Sonic the Fighters is a 1996 fighting video game for Sega's Model 2 arcade system.
Developed by Sega AM2, the concept for Sonic the Fighters originated after character designer Masahiro Sugiyama added Sonic and Tails to the game Fighting Vipers (1995) for his own amusement. Upon seeing the experiment, Yu Suzuki presented the idea to Hiroshi Kataoka and Yuji Naka, who approved the idea. The game is the first fighting game and the first to feature 3D computer graphics in the Sonic franchise. The game was released in arcades in June 1996.