Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first Sonic game was released on June 23, 1991, in order to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario (see 1991 in video gaming). Since then, Sonic has become one of the world's best-known video game characters, with his series having sold more than 70 million copies. In 2005, Sonic was one of the first game character inductees into the Walk of Game.