Sega's iconic Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has seen some difficult years in recent history, but it appears to be turning a new leaf. For one thing, Sonic Team is hard at work on Sonic Frontiers, a new game with "open zones" that could let players run around and capitalize on Sonic's powers with unprecedented freedom, which sounds like a lot of fun. For another, Sonic the Hedgehog has managed to inspire a surprisingly successful movie adaptation. Simply called Sonic the Hedgehog, the movie broke multiple box office records, and it seems to have kicked off an entire Sonic cinematic universe, thanks to upcoming sequels.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will feature Knuckles as a secondary antagonist and finally bring the Chaos Emeralds into the movie series, meaning it has the potential to motivate a lot of other compelling cinematic Sonic content. Beyond movies and TV, though, one wonders if there's any hope that the new Sonic movies will ever return to their roots. Sonic the Hedgehog seems ripe for a video game adaptation, thanks to the unique story it tells using the Sonic series. Bringing the movie's story back to its original genre would be a great way to celebrate Sonic's newfound success in theaters.
A Game of the Sonic Movie
2020's Sonic the Hedgehog has a few important elements that could motivate a compelling video game. For instance, Sonic the Hedgehog features a ton of travel. Much of the movie is defined by a cross-country road trip as Sonic travels to San Francisco in search of his portal-generating rings, and near the end of the movie, those rings are used to quickly travel all over the Earth as Sonic battles Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik. Sonic the Hedgehog's many real-world settings could serve as great inspirations for 2D platforming levels based on real-world locations like San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid.
The story of the movie could also motivate a lot of fun character interactions that Sonic games don't usually feature. Sonic the Hedgehog is all about Sonic's early years when he's still learning how to put his powers to good use, and James Marsden's character Tom Wachowski provides a significant new lens through which to view Sonic's life. A game of the Sonic movie could feature all kinds of side missions that have to do with Sonic learning about the human world and ticking off bucket list items with Tom's help. Not many Sonic games give players the chance to watch Sonic grow up, so a game that borrows that narrative from the Sonic movie could really stand out.
Sonic is Going in a Good Direction
Beyond the qualities of the movie, a game adaptation would simply be valuable as a means of acknowledging how Sonic the Hedgehog's place in pop culture has changed for the better in recent years. While several Sonic games from the last few decades have failed to meet expectations, the Sonic movie has brought fans together in a big way, likely contributing to the excitement that surrounds Sonic Frontiers. It'd be great to see Sega and Sonic Team work together to acknowledge the movie's accomplishments by retelling it in a playable format.
If the Sonic movie franchise continues to succeed, then video game adaptations of the movies seem inevitable. Whether they're traditional 2D platformers or whether they take on a completely different genre, video game versions would bring the Sonic movie franchise's success full circle in a highly appropriate way. For now, though, Sonic Team is probably saving its energy for the mysterious Sonic Frontiers, which stands to reason. A Sonic movie game might be far away, but at least Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is around the corner. The upcoming sequel should shed plenty of light on where both Sonic movies and Sonic games might go from here.