It featured reprints of the first four stories from the UK's regular Sonic publication Sonic the Comic, which was published by Fleetway Editions. Sonic the Hedgehog Beats the Badniks was released in April 1994, shortly before the release of Sonic the Comic #23, and a second collection called Sonic the Hedgehog Spin Attack, also by Ravette Books, was released on the same day. In Sonic the Comic #23, Ravette and Fleetway held a promotion in which 25 copies of Sonic the Hedgehog Beats the Badniks (and 25 of Spin Attack) were given away free to Sonic the Comic readers.