There is quite a divide right now in the Sonic the Hedgehog community in terms of both the fans and the developers. The fans have for years been asking the developers at Sonic Team for a “return to form” that would make Sonic truly playable again in all the best ways. Meanwhile, the developers are still trying to “push things in new directions,” even if that means their games are average at best. In short, there’s a bit of a disconnect here. However, a mostly good thing that happened recently for those fans was that of the release of Sonic Origins.
Why was this so great? Because this was the title that brought together many of the original Sonic The Hedgehog titles together in one spot for people to play for the first time, or for the first time in a long time. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD were all there. To be fair, they weren’t 100% carried over as some things had to be changed or edited like key music tracks and certain other things, and some elements were improved just to try and make the game better. But overall, Sonic Origins delivered on what it needed to, bringing back the OG titles for gamers to enjoy in this time of Sonic uncertainty.
In an interview about the game, Producer Nobuya Ohashi and Director Katsuyuki Shigihara revealed some key insight into why the game came out when it did. Such as how the plans were always “in place to revive” the line, but it was the success of the live-action movie that took things to the next level.
“We had often heard about the popularity of Sonic in the west, but following the movie release, it really skyrocketed! You could go to supermarkets in North America and see tons of Sonic goods available.”
He’s not wrong. The live-action movies, of which there are now two, were massively popular with diehard fans and casual fans alike. The two are easily some of the most successful video game movies ever, and both grossed an incredible amount. So not unlike other properties, releasing the original titles to coincide with the release of the second movie just seemed logical.
In fact, the desire to bring the original titles to new fans was bolstered by the movies as well because the team wanted to bring “new fans” to the mix that might be on a “Sonic high” if you will following the live-action arrival of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. All three of them are in Sonic Origins in various ways.
The titles were well-received and apparently sold well. As for the upcoming game in Sonic Frontiers, there’s a lot of hope riding on it in the eyes of the Sonic Team. We’ll have to wait and see how it goes.
Source: Famitsu
