Tails (character) - Concept and Creation

Concept and Creation

Yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, designed Tails for an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog. The character was meant to hold a "deep admiration for Sonic." His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails".

Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise, using "Miles" in as the character's real first name; "Tails" would be his nickname, giving the character the full name of Miles "Tails" Prower. The name "Miles Prower" is a pun on the phrase "miles per hour".

The character debuted as Sonic's tag-along partner in the franchise's second game, and has remained an important player since. However the character's uniqueness was not established until Sonic the Hedgehog 3 when players were given the power to control his flying.

Tails was redesigned (along with all of the other Sonic characters) by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure. His fur changed color to a more yellow shade as opposed to the orange in his early appearances, and he gained blue irises.

In the American Sonic comic book, along with the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, he was originally brown, but the comic artists eventually decided to change this to match his in-game appearance.