After a year-long drought of Sonic the Hedgehog, fans are finally going to get a good look at what lies in the Blue Blur’s future on May 27th at 9am PT. Celebrating Sonic’s 30th anniversary, Sonic Central will illuminate what games and merchandise are coming in the immediate future for the storied Sega franchise. After spending so long with only the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, comics, and fan projects to tide them over, Sonic fans are thirsty for something official to look forward to. And if some of the rumors are true, there’s going to be a lot to look forward to very soon.
Indeed, the rumor mill has been churning quite hard recently. Talk of HD re-releases and collections have abounded, and seem very likely. Many Sonic fans are already pretty sure of a few things that will show up at the May 27th presentation, and they have every reason to suspect as such. Sonic Team has clearly been keeping a lot under wraps since the pandemic started, and all of it could come rushing out over the course of this short presentation. There is a ton of easy guesses to make for a show of this magnitude, so here’s a compilation of what fans might see.
Sonic Colors Remaster and Sonic 30th Anniversary Collection
There are at least two Sonic games that seem like a lock for the show. A Sonic Colors re-release was leaked by a German dubbing studio called iksample, and since then it’s been looking more and more likely that it’s really happening. Sonic Colors was a Wii game released in 2010, and was generally agreed to be the best 3D Sonic game released in a long time. Some still have it pegged as their favorite iteration of Boost Sonic gameplay. The game was also recognized for looking and sounding amazing, and it will look even better now if it releases with a higher resolution on modern consoles.
There are also rumors of a Sonic collection of some sort coming for at least the PlayStation 4. This news comes from the French retailer Sogamely, which has a listing for something called merely Sonic Collection for the PS4. The listing doesn’t feature any box art or a release date, but a compilation of some kind would make a lot of sense for Sonic’s 30th anniversary. Sonic collections already exist, and could really use an HD re-release on current consoles. It would be even better if they could also start compiling the 3D Sonic games from the past couple decades as well as the 2D ones. While many of these games are available on Steam, it would be nice to have them collected in one place.
A New 2D Sonic Game
It’s after those two that this event’s contents start to become unclear. Again, Sega has done an excellent job keeping its plans for the future of Sonic games hidden throughout the pandemic. If a bet had to be placed down on what new games were coming next in the Sonic franchise, a 2D title would probably he brought up. The situation with the ascended fangame Sonic Mania critically eclipsing Sonic Team’s own Sonic Forces is still fresh in everyone’s minds, and Sega may want to take another crack at scratching the retro Sonic itch with a 2D game of its own. It would certainly fit with the Sonic series’ habit of constantly reinventing itself.
What that Sonic game would be about is another issue entirely. The answer may well be lying under the fandom’s collective nose, as was hinted at several months ago. The upcoming Sonic Prime Netflix show could be the source of the game’s new setting, seeing Sonic travel through a whole new world and deal with a new conflict. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a Sonic game was made to synergize with a TV show, though unlike the various Boom games, this one may be made by Sonic Team itself instead of third-party studios. At any rate, the chances of seeing a new 2D Sonic game at this event feel quite high.
New or Old 3D Sonic Games
There is also a good chance that Sega wants to keep the Mania/Forces dynamic alive, and have both a 2D and 3D game in development at the same time. This could take the form of just about anything, given Sonic’s track record, but could also have something to do with Sonic Prime. It’s really too soon to nail down any surefire guesses, but there are a number of hopes going into the reveal. 3D Sonic has had a rocky history due to a nasty combination of mismanagement from Sega and a lack of focus from Sonic Team. Even if this was Sonic Forces 2, it would be nice to see Sonic Team take another crack at something it has already made. With more time spent on polish and more attention paid towards rooting out the bad ideas and focusing on the good, a truly great 3D Sonic game from Sonic Team is still possible.
Speaking of Sonic Team taking another crack at something it has already made, there is one more rumor that fans would love to see come to fruition: the return of Sonic Adventure. Sporting its own unique style of Sonic gameplay alongside a host of various other characters, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 remain in contention for the title of “best 3D Sonic.” A return to this style of gameplay after so many Boost games would be welcome, no matter what form it takes. Sonic Team actually has a lot of flexibility as to what it can do with a new Adventure game; it could be the fabled Sonic Adventure 3, or it could hop on the remake bandwagon and be a modernization of Sonic Adventure 1. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to bringing Sonic Adventure back, and it would be great to see its return. Whatever truth is in these predictions, it won’t take long for fans to find out what exactly this presentation has in store. Here’s to a great 30th anniversary for everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog, and an exciting Sonic Central for the fans.
