Picky

Gallery

Not to be confused with Pocky.

File:Picky in Sonic Runners.png

A Picky in Sonic Runners.

The Picky (ピッキー, Pikkī^?) is a creature in the Sonic the Hedgehog series which first appeared in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. They are a race of small pig Animals inhabiting various regions all over Sonic's world, and are close friends of Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies. They are perpetually targeted by Dr. Eggman who seeks to use them as energy sources for his Badnik army and often imprisons them in Capsules for later use.

Description

Anatomy

The general Picky resembles a rotund domestic pig slightly less than half a meter tall. However, they are remarkably humanoid in anatomy, even standing on two legs. They have light pink skin and possess large round heads with two large grey eyes (originally black), triangular ears, and small stubby snouts. Other features include relatively small torsos, thin and short arms with five fingers, stubby legs with long feet and two cloven for toes, and a short coiled tail each.

Characteristics

Like actual animals, the Pickies can only speak in a language consisting of oinks. Although recognized as animal life, Pickies are remarkably intelligent and sociable, being capable of understanding normal language and establishing their own Animal communities. All Pickies are generally good-hearted, helpful, friendly and playful, but their small stature leaves them rather defenseless on their own. They also have great respect and appreciation for nature, choosing to live in complete harmony with it.

Habitats

Pickies inhabit various natural environments like forests all around Earth, like the lustrous South Island, and even its unusual satellites like the Lost Hex, where they have established their own small villages, more often than not with other Animal species.

Game appearances

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

The Pickies first appeared in the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog. The Pickies were amongst the Animals on South Island whom Sonic went to rescue after Dr. Robotnik captured them and used them to power his Badnik army - all as a part of a plot to collect the Chaos Emeralds. They can be found in Spring Yard Zone and Star Light Zone where they pop out of destroyed Badniks or opened Capsules. The Pickies also appear in the ending cinematic where they celebrate Sonic's victory in the Green Hill Zone.

Pickies also appears in the 8-bit version of the game with same name. In this game, they only appear from the opened Capsule at the end of Bridge Zone Act 3.

Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld

In Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld, Picky appeared along with Sonic, Tails, Amy and other Animals. He can be seen in the background among Gameworld testing equipment. In the mini-games, a toy version of Picky can be seen inside a machine in the Toy Drop game. An icon of him is also visible inside a slot machine in the Concentration game.

In the American credits of the game, Picky is labeled with his Japanese name ("Picky") instead of his western name during that time.

Sonic the Hedgehog The Screen Saver

Picky in an artwork from Sonic the Hedgehog The Screen Saver.

In Sonic the Hedgehog The Screen Saver, the Pickies make several small cameos in several of the game's artwork images as one of Sonic's friends.

Sonic Jam

In Sonic Jam, the game's Character House features illustrations of Picky and the other Animals, originally made for Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure

In Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, a Picky appears alongside several Animals in the game's perfect ending if the player has cleared Chaotic Space Zone, where they celebrate Sonic's victory over Eggman.

Sonic Advance

In Sonic Advance, a Picky makes a cameo in the ending cinematic after clearing the Moon Zone. There, the Picky, alongside with Tails, Knuckles, Amy and other Animals, awaited Sonic's return from the moon.

Mario & Sonic series

In the Mario & Sonic series, the Pickies appear in all the series' installments where they are seen amongst the audience of every event along with other characters from both the Sonic and Mario franchises, cheering on the competitors.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

In the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 installments, the Pickies appeared in all three episodes where they reprised their roles from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. In Episode I, Dr. Eggman specifically began capturing Pickies and other Animals to produce a new wave of Badniks capable of defeating Sonic. The Pickies can be found in Casino Street Zone in Episode I and in Oil Desert Zone in Episode II, where they pop out of destroyed Badniks or opened Capsules at the end of the boss Acts.

In the ending cinematic of Episode Metal, the Pickies and other Animals see Sonic and Tails leave in the Tornado, only to be scared away by a furious Metal Sonic.

Sonic Generations

The Picky and other Animals in Sonic Generations.

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Pickies appeared alongside other Animals in the Challenge Acts Rescue the Animals! and Rescue the Animals 2!. In these Acts, the player must free a set number of Animals (Pickies included) from Capsules before reaching the Goal Plate. A statue of a Picky and the other Animals can also be unlocked in the Statue Room.

Sonic Jump (2012)

In the 2012 remake of Sonic Jump, Picky appeared along with several other Animals. In this game, Dr. Eggman kidnapped them and took them away in the prison units of his the Egg Mobile, while Sonic and the others tried to stop them.

In gameplay, the player will encounter a cage with some Pickies after reaching the end of each Boss Act. Touching these cages will set the Pickies inside free.

Sonic Lost World

A Picky in Sonic Lost World.

In Sonic Lost World, the Pickies and other Animals are shown to inhabit the Lost Hex. During the events of the game, Dr. Eggman, with the assistance of the Deadly Six, resumed kidnapping Animals, the Pickies being among them, to create a new Badnik army. The few Animals and a single Picky that managed to evade capture remained with Knuckles and Amy while Sonic and Tails went out to save their friends, during which they had fun at the expense of Knuckles.

