Hey! It’s Ryan for another round of Games with Coffee. You rarely see posts on Thursdays, but today is a special occasion: the Sonic Central broadcast! And though it was way past fast, were the announcements way past cool? Without much preamble, let’s dive in and talk about the direct in detail!
Symphony Orchestra!
Right off the bat, the broadcast starts off with an announcement of a Symphony Orchestra performance, happening on Sonic’s Birthday for free! Guest stars include Crush 40 and Tomoya Ohtani, the latter of which has produced some of the series’ best music in the last 15 years! It’s gonna be so epic to listen to this! I will honestly cry if there is a symphonic rendition of Windmill Isle Day, just saying.
Sonic In Tokyo 2020?!
Or just the ability to dress like him, at least. Tokyo 2020 really is leaning hard into custom avatars, so including the ability to dress like Sonic for these events is almost a no-brainer at this point.
The hilarious part about this is that it’s an adult-sized mascot costume and I can already hear the memes being created because of this haha.
Sonic in Two Point Hospital!
Speaking of memes, this photo of a Sonic-dressed character sitting behind a desk and consulting patients is on-point. I can feel the memes being generated as we speak…
Like with Tokyo 2020, Sega is putting it’s mascot in another popular series, Two Point Hospital. The new add-ons include costumes that your staff can wear as well as new decorations. I’ve never played Two Point Hospital – reminds me a lot of Roller Coaster Tycoon, but instead running a healthcare facility instead of a theme park.
…I kinda want to try it out though, haha.
Sonic the Fighters Makes A Return! …Sorta?
It seems that games within games is becoming a huge thing nowadays, as in Lost Judgement – from the makers of Yakuza – there will be an arcade machine featuring a fully playable copy of Sonic the Fighters!
Fighters is a way past cool fighting game that I streamed recently through the Sonic Gems Collection.
To end this section, it seems that there will be more collaborations happening in the future, including what looks like.. Minecraft?!
Sonic Colours Ultimate!!!
Now for the (second) biggest news of the day – a remastered Sonic Colours! Colours is one of the few Sonic games that I haven’t played and so hearing that this was going to be officially released was welcome (if not expected) news. It’s nice to see that we finally get official confirmation of stuff being released, as opposed to relying on leaks and rumors about Sonic news…
Anyways, Sonic Colours Ultimate is a revised version of the Wii exclusive game that apparently includes some new stuff, like a Jade Ghost Wisp, a rival race against Metal Sonic and other things.
Not only that, but Roger Craig Smith (the previously-former-but-now-current VA for Sonic – it’s confusing, alright?) took the time to speak about a brand new short animation based on Sonic Colours called Sonic Colours: Rise of the Wisps.
Honestly, the animation looks like it’s on point! The fact that it’s fully voiced by the Sonic VA cast is icing on the cake. Definitely looking forward to watching this in Summer.
And yes, I’ll be pre-ordering Sonic Colours Ultimate. I mean, c’mon, I was expecting a game to be released this year, so I prepared in advance!
New Sonic Collection for Modern Consoles!
Can I say “called it?” Sorta?
A new Sonic Collection called Sonic Origins, featuring Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Sonic CD, is coming out! Apparently, it’s supposed to include some added content and features.
And while there are a few (MANY) omissions, at least the classic Sonic experience continues onward! I wonder if these additions and features will have something to do with the Christian Whitehead editions of the Sonic Mobile ports, which contained some new and improved content for both Sonic 1 and 2? We’ll have to see later next year on what that entails…
Though I’m a bit disappointed that they still neglected Knuckles’ Chaotix. It’s also a missed opportunity to release some classic portable titles as well. And yes, it’s confirmed that Sonic 3 and Knuckles will support widescreen format.
Forces, Mania and Team Sonic Racing on Other Streaming Platforms
Sonic Forces, Sonic Mania and Team Sonic Racing are slated to be released on Amazon’s Luna and Sony’s PlaystationNow streaming services. You can pick up Sonic Mania and Team Sonic Racing right now if you have the Luna service, while the three pack will be released for PlaystationNow in June. Sounds way past cool for those who have either of those services!
