Sonic’s celebrating more than 20 years as a video game icon. So it makes sense that Sega’s giving their furry blue mascot a bit of a facelift — nothing drastic, mind you — along with a new game and TV show in the hopes of keeping the hedgehog moving at top speed.
You might be squinting to see what’s different with ol’ Sonic. The red scarf is the biggest change and he’s got a bit of athletic tape wrapped around his wrists, hands, feet and ankles. It’s part of Sonic Boom (trailer above), the new cross-platform refresh for Sonic, announced by Sega today at a press event in New York City. It starts with a previously announced upcoming animated series set to air on Cartoon Network, coupled with new games for the Wii U and 3DS.
Sonic’s co-stars will all get visual tweaks, too. Knuckles is much bigger than the others, as the brawn of the crew. Tails looks more like an inventor, with a tool belt and wrench. Amy has a big hammer and looks to be the brains of the group. The show and games all share the same name and will be accompanied by new toys by Tomy, who also make the official Pokémon toys.
The Sonic Boom games are being made by separate entities, with BigRedButton — a studio founded former Naughty Dog developer Bob Raffei — working on the new Wii U game and Sanzaru doing a 3DS sibling. The game serves a prequel to the TV show and will reportedly dovetail with it in some way.
A glimpse of the Wii U title — which will be a two-player co-op affair in the main campaign and will have modes that support four players — gave a look at new locations, which seems less linear than previous games and includes an energy bungee cord power that you can see in the aforementioned trailer. During its reveal at a NYC event today, Sega producer Stephen Frost said that the game will center on an adventure in an ancient land, with lots of exploration and melee combat along with the high-speed traversal that have been a Sonic hallmark. The console version of the game’s being built on CryEngine 3. The portable Sonic Boom will sport a different story and level architecture but happens in the same world.
There’s going to be a focus on teamwork in all of the Sonic Boom stuff. A brief teaser video of the game showed sequences with all four characters and moments where you controlled them individually. We’ll be seeing expanded roles for Tails, Knuckles and Amy, who all get special abilities that link up with Sonic and, presumably, each other. In a clip from the show, Sonic faced off against a new robot from Dr. Eggman, with Tails providing air support from a plane overhead. During the battle, Tails extended an energy tether that Sonic grabbed onto in midair to swing around and kick the robot to pieces. It looked exactly like kind of thing that would show up as part of a local co-op game.
Series executive producer Evan Pailey described episodes of the show where an overprotective Sonic fires Tails from sidekick and Eggman applies, Eggman tries to get into Modern Lair Magazine and, after losing again to Sonic for the umpteenth time, the archvillain fakes an injury and takes Sonic to court. The new co-operative play mechanics in the games and show will also be seen in the toys.
This is clearly an effort to get Sonic in front of younger audiences while trying to hold onto the fans who’ve given him such longevity. Sonic’s a character with a dedicated but fickle audience and a move like Sonic Boom can either get them excited or worried. We’ll have more on Sonic Boom as info becomes available.
Comments
23 responses to “Meet The New Sonic And His Next Game”
My only real gripe is with Knuckles…..he’s too short, needs to be much much taller….
He’s got sum sik gainz but 4got hiz legs
who the hell fed knuckles some steroids?
Where?
And once again – wtf have they done to Knuckles??
brown is the new red
Knuckles looks like a freak on steroids. Other than that, the art direction looks good but that’s never been the problem with Sonic games. It’s how they play at high speed. Need to see gameplay and the camera before passing judgement.
I see they’re not really breaking new ground with each characters ‘jobs’ either
Admit that I can still rock a kerchief!
I hope this is well received. I’m no Sonic fan but it would be nice to see some faith installed back into the series.
I don’t like change…
Although, Knuckles dick-punching robots seems like a fantastic addition to the series. 😛
http://static4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100409031813/streetfighter/images/d/dd/Guile%27s_Sonic_Boom.gif
Surely the biggest and most fundamental change to Sonic’s design is making his arms blue rather than pink? This probably makes sense in the context of Tails and Knuckles, but it still looks weird to somebody who grew up with Sonic.
Nintendo hasn’t caved in and made Mario slim. I miss the rotund little hedgehog of old.
At the end I was thinking ‘Sonic of the Colossus’…?
So they let someone from Disney re-design them?
I… I… I think i already hate knuckles…
Oh boy, another Sonic Game! In 3D! I’m sure they’ll get it right this time.
Oh look a Wii U exclusive 3rd party title… and I was lead to believe there was none!
Is Knuckles really a Predator? Aliens vs Knuckles.
I was going to critisise the trailer music until I thought about it and realised, no, Bangarang actually sums up the vibe of what Sonic should be pretty well.
So I’ll just get on board the Knuckles bashing train (until Knuckles starts bashing that train with his grotesque steroided body)
Uncharted 4 – Sonic’s Fortune
Looks terrible.
No! Why is everyone taped up like Thai kickboxers? Why is Knuckles suddenly 50% bigger in a way that totally doesn’t fit with any canon? Since when is Amy the ‘brains’ of the group? Why is Sonic wearing a scarf!? Wha-NO!
Is this a one-off experiment, like Black Knight or Unleashed, or is this supposed to be a permanent reboot? They were doing so well with Colours, Generations and Sonic 4 (episode 2 at least, 1 was a little wonky) in bringing together a happy compromise between old-school 2D platforming and new-school 3D arcade fast-twitch style levels. I was really excited for Lost World too, but I haven’t yet bought a Wii U so haven’t played it.
Just to warn you, the Wii U version has had a bit of a negative perception from critics. The 3DS version was more positive.
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4zjzoWDuj1rvs1mmo1_500.jpg
Crossing all possibly-crossible things that this will be great.
Who gives two shits what they do to Sonic, they’ve been raping that memory for over 18 years, what makes this any different? The only thing it might be is good… there is always that.
In order from left to right in the vid still image – Kenny, Stan, Cartman and then Kyle…
Sonic Heroes 2, baby. 😛