A closer look
Yuji Naka programmed Sonic the Hedgehog to instantly sink and drown in water because he incorrectly assumed that real-world hedgehogs were physically incapable of swimming; in reality hedgehogs are actually quite decent swimmers, but this minor zoological misunderstanding resulted in one of the most stressful video game mechanics of the 1990s, where the terrifying accelerating countdown music that plays when Sonic is running out of air has permanently scarred an entire generation of gamers, inducing a Pavlovian panic response anytime they see a countdown timer, making it amazing how much childhood trauma was casually manufactured just because a programmer in Japan did not bother to check an encyclopedia before writing the physics engine