Events in the Sonic Mobile World!
Now, I don’t play much mobile games, but I do like Sonic Dash. This month, players can unlock Pirate themed costumes for Sonic and Shadow (Of which instantly memeable content has been brought forward haha), plus some other birthday stuff.
On top of that, Super Sonic is coming to Sonic Forces (the mobile game). Funny how Super Sonic makes an appearance, considering that he apparently never made one in the console version of Forces… Plus too, a Party Mode is going to be added, where you can race against your friends, which seems pretty exciting! I’ve played this mobile game before and it’s pretty fun. I might get back into it just to get Super Sonic haha.
Later this year for Halloween, Werehog Sonic makes a return to the fore! He’ll be playable in Sonic Forces and in Sonic Dash and it’s nice to see that the controversial transformation hasn’t been totally neglected (though it’s been mocked constantly).
Finally, for Sonic Racing on the Apple Arcade service, Classic Sonic will be playable, along with three new tracks situated in Green Hill Zone.
News about Sonic Prime
Next, we heard from Joe Kelly from Man of Action, one of the show runners for the newly announced Sonic Prime Netflix series. Now, Man of Action has been responsible for quite a few animated series, like Ben10, so hopefully that means Sonic’s in good hands?
Kelly has touted that this is a series unlike anything seen by Sonic fans and that it takes place within a realm known as the Shatterverse (Shadowverse?)… What that means is anyone’s guess, but it sounds like this 24 episode series will be set in some form of a multiverse (alternate Sonics!?). Also, that new Eggman logo looks pretty dope.
MERCH!
OH MY GOD I WANT IT ALL!
Ahem, sorry about that. But seriously, this stuff looks awesome! A playset recreating the final battle of Sonic 2, my all-time favourite Sonic game?! Oh man, I already don’t have any space to begin with, where the heck am I gonna put that!?
I’m not that into hip-hop culture… but I still want one of those Sonic necklaces from King Ice. I was hoping for a ring, but I’ll take the necklace nonetheless.
I’ve already pre-ordered the deluxe version of the Encyclo-Speed-ia haha. Thanks to everyone on Twitter who pointed that out to me, by the way!
There’s also a commemorative 30th Anniversary Coin that looks pretty sweet.
And there seems to be an official 30th Anniversary site with more information about merch and other stuff, though it’s not available to access as of yet… I’m sure that’ll change within the day or so.
One Last Thing
Finally, they saved the best (?) for last: the biggest news of the day – A New Sonic Title.
We see Sonic running in a forest. Before long, his body emits what looks like some sorta strange energy before going into a Sonic Boost. He then circles around a grove of trees and the scene changes to a stone background with ancient writing. A thick, bright blue line traces some symbols on the stone and they look to be the letters Z, A and P…
Could the upcoming title be known as Sonic ZAP? I doubt it… but let the speculation commence, I suppose!? The new title is slated to be released in 2022.
As for my take, I can’t say too much about it because of how little the tiny teaser reveals… but I hope though that we’re seeing a resurgence of Sonic Adventure-esque storytelling. However, my biggest concerns are as follows:
What’s changed gameplay-wise?
What’s stayed the same?
What’s improved?
What are we gonna see in terms of the story?
Finally, has the last five years since Forces was released been enough for Sonic Team to really and truly nail the speed-based gameplay that fans desired?
Maybe we’ll see more at E3, which is happening in just a couple of weeks time, but this snippet isn’t enough to go by right now. In short, WE NEED ANSWERS, DAMNIT!
And that’s it for Sonic Central wrap-up! They did say within the broadcast that more of these will be coming, which is welcome news after the radio silence we’ve endured since the beginning of March 2020.
So, did you see the broadcast this afternoon? What are your thoughts on this? Was this a Sonic Boom? Or a total bust? Let me know in the comments below!
This has been Ryan from Games with Coffee, reminding you to Believe in Yourself, Live with No Regrets and Chase the Impossible! See you next time!
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