The Sanic meme was created on March 31, 2010, by YouTuber 0nyxheart with a video titled "How 2 Draw Sanic Hegehog," featuring a poorly drawn Sonic the Hedgehog in MS Paint, paired with distorted "Green Hill Zone" music. This crudely illustrated, intentionally misspelled "Sanic" became a viral internet meme, spawning fan art, game mods, and even official Sega references.