this criteria is Geoffrey St. John, who, while a fairly significant character within the Archie Comics Sonic series, never appeared outside it. Thus, unless he makes an appearance in another form of media in the future, he fails the inclusion criteria.
- All entries on this list should be backed with secondary, reliable sources. No entries should be sourced entirely to primary sources, and any such entries will be removed.
Any discussions regarding splitting character entries from this list must happen on this talk page before any action is taken, to determine if the character has received enough coverage in reliable sources to be notable enough to stand as their own article. |