The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is full of characters and settings that long-time fans have come to love. With Sonic Frontiers just around the corner, fans have been anticipating more information about returning characters and similar locales. While there is some familiarity in what people have seen in Sonic Frontiers, most of it has been entirely new.
Sonic Frontiers opens with familiar characters like Sonic, Tails, and Amy all being sucked into a mysterious wormhole caused by Dr. Eggman. This, along with appearances from Knuckles and Big the Cat, is where recognizable characters and settings end in the trailers. From here, everything that has been shown is new to players. Notable new characters in Sonic Frontiers include Sage, a small humanoid girl with psychic powers, and the Koco, small stone creatures resembling haniwa statues. Getting fans to embrace new characters in a franchise is always a large undertaking, and these new additions have to show how they are set apart from the rest of the cast. In the future, Sega should consider putting a spotlight on existing characters and settings for a change of pace.
The Sonic Franchise Could Make Use Of Its Smaller Characters
There are many beloved characters in the Sonic franchise that have not been used in a meaningful way. Of course, most of the games feature the titular Sonic as the only playable character, with others like Tails, Knuckles, or Shadow being occasional possibilities. It has been a long time since characters like Amy, Rouge, Omega, and Big the Cat were playable outside of party and racing games.
Future Sonic games and Sonic Frontiers could benefit by having a playable cast of characters like previous titles. Games like Sonic Heroes, Knuckles' Chaotix, and Sonic Adventure 2 all experimented with having a larger cast of characters that the player could choose from. Having a brief appearance with little to no influence on the game leaves a bad impression on people that are fans of those characters.
Iconic Settings From The Sonic Franchise
There are many locations within the Sonic franchise that fans have grown to love. While people may warm up to the different Starfall Islands in Sonic Frontiers, they were designed from the ground up and don't seem as instantly recognizable as other levels in the Sonic games. Even considering how often that Green Hill Zone appears in the franchise, implementing a version of that level into an open world would make for a more meaningful world design for returning players.
By including locations from earlier in the franchise, it gives Sega a chance to revamp those levels and bring a different perspective for new and old players alike. Other Sonic games have shown this to be possible, with Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania using classic levels and introducing new mechanics to them. In future titles, Sega could bring back iconic levels from different games and use some that have not been back in a major title before.
Sonic Frontiers is going to be a major step in a direction the Sonic franchise has not gone before. It is somewhat disappointing that the game is not going to lean into existing characters and locations for its open world, but there is value in creating new experiences for players to enjoy. New characters let the game can be isolated as its own experience without much knowledge of previous titles. However, Sega has characters and settings from the franchise that have not been used in a meaningful way for years. For Sega's next Sonic game, it should consider using iconic characters and settings that players already love.
Sonic Frontiers is set to release Holiday 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
