Sonic the Hedgehog is a long-running Sega video game series starring a fast blue hedgehog, and water has always been one of his trickiest obstacles, with drowning timers and slippery levels becoming famous among players. Short clips of game audio like this splash are widely shared on soundboards and reused in fan edits, streams and meme videos because they instantly recall classic platform gameplay. Its brevity makes it easy to drop into a joke, and its familiar cartoon splash keeps it useful long after the original games were released.