The Pickies and the other Animals serve as collectible content used to progress with the game. Once the players have collected a set amount of Animals, they gain access to the fourth Zone in each World. They player can collect Pickies by defeating Badniks, opening smaller Capsules in the Zones, and opening the larger Capsules at the end of most Zones. Pickies and other Animals can also be collected from Circus tents. The Pickies can be found in the following places (depending on the version of the game):

Zone
Wii U/PC	Nintendo 3DS
Windy Hill Zone 1, 2 and 3; Desert Ruins Zone 2; Tropical Coast Zone 2 and 4; Frozen Factory Zone 1 and 3; Silent Forest Zone 1 and 2; Sky Road Zone 2; Lava Mountain Zone 3	Desert Ruins; Silent Forest

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, a Picky appears alongside other Animals as a part of one of the collectable trophies representing the Sonic the Hedgehog series:

Name	Picture	Description
Fauna of Windy Hill		Windy Hill, a plain on the floating Lost Hex continent, is the first area in Sonic Lost World. It has giant windmills and mysterious caves and is home to a wide variety of animals...that Dr. Eggman has gone and used as a power source for his robot collection. Typical... Just destroy the robots and set those animals free. (Wii U): Sonic Lost World (10/2013)

Excluding the trophy, the Picky also occasionally makes a cameo appearance in the background of the Windy Hill Zone.

Sonic Runners series

Sonic Runners

In Sonic Runners, the Pickies played supporting roles to the main cast in the storyline. In this game, most individual Pickies are referred to as "Picky". Over the course of the game, Team Sonic comes across the Pickies several times, whom they usually save from Dr. Eggman and/or his lackeys. Occasionally, the Pickies will also ask the team for help solving different problems, whether it be either Eggman-related trouble or more personal issues. Sometimes though, the Pickies will help Team Sonic as well, usually by providing information or handling smaller tasks.

In gameplay, Pickies will pop out of destroyed Badniks and bounce a little further down the path before falling behind the player. If the player grabs them as they pass by, the player will build up their Combo and earn 2,500 bonus points on the result screen for each Picky.

Sonic Runners Adventure

In Sonic Runners Adventure, the Pickies reprised their roles as power sources for Dr. Eggman's Badniks. In gameplay, Pickies will pop out of destroyed Badniks in any stage and then bounce out of the player's sight.

Sonic Mania

In Sonic Mania, the Pickies reprised their roles from the Sonic games on the Sega Genesis by being organic power sources for Dr. Eggman's Badniks again. The Pickies can be found in Titanic Monarch Zone, where they pop out of destroyed Badniks.

A Picky during ending of "& Knuckles" mode in Sonic Mania.

When the Metal Sonic Projector at the end of Stardust Speedway Zone Act 2 is destroyed, a few Pickies will appear until they are chased off by Metal Sonic. Also, during the ending of the "& Knuckles" mode in Sonic Mania, a Picky can be seen listening to Knuckles' retelling of the game's events.

Sonic Forces

In Sonic Forces, Pickies can be found inside Capsules in blue SOS Mission at random. The objective of these missions is to rescue the Pickies and the other prisoners in the Capsule using either Sonic, Classic Sonic, the Avatar or Shadow. After the Pickies and the other prisoners have been freed from their Capsule, the player has to complete their stage to complete the SOS Mission.

In other media

Comics

Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic

Picky along with other animal friends, appears in Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic manga. He appears in few panels in first and third stories. In Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic Volume 2's story "Clash!! South Island" Sonic frees him from being Caterkiller badnik. Picky then starts tell Sonic that he saw Ricky and Cucky also becoming badniks. After hearing this Sonic start his rescue mission.

Sonic the Comic

Porker Lewis in Sonic the Comic.

In Sonic the Comic, Picky is named Porker Lewis. In this media, he was a founding member of the Freedom Fighters and a technical genius. After a mission involving the Brotherhood of Metallix, during which he was held prisoner on the Miracle Planet for a month, Porker suffered a nervous breakdown and left the team. He subsequently moved to the Floating Island and helped Knuckles the Echidna fix the island's ancient Echidna technology.

Archie Comics

A Picky in the Archie Comics.

In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Pickies are a Mobini species native to Mobius, and later Sonic's World. 

Animation

Sonic X

A Picky in Sonic X.

In the Sonic X franchise, the Pickies are an animal species native to Sonic's world. Several of them got sent to Earth by Chaos Control, but they were returned home not long afterwards.

Quotes

"I love beating Dr. Robotnik!"

—Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld

Early Sonic canon

In the early days of the Sonic series, when all the Animals were renamed by Sega of America in the Sonic Bible, Picky was defined as a male and was renamed Pig in the bible's first draft for the western media. He was later renamed Porker Lewis in the bible's second draft. According to the bibles, Porker Lewis comes from a large family like the other animals (which was intended to explain the appearance of multiple identical Pickies in the games) and helped raise an orphaned Sonic. It is said in the first draft of the Sonic Bible that Porker Lewis introduced Sonic to the delights of wallowing in mud, but it was later changed in the second draft for the bible, where it is said that he taught Sonic how to fear fire.

Trivia

• Inside the game data of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Picky has unused sprites for use in the Death Egg Zone. Due to the lack of enemies in the zone, Picky is nowhere to be seen.
  • However, Picky does appear normally in the new additional credits sequence featured in 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the port for Nintendo 3DS.
  • A character illustration of Picky was created for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It can be seen in the 1994 book, Sega TV Game Genga Gallery (セガ TVゲーム 原画ギャラリー) and in the Character House of the 1997 game Sonic Jam.
• Picky was presumably created by Naoto Ōshima, the character designer on the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Porker as part of "The Freedom Team" in early Sonic cartoon promo art.

• His early western name, Porker Lewis, is likely parodying the popular comedy character Parker Lewis, from the series Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
• In DiC's early scrapped Sonic cartoon, Porker Lewis was featured in a cast picture as part of the "Freedom Team". He was large with wild hair and wore a leather jacket and sunglasses.
• Porker Lewis may be the inspiration for the Sonic the Hedgehog television series and Archie Comics' pig character, Hamlin, although the characters' personalities in their respective comics are total opposites.
• When Picky was originally featured on his own card in Sonic the Hedgehog Online Trading Cards, he was erroneously named Cookie. Pocky on his own card, was misnamed Picky.