Sonic was originally teal @-@ colored , then a light shade of blue , but he was changed to dark blue so he would stand out against certain backgrounds and to match the Sega logo . His shoes were colored red through the inspiration of Michael Jackson 's boots on the album cover for Bad and the outfit of Santa Claus , whom Ohshima saw as the most " famous character in the world " . Sonic 's spikes were emphasized to make him look sleeker , and he was given the ability to spin while jumping ( so attacking and jumping could be controlled with one button ) . The new character was originally named " Mr. Needlemouse " , but the eight @-@ member AM8 changed his name to " Sonic " and their studios to Sonic Team . Ideas proposed to flesh out the character included placing him in a rock band , giving him vampire fangs , and giving him a human girlfriend named Madonna , but Sega of America scrapped these ideas to keep his identity simple . Sega of America also expressed concerns that most Americans would not know what a hedgehog is and initially proposed a full @-@ scale recreation of the character , but compromised with Sonic Team to simply make design changes . The antagonist ended up being named " Dr. Eggman " in Japan and " Dr. Robotnik " in other regions as a result of a dispute between Sega 's American and Japanese divisions .