First Appearances:
Gaming: Sonic Spinball (not playable, pink & black design)
Comics: StH #0 (orange & blond)
Animation: Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Heads or Tails" (pink & black), Adventures of Sonic the Hegdehog: "Sonic Christmas Blast" special (pink & black).

Uh, what's with all the different colors on Sal?
I guess the people at DiC couldn't decided on Sally's character design.  ;D
In all of the Sonic the Hedgehog episodes, except the first, she appeared as her the now familiar brown furred, red-haired self.  However, in "Heads or Tails", she was pink with black hair and was drawn in the same style as characters from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The pink & black design was also used in Sonic Christmas Blast, the game Sonic Spinball, and in 17 isuess of the Archie Comics' series. Sonic the Hedgehog.  In the first few issues of Archie's StH, she was colored red-orange with yellow hair, but in the AoStH style.

So, who is she?
The leader of the Freedom Fighters who had a secret base, namely Knot hole Village, in the Great Forest on planet Mobius.
As the "princess" part implies, her father was the king--before Robotnik tossed him into another dimension & took over, that is ;o.  Note: the surname of the royal family was never given in the animated series (however, her middle name "Alicia" -was- revealed in "Blast to the Past").    The surname "Acorn" was used in the comics.

So, -what- is she?
This has been the subject of many debates.  She looks like a chipmunk (sans stripes) to me (especially with that short tail of hers), but the "nuts at Archie" once declared that she was a squirrel (*feh* a -ground- squirrel, perhaps). Then again, they -also- once declared that Antione was a fox, and then later said he was a coyote (sheeeyeah, riiiiight...) ;o

What's she like?
She’s a great leader (something that I’m not). She wouldn’t ask her Freedom Fighters to do anything she wouldn’t do herself. She is able to make quick, wise decisions when necessary. When something goes wrong, she blames herself (as seen in the beginning of "Blast to the Past" part 1). Sally also has plenty of courage. How many times has she displayed open defiance in the face of Robotnik? Several. Was she ever scared? Probably, but she didn’t show it in front of Ro-butt-nik. She personally leads teams on missions against Robotnik’s tyranical empire. That may not be very smart, considering that she is the only legitimate heir to the throne, but this shows how Sally is willing to get involved and work with her people. She doesn’t consider herself too "high and mighty" to put her butt on the line for the good of her subjects. She may have been a princess without a kingdom, but she still had a loyal following--and she, in turn, was loyal to her following.

The Amy Rose Connection

Okay, this whole mess started with the Sonic CD game.  The original, Japanese version had a pink hedgehog named Amy Rose & she had a crush on the ol' blue blur.  When the game was translated to English and introduced in the United States and Canada, Sega decided to call her Princess Sally.  Fans of the SatAM animated series gave 'em a "Yeah, riiight: I don't -think- so." reaction.  So, when the folks at Archie Comics decided to introduce the pink hedgehog into their series, they went with the original name--Amy Rose.  So, in that comic they are two different characters.  However, in Fleetway's comics there -is- no Princess Sally (they're pretty much stuck with characters from the Sonic games)--but it is interesting to note that in an early issue, there -was- a squirrel named "Sally Acorn".  In that continuity, Amy Rose is Sonic's "love interest".  Okay, so Sonic dosen't seem to have much interest in love, but you know what I mean...

Gee, Sal, I never knew you had a brother...

Neither did she! :D  Okay, I've seen it done in fan fiction but I'm surprised that a sanctioned (i.e. work for hire) writer actually touched this scenario with a 10 foot pole.  In the animated series, we never saw or even -heard- about Sally's mother--nor any siblings.  In the pages of Knuckles the Echidna, we found out that Sally has a brother, namely Prince Elias.

Like daughter, Like mother
A fan once asked me, "Why, in Blast to the Past parts 1 & 2, does young Sal look like a chibi Queen Alicia?"
Well, in cartoons, boys tend to look like their fathers and girls tend to look like their mothers.  It's just a short & easy way to establish who is related to whom.  However, in -this- case Sally's looks were defined first (as soon as the people at DiC decided on a design ;D) and later the people at Archie Comics wondered "What should her mother look like?".  I guess their artist(s) saw "Blast to the Past" and based the queen's design on young Sal.

Sonic & Sally

Sonic loves Sally; Sally loves Sonic (even though she gets frustrated with him sometimes). So what’s the problem? Well, in the animated series, Antione also sought Sally’s heart. Of course, she never had any interest in him. In issue #3 of the Princess Sally limited series, I nearly 'hurled' when read the last page, where Sally thought, "And what of my heart? Where once there was one--now there are two." She was actually in love with Geoffrey St. John?!? Ugh!! Fortunately, she set things straight in the "Brave New World" Sonic Super Special (which wasn’t all that special if ya ask me ;).
She told him:

"I know there’s something between us, Geoffrey--but I also know that my heart belongs to Sonic! I can’t go forward until I know what I have! Do you understand?"

What surprised me even more was Ken Penders' take on the Sonic+Sally issue:

"I'm no longer certain if Sonic is a one-girl guy.When you stop and think how Sega looks at the character, he's all ego and attitude. He thinks about number one. He can accept Tails because Tails is the subordinate junior assistant to his main act.  He'd consider Sally nothing more than a fun to be with every now and then (if that) and a drag the rest of the time. His attitude towards Sally, and females in general, in probably much like that MTV-character in the movie She's All That. The way he ditches the girl is so Sonic-like. ("You think all I want to do is spend my life with you? That's cool and all, but I gotta go fight Robotnik! Later, babe!")
I know I'm going to get into a lot of disagreement with people over this, but I've yet to hear anyone ever say "Y'know, he can be such an arrogant jerk, but he's really quite lovable under all that!" They usually stop the comment after the word "jerk". People who are conceited and full of themselves generally aren't likeable. Check out most entertainers and athletes as my prime example. There are exceptions, but there are few and far between. " (Source: Ken's Messageboard)

 BTW, Kath Soucie provided the voice for Princess Sally on the animated series, and did a wonderful job, too!

Send me e-mail  at mokat01@lycos.com with Sally or Sonic Rants in the subject line.