10. Sonic Can't Swim Because A Programmer (Incorrectly) Thought Hedgehogs Can't Swim
SegaIn fairness, much like Sega, we assumed that hedgehogs can't swim, so we totally understand why they didn't bother conducting research and just assumed it to be gospel. In a peculiar 2009 interview with the original game's lead programmer, Yuji Naka, he confessed that he simply assumed that hedgehogs couldn't swim, and that's the reason why Sonic can't in the games. However, in the words of Naka's translator, "Recently he saw a photograph in Germany of a hedgehog swimming, so that isn't quite accurate! Apparently hedgehogs can swim, but they can't climb out of water." Still, we can't just blame Naka: presumably nobody on the development team attempted to correct him during the game's production, nor anybody in the intervening years between Sonic's release and this 2009 interview. Even if he'd known, though, it probably wouldn't change the fact we'd still have to put up with that terrifying "your a** is about to drown" music in the Labyrinth and Aquatic Ruins Zones. Even now the mere thought of that alert jingle makes our hairs stand up on end...