Sonic Central: Quick Thoughts And Analysis.

 

Hey everyone, while you're waiting on the E3 article(s) that will go up early this coming week, (Yes, it's

going to be a three-parter now!) I decided to make a quick article discussing Sonic Central - now that there's been some time for the dust to settle, as well as speculate about what's going on

behind the scenes.

But before that, I have an announcement. I have an editor now! Meet David. He's a pretty big Sonic fan himself, and he's also a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. He'll be assisting on my articles from now on so that they don't sound like incoherent messes. Please give him a warm welcome and follow his Twitter. He's hilarious, you won't be disappointed:

https://twitter.com/dv_kh3

Without further ado, 

So, what did I think of the show? In all honesty...meh. There were some really great announcements in there for sure, but the presentation itself had some issues, and the ending in particular, landed like a wet fart. It's like the traditional Nintendo Direct cycle. Hype, the event happens, and then the flaws start rearing their heads after the hype dies down.

Let's start from the top:

Sonic 30th Anniversary Concert: 

FUCK YES! One of the best announcements of the show. It was leaked a few months ago in a magazine somewhere, and that didn't ruin my hype one bit. I'm a video game music fanatic, with Sonic being one of my all time favorites in that regard. You can bet your ass I'll be watching that on June 23rd, from start to finish. 

Sonic Cameos Up The WAZOO: 

This was a pretty obvious thing that was going to happen, article or not. There's so many here that I couldn't possibly get to all of them, but man, Minecraft, Two Point Hospital, Tokyo 2020, and especially FIST OF THE NORTH STAR all had me laughing my ass off. It's a great marketing strategy and it obviously brings more exposure to the brand.

Sonic The Fighters Returns:

This is a cool surprise. STF is a game that's actually gotten a cult following over the last few years, so I'm happy to see it coming to modern platforms. It's a game with a lot charm and a bomb-ass soundtrack. Although, is a Switch version too much to ask for? Seems like a no-brainer to me..

Sonic Colors Ultimate: 

The cat finally got out of the bag. This was actually one of the first things I heard about, but

there's a story that goes along with this. Stritix's story on Colors Ultimate is more or less correct From what I understand, this was supposed to be announced in a Nintendo Direct partner showcase in September of 2020, unfortunately, Blind Squirrel's job of porting the game to a new engine was not cutting it and the game was deemed unplayable by Sonic Studio. Thea game was delayed and more additional content was added during its development. The footage you saw in the Central is actually super old, and the screenshots shown in the latest Famitsu Issue are of the game in its near-completed state now. SEGA made the right call here, the game looks great in HD, and I'm excited to play it again for the first time in a decade. Considering this is the first game release following the movie, I expect this to be a pretty big seller.

Sonic Colors: Rise of the Wisps:

I'm a big fan of Tyson Hesse's art and animations, so I'm definitely looking forward to this. It being inspired by Yui Karasuno's art on the official Japanese Sonic account is just icing on the cake.

Sonic Origins:

Hoo boy. Can I say I called it? No? Yes? Okay, some people have joked that I willed this into existence, but that's absurd. SEGA had actually had another development team in mind when they started planning Origins out, needless to say, things didn't work out, so they brought it in-house. And it shows, I feel they completely messed this announcement up big time. While I'm excited that this is happening, we actually didn't see anything from the collection in the central itself. It's all old footage from other stuff, especially Sonic 3. No logo, no boxart, no platforms announced, nothing. Katie literally had to announce on Twitter after the Central herself that Sonic 3&K would be in widescreen What in the world happened? It absolutely feels like they threw this announcement in at the very last minute, either. I actually think this was because of the retailer leak, rather than me. Regardless, this should be a quality collection, but I do wish there was more to it than what's in it currently. This rushed announcement is actually part of a wider point that I'll get to a bit later. 

Sonic "Rangers":

Okay, this is massive. Where to begin...? We all figured that there would be some sort of major announcement of a new game, at the very end, but many of didn't expect it to be that...miniscule. I'll say one positive thing before I get into my my wider points. The animation in the trailer itself is absolutely stunning. This is the best Sonic has looked in CG (excluding Smash) since Unleashed, in my opinion. The coloring is just right, he has plenty of squash and stretch, and the environment feels like it's right out of Adventure/Unleashed. Now, as for what the trailer revealed itself? Besides having Sonic's apparent new move, the "Spin Cycle", there really isn't much else here. It's vague as all get out, and it was kind of strange way to end the event. A vague "2022" date is also not a surprise, considering the state of the world for the last year. That's one reason why I don't feel too strongly about this first Sonic Central. Going from the metadata of the Rangers teaser, this trailer was apparently finished in February of 2020. It absolutely feels like a frankenstein mix of stuff from last year and this year were thrown into one.

I won't be getting into the very credible sounding rumors today, as I'll be saving that for something else post E3, but I want to throw two pieces of speculation in there.

Sonic's New Aura:

People started to point this out a few weeks ago when it was announced that Sonic would be crossing over with the mobile game Ulala: Idle Adventure. In it, Sonic has gained this glowing aura when he appears to be running at max speed. We see this again in the Rangers teaser. It's the same color and everything:

Some people believe that this is a reference to the movie, while others believe it's a reference to Sonic's Light Speed Dash from the Adventure games, I believe we're looking at an amalgamation from both sources that's supposed to be a new way of visualizing Sonic's insane speed.

Another Game(?):

I bring this up because there's also another interesting thing that's been pointed out:

Well, would ya look at that. Looks like we've had hints about this being a thing under our noses for months now. The trail that's left behind Sonic's blast of speed is another thing being shown in marketing. This poster seems to be pretty spot on. Classic Sonic on the left represents Origins, the render of modern Sonic on the right is representing Rangers, but...what about that middle one? 

What could this one mean? 

Is that rumored 2D game I heard about on the horizon? Could Uekewa be returning to boxart duties for the first time in 15 years?  Could it be another potential 3D Sonic from a different subsidiary? 

Any of these could make sense, the way I see it, I don't think we'll be playing Rangers until next holiday season, which would give them plenty of space for another release. November is still an option, if they do have something.

Here's an even weirder point about this and the poster. I've looked all their over social media and SEGA's official websites, they have not acknowledged this new Sonic game or Origins AT ALL. Not even the US account has said anything about them, the only game they're referencing as of now is Sonic Colors Ultimate. The only thing close to a mention is the Sonic Social Media Manager, having to clarify that Sonic 3 would be in widescreen. It's like they're pretending that don't exist or something.  Could they be preparing more announcements soon? We are in June now. E3 is next week, and the anniversary is not long after. Regardless, these next few weeks will be extremely interesting, don't you think? 

That's all from me today, hope you enjoyed my not-so-quick thoughts on the subject.

Thank you, and I'll see you for the next article, very soon.

 

For everlasting peace!