Definitely a missed opportunity, especially since Sonic CD exists.

Overall, there were very few video game tie-ins. There was probably limited appeal to do a pinball machine based on a video game character. That's essentially making a niche game based on a niche game. At least SFII had a movie at the time, and the arcade game itself was wicked popular.

Q*Bert was another game character, but that was during the height of the video arcade game boom. Baby Pacman probably also fell into that category. Defender, Joust, and Space Invaders were based on actual video game themes, not characters.

Honestly, I don't really think it was a missed opportunity. Movies and TV shows at the time (and still do) have much broader appeal. And broader appeal usually equates to more games sold.

I just spoke with an ex sega employee about it. This is what he said: they talked internally about sonic, but didn’t have the greatest relationship with corporate. They also didn’t know if it would be a strong title. Back then there was no home sales and 75% export and you couldn’t pay to place a game in Japan. There was a stigma associated with cartoon characters after the Popeye and Bugs Bunny flops. They even had to convince Gary to do space jam and only made it because they worked with Michael Jordan. Simpson’s only got made because it was an “adult” cartoon. So yes, it was discussed but just never happened

I think a sonic game would be a lot more popular now than it would have been upon release, like Mario bros.