Sonic the Hedgehog McDonalds Happy Meals have arrived in the UK

McDonalds has launched its latest gaming-themed Happy Meal collaboration, this time with Sonic the Hedgehog.

The promotion, which will run in the UK from January 4 until February 6 sees Sonic return to the Happy Meal promotion following a a popular collaboration some years ago.

Gaming collaborations with the massively popular fast food chain have increased in frequency in recent years, with both the Mario and Pokemon promotional campaigns proving extremely successful.

Each Happy Meal will come with 1 of 12 premium toys featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and other characters from the franchise.

Customers can also participate in a Sonic mission accessible via QR codes on the side of each Sonic Happy Meal box and toy packaging. Customers who purchase a Sonic Happy Meal can scan the QR Code to progress through Sonic missions and unlock rings to a “multi-layered Sonic digital experience.”

Customers who opt out of the promotion can also select from several books in lieu of a toy, though these are not Sonic themed. It’s not currently clear if the promotion will be offered outside of the UK.

While some collaborations are offered worldwide, often at slightly different times such as the Pokemon TCG promotion (which was offered first in Germany, then the following month in the UK, then the US) some territories recieve exclusive promotions, often making the toys themselves lucurative collectors items.

During the initial Pokemon McDonalds collaboration in 2020, stores were ordered to only give customers a maximum of 2 packs of the exclusive cards as some TCG collectors were turning up to the store and buying hundreds of packs, later listing them on sites like eBay. This rule was not universally enforced, however and often came down to the discretion of the member of staff.